Відео

Really the raids on Ploesti could have been arranged for B-29s to do the task from bases in Persia/Iran or even possibly British controlled Syria/Lebanon. Perhaps the German planners thought the same? But USAAF planners did not want Superfortress to get captured and copied by the Germans and possibly Russians. Russians did it anyways by the end of WW2. As it was it was a herculean task for Ploesti the B-24 Liberators had to do the 1,200 mile journey loaded with bombs and extra fuel tanks, and the conditions caused problems from the start. The trip really exhausted the crews that survived the ordeal to attack those oilfields.

June, 2024. Currently and for many years the UK is building no fighters. Zero. And, they have only a little over 125 fighters.

A superb documentary ! Minor niggles: British ranks with the word Lieutenant are pronounced LEFFtenant. British Squadron numbers are cardinal, not ordinal. ie: 1 Sqn. not 1st Sqn.

Excellent coverage of the US flying Spitfires in the Med, something that US media has seriously avoided over the years. Hopefully, some of the fanboys of the obsolete Hurricane will understand the critical importance played by the Spitfire throughout the war.

Meh. A better title would (should) have been: "When Americans Flew Spitfires", since the USAAF only flew Spitfires for a few very short years.

Soviets during WWII: we turned a Douglas variant into a bomber Americans during Vietnam: we turned ours into a gunship

One of the best war memoirs of WW2 is "Carrier Pilot" by Norman Hanson. Well worth reading for both the social side of training in the USA's deep South and the savagery of the pacific war recounted by a skilled Brit pilot (and pianist!). My mother was a QA nurse in WW2 in a casualty clearing station. She said the RAF Swordfish pilots she met socially knew they were unlikely to survive the next mission and so it proved.

My father-in-law, Ivan Scanes, from Christchurch, New Zealand, was a Corsair pilot in WWII. He joined the Fleet Air Arm of Royal Navy. I have a picture of him standing beside the cowling upon which he'd painted, "Dixie", the name of his future wife. He flew top cover on at least one of the Bismarck raids and can be seen in a famous image with other New Zealanders returning from the raid. A copy of this used to be on public display in the Torpedo Bay Museum, Aukland, but understand that display has now been changed. He is accredited with two Germans shot down. I have pictures of him practising test deck landings on shore in a variety of aircraft including Corsairs. He is supposed to have been one of the pilots who first landed that aircraft on a British carrier. I have some of his gun camera images including arial combat and ground strafing various targets including a train, believed to be in the Mediterranean. I have a picture of him standing beside fellow trainee pilots. Those who died have crosses across them. I have his mechanic's adjustable spanner which he kept as a memento. Sadly his flight diary was lost. Through him I was most privileged to know several WWII pilots including Howard Wilkinson, RAF, one of the Last of The Few, whose life and achievements are celebrated in the Battle of Britain Museum, Hawkinge, Kent. The surviving WWII pilots, who settled in the Midlands of England, used to meet up in the King's Arms, Ombersley, Worcestershire, a couple of times each year for a bit of a binge, pilot offers mess style. I have a WWII RNFAA book of (rather rude) songs once belonging to Howard Wilkinson, given to me after his death. A Spitfire flew in tribute over his funeral. As a young man I heard so many of their stories. Oh well..........

My father was a Kiwi Corsair pilot in the Royal Navy, FAA in the north Atlantic. On submarine patrol both carrier based and shore station based. Interesting times, only now I realise how lucky he was to come back to NZ alive. Interestingly as a Corsair pilot he was being rescheduled to the Pacific arena against the Japs. We are the lucky ones.

The first scene had Hawker Tempests, not spitfires. Why?

Nice vídeo for a nice aircraft. One of the greatest.

There not Spitfires in the opening sequence but chuffing Tempests. Another con job!!!

Star roundel with bar marking was not adopted until mid 1943. Except for spitfire -- sez you

The Mk1 Spit, which was the most used variant in the Battle of Britain, was not "Easily the equal" of the BF109E used in the Battle. The 109 in many regards was the superior aircraft, only in rate of turn, radius of turn, and speed at low altitude, was the Spitfire Superior. The 109 was faster at higher altitude, could climb and dive better, had better armament, it's engine didn't cut out during negative G manoeuvres and had a slightly better roll rate, although both aircraft suffered from severe aileron stiffening at speeds above 300kmh.

'Why Did America Use British Spitfires?' Answer: for the same reason that they had (and still have!) air force bases in Britain. This American occupation was the price Britain had to pay for American help to defeat the Germans.

Where's Soaring Tractor aka Wilbur Finnegan, gone these days? Normally he would have been all over a video like this with his bile. Ah the good old days, eh.

So which part of Canada are you from? _Chicago_

My Dad was on HMS Illustrious, 1941-45, and had photos of Corsairs in his possession - some bent on deck landings. I met an NZ pilot of these great fighters once. Thanks for the video.

I’ve always wondered what P- designation was given to USAAF Spitfires

The AeroCobra after a Spitfire..😮

I had no idea Spitfires flew against Dewoitines. Just one of the many unacknowledged stories from this time I guess

My grandfather flew as a B-17 tailgunner with the Eighth Air Force, during it's early days of operations in the autumn of 1942. The one story he told me that stands out is during one mission, a Luftwaffe fighter was closing in on his plane. Suddenly a USAAF Spitfire zoomed in and chased the German away.

Most kills were made by hurricanes because we had more of them. They had the main job of downing bombers. The smaller number of spitfires took took the German fighters on and that allowed the hurricanes to their job. It was a winning partnership but the glamourous spit gets too much credit.

It seems like the US provided about half of the aircraft the UK, Canada, and Australia needed to fight ; C-47s, Wildcats, Hellcats, Corsairs, P-40s, Texan trainers, Hudson bombers, P-39s, and probably a few more that I don't know of, and a whole bunch others to Russia. Oddly now all these countries are always trying to backstab us.

As a warbird buff I can say with confidence that most warbird aficionados have high praise for the Spitfire as well as the Mosquito and Hurricane. In spite of my research I have found too little information on British planes wearing the stars and bars.

Did the USAAF also flew a few Spitfires under the South East Asia Command?

Over Macho Grande?

We didnt have planes ready to fight.

Ensign = EN sin. Oleo = OH leo - this youngish sounding fellow doesnt know military nomenclature.

Saludos desde Argentina. excelente video. No conocia nada de este avion. Es de agradecer, y mucho , los subtitulos en castellano.

The Spitfire has to be one of the most beautifully designed and iconic aircraft of all time. I do love the Hurricane, if flown well it could take on and defeat Bf 109E types. Was actually more maneuverable than the 109, could absorb more battle damage than a Spitfire. Hurricane was a steadier gun platform and the wide track undercarriage made it able to utilize rougher airfields. God save the RAF and the pilots who flew them!

The fighters shown in the opening clip are actually Typhoons, not spitfires.

Brilliant documentary

So that's the story behind this.

I never understood how the English could betray their brothers in arms The Americans when they sell the Soviet Union the Rolls-Royce jet engine that would power the mig-15 and the man that did this the Rolls-Royce employee did he go to prison for the rest of his life for high treason was the executed he probably should have been cuz how many lives American and British that he cost because that was the beginning of the Russians jet engines the modern jet engines are still based on that Play It's evolved once I sell China the power of the Chinese flankers Iowa based on that original Rolls-Royce the fine at the time it was the finest best jet engine in the world far superior to American and Russian designs Rolls-Royce really knew what they was doing when it come to airplane engines they had the best pissing engines that powered the Mustang and the Spitfire the two greatest Christian engine fires are probably all time and then they come up with the Rolls-Royce jet engine that was the best for superior to the one on the German Germans had to have two of these and they had reliability issues and all this if the Nazis would have had the Rolls-Royce engine jet engine two of them the power their jet more that would have been Unstoppable

Thanks for this video, it was far more thorough than most on the Corsair, its a pity that the best fighter of the war is so often overlooked. This aircraft had the agility of the spitfire and P51 but the ruggedness of the P47 with a very long range........ everything you could want in a fighter. The RNZAF operated 13 squadrons of Corsairs in the Pacific. Of the 424 aircraft we were supplied only 17 were lost to enemy action and 154 to accidents with 54 Pilots killed. So it won its battles and most of its accidents were survivable

The mark 8 Spitfire was a defacto new version. The mark 9 was a mark 5 with a new, more powerful Merlin engine. More mark (MK) 9's were made than any other. Featuring LF wings. These could house the following armament combinations. 4×20mm cannon, 2×20mm cannons and 4× •303 machine guns, or 2×20mm and 2× •50 machine guns. Photo recce versions typically had no armaments and a larger oil tank, and more fuel.

What this bloke has not told us that during the transition to the P47 from the Spitfire. New P47 pilots from the States challenged the Eagle Sqn blokes to mock fights . Four P47s were lost in quick succession trying to stay with the Spitfire in the turns. The C.O. stopped any mock fights below 8000ft And yet this was NOT even remembered when he P47 was to be used in the G/A role The USAAF SHOULD have left the P47 stay up high and developed the A36 to do the G/A role after all the RAF had been using their Mustangs as G/A planes very successfully

The Spitfire and Hurricane perfectly combined resulting in a great division of responsibilities, Spitfire mainly Fighters, Hurricane mainly Bombers , However because the Spitfire had more potential to be the main Fighter the Hurricane went to other duties and were very good at them.

Another well-chosen topic, well written and produced. Thanks to all involved!!

Thanks!

Why did the British use the Corsair? Because they knew a good thing when they saw it, would be my guess.

Best aviation history channel on UA-cam! I will become a patron in a couple of months, need to move first.

Fyi, High Ercall is pronounced High Arkle. My father flew Spitfires in Italy for the RAF, and he had the opposite happen to him, he was a Brit awarded the American DFC.

7:05 I do agree with this statement. Britain had to make to F4U work. I do acknowledge that.

In 2012 the Dieppe Raid was declassified from the 70 years of the Ultra Top Secret rating. It revealed that is was infact a raid to capture a enigma machine and when the Germans had switched to the four rotor machine and they were desperate code books. They did not know where the German Submarines were any more and in November of that same year the invasion of North Africa was to happen. They had no intelligence any more and were desperate for a new machine and code books. Dieppe was a intelligence hub for the German Navy and they knew there was a very good chance there was at least one there. That is why it was not cancelled when they ran into some vessel from the German Navy, as there was no surprise after that. Also it was the first time that the new special 30 unit of intelligence was used as it had just been formed. This was all revealed on WW II UA-cam and I first learned about it in 2012 as I was always suspious that since it was to be classified for 70 years, there was a lot more to the story. Yes, even Ian Flemming was there aboard a F type British Destroyer waiting for the booty, I believe the neame was the Fernie.

It's not as if British pilots or aircrew were better than their US counterparts. The British had to make do with what US pilots didn't like for carrier warfare.

'Shouts of 'Achung Spitfeuer' only exist in Hollywood films. The main RAF fighter during the Battle of Britain was the Hurricane. The average battle life expectancy of the pilots was 6 weeks, they worked 16 hour shifts and were often outnumbered in the air by 25:1.

Won't lie, first time I saw a Spitfire with the American star on the side, it made my mind hiccup and I had to go look. Fortunately, it was at the USAF museum in Dayton, so there was plenty of data. It was parked near a Mustang and a Warhawk in RAF rondels.

The British flag on the map at 18:30 shows gives the impression that the Commonwealth were far back in eastern Libya but were actually on the western border whilst Algeria just shows an American flag but that allied force was both American and the British 1st Army. The French had already been beaten by an under sized Commonwealth force in the Syrian campaign, including cavalry on both sides, which was hard fought over June and July 1941 until the French surrendered and most of them chose to return to France rather than join the Free French. The French Air Force in Syria was defeated and the French navy driven off or torpedoed by Royal Navy submarines and Swordfish torpedo bombers plus surface actions. The was every reason to expect a strong French defence against the invasion of North Africa. Similarly the Commonwealth invasion of Madagascar from May to November 1942 took seven months to finally defeat all French resistance.