I been playing War Thunder for years. Its free to play too. Its got a speed for everyone. From Jets to Ships you just pick a field and learn it. Its extremely detailed and strategic. Another thing I like is there is Very few hacks, and the 1s I've seen never last more then a few days before being patched.
@@noneshere You clearly don't pay attention. There are plenty of hacks in the game and there is always a surge of people cheating during the in game events. The only reason it seems to last for a few days is because the cheaters get what they want and stop playing until the next event. That said, it is a well put together game, just poorly moderated. As to Simon's comment on the physics, well, they're okay, but far from perfect. The most annoying physics problem is their traction mechanic for ground forces. From it's current condition, it needs to be buffed by 30%, ten of which is to fix their original mistake of nerfing it 10%.
This just cement’s how much better it was to be a POW in Europe than the Pacific. They could build a plane, meanwhile you were lucky to eat enough to function in the Pacific.
just like how much difference there is between rich dudes who go to daycare and what the average county place is like for poor folks (sorry, it's stupid, but I still can't bring myself to say the actual word for it. "Place" is as close as I can get). People will always be divied up into arbitrary groups by the stupidest of criteria. I get your point though, and I've always told myself that if time machines are ever invented or I fly through the bermuda triangle or drive a delorean over 88mph and end up in the 1940's, I will of course volunteer (if I'm in america, britain, etc) and that if I'm given a choice, or even if I'm not, I will fight tooth and nail to go to the western front instead of the pacific. F that : p
@@jacobl6714 Honestly, depending on how much you know about the war, maybe set yourself up as an independent intelligence asset like Juan Pujol Garcia did. Having the kind of info a WWII historian of today could provide the Allies during the war would be extremely useful. (Also, if you've not heard Garcia's story, it's well worth looking up. He was a Spanish farmer who, when the war started, went to the British embassy, tried to volunteer as a spy repeatedly, got turned down, so he went to the German embassy, signed on as a spy saying he was a businessman with lots of connections in Britain. Then he moved to Lisbon and started writing stories based on reading travel brochures and encyclopedia entries in the local library and combining that knowledge with the propaganda newsreels coming out of Britain. Eventually, Britain's Ultra program (the Enigma decryption guys) starts picking up these really weird spy reports being forwarded to Berlin, and one of the MIs (5 or 6, I forget which) finally tracks him down in Lisbon, discovers why Germany's best spy network in Britain sounds like someone making up stories, and hires him on the spot. By D-Day they have him sending reports that keep German forces defending Calais pinned down for weeks after the Normandy landings waiting for the main invasion force to hit Calais. It's a wild story, and very quickly became my favourite bit of WWII history after I first heard about it.)
Theater plays, p.o.w. circulated newsletters, slapstick hogan's heroes esc escape attempts.. b-but they were germans? Aren't they supposedly the most racist bigoted evildoers to ever exist? They almost sound like decent ordinary people... I'm sure they were absolutely anything but decent though because all the history books written by their greatest enemies have told us all about what horrible villains they were and how lucky we are that the winners were all saintly god-like heros of justice.
@@j.r.aretrollin6913 Oh... oh dear... you confuse enlightened self interest (If Allied prisoners started dying en masse... guess what else would happen?) for character. No, wait, you don't do that, you try to hand wave the truly vile acts that, if not the German civilians, then certain the German soldiers, including those who would be guarding PoW camps, at BEST tacitly supported (and perhaps go ask a German about that shame, instead of trying to push your antisemitic villainy by proxy)... by conflating THESE mild actions with THOSE ones. You're a truly disgusting example of humanity, and the sooner you toddle off to the dustbin of history, the better.
(and of course you clearly missed the bit, or chose to ignore it, dealers choice as to whether your intellectual sort lacked the capacity or the good faith, where 50 PoWs HAD been massacred (enlightened or no), in order to try to make your vile and insipid little "point", good job)
@@damien4197 is that even English? What language are you writing in because I can't make heads or tails of it, but I think I pick up some negativity you're desperately trying to convey... Idk what's got your undies ina twist, quite possibly you're still feeling upset about the lame gifts you received over the holidays and that's no reason to be getting upset in the comments and actively engaging with a obvious troll which is obvious. look, don't be upset, there's always next year, right? So just try and make the best of things and go spin your little top and eat your gold foil wrapped coins ok? hopefully your bubbe will miraculously become adapt at purchasing gifts and get you a PS5 next Chanukah huh? Wouldn't that be something? And untwist those underwear boychick, you're acting like a complete putz!
@@jackdenihan5333 Well, if Hogan's Heroes has taught me anything, things they received as part of Red Cross care packages. Chocolate, cigarettes, stuff like that.
There was a 1971 made for TV movie based on this called “Escape of the Birdmen” starring Doug McClure as one of the POWs and Richard Basehart as the Nazi kommandant. I haven’t seen the movie since its original broadcast, but I remember thoroughly enjoying it.
You're comment is as adorable, as you _must_ be irl. 🤗🇨🇦 Did you know that a lot of German POW's begged to stay _in_ Canada, after the WWII? We treated them very good, apparently? Dunno, it's only what I've heard. I wasn't there. 🤣🤣🤣
@@Digitalhunny Usa as well. Actually i think we (Canada) were not subject to the prisoners of war act or something so getting stuck here was conceivably worse. Trying to remembwr the source but i think 'The History Guy'.
@@andrewbrown6522 - Thinking you're remembering the POW camps of WWI (or even the Irish immigrants of the early 1900's?). Those POW camp's _were_ hell on Earth! Starvation, diseases, food shortages, women & children were there too. Even food wouldn't grow because it was the dead of winter etc... BUT we improved something's too well. We gave them food, clothing & even games to play! Complete 180° 😣 ridiculous.
In New Hampshire (USA), there was a POW camp in a town called Stark. The Germans sent there were put to work logging, but they were actually treated decently by both the guards and the locals (they were so far away from EVERYTHING that there really was nowhere to go). To this day, the families of prisoners and townsfolk all keep in touch. There's a book about it called Stark Decency.
I read the title and thought that it sounded like the plot of a Hogan's Heroes episode after watching, it sounds like this is what Hogan's Heroes was based off of
I read the title too... Secretly Built an Airplane... Really its a glider... Also ... Simon is a fellow Brit and no longer 3 years old so he shouldnt be incorrectly calling an aeroplane an 'airplane'
Crazy how advanced humans really are. The fact someone is physically able to just get up and fly away out of nowhere. If someone can do that just like that imagine what we can all achieve in life if we really put our minds to it.
If only we could stop trying to keep one another down for personal gains! That's why we have poor, homeless & medical bills in some countries. The rich want to _stay_ mega rich. 😣
@@mysteryman9641 - Nivana's version: "Everybody get together, try & love one another, right now!" (kinda sounds like the _demanding_ or _strong suggestion_ of an orgy, don't it? Jk)🤣🤣🤣 Have a Happy New Year! 🤗
@@Digitalhunny shh lol relax, don't get in ur feels. 😂 I love ur hair though looking at ur stitching channels display picture not gonna lie about that. 🤭
I learned much of my German vocabulary through watching Hogan's Heroes, too - and two of the three words that I know in Russian, thanks to another good episode when Hogan's men had to convince their captors that the Soviets were coming in order to smuggle out a couple of British spies with a roll of microfilm ;-)
A small fact you didn't mention. The section of the attic used was only a few feet wide, as such with the false wall in place to hide the glider the POWs had no way to fully assemble the craft to check for any potential errors. One of the recreation test flights had the original attic space blocked out on the floor of the shop used to build the replica and they were astonished that any progress beyond the main fuselage was made due to how cramped it would have been to work in.
I was waiting for You to mention Tony Rolt. I don't know if you have done a Biography of him. You should. There is a great story about his 1953 Le Mons victory that should be told. Thank you Simone You do a great job and I wish all the best. ( bows deeply and most respectfully)
I worked with Bill Goldfinch, in a very junior position, and he gave me a set of plans so I could build a flying scale model. He told me they built and flew a model from one of the castle windows and "It landed at the feet of one of the goons" (guards) "He picked it up and gave it back."
Does anyone remember the movie that was made about this glider and the airmen that build it? "Escape of the bird men". With Doug McClure and the guy with white hair from "Man from Uncle". I think it was made in the late '60s. Kool movie. I'm 61yrs old now, but I never forgot that movie. After watching in theater, I always wished I could make my own glider too. Find the movie and check it out. Wow...
Took less time to build too, I'd bet. Remember, they had engineer's, a book & pure 100% determination. Plus, it _needed_ to work, their lives depended on it. 😊
My Dad ran for Douglas Badar, another famous POW resident of Colditz, during a cricket match when he visited their school, Drumtochty Castle in the early '60's. Bandar lost both of his legs but - not allowing something so menial to get in the way - in true hero style he continued in active service. He was captured in 1939 (I believe) but made so many attempts at escape, that having been moved to Colditz Castle, the Germans eventually had to confiscate his prosthetic legs in attempt to put a stop to his relentless attempts at escape! Dude! Here's another guy who deserves a Bigraphics in his honour, and you KNOW THIS!! :)
the fact the inmates drank all the wine and replaced it with piss LMAO i could just picture an Austin Powers esq bit between two German guards in the wine cellar Otto: Hans this Wine tastes like piss! Hans: *tastes it and spits it out* It is piss Otto! Otto: oh good then its not just me. *drinks anyway* its got a bit of an asparagus aftertaste.
I saw it, too, and just looked it up online. It was a 1971 TV movie called "The Birdmen," starring Doug McClure and Rene Auberjonois. It wasn't completely accurate as to details. (Look it up on IMDb under "TV Movie.") I liked it, despite the usual Hollywood goofs---and I still wonder at the nationalities of the characters (Hollywood has a habit of crediting Americans with exploits of other nationalities).
In the words of Simon Whistler, all of these men are absolute legends. I do wonder though, how were they going to get that glider out? It looked like it had stone pillars behind the wings and a stone wall in front of it.
she likely was disassemble-able, pop the wings off, and there you go, who knows how big a door may have been behind the camera? or they may have been planning you cut out that section of roof and take off through the hole, a slab of roof hinging open and sliding down to become rubble would be a hell of a way to get the germans to all be looking skyward just in time to flip them the bird on their way out and over the walls
We didn't have an abbreviated form for it yet so let it be known, from hereon the mouse-over preview shall be known as a "MOP", short for referring to the Mouse-Over Preview thumbnail gif. And with that out the way, I'm sure simon was paid extra for putting the warthunder ad into the mop.
The glider story was ace and yes one of my favourites but the French didn’t take the piss did they, glad I wasn’t the one who found out what was in the bottles
I literally know the glider designer’s great great grandniece. She’s my girlfriend ☺️ No joke, I LITERALLY just found out that that guy is related to her through random conversations about how much we love museums and history and she goes, “My relative’s glider that he almost used to escape the Nazis is displayed in a museum actually!” And I LOST MY GODDAMN MIND. I think I won the girlfriend lottery y’all 😂❤️
You left out the best parts, to build the wings they needed a large room so they built a fake wall about 10 feet short and painted it so that looking from the doorway the room looked normal. Part of the warning system utilized several telescopes that had been made out of plate glass they polished by hand so that they could peep on the women in the town. A bottle would be placed in a window on the other side of the castle giving the men enough time to clear out of their hiding places and look inconspicuous
So that's where the premise of "Hogan's Heroes" came from!! Watching it as an 8-9 year old kid I was always amazed by how the Heroes did so much with so little!!
I don't know about WWII, but I know today that the US military has a standing order in the Code of Conduct to escape and help others escape should they become prisoners of war.
I imagine that at first if being made a POW I'd think "Phew, I did my bit but now the war is over for me", but maybe just the sheer boredom would make me want to consider escaping. Probably depends on how well stocked the camp library is.
My grandfather was a POW in Nazi Germany. He wouldn't talk about what happened except for once and even then it was only about the liberation. He said he woke up that morning and it was silent. The guards were gone and he thought for sure the camp was about to be bombed. He said he looked down the road a little ways and spotted a tank which then completely ran over the fence to the camp. He said the next time he was that happy was the day his first child was born (my dad).
As dark as the war was this was actually funny. That and the fact they only killed 1 man. That part surprises me along with them making a museum about the escape attempts.
Reminds me of that day when my dad escaped mom by forgetting his phone at home but he was later discovered at local pub and hasn't escaped our mom since.
Right-on man. You saw the movie too. Yeah it was 1971. Thanks. I never forgot that movie. Kool. I think it was on TCM Chanel about 10yrs ago. I would love to see it again in the theater.
@@lcdmonitor1981 Yeah thanks. I just looked it up on UA-cam, but it's not showing up in the full movie. People can buy it for $6.99 on Amazon. Who has a VCR anymore? Lol... I will keep looking anyway. Rob...
While living in Germany during the Cold War era, I picked up a paperback book written by a former POW detained at Colditz. Couldn't put it down. The author, P R Reid, was awarded the Military Cross, a British decoration equivalent to the Medal of Honor. If you can't find his books at your library, try online bookstores. Anyone who has tried to surmount impossible odds with little freedom or opportunity and few resources will find this account inspiring and worth their time. Good on this channel for shining a spotlight on an incredible but almost forgotten epic in the annals of World War Two history.
I highly recommend the books by Pat Reid MBE MC, I've read his Colditz accounts countless times. As the escape officer he details the POW exploits. Brilliant books, much love to his and his fellows.
A fictionalized account was presented in the film The Birdmen (1971) aka Escape of the Birdmen aka Colditz: Escape of the Birdmen. Which is probably what people sort of remember. Starred: Doug McClure, Rene Auberjonois, Richard Basehart, Max Baer Jr., Chuck Connors, Tom Skerritt.
Mr. Rising is mistaken about Zimbalist's participation, at least in the movie I remember. According to Wikipedia, "Escape of The Birdmen" aired on ABC in 1971 and featured Doug McClure, Rene Auberjonois and Richard Basehart.
Imagine just building a fkin plane in a prison these days. I swear WWII has the best stories from both sides that anyone would call BS if we didn't have this proof. It's insane but awesome.
The bit I loved the most, the French guys drinking all the wine and refilling the bottles with piss, now THAT'S just hilarious, imagine being the people or person who found THAT particular fact out!!! :P
Not replicas, COPIES. For it to be a replica, it has to be made/painted/created by the ORIGINAL maker/painter/builder. Yes, I know everybody SAYS replica when the mean exact copy, but that doesn't make it right!
I wonder if the writers for Hogan's Heroes took their inspiration for a certain episode from this incident.... "That sounded like a motor!" ... "It WAS a motor attached to an airplane! Halt! HALT!"
War Thunder realistic. Really when?.. In the same way MarioKart will teach you how to drive. Its not known as Shit Thunder for nothing. I have issues with the title.... 'Secretly Built an Airplane' .... I guess Glider would confuse the Mericans. I used to incorrectly say 'an airplane' when I was 3 years old
A shame the glider was never put to use. I could see Allied POW’s in a bar some years later. “Oh, that place sucked. Glad I escaped out a window!” “Oh, you hid in a box and climbed out a window. That’s nice. Liam and I built an airplane... but I am sure your escape was most daring.”
I'm irritated by WAR Thunder. My great uncle, Wally Allen, died as a tail gunner over Germany, defending Europe, at age 19. His last words saved his crew from ground to air fire.
It amazes me that you could do a whole 10 minute video on this escape attempt without even mentioning the film "The Birdmen" (1971), which was based on this event, and, despite the fact that it was fiction, actually did a good job of explaining how the prisoners organised it. Or was this some kind of intentional snub?
I'm getting the impression that early war camps weren't so bad. The Germans wanted to ensure their imprisoned pilots were being treated well in England, so they treated the Tommys well. But by the later war years the Germans either started running out of food to give the Allied POWs, or a vicious new way of keeping escapes down to a minimum was devised. Keeping prisoners half starved and sick with all manner of diseases means they wont be able to run very far. I suspect it was a bit of both. After the war U.S. Army POWs had no kind words whatsoever for their captors, as they were treated very poorly. One might even say criminally.
_Hogan's Heroes_ cast included a Frenchman who fought in WWII (as well as a German WWII officer). I wonder how many real escape stories like these were incorporated into that TV show?
Great video as always but one thing that really really really pis*es me off with Simon is his pronunciation as as example he pronounced Odiham (where the replica was tested) Oddham when it should be O D Ham!
Being unable to escape a POW prison so you drink all the Nazi’s wine and pee in the bottles might be the most French thing I have ever heard. Bravo, vive la France.
Join War Thunder for free using this link and get a premium tank, ship, or aircraft and three days of premium time as a bonus: playwt.link/TIFOBonus
I been playing War Thunder for years. Its free to play too.
Its got a speed for everyone.
From Jets to Ships you just pick a field and learn it.
Its extremely detailed and strategic.
Another thing I like is there is Very few hacks, and the 1s I've seen never last more then a few days before being patched.
@@noneshere You clearly don't pay attention. There are plenty of hacks in the game and there is always a surge of people cheating during the in game events. The only reason it seems to last for a few days is because the cheaters get what they want and stop playing until the next event.
That said, it is a well put together game, just poorly moderated. As to Simon's comment on the physics, well, they're okay, but far from perfect.
The most annoying physics problem is their traction mechanic for ground forces. From it's current condition, it needs to be buffed by 30%, ten of which is to fix their original mistake of nerfing it 10%.
Simon, Danny, do you actually play it? EU servers? Tanks, planes or ships? :)
They drunk the wine. They filled the bottles with urine. That's the best omg
Recycled wine: like ABC gum.
Those chickens are up to something ...
I told you they were organized
But I don't want to be a pie!
I don't like gravy
I flew!
Just remember at the end.... all those babies... only 2 males... kinda creepy if you think about it.
“Oh those krauts are gonna be pissed!” -French POW bottler
😂
I think the idea is that the krauts wouldn't be pissed because the French drank it all.
They would have called the Germans "Boche". Otherwise, hell yeah!
@@uzaiyaro I think it’s the American pissed means cross not drunk.
@@ddpeak1 in English it can mean either.
This just cement’s how much better it was to be a POW in Europe than the Pacific. They could build a plane, meanwhile you were lucky to eat enough to function in the Pacific.
at least if you where a white non jewish non russian allied soldier.
john pardon true, crazy how much difference there was in treatment in all theaters for some
just like how much difference there is between rich dudes who go to daycare and what the average county place is like for poor folks (sorry, it's stupid, but I still can't bring myself to say the actual word for it. "Place" is as close as I can get). People will always be divied up into arbitrary groups by the stupidest of criteria. I get your point though, and I've always told myself that if time machines are ever invented or I fly through the bermuda triangle or drive a delorean over 88mph and end up in the 1940's, I will of course volunteer (if I'm in america, britain, etc) and that if I'm given a choice, or even if I'm not, I will fight tooth and nail to go to the western front instead of the pacific. F that : p
@@jacobl6714 Honestly, depending on how much you know about the war, maybe set yourself up as an independent intelligence asset like Juan Pujol Garcia did. Having the kind of info a WWII historian of today could provide the Allies during the war would be extremely useful.
(Also, if you've not heard Garcia's story, it's well worth looking up. He was a Spanish farmer who, when the war started, went to the British embassy, tried to volunteer as a spy repeatedly, got turned down, so he went to the German embassy, signed on as a spy saying he was a businessman with lots of connections in Britain. Then he moved to Lisbon and started writing stories based on reading travel brochures and encyclopedia entries in the local library and combining that knowledge with the propaganda newsreels coming out of Britain. Eventually, Britain's Ultra program (the Enigma decryption guys) starts picking up these really weird spy reports being forwarded to Berlin, and one of the MIs (5 or 6, I forget which) finally tracks him down in Lisbon, discovers why Germany's best spy network in Britain sounds like someone making up stories, and hires him on the spot. By D-Day they have him sending reports that keep German forces defending Calais pinned down for weeks after the Normandy landings waiting for the main invasion force to hit Calais. It's a wild story, and very quickly became my favourite bit of WWII history after I first heard about it.)
And now people struggle with ikea flat packs those guys were epic
I like that other than 1 guy no one died. The Germans were just like "Son of a- Again?!" and put them back in their cells. Almost a wholesome story.
sounds like an episode of "Hogan's Heroes"
Theater plays, p.o.w. circulated newsletters, slapstick hogan's heroes esc escape attempts.. b-but they were germans? Aren't they supposedly the most racist bigoted evildoers to ever exist? They almost sound like decent ordinary people... I'm sure they were absolutely anything but decent though because all the history books written by their greatest enemies have told us all about what horrible villains they were and how lucky we are that the winners were all saintly god-like heros of justice.
@@j.r.aretrollin6913 Oh... oh dear... you confuse enlightened self interest (If Allied prisoners started dying en masse... guess what else would happen?) for character. No, wait, you don't do that, you try to hand wave the truly vile acts that, if not the German civilians, then certain the German soldiers, including those who would be guarding PoW camps, at BEST tacitly supported (and perhaps go ask a German about that shame, instead of trying to push your antisemitic villainy by proxy)... by conflating THESE mild actions with THOSE ones.
You're a truly disgusting example of humanity, and the sooner you toddle off to the dustbin of history, the better.
(and of course you clearly missed the bit, or chose to ignore it, dealers choice as to whether your intellectual sort lacked the capacity or the good faith, where 50 PoWs HAD been massacred (enlightened or no), in order to try to make your vile and insipid little "point", good job)
@@damien4197 is that even English? What language are you writing in because I can't make heads or tails of it, but I think I pick up some negativity you're desperately trying to convey... Idk what's got your undies ina twist, quite possibly you're still feeling upset about the lame gifts you received over the holidays and that's no reason to be getting upset in the comments and actively engaging with a obvious troll which is obvious. look, don't be upset, there's always next year, right? So just try and make the best of things and go spin your little top and eat your gold foil wrapped coins ok? hopefully your bubbe will miraculously become adapt at purchasing gifts and get you a PS5 next Chanukah huh? Wouldn't that be something? And untwist those underwear boychick, you're acting like a complete putz!
The prisoners drank all the wine from the cellar and replaced it with pee before the tunnel was discovered by guards.
The pee flavour was seemingly adopted for all future French and German wines
"The POW's built this in a prison!"
With a box of scraps!!!
@@jackdenihan5333 Well, if Hogan's Heroes has taught me anything, things they received as part of Red Cross care packages. Chocolate, cigarettes, stuff like that.
Being captured by the enemy and building a machine to fly away sounds very Iron Man.
There was a 1971 made for TV movie based on this called “Escape of the Birdmen” starring Doug McClure as one of the POWs and Richard Basehart as the Nazi kommandant.
I haven’t seen the movie since its original broadcast, but I remember thoroughly enjoying it.
This sounds familiar, but God do I love stories of POWs trying to escape prison. Those lovable rascals never change.
You're comment is as adorable, as you _must_ be irl. 🤗🇨🇦
Did you know that a lot of German POW's begged to stay _in_ Canada, after the WWII? We treated them very good, apparently? Dunno, it's only what I've heard. I wasn't there. 🤣🤣🤣
@@Digitalhunny Usa as well.
Actually i think we (Canada) were not subject to the prisoners of war act or something so getting stuck here was conceivably worse.
Trying to remembwr the source but i think 'The History Guy'.
@@andrewbrown6522 - Thinking you're remembering the POW camps of WWI (or even the Irish immigrants of the early 1900's?). Those POW camp's _were_ hell on Earth! Starvation, diseases, food shortages, women & children were there too. Even food wouldn't grow because it was the dead of winter etc... BUT we improved something's too well. We gave them food, clothing & even games to play! Complete 180° 😣 ridiculous.
In New Hampshire (USA), there was a POW camp in a town called Stark. The Germans sent there were put to work logging, but they were actually treated decently by both the guards and the locals (they were so far away from EVERYTHING that there really was nowhere to go). To this day, the families of prisoners and townsfolk all keep in touch. There's a book about it called Stark Decency.
@@Digitalhunny Could be. Im no very well versed in the matter.
I read the title and thought that it sounded like the plot of a Hogan's Heroes episode
after watching, it sounds like this is what Hogan's Heroes was based off of
Same
I read the title too... Secretly Built an Airplane...
Really its a glider... Also ... Simon is a fellow Brit and no longer 3 years old so he shouldnt be incorrectly calling an aeroplane an 'airplane'
"The flight of the valkyrie", early season 1. A good episode, but only once.
Imagine the moxie.
I want to build a glider, to escape prison. Can only hope I would be that brazen in a situation like that.
When you've got nothing to lose & everything to gain in trying.... you will. _You_ would! 🤗
If you're perfectly healthy but you can't even take your mask off in Walmart because you're scared of what people think... you probably don't.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0066833/
@@swrennie I knew I saw a move about this but it was a very very long time ago in my childhood thanks for the link
Fritz: "Zer shall be no flying of ze coup..."
Brit: Wry smile...
“I see NOTHING!”
Nussiink
😂
Crazy how advanced humans really are. The fact someone is physically able to just get up and fly away out of nowhere. If someone can do that just like that imagine what we can all achieve in life if we really put our minds to it.
If only we could stop trying to keep one another down for personal gains! That's why we have poor, homeless & medical bills in some countries. The rich want to _stay_ mega rich. 😣
@@Digitalhunny preach 👍💯
@@mysteryman9641 - Nivana's version: "Everybody get together, try & love one another, right now!" (kinda sounds like the _demanding_ or _strong suggestion_ of an orgy, don't it? Jk)🤣🤣🤣
Have a Happy New Year! 🤗
@@Digitalhunny shh lol relax, don't get in ur feels. 😂 I love ur hair though looking at ur stitching channels display picture not gonna lie about that. 🤭
@@Digitalhunny happy new year as well and make some videos. 😂
This is not the plane ✈ you're looking for 🤣
War Thunder should make a new game: War Escape.
I saw this one on Hogan's Hero's.
"I see nothing . I know nothing . "
@@kasnitch 🤣
jawohl herr kommandant
All my knowledge of the German language I learned from Hogan's Heroes.
@@timothyneiswander3151 ah, a man of CULTURE!
I learned much of my German vocabulary through watching Hogan's Heroes, too - and two of the three words that I know in Russian, thanks to another good episode when Hogan's men had to convince their captors that the Soviets were coming in order to smuggle out a couple of British spies with a roll of microfilm ;-)
If, as a kid, you never got to play the game "Escape from Colditz," you were deprived!
Care to elaborate?
@@Digitalhunny www.amazon.com/Osprey-Escape-Colditz-75th-Anniversary/dp/1472818938/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MSORDO6MA7K3&dchild=1&keywords=escape+from+colditz+board+game&qid=1609391724&sprefix=Escape+from+Golditz+%2Caps%2C268&sr=8-1
My Grandad's job as an RCAF Engineer was to teach the pilots how to fix their broken planes like McGyver with repurposed spare parts....
A small fact you didn't mention. The section of the attic used was only a few feet wide, as such with the false wall in place to hide the glider the POWs had no way to fully assemble the craft to check for any potential errors. One of the recreation test flights had the original attic space blocked out on the floor of the shop used to build the replica and they were astonished that any progress beyond the main fuselage was made due to how cramped it would have been to work in.
Real life Hogan's Heroes! Too cool, makes the episode they build a plane even better!
I was waiting for You to mention Tony Rolt. I don't know if you have done a Biography of him. You should. There is a great story about his 1953 Le Mons victory that should be told.
Thank you Simone You do a great job and I wish all the best. ( bows deeply and most respectfully)
I worked with Bill Goldfinch, in a very junior position, and he gave me a set of plans so I could build a flying scale model. He told me they built and flew a model from one of the castle windows and "It landed at the feet of one of the goons" (guards) "He picked it up and gave it back."
Wait, isn't that kind of the plot of Hogan's Heroes?
Not a plane specifically, but a bunch of POWs escaping from a nazi prison camp
Every story you see on TV/netflix/wherever are rewritten and stylized versions of stories that already exist.
Hogan's heroes was the first thing I thought of too lol
Reminiscent of the episode "The Flight of the Valkyrie." Didn't realize how close Hogan's Heroes was to a docuseries.
There was a TV movie in the 70s "Escape of The Birdmen". The cast included Richard Basehart and Max Baer, Jr.
Reminds me of a Macgyver episode, the original one.
Sixty years ago I was mesmerized by P.R. Reid's Escape from Colditz and The Men of Colditz--worth reading again
Does anyone remember the movie that was made about this glider and the airmen that build it? "Escape of the bird men". With Doug McClure and the guy with white hair from "Man from Uncle". I think it was made in the late '60s. Kool movie. I'm 61yrs old now, but I never forgot that movie. After watching in theater, I always wished I could make my own glider too. Find the movie and check it out. Wow...
The question is though, were the replicas made with the exact same resources used to create the original?
They certainly don't look like they were 🤔
Took less time to build too, I'd bet. Remember, they had engineer's, a book & pure 100% determination. Plus, it _needed_ to work, their lives depended on it. 😊
"Tony Stark built it in a cave!!!"
My Dad ran for Douglas Badar, another famous POW resident of Colditz, during a cricket match when he visited their school, Drumtochty Castle in the early '60's. Bandar lost both of his legs but - not allowing something so menial to get in the way - in true hero style he continued in active service. He was captured in 1939 (I believe) but made so many attempts at escape, that having been moved to Colditz Castle, the Germans eventually had to confiscate his prosthetic legs in attempt to put a stop to his relentless attempts at escape! Dude! Here's another guy who deserves a Bigraphics in his honour, and you KNOW THIS!! :)
There is a book about the Colditz POW camp written by former POW's held there. I read it when I was in High School and I am now 70.
the fact the inmates drank all the wine and replaced it with piss LMAO i could just picture an Austin Powers esq bit between two German guards in the wine cellar
Otto: Hans this Wine tastes like piss!
Hans: *tastes it and spits it out* It is piss Otto!
Otto: oh good then its not just me. *drinks anyway* its got a bit of an asparagus aftertaste.
When I was a kid I remember a movie,( I believe it was called), "The Dodo can fly". Wonder if the last story inspired it.🤔
The movie is, "Escape of the bird men". 1971, enjoy...
@@robswatosh1934 THANKS 👍
I've seen that episode of Ed, Edd, n Eddie
It was made into a movie in the 1970’s.
I was going to say that I saw the movie years ago.
Its also the plot to Chicken Run.
Kool someone else seen that movie too. That's three so far.
Great movie 🎥...
I saw it, too, and just looked it up online. It was a 1971 TV movie called "The Birdmen," starring Doug McClure and Rene Auberjonois. It wasn't completely accurate as to details. (Look it up on IMDb under "TV Movie.") I liked it, despite the usual Hollywood goofs---and I still wonder at the nationalities of the characters (Hollywood has a habit of crediting Americans with exploits of other nationalities).
In the words of Simon Whistler, all of these men are absolute legends. I do wonder though, how were they going to get that glider out? It looked like it had stone pillars behind the wings and a stone wall in front of it.
she likely was disassemble-able, pop the wings off, and there you go, who knows how big a door may have been behind the camera? or they may have been planning you cut out that section of roof and take off through the hole, a slab of roof hinging open and sliding down to become rubble would be a hell of a way to get the germans to all be looking skyward just in time to flip them the bird on their way out and over the walls
This episode is literally a subplot of an entire ninjago season
So how do you plan to do it..dig under, cut through?...ha we will fly over, the germans will never think to look up
We didn't have an abbreviated form for it yet so let it be known, from hereon the mouse-over preview shall be known as a "MOP", short for referring to the Mouse-Over Preview thumbnail gif.
And with that out the way, I'm sure simon was paid extra for putting the warthunder ad into the mop.
Not exactly lost. Im 42 and heard of it a couple times growing up. Had my doubts so thanks a lot for doing this one.
Fight. Survive. Live!
11 nazi guards disliked the wine.
Jokes on them since mossad owns the thumbs-down.
I'm surprised that no one mentioned the 1972 BBC television series "Colditz" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_(TV_series)
The glider story was ace and yes one of my favourites but the French didn’t take the piss did they, glad I wasn’t the one who found out what was in the bottles
I literally know the glider designer’s great great grandniece. She’s my girlfriend ☺️ No joke, I LITERALLY just found out that that guy is related to her through random conversations about how much we love museums and history and she goes, “My relative’s glider that he almost used to escape the Nazis is displayed in a museum actually!” And I LOST MY GODDAMN MIND. I think I won the girlfriend lottery y’all 😂❤️
You left out the best parts, to build the wings they needed a large room so they built a fake wall about 10 feet short and painted it so that looking from the doorway the room looked normal.
Part of the warning system utilized several telescopes that had been made out of plate glass they polished by hand so that they could peep on the women in the town. A bottle would be placed in a window on the other side of the castle giving the men enough time to clear out of their hiding places and look inconspicuous
There's a movie about this, called "The Birdmen". It takes lots of liberties, but it's clearly based on the same story. Excellent movie.
So that's where the premise of "Hogan's Heroes" came from!! Watching it as an 8-9 year old kid I was always amazed by how the Heroes did so much with so little!!
I don't know about WWII, but I know today that the US military has a standing order in the Code of Conduct to escape and help others escape should they become prisoners of war.
I imagine that at first if being made a POW I'd think "Phew, I did my bit but now the war is over for me", but maybe just the sheer boredom would make me want to consider escaping. Probably depends on how well stocked the camp library is.
My grandfather was a POW in Nazi Germany. He wouldn't talk about what happened except for once and even then it was only about the liberation. He said he woke up that morning and it was silent. The guards were gone and he thought for sure the camp was about to be bombed. He said he looked down the road a little ways and spotted a tank which then completely ran over the fence to the camp. He said the next time he was that happy was the day his first child was born (my dad).
As dark as the war was this was actually funny. That and the fact they only killed 1 man. That part surprises me along with them making a museum about the escape attempts.
5:49 that laugh :D
God I miss watching hogan’s heroes reruns on TV
It's on "MeTV" weekdays, 9:00pm. In less then 2hrs.
Central time. Enjoy...
Reminds me of that day when my dad escaped mom by forgetting his phone at home but he was later discovered at local pub and hasn't escaped our mom since.
There was a 1971 film loosely based on this called “escape of the birdmen”
Right-on man. You saw the movie too. Yeah it was 1971.
Thanks. I never forgot that movie. Kool. I think it was on TCM Chanel about 10yrs ago.
I would love to see it again in the theater.
Rob Swatosh it did get a limited theatrical release outside the US, been scouring the internet for it for a while no dice
@@lcdmonitor1981 Yeah thanks. I just looked it up on UA-cam, but it's not showing up in the full movie. People can buy it for $6.99 on Amazon. Who has a VCR anymore? Lol... I will keep looking anyway. Rob...
Rob Swatosh I did find a DVD copy on TCM shop for 7.99 a while back, but rather have digital just spent a while culling the herd on my dvd collection
While living in Germany during the Cold War era, I picked up a paperback book written by a former POW detained at Colditz. Couldn't put it down.
The author, P R Reid, was awarded the Military Cross, a British decoration equivalent to the Medal of Honor. If you can't find his books at your library, try online bookstores. Anyone who has tried to surmount impossible odds with little freedom or opportunity and few resources will find this account inspiring and worth their time.
Good on this channel for shining a spotlight on an incredible but almost forgotten epic in the annals of World War Two history.
I've got that book too. Great read!
Wondered if anyone else thought Hogan's Heroes. Simon must never have seen this show.
I highly recommend the books by Pat Reid MBE MC, I've read his Colditz accounts countless times. As the escape officer he details the POW exploits. Brilliant books, much love to his and his fellows.
Absolutely excellent reads, still on rotation in my bookshelf. The ingenuity on display was inspiring.
A fictionalized account was presented in the film The Birdmen (1971) aka Escape of the Birdmen aka Colditz: Escape of the Birdmen. Which is probably what people sort of remember. Starred: Doug McClure, Rene Auberjonois, Richard Basehart, Max Baer Jr., Chuck Connors, Tom Skerritt.
4:11 why did the British prisoner give him away?
They made a movie about this historical fact, starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Could you share the name please...
Mr. Rising is mistaken about Zimbalist's participation, at least in the movie I remember. According to Wikipedia, "Escape of The Birdmen" aired on ABC in 1971 and featured Doug McClure, Rene Auberjonois and Richard Basehart.
@@brianthomas2434 Thanks. I couldn't find it in my search...
So, give Netflix to those P.O.Ws and there will be no more escape attempts? 😆
Impregnability?
That's.. Not what i think of when i see castles.
0:35 as a war thunder player, i can confirm that is not true
Castle Wolfenstein.
3:40 Baldrick lives!
Imagine just building a fkin plane in a prison these days. I swear WWII has the best stories from both sides that anyone would call BS if we didn't have this proof. It's insane but awesome.
True genius.
The book is even better. "Escape from Colditz". Each story in the video was like hearing from an old friend.
"The Birdmen" is a 1971 fictional movie for TV based on this episode. In the movie, the glider flies and the crew escapes.
And now I want a Geographics episode about the Colditz Castle...
Great as always, folks! Happy New Year!!
starts at 1:06... to skip ads
Who was in charge of Colditz, Colonel Klink?
Nah, Schultz
Would the gliders have been able to support the pows massive brass balls? Lol I love these stories
Well.... you always need landing gear. 😉
The bit I loved the most, the French guys drinking all the wine and refilling the bottles with piss, now THAT'S just hilarious, imagine being the people or person who found THAT particular fact out!!! :P
6:15
"The audacious plan was conceived by BRITISH officer Tony Ralt..."
Lol! Of course it was.
Not replicas, COPIES. For it to be a replica, it has to be made/painted/created by the ORIGINAL maker/painter/builder. Yes, I know everybody SAYS replica when the mean exact copy, but that doesn't make it right!
I saw a movie. Escape from Colditz. I think it had a sprinkling of we'll known actors. I enjoyed it very much.
I wonder if the writers for Hogan's Heroes took their inspiration for a certain episode from this incident....
"That sounded like a motor!"
...
"It WAS a motor attached to an airplane! Halt! HALT!"
War Thunder realistic. Really when?.. In the same way MarioKart will teach you how to drive.
Its not known as Shit Thunder for nothing.
I have issues with the title.... 'Secretly Built an Airplane' .... I guess Glider would confuse the Mericans.
I used to incorrectly say 'an airplane' when I was 3 years old
This was dramatized in a 1971 movie called The Birdmen. But of course coming out of Hollywood, the protagonists were American.
If you turn on closed captions it skips the word "Cock" in "Colditz Cock". So glad google is protecting us from naughty words.
A shame the glider was never put to use. I could see Allied POW’s in a bar some years later. “Oh, that place sucked. Glad I escaped out a window!”
“Oh, you hid in a box and climbed out a window. That’s nice. Liam and I built an airplane... but I am sure your escape was most daring.”
I'm irritated by WAR Thunder. My great uncle, Wally Allen, died as a tail gunner over Germany, defending Europe, at age 19. His last words saved his crew from ground to air fire.
It amazes me that you could do a whole 10 minute video on this escape attempt without even mentioning the film "The Birdmen" (1971), which was based on this event, and, despite the fact that it was fiction, actually did a good job of explaining how the prisoners organised it. Or was this some kind of intentional snub?
Everyone needs a hobby...
...sounds like the guards enjoyed the game as much as the prisoners.
I'm getting the impression that early war camps weren't so bad. The Germans wanted to ensure their imprisoned pilots were being treated well in England, so they treated the Tommys well. But by the later war years the Germans either started running out of food to give the Allied POWs, or a vicious new way of keeping escapes down to a minimum was devised. Keeping prisoners half starved and sick with all manner of diseases means they wont be able to run very far. I suspect it was a bit of both. After the war U.S. Army POWs had no kind words whatsoever for their captors, as they were treated very poorly. One might even say criminally.
_Hogan's Heroes_ cast included a Frenchman who fought in WWII (as well as a German WWII officer). I wonder how many real escape stories like these were incorporated into that TV show?
So I really hope you enjoyed that video. Smash that like button. Oops. Wrong channel.
Can you really judge what prisoners built in "43 by what engineers built from the description decades later?
1:09 to skip ad
Col. Hogan would be proud!
the ingenuity and determination, not to mention courage, just incredible!
the creativity and resourcefulness of these men is truly inspiring.
I enjoy your content but this is click bait. They didn't make an airplane. They made an unpowered glider.
Great video as always but one thing that really really really pis*es me off with Simon is his pronunciation as as example he pronounced Odiham (where the replica was tested) Oddham when it should be O D Ham!
If I was a prison guard and somebody bribed me for a drill bit, it would be EXTREMELY obvious what they were trying to do.
Being unable to escape a POW prison so you drink all the Nazi’s wine and pee in the bottles might be the most French thing I have ever heard. Bravo, vive la France.
This sounds like something from a 1960s sitcom or something