How ONE German Pilot Became the Allies Worst Nightmare
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- This is the full story of Egon Mayer, quite possibly Germany's greatest fighter ace. With over 50 Spitfire Kills and 25 Heavy Bomber kills, he was easily one of the most valuable pilots the Luftwaffe had and was responsible for the tactic that took down countless B-17 Flying Fortresses in World War II. We may have also even located the forgotten gun camera footage of his death! This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder. Hope you enjoy! It's totally free to play and you can download it here: playwt.link/tj3
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Your Gestapo suit is georgeous :-D Good video by the way. On 22.9.43 there was an underclaiming. Meyer claiming 2, but 3 Spitfires were lost to enemy fighters. Birbeck was pursuied, but Fw 190 turned around and then after some time he was forced to bale out 20-25 nm. S. Ford. Mabye it was Meyer who pursuied him mabye not...
This man was no boy! Choose your words carefully!
The German". 50cal/DSHK" an absolute decimator 13mm
I sgree nut he died to early
👌
This is by far the most underrated aerial combat history channel on UA-cam. Not only is it underrated, but it is also one of the very best . Guy's, please like this video so that this channels algorithm gains more traction and can be seen by other aerial combat enthusiasts such as ourselves . TJ , keep up the amazing work that you put in to bring these videos to us , the fans.
Thank you very much :)
@@TJ3just telling the truth . Have a wonderful day .
The narrator is wrong on a few important facts plus the Air force wasn't formed until late 1947. I guess I could have misunderstood his wording. It's Army Air Force until late 1947 then Air Force. That was one mistake that didn't require more then a sentence. The other things I stated on earlier post. Little details can magnify misunderstanding of history. If I'm wrong I apologize.
Just some lucky shots change history itself.... Truthful history telling is critical theses days.
For me Hans-Joachim Marseille was, is and will always be the best German fighter pilot!!! 🦅
He was absolutely fascinating as well, and an elite marksman!
Absolutely, not only skilled but a true gentleman during the time.
If only his work with jazz piano ;)
@5.56man2 and a ladies man 👀 haha
But his scores are based on Nazi lies! What tosh.
The luftwaffe planes and pilots definitely have a romance all of their own. I love this work of yours and thoroughly enjoyed it. So completely unbiased, and that is a rare approach these days. Thank you!
I always thought the Spitfire I & II were truly the classic planes. As far as the Me-109 I have often read that the "F" was one of the best. Marseille wanted to keep his, but was ordered into the "G" which had problems, and we know how that came out.
In fact the F variant of the 109 outperformed the Mark II Spitfire in 1941 and it wasn't until the Mark V with the Griffin engine that the RAF was back on equal terms. The 'Rhubarb' search and destroy ground target missions that the RAF were carrying out in 1941 made them very vulnerable to being jumped by German fighters.
@@catinthehat906first of all it’s the Griffon not Griffin engine and secondly the Mark V didn’t have it.
Good observation: I heard and read that the Me-109 G was disliked by several German aces as it was prone to have mechanical troubles. If I remember correctly the engine was not properly refrigerated and caught fire easily, but I could not confirm this.
@@arslongavitabrevis5136 But they were fuel injected.
The problem was the same as for a F35 nowadays... the first ones were most advanced and had technical issues.
Similar to the Canadian fighter ace, George 'Buzz' Beurling, Mayer, along with several other top Luftwaffe fighter pilots, became extremely adept at deflection shooting. Master that discipline, and the next requisites were great planes to fly in combat scenarios, top-class ground-crews and excellent wing-men. Plus plenty of ammo and some novice enemy pilots to engage.
Both Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 and Supermarine Sptfire Mk !had an armament of 8 browning 303 machine guns. Also in BOB in 1940 All german Bf 109's were 109 E type, not type For G.
Excellent video and that's what I call deep diving into history well done !
Thank you!
Thanks you for all your hard work in these videos! I look forward to watching them and always learn from them. Much appreciated.
Germany had a ton of high scoring aces Eichmann at 352 phenomenal totals. Wonder how good the opposition was but heck they felt with whatever came along. Heard the Russian combat was totally different from the other campaigns.
Eichmann was into camp deportations. With 352 victiories it was Hartmann.
Not Eichmann amigo.but Hartmann
A first class presentation. You definitely have a talent for delivering a narrative. Thanks kindly.
Thank you!
You have without a doubt one of the best voices I have ever heard, describing action and allowing us to feel as if we are involved in the battles , Outstanding work and hope you get acclaimed recognition you deserve. Thank You and really enjoy as my favorite war your Vietnam docucoverage as well.
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what/whom the orator was describing. Class A research project!!! I'm certain some of the pilots exaggerated their number of kills. Special thanks to all veteran pilots sharing personal combat experiences. Making this documentary more authentic and possible.
Thank you!
hardly possible to exaggerate too much within the Luftwaffe and the real numbers should be rather higher
you had to have at least one witness to confirm your claim and they had to be approved by an officer who would (more or less) investigate the whole affair
many Luftwaffe pilots who somehow ended up flying alone or far enough away from the rest of their squad and most certainly shot down planes while doing so, didn't have them listed ......sometimes even when they had a gun cam rolling and capturing the fight and hits but not show a literally exploiding aircraft - captured impacts and smoke trails + victory claim alone just wasn't enough
Werner Molders, single handedly clear Krimean skies for Von Manstein
Just saw another doc on him, he was one hell of a character...tried hitting engines to avoid killing pilots
Adolph Galland was the first pilot to take out 5 B-17's by dropping a bomb in air to air combat while flying a ME-262... He also had flown a JU-87, where he lost his foot in a low level maneuver while trying to avoid getting shutdown by two Russian lL-2's . He passed out, and his plane came to an abrupt halt when it hit a tree. His tail gunner pulled him from the wreck, and carried him back across enemy lines... Even after losing a foot he still continued to fly. After the war he helped the French in their design of the Mirage jet fighter...
As an interesting observation, the kill markings of Meyer are on the tail of a FW-190. A very well done and researched piece. Kudo's to you, sir
My absolute favorite was is and always will be the very cheerful and very talented Gunther Rall.❤ Such a sweet sweet man and a very good sport
It's eye opening when you look at the number of kills of top German pilots, many of whom had flown countless missions on the eastern front before returning to fight in Western Europe and contrast them to America's top Ace, who had forty kills. The British top ace had 350+ I believe. But Germany's practice of continuing to fly their best pilots till they were killed or wounded instead of letting them train new pilots and the gradual dwindling of raw materials, spare parts and fuel are the exact circumstances the allies needed to pull even with and eventually surpass them in air superiority.
Experienced German fighter pilots were routinely spelled with a holiday such as skiing or rotated to training schools.
Don't believe all the hype.
@@frankvandergoes298Doesn't change the fact they flew literally until the last day of war or death.
@@Vickzq And exactly what do you think Allied fighter pilots did. They flew till they were killed, captured or survived.
@@frankvandergoes298
Most allied fighters flew 30 missions for USAF.
Russians kept flying.
@@Vickzq The whole air war did not revolve around the USAF. RAF pilots were in constant action from 1939 till 1945. This fantasy that Allied pilots wete all sent to be flying instructors is totally false.
The attrition rate was very high.
When Desmond Scott graduated flying school there were 10 in the class. Within the first year 8 were shot down and killed one was captured and Scott was the only one to fly combat missions throughout the war and guess what at no stage was he sent to be a flying instructor.
Always an Outstanding video and presentation.
Thank you!
The nose art in this movie is from Hans "Assi" Hahn JG4 in the west and JG54 in the east
Wish I could go back in time with blue prints, tech, and any info that could have helped Germany.
"Spit could cut trough the air like no other plane!" isn't really true. It could TURN better, yes, but once in a DIVE it was in danger of loosing it's WINGS once you dive it over 630kmh. while Me109 could push it over 800kmh! THAT was the very reason why the Germans had control of the engagement! The 109's could disengage any Spit just as long as they see it before it shot them down and they had sufficient altitude to dive it above 650kmh. So the both planes had their own strengths and weaknesses. It was actually H. Goering's order for the fighters over Britain to stay close to their bombers that limited the 109's, thus refusing them their greatest strength, literally forcing them to turn-fight with tighter turning Spitfires. If they held on to B'n'Z tactics that brought them so much success earlier, their results would have been different. That being said, I thoroughly ENJOYED the video and found it more than interesting that such an experienced fighter pilot couldn't outfight the young Gresham even thou he had the lighter plane. Is it possible that young Gresham did it right and had found his mark with initial burst, or was it the HABIT of OUTDIVING the DANGER the German pilots had that really got him (him trying to outdive the faster diving plane) is my question. No matter the answer, he had made a mistake and young Gresham deserved to have the day. Just...fascinating all around! You're best video yet!
Marseille was the best fighter pilot to ever sit in an airplane…. Not only his unparalleled skill but his personality, view of politics (no nazi+ was disgusted when he heard about the warcrimes, especially the holocaust) and was probably one of the biggest womanizer to ever exist…. Pure Madlad and an absolute hero
Not every source is 100% accurate because the original sources are from the 40s
Not 100 %, but German sources are the most accurate of all air forces in WW 2 - that's a fact!
I have been trying to remember the name of the German pilot from primarily the eastern front who had about 500 kills. I inoperable he survived the war and was in soviet captivity for nearly 10 years. Not taking away from Egon Mayer, just another Great German fighter pilot. Was it Hartmann?
Thinks it must be Holt Hartmann - served 10 years of russian prison
The German air force had good technology in the plains that they were flying. The problem was just to many enemies in the end. But when you look at all the Ace's Of The air force were being lost in battle. 🇩🇪🔥
@@Mmjk_12there wasnt any battle of britain thats british propaganda.
@@Mmjk_12 The only reason the germans lost that was because their fighters didn't have enough fuel for any prolonged fight over britain. They could at most do one attack run and had to turn around for french and german airbases. Had nothing to do with "superior technology" mate.
nicely done. lot of great info/history
For me Erich Hartman is is Germany’s best ace
I’d say marcel was the best but Erich just got lucky interns of he was in the right front (eastern) and he survived many times he should’ve died. Maybe if marcel survived he would’ve had more kills
Who? Never heard of him. Was he notable in some way?
@@ruehl3853 true but downing planes isn’t easy
@@ruehl3853 I'm sure by writing marcel (sooo funny!) you mean Hans-Joachim Marseille (pronounced Mar.sey)!
Great video. Thanks
War is Horrible.... Such young men killing each other.
how do you get the custom plane paints in game???
I couldn't image if these Ace (german) was flying jet plane (e.g. ME 262) in early of the war how many kills did they scored
According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Mayer was credited with 102 aerial victories
Brilliant vid.thanks.
Excellent video😊
the claims of all sides were overclaimed. The RAF and USAAF claims were no worse or better than the Luftwaffe claims. Its not hard to happen, for example if two aircraft attack the same fighter without being aware of each other claim the same aircraft.
Well done.
Never heard of this guy, thanks! Pity your data did not mention the various marks of Spitfire (mks I to V) v Bf-109 (E to G) - it was a constant see-saw of superiority... and then the Fw-190A - never really bettered by the British until the Spitfire IX! Many German fighter pilots considered the P-51D Mustang dangerous because of it's numbers while, individually, the P-47 was always more dangerous at any time - as your video shows! The P-38E/F/G, called "Twin-tailed Devil" by the Germans, was longer-ranged than the early P-47's.
The B-24 shown at 27:06 has markings I've never seen before . The giant "B" in what looks like a cue ball is awesome looking is that accurate?
Yes that usually indicates a specific bomb group I believe.
@@TJ3 Ok thanks for the reply buddy, I know you're extremely busy.
Thank you for your hard work !! Very nice ...Thank you.
Spitfire, the most shotdown aircraft ww2
He engaged Robert S. Johnson and had 66 kills by then but couldn’t bring Robert down.
the emil is such a war horse
Rudel lost a foot, not Galland.
That was interesting. 👍👾
Marseille, Barkhorn, Hartman, Galland, Mölders.... all of them were absolute beasts
Don't forget Gunther Rall who had 275 kills to his credit, a good man but also a beast
What is a beast? One who wants to protect his homeland, woman, children and old or one who throws bombs on civilians?
@@karlkirchweger4190 Hans, you were the one dropping bombs on Poles, British, and countless civilians as well...
Graf...
@@harrisonpowers4265yeah but also they didn't out right antagonize Britain or France, like they did to Germany, Britain was the allie that hitler wanted
If you're going to look at a German pilot, look at Heinz Baer (or Bar). A "first to last" pilot who started out flying Me 109 E's in 1939 to flying Me 262s in 1945. Second to Marseille in kills against the Western Allies, fought in all 3 theaters, 3 times nominated for the Diamonds to his Knights Cross and the Cherry on top, Georing didn't like him! As far as "Spitfire Killer" the top pilot was Josef Priller, who shot down 68 Spitfires.
What about Erich Hartmann? Over 800 missions and 352 air to air kills.
@@Future183 They’re comparing Western Front fighter pilots. Most of Hartmans’s kills were over the Eastern Front. Still a remarkable feat.
@@cecielhelder5923a good chunk of Bar's kills were Eastern front as well
BÄR
Priller is one of my faves ever since the Dday movie where he told his bosses to F off when they told him to attack normandy with 2 planes lol
Historical notes - edit - also was just told I listed 1943 instead of 44. I'm sorry :( that was a typo I missed. - Well guys, I put an unreal amount of work into this video. But like all, there are small inaccuracies here and there. For one, the paint schemes of planes are always extremely difficult, especially in videos like this that take place across multiple years when models and camos are constantly changing (Like the Spitfire models and roundels here). I have done my best to maintain the closest possible model throughout though. Also, Nick Hector was a huge help here, and most kill claims looked pretty legit. There were some days however, when confirmations could not be found. The ace in a day mission in December was one of these for example. Lastly, with the gun camera footage, I cannot say with complete and full certainty that this is Egon's death. But James Marshall said that it was this one, and he is, without a doubt an expert on the air war over Europe in 1944 and likely worked with Gresham's family on a lot of this. And compared to the recollections that I could find, it checks out. Egon was killed in a wide turn, from a distance, and his plane "Blew up" and immediately went into a snap roll and spiral, similar to what we see here. Finally, obviously there were other German aces with more kills, I know. But I believe there is a case to be made (and is made here) that Mayer may have been the premier and most valuable pilot to the Luftwaffe, fighting on the Western front and making such significant contributions, hence me calling him the greatest! Thanks for watching, love you guys! -TJ
This video is sooo good!!!!!! Decision to take time to make quality content is the right thing.
@r.s.i8753 thank you :)
That was a great account of a Luftwaffe ace who had a talent, guts and luck in downing B-17s only to be killed by a rookie P47 pilot!! God bless the rookies!!
The eastern and western fronts were very different, not just in the air, but also in regards to air bases and ground personnel. In the west units were almost exclusely working out of 'hard' runways, with all the logistical support they could wish for. In the east it was often grass airfields with no hangers or even proper accomodation for the ground crews or pilots, and the pilots were often in action all day long, flying sortie after sortie, which is why the pilot kill totals got so high.
Who was the best? I don't like those sorts of questions! I don't think they can be answered.
As for the accuracy of your game videos, seriously you put so much effort in that you have no need to apologize at all. Yes, I'm a stickler for accuracy and probably am despised by a lot of content creators when I call out their videos in the comments, but I have never done that here. Most people just stick random videos taken from 1939-1945 while they are talking about specific dates, so you are already doing better than most! Good work, keep it up!
German fighter pilots did not make ace with just five kills. The term was "Expert" and given after 15 kills. And there were many of them.
There were 100+ pilots already with 100+ kills...
snoopy had more than 15, so...
,Novotny an Pilot from Gmünd in Austria .
was one of the best.
i thought u need 100 kills in german reich to be called ace......in US u need 5 kills to be called an ace
@@uweSMG
Germany got no aces. Only _experten._ 15 kills. No shared numbers, no ground kills... no hearsay, only verified kills.
My Great Uncle was an ace with JG 1 Anton Rudolph Piffer. He shot down 32 US Bombers amongst others in a FW190. I wish I knew more about him. He was shot down after D Day by British pilots in Mustangs.
Interesting. I did a bit research and can tell you some facts from 1944: Feldwebel Anton-Rudolf "Toni" Piffer was part of 2./JG 1 and shot down a B-17 on January 5. 1944; his 18. aerial victory. Promoted to Oberfeldwebel he shot down two B-17 (19+20) on Jan. 30 1944. Jan. 31 a P-38 (21); Febr. 8 a B-17 (22); Febr. 24 a B-24 (23); April 8 a B-24 (24); April 24 a B-17 (25) and April 29 a B-17 (26). Promoted to Leutnant(!) your Great Uncle shot down a P-51 (27) on May 8 and a B-24 (28) on May 12. On May 13 1944 he was rammed by a P-47 over the Baltic Sea. While the P-47 crashed into the sea (aerial victory 29), Piffer was able to belly-land his Fw 190 near Hamburg. Last three "kills" were B-17s on May 24. 28. and 29. (30-32). On June 17. 1944 Piffer lost his life, when he was shot down by a Mustang over Le Cordonnière in his Fw 190 A-8 (White 3; WNr. 172604). Awarded posthum with the Ritterkreuz. He'd shot down 26 heavy 4mot bombers! Would be an interesting story for TJ!
R.I.P jour ACCE uncle .Nice work her done.⚡⚡
🕊🖤🖤
@@Kitsuni16 ✋ LAND OFF RISING SUN I ASSUME.HELLO FROM CROATIA WETHER IS ⚡⚡DOWN HIER.
Brazil.
Seu avô foi um herói, para Alemanha e sua família.
Thanks TJ for this fantastic video! It's an interesting question as to who was Germany's greatest fighter ace: Hartmann with the most aerial kills, Marseille with the most aerial kills against the Western Allies, etc... and Egon Mayer with his incredible achievements shown in your video on the Western Front was certainly one of them. Like all of them, he fought with tremendous skill and bravery for his country against increasingly overwhelming odds, but like so many, made the ultimate sacrifice. RIP Thanks for documenting his story so thoroughly and for all the other great videos you do.
Thank you!
Sie waren alle drei gut
@@horstpopescu1170Ausnahmekönner!
Aussie here 👍🙃🍺🦘 Salutations to All WW2 Fighter pilots - what a fascinating period of History & its machinery
Thanks for your dedication and hard work. A priceless contribution to history.
Thanks!
? Manfred von Richthofen (RED Baron) shot down twice as many if not more.... in a cloth and wood airplane!.....this Hienz guy got nothing on even RIchard I bong who took out more then 100 bombers with his P38 lighting? where do people get they're info??
Judging by that violent snap-roll, I wouldn't be surprised if Mayer got knocked unconscious by knocking his head against something in the cockpit, or canopy.
Agreed
Brave German pilots! 😺👍💙🐺
UK - I was a school boy during WW2 and even now when I hear a plane go over I look up and think is it German, we kids back then knew what we were seeing, It was a terrifying time. This was an amazing video for me, thank you.
Sorry to scare you kid, that was probably me
Have you seen the movie Hope and Glory? It's about a boy in London during the Battle of Britain. It's funny, touching, and harrowing.
Luftwaffe Kill confirmation procedures were much stricter than the allies; In order for a Luftwaffe pilot to get credit for a kill there had to be either an air witness or a ground witness, PREFERABLY BOTH!!! Using this criteria, there were 107 Luftwaffe fighter pilots that qualified for the title of EXPERTEN (100 or more confirmed kills). All of the top scorers were on the eastern front; But 10 of them did it on the Western Front; and of those 10, 2 of them did it at night.........
I thought that was the case as it was much the same with sniper kill count. They had to have witnesses (not including their spotter) then have an nco or officer sign off on it(which they seldom did)
The Spitfires “Achilles Heel” was in its design. It was designed as an interceptor, making it defensive rather than offensive weapon. That said, the Spitfire mk.IX’s pretty much roamed unchallenged over occupied Europe.
It would be the RAF’s Typhoons and Mosquitoes, that would take the war to the Third Reich.
“Head-on” attacks were nothing new. During the Battle of Britain RAF pilots were attacking German bombers head on.
Hey there, it's nice to see another Englander. 📚🇺🇸🙏🇬🇧
@@DaveSCameron
Hi there! I consider myself English (50%) but as can be expected there’s some Scottish/Irish in there. And it’s rumoured there might be a bit of African in there too.😆
The German Luftwaffe never fails to impress me. It took the Mighty 8th AF to bring it too it knees.
I don’t think any (apart from the Polish pilots) of the RAF’s British and allied fighter pilots had anywhere near the same aggression, as the American fighter pilots.
🇬🇧❤️🇺🇸 Amen.
@@Jones607i think the fw 190 D series could have been a threat to mosquitos, Mk ixs and typhoons if they had produced more
@@Future183
FW-190 Dora, they were fitted with inline water cooled engines. They entered the war late. Don’t know much about their performance. They were a high altitude interceptor. The Luftwaffe had the aeroplanes, but didn’t have any pilots, the 8th Air Force had killed all of Germanys best pilots.
@@Jones607 I dont know that much but i heared many claim that the FW 190 D series and the TA 152 could have been the best planes of the war if they were mass produced.
They said that 109 wasn`t best fighter, but all top aces flown it. Its results was better than all allied fighters combined results was.
Many of the German pilots said they would like to fly a Spitfire.
I know of no RAF pilot who wanted to fly an Me 109.😄
@@gordonfrickers5592
There were enough testpilots saying a 109 was excellent to fly.
@@Vickzq Of course the 109 was a very successful aircraft in terms of enemy aircrews it killed.
So it should be given the number of upgrades and quantity of machines built and flown.
The fact remains though, there were German pilots who publicly stated they would like to be flying Spitfires while no RAF pilot ever said he'd rather fly a 109.
As for the 109, "all top aces flown it", they did not have much choice !
@@gordonfrickers5592 LOL, Of course they will say the Spitfire was great, there is no honor in shooting down a poor fighter. The greater your opponent you defeat🤔, again the more honor for you.
@@walterschumann2476 yep, as I rather suspect you know that's not quite the point I was labouring to make however, yes, this is another way of seeing the issue.😄
The best aviators, fighter pilots always came out from the Luftwaffe. Even in the last days of the war, they were able to give a headache to the allies and soviets with absolute determination and bravery.
People need to understand that every time he shot down a bomber that was 10 men killed right there.
shot down do not mean kill
Good,
Or,...wounded, or,...captured, or,...evaded, and escaped.
Glorifying killers is a popular fallacy mostly done by those of no experience of the reality. As a combat veteran of a more recent and very different war, my opinion is the life savers ie the medics were the real heroes .
I‘ m not sure to call soldiers killers , but if , why did you joined the Army?
Valid point of view. But nothing wrong looking at history.
Hartmann having 352 kills as most successful pilot once said, his biggest achievement was to never loose a wingman.
Very well done thank you for keeping history alive.
German aces are legends!
Sad that all the great German knights of the air were fighting for the nazi Dark Lord…
Ain’t no way they used war thunder footage to make this 💀😭😭😭
Hey if it works it works
Thank You!! For being a real human narrator and not A.I.!!
Not everyone can tell -but I can. Every time. I can bust the Turing test every time.
Haha thanks!
One ? Lol... the Germans had a whole gruppe of pilots with more than 100 kills. Eric Hartmann had 352 !!!!
109s we’re not equipped with 13mm machine guns and 30 mm canons in 1940. That came much later in the war. Some early Es had twin 20 mm canon in the wings and F models had one 20 mm canon in the nose. Both had two 7.62 mm (not 13 mm) machine guns firing through the props.
There were a few special versions... if we skip especially G models with a multitude of added weapons. There was atleast a type F design with two cannons in wings, too. Might have been used by Galland.
There’s no doubt the Germans had the greatest Fighter pilots of WW2 the numbers tell the truth! Gerhard Barkhorn and Erich Hartman set the standard! Germany had over 2000 aces and these two alone had over 300 each.
It is said that Egon Mayer and Georg-Peter Eder developed the devastating head-on attack tactic against American heavy bomber formations - particularly B-17s. During the early US daylight bombing raids into France, the Luftwaffe did not consider the threat seriously. American B-17 Flying Fortresses were heavily armed and entirely new to the Luftwaffe fighter pilots such as Mayer and JG-2. Hence, the German attacks were relatively ineffective and the B-17s were able to adequately defend themselves. But Mayer and Eder saw the growing threat of American daylight raids and set about determining new tactics to destroy the American B-17s. They soon discovered that the B-17s' greatest vulnerability was in the front. So Mayer and Eder began to attack American bomber formations head-on, closing rapidly and attempting to either hit the bombers' engines or kill the pilots. Then Mayer and Eder ripped through the formations (still attacking others head-on) or inverting and rapidly diving away. Mayer and Eder quickly proved head-on attacks as the most efficient, and then modified their tactics once again with wave after wave of Luftwaffe fighters coming head-on into American bomber formations. These continuous wave attacks were extraordinarily successful and remained in use until the end of the war, despite the addition of chin-turrets and extra machine guns to B-17 and B-24 noses. Mayer continued his success until 1944 when the increased number of P-47 and P-51 escort fighters became available, and tactics changed to find and destroy the Luftwaffe at every chance. Once free of escorting the bombers by rotating escorts, American fighter pilots hunted and killed expert Luftwaffe pilots such as Mayer. These were pilots and experience which the Luftwaffe could not replace, and never did.
Well done.
Regarding claimed kills it is not unreasonable to assume that the Luftwaffe inflated the numbers of RAF losses, but what is never talked about is the fact that western (and Soviet) air forces did the same. It is irritatingly pathetic to read/hear the accounts of resentful 'authorities' that German pilots and aircraft simply were not that good, that if Luftwaffe official's mouths were moving they were lying. Fact of the matter is that German claims have shown to be the most accurate of any combatant nation in the war, and no, this is not the same thing as saying that German claims were never inflated, just that they were not as egregious as their opponents in this regard. The Americans were easily the worst. To soothe their massive egos American pilots were credited with half a kill, even a quarter kill, and, the cherry on top, full credit for parked aircraft at airbases. To rationalize this American veterans would claim that attacking airfields was much more dangerous than air to air combat because, well, you know, German pilots just weren't any good, especially against us . . . Much ink has been wasted by Brit writers in efforts to discredit Marseille's 17 kills in a day achievement because, well, you know, no-one could ever knock down 17 of our craft in a single day! It is interesting to note that none of these 'historians' have ever disputed Emil "Bully" Lang's remarkable accomplishment of downing 18 Soviet aircraft in a day, probably because the victims were Russian whom too many of said historians believe were lucky enough if they could even get a plane airborne. In theory history should be immune to resentment and ego, in reality it is not. Cheers!
Let me tell you how inaccurate bombing runs were in WWII. My mother was born in the French champagne district in 1937. She was 3 when the Germans took over then the British bombed the town because they had an oil refinery. Many bombs missed and wiped out my mother's neighbors. My mother's house had a big hole in the roof but survived, and when the Nazis took over my mother's town all the Jews disappeared overnight.
Very well told sir and a fine tribute to one of the greatest fighter piloys of all time . I wonder if there is anything in existence told by Egon Mayer himself. Erich Hartmann perhaps the best pilot ever survived and lived a long life but dead man tell no tale . Long live Deutschland.
So did Galland til 1996.
Note that the kill markings for Mayer are on the tail of a FW-190, not an Me-109...Just an observation, not a criticism Dane
Experience counts for a lot , sadly many RAF pilots didn’t have this at the beginning of the war !
one of the best german aces was erich hartmann with 352 confirmed kills
Believe me, all aviation fans around the globe are knowing, who and what Erich "Bubi" Hartmann is, but this video is about Egon Mayer ;)
Bangladesh had legend Squardon Leader Saiful Ajam who fought ferociously against Israel Air Force & Indian Air Force from Bangladesh for Pakistan Air force .
This is absolutely phenomenal and riveting content and presentation. I been following this page and related content for years and this is by far one of the most superior videos you have ever put out. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you! These comments really make it worth it.
Wow! I have been with you for several years. This might be your best. You are getting good at this stuff!!!
Thank you!
Erich Hartmann - 352 kills.
Most likely Target fixation!! As with anything who gets the jump on his enemy, ends the battle ❤️
I don't know if you realized it, but for your 1942 segment you're showing B-24J models, alas, they had a while to go before they made their appearance. These should have been B-24D models without the front turret.
I'll kick in some money next month to help out, this month has just been kicking my ass financially...
Mayer is the uncontested best bomber killer but the title of your video is a bit misleading. In terms of kills, hartmann is the most successful ace of all time tho he only had 7 kills on the western front (all mustangs). That being said, job well done your video was very interesting 👌
A program dedicated to wingmen would be great. How the concept began, their jobs:- biplane to jet age, and success stories.
An interesting idea!
Great idea.
You can crush Top Gun.
Spits had 8 303's in the battle of Britain. Sorry
Excellent video and very informative . Hans Ulrich Rudel was the most decorated of the Luftwaffe aces as a ground attack pilot (Stuka) .
I believe the most decorated person in the German military in recorded history.
Early spits, other than having a tighter turning radius, was on par with the 109. This changed with the introduction of engines using high octane fuel.
I always love your videos! You do such great work! Thanks!
Thank you!
❤🎉 *¡Egon Mayer lost a dog fight to Walter Gresham!* ❤🎉 - 5:09 pm Pacific DayLight Savings Time on Friday, 12 April 2024 Common Era or CE formerly known as Ano Domini or AD on a leap year ❤🎉
Wow, what a fantastic video of this amazingly skilled fighter pilot. The Luftwaffe were very lucky to have him on their side. He really was a workhorse for the German Airforce at this time. What a shame for him that he eventually succumbed to the wrath of the American Airforce.
P47 shot down more than any allied fighter including the P51
sorry but not even close. P51's in WW2 in both theaters have a little over 6000 air to air kills and over 4950 ground kills while losing around 2550 aircraft ( 550 in air combat). P47's have 3752 air to air kills and around 3250 ground kills while losing almost 3500 aircraft from all causes
The germans didin't fear the spitfire,that is a myth.
A fighter with 8 machine guns but with a 0.303 infantry round,that when a deep dive the engine stall,and they without those problems,with multiple 20 mm cannons,bullet proof glass,etc wete scared of the spitfire...???!!!! Only in English bed time stories. And in 1942 when the FW190 make is debut at Dieppe,poor spitfires...and this ones were Nightmare time stories .
Erich Hartmann the best fighter pilot of the world.
Have you ever hear about Hans Joachim Marseille?
He was the best fighter pilot in history, he made multiple aces in one day.
Hartmann, Barkhorn, Barr, were good against soviets.
Myer, marselle, galland, were good against Americans and british who were better Pilots .
crazy how quick things can change. a superior ace with a ton of talent and 102 aerial kills gets taken down by a pilot with zero aerial kills and very little combat experience
Meyers was taken out by a superior aircraft not pilot!!
Meyers got taken out because he and his wingman failed to spot the enemy, allowing them to ambush them, very simple.
Heinrich Ehrler is my Blood relation. His family moved to California, there's a Ehrler civic center named after his family in Garden Grove, ca
No one can argue the Germans had better equipment, discrediting their victory’s is very predictable for allies, people also easily forget the axis forces were amazingly outnumbered.
Not by mid1943. The Spitfire IX and then XIV dominated German fighters when they could actually get at them because of their short range. Also the P47D with bubble canopy and paddle blades an especially the P51B/D Mustangs were much better aircraft overall and proved it with their 4.6:1 and 8:1 kill ratios respectively
@@dougmccarthy961 that’s bullshit propaganda and you know it. The fw 190 was better than the mustang, and the Germans were better pilots, but they suffered due to being way outnumbered and people love to forget this fact.
I can deny. By mid-war they were behind.
@@chriscarbaugh3936 yeah simple reason for that the axis resources in Russia Hitler made some huge tactical blunders the fast efficiency went to his head. The axis were spread out way too far.
@@chriscarbaugh3936 cant see that being true as they were coming out with Jets, rockets bombs, and then ballistic missiles
i do believe the p-38 had the range to make it to target and back deep within germany before the p-51 came on scene. i can't recall why i'd read that they didn't make better use of the lightning for escort duty.......
It basically just comes down to wanting fighters for the sake of being able to dog fight. As far as I recall anyway.
At first, the p-38 didn't have the range. Until Lindberg figured it out. Also the p-38 didn't do well at high altitude. Something with the cockpit heating system didn't keep the cockpit warm. The plane worked great in the pacific. Due to lower altitude.
The P-47s also had the range once they got pressurized drop-tanks. For some reason (they were available in 43), they didn't get them until 1944, and by then, the Mustangs were already in theater (The Mustangs were easier to maintain, so from a sortie-generation standpoint, it made perfect sense to just stick to one fighter type for the long range escort missions. Only the 56th Fighter Group kept the 47 until Germany surrendered in 1945.)
That's because the Germans clobbered the P 38s
Man shot down so many spitfires he pretty much new every weakness it had
German pilots were so good, NATO hired them to train their pilots