Not gonna lie, I had no idea that they used night vision back in World War 2. I thought it was made during the 70s or 80s. I've now learned something new today. Great video. Also love the pun at the end.
Do keep in mind the old night vision equipment worked on different scientific principals. Generation 0 NVD's/NVO's=night vision devices are passive meaning it produced no light outside physical spectrum but amplified ambient light. Basically separate manned infrared spotlights where needed to use the low application device Generation 1 where still passive introduced in Vietnam had greatly improved with notably the Intensifier tube that meant well moonlit nights could operate NVD with no separate spotlights. Generation 2 integrated Microchannel Plate (MCP) into the image intensifier tube. MCPs further improve the amplification of ambient light meaning you could see at night even without the moon visible in the sky reflecting our sun Solar's light. Far less temperamental & reliable though still bulky. Generation NVD 3&4 is what most people think of when it comes to NVD's that have active imaging where a select band range is shot from a camera then captured not using ambient light. Generation 4 could could do active footage translation to reduce3 glare & through a built in computer make the image more translatable to the human eye. Generation 5 is theoretical & people have been working on night vision having colour through computer translation as well as other theoretical concepts!
@@davejohns6694 Immo as in Yes & no. The methods used today work by different principals & the Germans used Principals demonstrated by Britain but highly improved for night vision. Germany did make the Grandfather of assault rifles mind being the Sturmgewehr 44. All modern MBT's are based of the British centurion tank. Really Britain had far more influence on military technology, structure & design but as the 1st to do things it tends to be naff then other improve upon British ground break discoveries-inventions. Brits will generally invent it, the German make it usable & efficient then the yanks make it marketable-sellable! Then Orientals mass produces it on the cheap cheap as a copies.
Story timetime! Back in 2001 my dad got a 1943 CCKW truck. So we took it to a friend's house in North Western VA and restored it. So as we were working on the truck one day I noticed some boxes on the side of the garage at my friends house. They where tan color and had german writing on them. I saw the thin scope and search light. I asked Jeff if it was WWII german tank scopes, he said no it's NV set. Now at that point I only have seen 2 grain photos in books that was taken of these sets on a panther in the war. I said Jeff where did you get all this? He said a guy in his blacksmithing guild had past away. He worked for the US patent office in DC. Whenever something was thrown away he took it home. So he was there to get this complete set. When he did, Jeff got a call from his widow saying come get this history junk out of the basement. So it was a complete set, pack radios, radar equipment along with all documentation in German and English. A collector from the UK saw Jeff's set and said it was the best NV German set he'd ever seen in private ownership. And if any of you are wondering if we saw if it would work, Jeff tried but the Tubes in the equipment didn't work. So if you got new vacuum tube it would work.
I remember last year when the U.S. military came out with the ENVG-B and blew me away how fusion with night vision and thermal vision technology came together it was amazing it was something litterly out of predator
During the cold war NVDs on tanks still required massive spotlights. They were heavy,easy to disable and if the enemy had nvds too it made you a giant target. The swedes therefore put flare mortars on their tanks. After the flare is fired it doesnt broadcast the vehicle's position anymore while still providing illumination.
The starlight scope was used in the movie “The Green Berets.” The viewer sees it briefly in the raid on the ODA camp where the Lt. says “let’s see what starlight star bright has to say.”
I think you should do one on failed animal experiments of WW2. the Bat bomb over Japan would had been very interesting if we had gone through with it. And i believe we also tried to train dolphins with venomous darts on their nose and stab sailors with it.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq and... the Russians strapping explosives onto the backs of dogs in an attempt to destroy panzers. This backfired when the dogs ran backwards though... searching out Russian armor because that was the scent they were accustomed to.
I found the core for an AN/PVS-2 as surplus about 10 years ago, dirt cheap. The PVS-2 was an early 1960's scope which was a "cascade tube". Basically 3 image intensifiers to amplify ambient light stacked back to back, crammed into a housing with what was essentially a tiny TV and a transformer. Well, with a little ingenuity and a lot of spare time, I managed to build it into a functional night vision device, using some weather stripping, PVC pipe and fittings, some parts from an RC helicopter, a 57mm Minolta camera lens I found in a thrift store for the objective (f:1.14, stupid fast glass), a surplus Israeli occular lense, and a 4 AA battery housing from Radio Shack (from when when that was still a thing. I'll be honest, she wasn't about to win any beauty contests. Weighed about 6 lbs (2.75kg), the size of a roll of paper towels, and looked like a figgin pipe bomb (actually had to explain to a cop one time that it was an electro-optical device, not an explosive device). But I had about $210 into her, she was mine, and she worked. Thank you 1961 technology!
Forgot to mention, if you decide to try this yourself, make sure you get an occular lens with a green band on it. Those ones have lead coated lenses. If you damage the tube, it might start firing radioactive thorium directly into your eyeball from a range of about 0.5" / 12.7mm. The leaded lens will protect your retina. Time, distance, shielding.
I always watch your videos and find something small that I didn't know about with the added benefit of finding movies that showed that technology. This was something that I always knew existed but knew little to nothing about in regards to WWII. Thanks as always for the videos, Johnny, especially this one. Keep up the good work. N.B It's crazy that Infrared Search(?) Light technology is still being used in modern warfare, albeit in limited use.
Charles Mawhinney a prodigious sniper in Vietnam used a Starlight scope and M14 rifle to thwart a North Vietnamese river crossing killing 16 enemy who were in the middle of the river attempting a night crossing. Starlight scope was an improvement on WW2 designs but still pretty bulky.
The system was so new that I would think most troops probably didn't know about it. Those being shot at would be totally surprised, and wouldn't know how they were being seen. Must have been scary as he'll. Here it is pitch dark, and all of sudden the enemy somehow can see you! Talk about a morale buster.
A video on observation balloons would be cool. There's an episode of the BBC 'Wings' series, "Officers and Gentleman", where the moral dilemma of killing a parachuting observer is discussed.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq It would be an interesting video! As balloons were used as early as the French Revolutionary Wars. I believe I once saw archival footage of Germans using them in the Eastern Front in the Second World War.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I’m particularly intrigued by their communications methods. From what little I remember, observers used to make parachutes out of pocket handkerchiefs to drop containers with handwritten notes. Later on, they used to make devices that “rode” on the tether rope from the balloon, to make sure a stray gust of wind didn’t send observations to who-knows-where. I believe back in the Civil War, they used balloon mounted telegraphs. 😮
Observation balloons are actually where the phrase, "if the balloon goes up," denoting the commencement of combat operations, comes from. If the balloon goes up, fights on. "Seeing the elephant," is similarly an esoteric phrase, denoting having been engaged in combat operations. Back when America was much more rural, (before TV or even radio), a father would give his son a few dollars to visit a traveling circus. There, a young man could buy a few beers, get a little drunk, and, how shall I say this...enter commercial negotiations for temporary female "companionship." When he got home, his father would ask if he had "seen the elephant." Wink-wink-nod-nod. After the Civil War, it came to mean that you had shot at people, and been shot at in turn, and survived.
Love your videos buddy! This is such an interesting one and I never knew that night vision was used in battle in WW2. And I seriously use your videos as movie recommendations! I for real keep a list of all the cool clips I see and I put the names of the movies to watch later. You have seen war movies I've legit never even heard of. Keep up the great work! 😊✌
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I love it dude. For real, I’ve been watching your videos for a little while now and I just realized watching your latest video that I’d never on one of them yet commented. The amount of editing and research that goes into each one of your videos must be insane. Keep uploading cause I don’t think I’ve seen one video of yours I didn’t find fascinating!
Thanks for posting this information .I knew about the rudimentary night scopes on a few the Panthers. Did not know about any other night vision in WW2. You should do one on the Frogmen in the movies. A lot of WW2 movies were they used scuba tanks, which were not perfected I believe until late WW2 or after WW2.
Excellent video, sir ! I’m really fascinated with old night vision devices. Even though the WW2 night vision was big and bulky…it flippin worked ! …it really feels like something that just shouldn’t belong in the 40’s , possibly why most regular people associate that as a somewhat newer technology. I have a working Polish night vision set from from 1973 and even that seems out of place for the era !
I do know something of the early use of night vision equipment and its use by various countries. As well as infrared there was also the image intensifier such as the Starscope widely used by many armies such as the British Army. This took the available light and intensified it. Apparently this gave an excellent image for night fighting. I did read of an incident which occurred on the Eastern Front toward the end of WW2. A mixed group of about 100 Tiger and Panther tanks and equipped with night vision crossed their own lines and then broke through Soviet lines where they wreaked havoc destroying approximately 100 Soviet tanks before returning to their own lines. Effective though this may have been by that point in the war it was too little too late as far as making a major difference to its outcome. In Viet Nam a two man US sniper team equipped with night vision used it to stop a major NVA unit from overrunning a much smaller US Army unit. Late one night the sniper team was near a river when they became aware of the NVA troops. NVA scouts were looking for a crossing point when they were spotted by the sniper team who got themselves into position to ambush the NVA as they crossed the river. Now as it happened the sniper had decided to use an M14 rifle paired with the night vision equipment that night instead of the usual bolt action sniper rifle. This made all the difference as it meant that once the NVA started crossing the river the sniper could picking off the enemy without having to take the time to load in the next round. Because of the higher rate of fire coupled with the night vision equipment and the fact the NVA could not see them they managed to stop the NVA crossing the river and then drove them off which protected the other US soldiers further up the trail.
Thanks for sharing...Tumbledown...captured very well....in a visceral fashion, the sheer terror and confusion of night fighting...still upsetting to this day..and night....if Johnny wants to do bayonet posts that and Danny boy fit the butchers bill...no wonder I like a merlot or five...
My grandfather owned stg44 with nvg set. He sold it back in 2004 for around 220 000$, it paid his big house, new car and his pension. We are living in czech republic so 220k was alot of money. I think he could sell it for much more now tho :D Also I live in Loket - the town where t34 was filmed. I still have photos of the Panther tank. He got the stg44 from some german living in sudetes. He lived in rural town named Dolni nivy and there were alot of germans. But when the war ended they were all deported to germany. At around year 2000 alot of germans were coming back to sudetes to visit their homes. And one german family visited my grandparents since the house they lived in was owned by the germans during the war. The old german guy told my grandfather about stockpile of guns they had on their property, he showed him where to dig. About 1/2 months after that we had excavator there doing some digging and we found a simple concrete bunker with tons of equipment. Most of the equipment was lost due to rust, because the bunker was filled with water to the knees but some of the equipment was hanging on the walls, that is where the stg44 and the nvg powerpack was. I got photos of it, and 2 mp40s in excelent condition. I still own one of the mp40 Its in firing condition. I will sell it once I get old so I dont have to work anymore :D
I was wondering years ago playing Company Of Heroes add on-why there were WWII units with spotlight devices....turns out they were meant for night vision, just like what Heston used in Omega Man.
Thanks man! Honestly thermal vision and night vision gets really complicated and it's a tricky subject. Let me try and figure it all out a bit more first...
Really both night vision & thermal imaging are the same device called an NVD/NOD. The difference is if an Image intensifier or thermal capture rendering. Imagine intensifiers if passive capture then intensify reflect invisible light while active projects light outside the ambient spectrum that get reflected back & captured. Thermal capture rendering absorbs radiated thermal heat that is rendered to image. The devices guts are basically identical with a few differing parts made to set in design to differing frequencies in the spectrum. Basically image intensifiers need invisible light to work whilst thermal rendering doesn't but needs thermal radiation. Light short wave is Gama radiation down to the most of the infrared spectrum while thermal is long wave radio & micro waves & a small part of infrared. Same devices set to differing frequency with a different material medium for capture!
I had no idea NV technology was that old. You got me on this one, JJ. I just assumed everything Nv started in the 60s (American soldiers Starlite Scopes, etc).
Bruce Dern used an M3 Carbine w/night vision scope in 'The 'Burbs'. Charlton Heston used a BAR w/night vision scope in 'The Omega Man'. 4:09 Or around corners.
I remember hearing a story of a British soldier in a slit trench in 1945 firing a shot towards the German lines and when he repositioned and tried again he was immediately shot in the head. This was at night and the German probably had the vampire night vision scope.
Hey man. I've actually given that a go and it's a complicated subject so I will definitely try again when I have some solid down time to sink my teeth into it.
Thats cool man. the history of radar is massive in WW2 since it was a massive advantage to know where your enemy was before you could see them or hear them. if you do make a video, you should mention the Acoustic ears the brits made in the early parts of the war, which were just big concrete dished that reflected sound into a pipe so a person could hear if germans were crossing the channel.
My father was a technician for the 15th Air Force stationed in Italy. He was responsible for maintenance and repair of the then secret H2X ground scanning radar. The new radar system allowed accurate bombing at night and through cloud cover or smoke. It was first used in B24’s in one of the many raids on the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania.
I'm glad that you mentioned flares for night fighting. Night vision includes artificial light and that began with fire--and early glow in the dark systems. Small cloth panels, often white, would mark friendly personnel so that fratricide was reduced. Searchlights could be electric or use chemicals to produce a bright fire. Star shells and parachute flares were used when it wasn't practical to keep a fire burning for illumination. Flashlights were in use and matches and candles and radium dials were used too for night vision. Most of the time, darkness wasn't total--so these measures worked, mostly. Red light was used to preserve night vision. Red lights could be seen a long way off. Blue lights were worse for night vision but couldn't be detected as far--Britain's SOE experimented with blue lights operationally to give them a "fight in the dark" advantage in their guerrilla campaigns. White light ruined night vision for 15 to 60 minutes (depending on age, physical fitness, and smoker/non-smoker) but red light only ruined it for three to five minutes. One trick used was closing one eye or using an eye patch when the soldier had to use artificial light in order to carry out missions--the dark-adapted eye was better than both eyes being dazzled but inferior to two dark-adapted eyes. A flare countermeasure was to immediately close one eye when the flare popped and before the flare lit up. World War Two night vision was mostly technique, but a surprising amount of equipment was involved. Note that most maps were not and still are not red light readable. I found out the hard way about using red pens on yellow legal pads under red lighting. Radar was "night vision" and I'm glad that you called it such. Active infrared systems and meta scopes to detect active infrared were more common than you mentioned--IR blinker lights were usually just an IR filter over a regular blinker light and were read by meta scopes or special binoculars. German aircraft had receivers that detected British aircraft radars and gave a bearing on the source of radio frequency emissions. Crude heat sensor optics--not quite thermal imagers--were in use at the end of the war but these had short range; the Sidewinder air-to-air missile began with one of these devices. There were also sound locators--but these were too big and unreliable for battlefield use. Listening posts could have used them--artillery spotters sometimes did use them for counter-battery work. The Snooper Scope or active IR sniper scope was in use early in America's Vietnam misadventure and wasn't replaced fully until the late Sixties. Remember--the IR scope on the M3 Carbine was vacuum tube technology. Thanks for this video presentation. Most people have little idea of how early these night combat systems were in service. Often, they were being tested in combat without the usual peacetime troop trials.
While red lights do help with night vision, it's more that it starves the eye of light in the green spectrum (500-550nm wavelength, something like that). The human eye can discern more shades of green than any other color in the visible light spectrum. Basically, if you've been in red light for a while, your retina is screaming, "GIMME SOME OF DAT GREEN!" It's also why so many night vision devices (I² and early thermal) have green displays.
@@jackstecker5796 Thanks for the biological information. I think that the reason for early green displays was that they were based on phosphor Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technologies. I don't know everything. Early color television sets had three primary colors--blue, red and green.
@@alancranford3398 You're exactly right! So why not red? Or blue? Or even full color? Why green? Every night vision system I'm familiar with, American or Soviet, from the earliest I'm familiar with, the AN/PVS-2 in 1961 through the brand new PVS-14 I bought in 2012. All green. By that point, we had the technology to do it differently. Why stick with green for at least 51 years? Maybe it's a case of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't know. P.S. I used to wear an eyepatch over my right eye (right eye dominant) for hours before a night game of manhunt, when I was a kid. And to this day, I'll still go through a bag of baby carrots like a velociraptor in a day care. The vitamin A is great for eyesight. Although, it can be awkward when you walk into a convince store to get a bottle of water, wearing full camouflage, camo face-paint, and an eyepatch. Munching on a bag of carrots. Clerk is looking at you like a monkey doing a math problem, trying to decide if you're there to rob the place, or 15 year old Nick Fury just walked in. LOL
honnestly knowing how hard it is to drive in a collumn at night with only the small reflectors on your front mans back glowing once surely apreciated the night vision
Active IR. You guys can do this at home. Either wire up several IR LED's to a resistor and appropriate battery, or place an IR filter over a conventional flashlight lens. Walk into a dark room with your cell phone camera and your IR light source. Since many cell phone cams are sensitive to IR, you should be able to see (typically in black and white) a camera image, courtesy of your active IR light source. This is also why criminals walk around properties they are casing, at night, with their cell phone screens glowing. They are looking for security cameras which are typically equipped with an array of active IR emitters-- they are looking for your security cameras! I want to say that old fashioned blank film negatives are an IR filter, so find a few square inches of this stuff and hold it over your white light source (a penlight). To see if your digital cam is even sensitive to IR, walk into your dark bathroom with the cam and your TV remote. Since TV remotes are typically far IR emitters, aim the remote at the camera, press the remote button a few times and watch for a little white spot to appear on your camera. That is how your camera depicts IR it sees.
The night vision scean in the movie T-34 was waaaay too crystal clear. And the movie should have been called T-34/85, as they used a later war tank. Otherwise it was a great movie eh?
Imagine the future of Infrared Imaging Technology, when paired with an advanced computing and communication systems such as an integrated AI, it will become a deadly asset in detecting targets and relaying that information for rapid precision strikes
Operation Eagle Claw’s disastrous end provided the impetus for every branch of the US military to adopt night vision goggles and establishment of the SOAR Night Stalker regiment.
So I have to ask something: When you say the German NV was generally impractical for most combat situations, worked best defensively, and saw some limited use on specifically the Eastern Front, do you have any data on exactly how it was used? I'm just asking because honestly when you think about it, those three things together kind of paint a pretty grim picture on what it was actually used for, especially if Poland is generally considered part of the "Eastern Front".
it most likely was used by some guy leaning over his trench with the thing attached to his rifle trying to spot the enemy positions and take pop shots at them
USSR night vision played a role in the 1967 war between Israel and Syria. The Syrians nearly overran Israeli defences on the Golan height using night vision.
That movie, "T-34" sucked but man did it have some great special effects with it's bullet time! a couple anecdotes of my experience with NVGs in the 80s. We did a lot of training at Yakima Washington and at night if you put on your night vision goggles you could watch satellites and the space shuttle pass overhead. Also while training in Panama we found that with triple canopy jungle, that even with the IR setting, there was so little ambient light you couldn't see sh*t!🤨😵💫😀
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq actually it was a fake one. I think they put the infrared scope from the carbine on a Springfield in the video game. Called it a snooper rifle lol
Did they have any kind of night vision technology in World War I? Or did they only have flares? I know the lightbulb was new when WWI broke out but it wasn't THAT new.
The technology for infrared nv scopes wasn't really discovered until 1929, so in WWI they really only had flares or searchlights. That being said, glow in the dark radium painted iron sites and dials were used by pilots and such.
Not gonna lie, I had no idea that they used night vision back in World War 2. I thought it was made during the 70s or 80s. I've now learned something new today. Great video. Also love the pun at the end.
Thanks man! Glad the video was something new for you.
Do keep in mind the old night vision equipment worked on different scientific principals.
Generation 0 NVD's/NVO's=night vision devices are passive meaning it produced no light outside physical spectrum but amplified ambient light.
Basically separate manned infrared spotlights where needed to use the low application device
Generation 1 where still passive introduced in Vietnam had greatly improved with notably the Intensifier tube that meant well moonlit nights could operate NVD with no separate spotlights.
Generation 2 integrated Microchannel Plate (MCP) into the image intensifier tube. MCPs further improve the amplification of ambient light meaning you could see at night even without the moon visible in the sky reflecting our sun Solar's light.
Far less temperamental & reliable though still bulky.
Generation NVD 3&4 is what most people think of when it comes to NVD's that have active imaging where a select band range is shot from a camera then captured not using ambient light.
Generation 4 could could do active footage translation to reduce3 glare & through a built in computer make the image more translatable to the human eye.
Generation 5 is theoretical & people have been working on night vision having colour through computer translation as well as other theoretical concepts!
I should mention this is for image intensification NVD's
Though thermal capture is technically a branch of NVD's
Most gear we use now the Germans developed for their military, they were ahead of their time.
@@davejohns6694 Immo as in Yes & no.
The methods used today work by different principals & the Germans used Principals demonstrated by Britain but highly improved for night vision.
Germany did make the Grandfather of assault rifles mind being the Sturmgewehr 44.
All modern MBT's are based of the British centurion tank.
Really Britain had far more influence on military technology, structure & design but as the 1st to do things it tends to be naff then other improve upon British ground break discoveries-inventions.
Brits will generally invent it, the German make it usable & efficient then the yanks make it marketable-sellable!
Then Orientals mass produces it on the cheap cheap as a copies.
“Bravo six going Dank!”
Story timetime!
Back in 2001 my dad got a 1943 CCKW truck. So we took it to a friend's house in North Western VA and restored it. So as we were working on the truck one day I noticed some boxes on the side of the garage at my friends house. They where tan color and had german writing on them. I saw the thin scope and search light. I asked Jeff if it was WWII german tank scopes, he said no it's NV set. Now at that point I only have seen 2 grain photos in books that was taken of these sets on a panther in the war. I said Jeff where did you get all this? He said a guy in his blacksmithing guild had past away. He worked for the US patent office in DC. Whenever something was thrown away he took it home. So he was there to get this complete set. When he did, Jeff got a call from his widow saying come get this history junk out of the basement. So it was a complete set, pack radios, radar equipment along with all documentation in German and English. A collector from the UK saw Jeff's set and said it was the best NV German set he'd ever seen in private ownership.
And if any of you are wondering if we saw if it would work, Jeff tried but the Tubes in the equipment didn't work. So if you got new vacuum tube it would work.
Hey, I'm by no means an expert but that sounds
Maaaan if you could still find that box.
That would be INCREDIBLY rare now. He still got it?
Get that in a museum man
Cap 🧢
I remember last year when the U.S. military came out with the ENVG-B and blew me away how fusion with night vision and thermal vision technology came together it was amazing it was something litterly out of predator
During the cold war NVDs on tanks still required massive spotlights. They were heavy,easy to disable and if the enemy had nvds too it made you a giant target. The swedes therefore put flare mortars on their tanks. After the flare is fired it doesnt broadcast the vehicle's position anymore while still providing illumination.
I'm curious to know if a faint red glow wasn't visible anyway, just like todays IR illuminators
Do you have any clue?
Thanks
Is that the same kind the Israelis were using in the 6 Day War?
The starlight scope was used in the movie “The Green Berets.”
The viewer sees it briefly in the raid on the ODA camp where the Lt. says “let’s see what starlight star bright has to say.”
I think you should do one on failed animal experiments of WW2. the Bat bomb over Japan would had been very interesting if we had gone through with it. And i believe we also tried to train dolphins with venomous darts on their nose and stab sailors with it.
That could be interesting!
The bat bombs fall into the "what were they thinking" category.😀 But I do love the kamikaze pidgeon bombs.(in a dark humor sort of way)
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq and... the Russians strapping explosives onto the backs of dogs in an attempt to destroy panzers. This backfired when the dogs ran backwards though... searching out Russian armor because that was the scent they were accustomed to.
I found the core for an AN/PVS-2 as surplus about 10 years ago, dirt cheap. The PVS-2 was an early 1960's scope which was a "cascade tube". Basically 3 image intensifiers to amplify ambient light stacked back to back, crammed into a housing with what was essentially a tiny TV and a transformer.
Well, with a little ingenuity and a lot of spare time, I managed to build it into a functional night vision device, using some weather stripping, PVC pipe and fittings, some parts from an RC helicopter, a 57mm Minolta camera lens I found in a thrift store for the objective (f:1.14, stupid fast glass), a surplus Israeli occular lense, and a 4 AA battery housing from Radio Shack (from when when that was still a thing.
I'll be honest, she wasn't about to win any beauty contests. Weighed about 6 lbs (2.75kg), the size of a roll of paper towels, and looked like a figgin pipe bomb (actually had to explain to a cop one time that it was an electro-optical device, not an explosive device). But I had about $210 into her, she was mine, and she worked. Thank you 1961 technology!
Forgot to mention, if you decide to try this yourself, make sure you get an occular lens with a green band on it. Those ones have lead coated lenses. If you damage the tube, it might start firing radioactive thorium directly into your eyeball from a range of about 0.5" / 12.7mm. The leaded lens will protect your retina. Time, distance, shielding.
I always watch your videos and find something small that I didn't know about with the added benefit of finding movies that showed that technology.
This was something that I always knew existed but knew little to nothing about in regards to WWII.
Thanks as always for the videos, Johnny, especially this one. Keep up the good work.
N.B It's crazy that Infrared Search(?) Light technology is still being used in modern warfare, albeit in limited use.
Charles Mawhinney a prodigious sniper in Vietnam used a Starlight scope and M14 rifle to thwart a North Vietnamese river crossing killing 16 enemy who were in the middle of the river attempting a night crossing. Starlight scope was an improvement on WW2 designs but still pretty bulky.
I found your channel from the movie clips of combat but subscribed for all this great historical content. Keep hustling Johnny
Hey Mike! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice comment. 🙏
The system was so new that I would think most troops probably didn't know about it. Those being shot at would be totally surprised, and wouldn't know how they were being seen. Must have been scary as he'll. Here it is pitch dark, and all of sudden the enemy somehow can see you! Talk about a morale buster.
A video on observation balloons would be cool. There's an episode of the BBC 'Wings' series, "Officers and Gentleman", where the moral dilemma of killing a parachuting observer is discussed.
I do like this idea!
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq It would be an interesting video! As balloons were used as early as the French Revolutionary Wars. I believe I once saw archival footage of Germans using them in the Eastern Front in the Second World War.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I’m particularly intrigued by their communications methods. From what little I remember, observers used to make parachutes out of pocket handkerchiefs to drop containers with handwritten notes. Later on, they used to make devices that “rode” on the tether rope from the balloon, to make sure a stray gust of wind didn’t send observations to who-knows-where. I believe back in the Civil War, they used balloon mounted telegraphs. 😮
Observation balloons are actually where the phrase, "if the balloon goes up," denoting the commencement of combat operations, comes from. If the balloon goes up, fights on.
"Seeing the elephant," is similarly an esoteric phrase, denoting having been engaged in combat operations. Back when America was much more rural, (before TV or even radio), a father would give his son a few dollars to visit a traveling circus. There, a young man could buy a few beers, get a little drunk, and, how shall I say this...enter commercial negotiations for temporary female "companionship."
When he got home, his father would ask if he had "seen the elephant." Wink-wink-nod-nod. After the Civil War, it came to mean that you had shot at people, and been shot at in turn, and survived.
I think its clear to see you've brightened my outlook on the day with this video.
A winning comment
Love your videos buddy! This is such an interesting one and I never knew that night vision was used in battle in WW2. And I seriously use your videos as movie recommendations! I for real keep a list of all the cool clips I see and I put the names of the movies to watch later. You have seen war movies I've legit never even heard of. Keep up the great work! 😊✌
Thanks man! That's half the objective here is just to expose interesting movies for people. :)
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq I love it dude. For real, I’ve been watching your videos for a little while now and I just realized watching your latest video that I’d never on one of them yet commented. The amount of editing and research that goes into each one of your videos must be insane. Keep uploading cause I don’t think I’ve seen one video of yours I didn’t find fascinating!
Thanks for posting this information .I knew about the rudimentary night scopes on a few the Panthers. Did not know about any other night vision in WW2. You should do one on the Frogmen in the movies. A lot of WW2 movies were they used scuba tanks, which were not perfected I believe until late WW2 or after WW2.
i swear this channel just spawned on my youtube home page then stayed there and im not even mad, i love these videos
Excellent video, sir ! I’m really fascinated with old night vision devices. Even though the WW2 night vision was big and bulky…it flippin worked ! …it really feels like something that just shouldn’t belong in the 40’s , possibly why most regular people associate that as a somewhat newer technology.
I have a working Polish night vision set from from 1973 and even that seems out of place for the era !
I do know something of the early use of night vision equipment and its use by various countries. As well as infrared there was also the image intensifier such as the Starscope widely used by many armies such as the British Army. This took the available light and intensified it. Apparently this gave an excellent image for night fighting.
I did read of an incident which occurred on the Eastern Front toward the end of WW2. A mixed group of about 100 Tiger and Panther tanks and equipped with night vision crossed their own lines and then broke through Soviet lines where they wreaked havoc destroying approximately 100 Soviet tanks before returning to their own lines. Effective though this may have been by that point in the war it was too little too late as far as making a major difference to its outcome.
In Viet Nam a two man US sniper team equipped with night vision used it to stop a major NVA unit from overrunning a much smaller US Army unit. Late one night the sniper team was near a river when they became aware of the NVA troops. NVA scouts were looking for a crossing point when they were spotted by the sniper team who got themselves into position to ambush the NVA as they crossed the river. Now as it happened the sniper had decided to use an M14 rifle paired with the night vision equipment that night instead of the usual bolt action sniper rifle. This made all the difference as it meant that once the NVA started crossing the river the sniper could picking off the enemy without having to take the time to load in the next round. Because of the higher rate of fire coupled with the night vision equipment and the fact the NVA could not see them they managed to stop the NVA crossing the river and then drove them off which protected the other US soldiers further up the trail.
Thanks for sharing...Tumbledown...captured very well....in a visceral fashion, the sheer terror and confusion of night fighting...still upsetting to this day..and night....if Johnny wants to do bayonet posts that and Danny boy fit the butchers bill...no wonder I like a merlot or five...
Nice video
There's a local(ish) company that makes NVGs, they sponsored a nearby SAR team and even gave them night vision equipment too!
When I played bfv I never new there was infrared scopes at all until the m3 carbine was released and now you gave it a great break down thanks man
My grandfather owned stg44 with nvg set. He sold it back in 2004 for around 220 000$, it paid his big house, new car and his pension. We are living in czech republic so 220k was alot of money. I think he could sell it for much more now tho :D Also I live in Loket - the town where t34 was filmed. I still have photos of the Panther tank. He got the stg44 from some german living in sudetes. He lived in rural town named Dolni nivy and there were alot of germans. But when the war ended they were all deported to germany. At around year 2000 alot of germans were coming back to sudetes to visit their homes. And one german family visited my grandparents since the house they lived in was owned by the germans during the war. The old german guy told my grandfather about stockpile of guns they had on their property, he showed him where to dig. About 1/2 months after that we had excavator there doing some digging and we found a simple concrete bunker with tons of equipment. Most of the equipment was lost due to rust, because the bunker was filled with water to the knees but some of the equipment was hanging on the walls, that is where the stg44 and the nvg powerpack was. I got photos of it, and 2 mp40s in excelent condition. I still own one of the mp40 Its in firing condition. I will sell it once I get old so I dont have to work anymore :D
Tell me about it lol an authentic standard issued military German KAR98K with matching serial numbers from WWII costs like $20,000-$50,000 😩
You put an interesting spotlight on the topic...
haha thank you sir
Came here for the video, gave a thumbs up for the pun at the end :) Cheers, pal - excellent stuff as usual :)
haha my man Neil. Thanks for the support :)
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq No worries - keep up the great work :)
I was wondering years ago playing Company Of Heroes add on-why there were WWII units with spotlight devices....turns out they were meant for night vision, just like what Heston used in Omega Man.
That was a great game... It must have been in the opposing front expansion?
Sure, we'll hide zis giant, gun....
@@samholdsworth420 actually USA portion of CoH2, ardennes assault. Your base is basically a big circle like in Fury.....
Do you think you can talk about the devopment of thermal vision and it's appearences in various media? Love your work Johnny!
Thanks man! Honestly thermal vision and night vision gets really complicated and it's a tricky subject. Let me try and figure it all out a bit more first...
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq As a man of the militia I got a couple ATN Th0r 4 thermal scopes, they are a must have for any modern night fighter. I love em.
Really both night vision & thermal imaging are the same device called an NVD/NOD.
The difference is if an Image intensifier or thermal capture rendering.
Imagine intensifiers if passive capture then intensify reflect invisible light while active projects light outside the ambient spectrum that get reflected back & captured.
Thermal capture rendering absorbs radiated thermal heat that is rendered to image.
The devices guts are basically identical with a few differing parts made to set in design to differing frequencies in the spectrum.
Basically image intensifiers need invisible light to work whilst thermal rendering doesn't but needs thermal radiation.
Light short wave is Gama radiation down to the most of the infrared spectrum while thermal is long wave radio & micro waves & a small part of infrared.
Same devices set to differing frequency with a different material medium for capture!
@@arnijulian6241 Thermals are far superior. Once you use em you won’t go back.
@@mattandrews8528 Thermals and NVG both have their places, one is not really better than the other.
I had no idea NV technology was that old. You got me on this one, JJ. I just assumed everything Nv started in the 60s (American soldiers Starlite Scopes, etc).
Night Vision Generations
WWII: Gen 0.1/working prototypes
Korea: Gen 0.5
Vietnam: Gen 1
Gulf War: Gen 2
Afganistan/Iraq/GWOT: Gen 3
Nice video Johnny keep up the good work
Bruce Dern used an M3 Carbine w/night vision scope in 'The 'Burbs'. Charlton Heston used a BAR w/night vision scope in 'The Omega Man'.
4:09 Or around corners.
Dang you're good! I'd put you on pay role if I had one
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Awh, shucks! >///w///
Excellent vid! I think ive also seen a few british Sten guns equipped with an inferred sight as well
*"They mostly come at night... mostly."*
In the Army in the '90s we used mostly flares and some Starlights... mostly.
Haha you give all the right comments
Great video bro!!
“Illuminating!’ That made me actually lol. And I’m lying in bed with COVID so making me laugh ain’t easy. Great vid.
Hope you feel better soon! Glad I could give ya laugh
You’re an amazing channel and I can say I’ve watched every single one of your videos.
Lots more to come 🤘
I remember hearing a story of a British soldier in a slit trench in 1945 firing a shot towards the German lines and when he repositioned and tried again he was immediately shot in the head. This was at night and the German probably had the vampire night vision scope.
Hey johnny, could you do an overview of Radar in the second world war? you always see these radar antennae on planes like on the BF-110.
Hey man. I've actually given that a go and it's a complicated subject so I will definitely try again when I have some solid down time to sink my teeth into it.
Thats cool man. the history of radar is massive in WW2 since it was a massive advantage to know where your enemy was before you could see them or hear them. if you do make a video, you should mention the Acoustic ears the brits made in the early parts of the war, which were just big concrete dished that reflected sound into a pipe so a person could hear if germans were crossing the channel.
Absolutely!
My father was a technician for the 15th Air Force stationed in Italy. He was responsible for maintenance and repair of the then secret H2X ground scanning radar. The new radar system allowed accurate bombing at night and through cloud cover or smoke. It was first used in B24’s in one of the many raids on the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania.
Great video, thanks
Nice video, i wouldn't know WW2 had night visions if it werent for Return to Castle Wolfenstein and your video reminding me.
Very sturdy, and easy to clean.Excellent product
Love the channel:)
🙏
This is a feature in a game, CoH2, always wondered what it was about, nice video
"Bravo six going dark"
- Captain Price
Cool video man
If you watch the movie The Omega Man in one scene you see Charlton Heston use an M14 with an infrared scope and it has the light on top of the sight
i appreciate that ill learned something about ww2 nvg technology
2:48 a woman carrying sg44 using a rare IR night vision scope in the middle of the day in wwII, disrespecting history this much should be illegal
Shut up. If you want a more historically authentic World War II game, go play Hell Let Loose.
Seen it in Navy Seals (1990) with Charlie (Winning) Sheen called him GOD. And in the PS1 1 game Medal of Honor 1999.
Do a topic about drones or unmanned vehicles in battles. Sentry guns also
I had some doubts, but this video shed a light on them.
A bit like those cop shows where they never put the light on....TV dramas eh...
I'm glad that you mentioned flares for night fighting. Night vision includes artificial light and that began with fire--and early glow in the dark systems. Small cloth panels, often white, would mark friendly personnel so that fratricide was reduced. Searchlights could be electric or use chemicals to produce a bright fire. Star shells and parachute flares were used when it wasn't practical to keep a fire burning for illumination. Flashlights were in use and matches and candles and radium dials were used too for night vision. Most of the time, darkness wasn't total--so these measures worked, mostly.
Red light was used to preserve night vision. Red lights could be seen a long way off. Blue lights were worse for night vision but couldn't be detected as far--Britain's SOE experimented with blue lights operationally to give them a "fight in the dark" advantage in their guerrilla campaigns. White light ruined night vision for 15 to 60 minutes (depending on age, physical fitness, and smoker/non-smoker) but red light only ruined it for three to five minutes. One trick used was closing one eye or using an eye patch when the soldier had to use artificial light in order to carry out missions--the dark-adapted eye was better than both eyes being dazzled but inferior to two dark-adapted eyes. A flare countermeasure was to immediately close one eye when the flare popped and before the flare lit up. World War Two night vision was mostly technique, but a surprising amount of equipment was involved. Note that most maps were not and still are not red light readable. I found out the hard way about using red pens on yellow legal pads under red lighting.
Radar was "night vision" and I'm glad that you called it such. Active infrared systems and meta scopes to detect active infrared were more common than you mentioned--IR blinker lights were usually just an IR filter over a regular blinker light and were read by meta scopes or special binoculars. German aircraft had receivers that detected British aircraft radars and gave a bearing on the source of radio frequency emissions. Crude heat sensor optics--not quite thermal imagers--were in use at the end of the war but these had short range; the Sidewinder air-to-air missile began with one of these devices. There were also sound locators--but these were too big and unreliable for battlefield use. Listening posts could have used them--artillery spotters sometimes did use them for counter-battery work.
The Snooper Scope or active IR sniper scope was in use early in America's Vietnam misadventure and wasn't replaced fully until the late Sixties. Remember--the IR scope on the M3 Carbine was vacuum tube technology.
Thanks for this video presentation. Most people have little idea of how early these night combat systems were in service. Often, they were being tested in combat without the usual peacetime troop trials.
While red lights do help with night vision, it's more that it starves the eye of light in the green spectrum (500-550nm wavelength, something like that). The human eye can discern more shades of green than any other color in the visible light spectrum.
Basically, if you've been in red light for a while, your retina is screaming, "GIMME SOME OF DAT GREEN!" It's also why so many night vision devices (I² and early thermal) have green displays.
@@jackstecker5796 Thanks for the biological information. I think that the reason for early green displays was that they were based on phosphor Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technologies. I don't know everything. Early color television sets had three primary colors--blue, red and green.
@@alancranford3398 You're exactly right! So why not red? Or blue? Or even full color? Why green?
Every night vision system I'm familiar with, American or Soviet, from the earliest I'm familiar with, the AN/PVS-2 in 1961 through the brand new PVS-14 I bought in 2012. All green. By that point, we had the technology to do it differently. Why stick with green for at least 51 years?
Maybe it's a case of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't know.
P.S. I used to wear an eyepatch over my right eye (right eye dominant) for hours before a night game of manhunt, when I was a kid. And to this day, I'll still go through a bag of baby carrots like a velociraptor in a day care. The vitamin A is great for eyesight.
Although, it can be awkward when you walk into a convince store to get a bottle of water, wearing full camouflage, camo face-paint, and an eyepatch. Munching on a bag of carrots. Clerk is looking at you like a monkey doing a math problem, trying to decide if you're there to rob the place, or 15 year old Nick Fury just walked in. LOL
honnestly knowing how hard it is to drive in a collumn at night with only the small reflectors on your front mans back glowing once surely apreciated the night vision
Great episode but you missed the men from uncles heavy use of infrared optics in the 1960's
Yooo before 400 views! Keep up the interesting videos johnny
My man! Thanks as always
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq No problem brother!
you missed some good stuff, soviet also scaled down active IR scope and put them on smallarms, we saw PPSh and mosin nagant with NV scope too.
I love your videos
Which system do think was the most successful? I think it was the M3 Carbine, as it still saw use during the Korean War.
2:00
Bruh, the guys nickname in the kill feed..
Sorry about that I never noticed it
BTW I saw those weird scopes on tanks in ww2 but always thought it was just an enhancement scope to see further tanks
The M1 Carbine was chosen as the basis for the M3 because the primitive electronics were too delicate for the recoil generated by .30-'06.
Yes. WWII era night vision wasn't even what we would call gen 1.
More like gen 0 / working prototypes.
Looks like Samwise Gamgee decided not to just walk into Mordor
can you make a video on any night vision equipment used in the first world war, if any?
I own a bridged set of pvs14s with a coti (clip on thermal imager). It’s a lot better than the single tube I was issued in the marines lol
Think it's time for the g3 video johnny 😉
Garand Thumb and Lucas Botkin NVG vibes
If nazis waited 10 years to attack they would have been so much more advanced than anyone else. Almost like alien technology.
Active IR. You guys can do this at home. Either wire up several IR LED's to a resistor and appropriate battery, or place an IR filter over a conventional flashlight lens. Walk into a dark room with your cell phone camera and your IR light source. Since many cell phone cams are sensitive to IR, you should be able to see (typically in black and white) a camera image, courtesy of your active IR light source.
This is also why criminals walk around properties they are casing, at night, with their cell phone screens glowing. They are looking for security cameras which are typically equipped with an array of active IR emitters-- they are looking for your security cameras!
I want to say that old fashioned blank film negatives are an IR filter, so find a few square inches of this stuff and hold it over your white light source (a penlight). To see if your digital cam is even sensitive to IR, walk into your dark bathroom with the cam and your TV remote. Since TV remotes are typically far IR emitters, aim the remote at the camera, press the remote button a few times and watch for a little white spot to appear on your camera. That is how your camera depicts IR it sees.
Yes
Hi Johnny,could you do me a flavour...could do the story about the Grumman F 14 Tomcat ? Since after you tell the story of Grumman A 6 Intruder...
Absolutely! I owe the Tomcat a good video. Soon I promise.
There is a paperback novel called The Master Sniper about a fictional SS sniper whos issued with that STG44 Vampir scope for a special mission.
I knew about the Vampire thing but much of the other bits I hadn’t.
The night vision scean in the movie T-34 was waaaay too crystal clear. And the movie should have been called T-34/85, as they used a later war tank. Otherwise it was a great movie eh?
The whole idea of carrots making your night vision better was a smoke screen to cover the development of night vision.
That joke right at the end. Well played, sir 😂
Thoughts on the new upcoming WW2 miniseries “masters of the air”
This must be how people see me in the bushes on a nighttime map in hell let loose
the Infrared light and scope on rifles appeared regularly in The Man From UNCLE TV series as super spy tech
Imagine the future of Infrared Imaging Technology, when paired with an advanced computing and communication systems such as an integrated AI, it will become a deadly asset in detecting targets and relaying that information for rapid precision strikes
The f-35 already has this
But when will we get the Sam Fisher three eyed goggles, is the real question that needs asking.
man those nods ass ngl homie needs a whole pc setup to see with them things
Operation Eagle Claw’s disastrous end provided the impetus for every branch of the US military to adopt night vision goggles and establishment of the SOAR Night Stalker regiment.
So I have to ask something:
When you say the German NV was generally impractical for most combat situations, worked best defensively, and saw some limited use on specifically the Eastern Front, do you have any data on exactly how it was used? I'm just asking because honestly when you think about it, those three things together kind of paint a pretty grim picture on what it was actually used for, especially if Poland is generally considered part of the "Eastern Front".
it most likely was used by some guy leaning over his trench with the thing attached to his rifle trying to spot the enemy positions and take pop shots at them
The only reason why I knew about Night Vision during World War II was the Brickarms STG-44 “Vampir.”😂
USSR night vision played a role in the 1967 war between Israel and Syria. The Syrians nearly overran Israeli defences on the Golan height using night vision.
2:04 the username is crazy 💀
You could do videos on sonar, radio and Morse code.
4:26 every trooper can now play in predator mode 👍🏽😊
Oh, if only Return to Castle Wolfenstein's Snooper Rifle wasn't an awesome anachronism, it would probably be included here.
That movie, "T-34" sucked but man did it have some great special effects with it's bullet time!
a couple anecdotes of my experience with NVGs in the 80s. We did a lot of training at Yakima Washington and at night if you put on your night vision goggles you could watch satellites and the space shuttle pass overhead. Also while training in Panama we found that with triple canopy jungle, that even with the IR setting, there was so little ambient light you couldn't see sh*t!🤨😵💫😀
Can you tell about the Beretta M38 smg
Man, RtCW was an awesome game. Spent hundreds of hours playing mp_beach lol
Johnny, I really expected you to have a video game clip of RtCW lol
Was it in there? That game has awesome fun stuff. Sorry if I missed it I owe ya one.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq actually it was a fake one. I think they put the infrared scope from the carbine on a Springfield in the video game. Called it a snooper rifle lol
@@samholdsworth420 They put it on an M1 Carbine, not a Springfield.
RIP Last Dambuster!
Did they have any kind of night vision technology in World War I? Or did they only have flares? I know the lightbulb was new when WWI broke out but it wasn't THAT new.
The technology for infrared nv scopes wasn't really discovered until 1929, so in WWI they really only had flares or searchlights.
That being said, glow in the dark radium painted iron sites and dials were used by pilots and such.
@@RedStarRogue Guess that answers my question.
could you done about the javelin
rocket system
It's on my channel somewhere. One of my older videos :)
"It did not detect body heat"
Proceeds to show a "WW2" game with a night vision scope that is detecting body heat
'Moons out, Goons out.'
Easy-to-use.. right out of the box
This isn't even a "scratching the surface" level video. This wouldn't break even the surface tension on a overfilled glass of water...
im shocked zero footage of "the Omega Man" made it into this video XD
Another enlightening video about little know weapons systems. Too bad It was over in a flash!
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