World War II Pilot Tells a Brutal True Story 

I’m 18 and I’d rather learn to fly a Mustang than any car, any day.

You say it as casual as they kids think nowadays and disrespectful to call that generation old guys

@@coolsurfer1785 what?

​​@@BullGator-kd6ge my Uncle, Bill Cullerton, was Lt. Olson's replacement in OS-X and in his later years drove a white Ford Mustang with the 355FG/357FS "Licking Dragon" logo...so, the best of both worlds. 😄

These were not kids. These were MEN, and they had earned the respect of manhood. It is a shame of our society that perpetual childhood is now an option.

Thank you!

eroe respetos a ti p0r america

​@@TJ3Keep up the great work bud!!

I really appreciate anyone who is trying to keep these memories from this generation.

Thank you!

They wanted out a depression America to do something good! Prove themselves!

Please keep up these video's. Because they show what a fighter pilot went through in WWII.

Lt. Richard Berthiaume F4 pilot on a carrier in the pacific, passed away on August 30 2009, at age 86 from alzheimers. his business partner Capt. Wayne Reithermiller B-17 pilot G and K group lost 3 fortresses and 2 whole air crews, one ditched in the channel and 2 barely made it to landing before burning up, was run over by a grandmother while bicycling home from the grocery store May 16, 2006, at age 88....now that man had an interesting life, and his kids have his photo albums (Mary Lou) from the war that were some stunning photos, i scanned a few of the most shocking ones in the few hours i had access to one of the photo albums at his funeral, the most heart wrenching is his attempts to get some one to try and save his ball turret gunner who was badly wounded before he was burned alive due to hydraulic failure and turret damage from flak the photo he saved as just before the fire moved aft of the left win and was midway down the frame moving outward from the wings with the tail to the head winds as they parked on the taxiway to try and save many horrible wounded in the rear of the plane that was missing sections and panels from horrific flak damage that blew off most of the left tail and into the rudder. no idea who the camera man was but photos were spectacular in clarity and scope captured. herald-journal.com/obits/2006/riethmiller0506.html

Do you by chance know where this Ed McNeff was from and/or family info? I ask because my late fathers sisters married name is McNeff (From a small town in Nebraska) and they have kid(s) named Edward that age-wise (mid-60s I'd guess) and could be about grandson age. It isn't that common of a name and while not a 'dead ringer', he does kind of bear that family resemblance.

Please link all the videos together... I only see 2 of 3 of his videos....

All links are now above!

AGREED... How many times can one flick a match at a can of gasoline before it explodes? Same principle at play.

Fixation is a strange thing!!

Making a 3rd pass was at the least a poor decision. The wing men and other tailend planes usually catch Hell as the gunners are ready. One tale as told by an Allied pilot that when strafing a certain air feild they broke out over the bordering woods regualrly. On a re-visit as he peeled into the woods he heard 'LOOL DOWN" --a seperate new machine gun placement had been setup to shoot them down on the out route! He called it out, pulled a tight 90-90-90 upward turn and then dove straight down on them burning them to bits with all 8 50 cals roaring full. He then flanked out low and made another pas striaight down the road way the guns had been driven out into the woods, and empitied his guns into the entrance o the woods, and last full vollies into the remants of the guns. He said God called that one break out to him!

I spoke to a B17 pilot in the 80's. His family knew nothing post war. He kept everything to himself. He was shot down on March 6, 44 on his 17th mission to Berlin and became a pow. The captain bailed out and was never seen again. Some Germans would shoot you in the chute or locals would kill you upon landing

my dad was on B-24s as a nav, he had screaming nightmares every night when i was growing up.

@@bluskytoo My Dad was a SSGT. Infantry Platoon Leader. He was in combat for 3 years in the 129th infantry division and 2nd Battalion. He had PTSD from being wounded 3 times, once in the head, once in the back, and once in the elbow. He told me that the "Fly Boys" had it easy and had he not been color blind, he would have liked to have been a pilot. 🤠

@@jamesburns2232 thats funny as my dad would say At least the ground pounders could get in a hole, lol

Thanks Jim!

You should look at WW1 when they did it without parachutes & the gun they carried was for shooting themselves in the head when the plane caught fire.

@@aussie6910 These Americans were very brave men. My grandfather flew in the RFC in WW1 after being wounded twice in the trenches. Anybody who flies for his country, knowing a horrible death is stalking them, is brave. Mind you, those trenches were vile. My grandfather didn't hate the Germans, by the way. That generation was different.

@@jugbywellington1134 Yes they were. My uncle was a gunner in Bristol Blenheim's. Aircrew had the highest casualty rate of the services. I'm just saying there was no way out of a burning/busted aeroplane in WW1 like their was in WW2. War was more "sporting" or "the great adventure" in WW1. The two sides even celebrated Christmas 1914 together. We were more innocent.

Thanks!

Slippery logic. If you mean 'air to air' brawl the P-47 lost a higher % of pilots to LW in ETO by nearly 50% on a credit vs loss basis. (10:1 P-51 vs 7:1 P-47). If you look at airfield strafing the ratios are about to same (5.6:1 for P-51 strafing credits vs losses vs 3.7:1 for P-47 ratio). The TOTAL number of aircraft lost in boh categories belong to the P-51 because they flew so many more sorties than the P-47 and they were strafing airfields east of Berlin and Czechslovakia while P-47s were strafing from France to western Germany. The loss per sortie rate of the P51 vs F4U were only very slightly higher for the Mustang. A major factor in both wars is the the Mustang had to fly twice as far to return with damaged airplane.

Good idea!

I worked briefly for the company in which he was the CEO. Also a Governor to my state.

@@davidharris7235 I live in PVD. I think he is the best, most-honest guv we have had in my lifetime. People resented him closing the credit unions, but it had to be done. I guess it cost him re-election. Either way, his WWll pilot story is remarkable and certainly worthy of a feature.

Could you elaborate more on that event?

Check my channel! It's called a P51 Story You Won't Believe

the narrator seems to be confused - rookie Ed McNeff would have been the wingman to his leader Ben Johnston - but the narrator kept referring to them both as wingman - resulting in a very confusing narration

He’s using wingman like ‘partner’. Get over it.

@@CorePathway - no one should get over it - "wingman" has a precise meaning in the aeronautics community - it's sloppiness to misuse it without first clarifying it as an ad hoc usage

Thank you!

Thank you!