Some additional information. Lt Curdes married the nurse, Svetlana Valeria Shostakovich Brownell His plane (or a likeness) is on display at Pima Air and Space Museum.
I suspect he knows the real pronunciation. This channel tends to mispronounce or mis-state something on every video, I believe to generate more comments, which in turn affects the algorithm.
How many guys have to shoot at their wife and still get to marry her.... Usually a Shotgun wedding has the guy on the business end of the gun.... Yet instead of a Shotgun wedding, this was a 6x50cal wedding⁉️🤔⁉️😉
You are also wrong. It was due to the vengeance factor , when highly trained soldiers will make risky costly decisions based on revenge for their captors. Personal experience.
Also incorrect…. It’s much more simple. A pilot that was shot down and escaped back to allied lines would have knowledge of the local resistance, friendly civilians, safe houses, and other highly sensitive information that if captured, could be extracted and used to put every other downed pilot thereafter, not to mention our allies, at risk.
@@dangeary2134 you are clueless if you think that. ryan hit it accurately. Chuck yeager even stated so in his autobiography.. The only reason he was allowed to return to fighting in europe was that the resistance was openly fighting the germans after the allies invaded the mainland.
Gotta say 🤔 the U.S. airmen he shot down may have been lost and had a bad radio, still ; A mustang pilot buzzes you, even fires warning shots and you still can’t figure out you should follow him ?!? That’s a new level of ‘’not getting the message’’ 😅
That had to be a very tough decision on his part to do his best to keep his fellow soldiers from being taken prisoner. He made the right decision to take out the engines enabling to crew to survive.
Like to see any airforce personnel do anything remotely close to this now. These guys were just pure balls, with a ton of skill under the circumstances
Things have changed. There are no dog fights. There is no mass air combat with thousands of enemy planes. You don't outfly the enemy. You probably can't even see the enemy aircraft you shoot a missile at, and neither can the enemy when he shoots his missile at you. You can get taken out by all kinds of mobile AA from all and any terrain, from 1 or 100 miles away. You probably can't even land on some beach or field.
Absolute Chad for sure. Seems like the mustache seems to be required to be in that top ace tier at least at one point in the career regardless of branch.
I would have imagined that there were several german pilots who shot down soviet, british and american planes. Some of them must have also had a crack at the odd french, polish, belgian, norwegian and even italian planes, not forgetting spanish. Did you check?
These pilots did receive survival training prior to the war -- but maybe perhaps later into the war. I personally knew a P-38 pilot who detailed to me the survival training he had prior to going to Italy.
@@My_Fair_Lady Regan was not a pilot, he was an actor in many USAF training films, the footage is widely used in historical WWII videos due to the lack of authentic combat film. I expect you already knew this but couldn't resist the opportunity to express your opinion.
Maybe there were only three American fighter pilots who shot down German, Italian and Japanese aircraft, but there must have been more than three Allied pilots who achieved that feat. Scottish-born Royal Marine Ronnie Hay was one, and I am fairly sure there were several Australians too.
its a shite video with so many inaccuracies in it and clips of totally unrelated planes etc. only a fool would think this is a quality video or channel.
I didn’t know there was a regulation re: an airman whom was an escaped POW was barred from flying again over the same enemy… Does this mean if a pilot was shot down over German territory in Africa and was captured, even if they escaped and made it back to friendly lines, they couldn’t fly over German territory in Africa, or would the ban apply to flying over ANY German-held or -captured territory?
"The only pilot to shoot down planes from four different countries"? Given that Romania, Finland and Hungary all had air forces and were fighting the USSR under Germany during WWII, I have to question whether that statement is correct.
This story doesn't make sense. If they were within 50 miles of the enemy base, they would have been captured. If they were further, there is no telling where they would have landed and shooting them down is crazy. The C47 spotted and navigated towards a Japanese base 50 miles away? You can't even see runways 50 miles away, unless it's the size of LAX, you're 20K high and have perfect haze-less skies. Why didn't he pull up alongside and hand gesture that direction was no good? If a cargo plane were truly lost, he would do what an ally fighter tells him.
The fighter can also pull up alongside and verify the C47 pilot looks american. He can also gesture a radio frequency with his hands. You can get close enough in formation flying to make out dirt and oil on each rivet of the other plane. And if you planned to do that, you wouldn't introduce yourself with a stream of bullets across his nose. This story is baffling.
I don’t remember the context, but it Could have been the “liberator” a single shot stamped pistol 🔫 meant for the Maquis to use to kill a guard or soldier to “liberate” their (better) weapon. Look it up. Pretty neat. Better make that one shot count though!
Does anyone know if there’s a biography of Louis Curtis? Did some googling, didn’t find any books, but would love to read his life story and more detail.
I dont know there is a dedicated biography written. I have seen tons of articles, plenty of shows, and chapters in many books. Of course, I had the benefit of hearing the stories from my grandfather himself.
@@christophercurdes7399if he was your grandfather, how fortunate you were to hear his stories. From what I learned in this video he was a badass American Hero!
12:49 did the B-17 have this? I didn’t know this was designed into the plane. The more you know! The amount of times I was lucky enough to be around B-17s Including 2 that we’re still functioning. Someone has to know more reading this. I want to know what this a thing. if so, was it implemented immediately? Later versions? Only specific versions that were designated and specific locations ie The Pacific Theatre or majority of the time above water..
If not a re-upload maybe a repackaging. I do remember a video about this pilot who shot down planes from 4 countries. But it wasn't the exact same content.
This WW2 story was also featured on yarn hub Don't forget why he shot down the dc3 airplane over the airfield cuz his wife was in the same dc3 had his wife in the plane she was a nurse though 🕊️ Of peace
Really? The video didn’t state that he married that girl/date from the night before. I can imagine the wedding vows… will love you forever and promise not to shoot down any plane you are on ever again…
If a POW escapes, goes back into theater and gets captured again, they may divulge how they were able to escape. Then other POWs wouldn’t be able to use the same method or contacts. Idk if the Geneva Convention says that for that exact reason though.
Some additional information.
Lt Curdes married the nurse, Svetlana Valeria Shostakovich Brownell
His plane (or a likeness) is on display at Pima Air and Space Museum.
A C47 or a B 17?
Incredible story that I'd never previously heard. Excellent work, Lt. Curdes!
What an incredible story!
Curdes was born the same year as my passed away father. Some incredible people came from those times.
Honestly brother I love hearing these stories of Heroes from our greatest generation.
Nice story on my grandfather. The name is pronounced with a long E. “Cur-Dee’s”
Dee's what?
He was a badass and one hell of a pilot.
I suspect he knows the real pronunciation. This channel tends to mispronounce or mis-state something on every video, I believe to generate more comments, which in turn affects the algorithm.
Holy cow. Nice, man.
@@zachansen8293 Dee's nuts!
Lt. Colonel Curdes was one hell of a badass.
Proud to know that he was a fellow Hoosier, may he rest in peace.
Horser or hoser, where from?
@@CFITOMAHAWK 🤣
@@CFITOMAHAWK "HOOSIER (who's your) Daddy"?! 😆😂🤣
You missed the most important part of it.
He married the nurse.
He sure did
The only guy to "shoot down his wife" before she shot him down! 😆 It's a great love story!
@@glennnickerson8325---Didn't she stay married to him?
@@brokenbridge6316 I believe she did. I hope they had a happy life together!
How many guys have to shoot at their wife and still get to marry her....
Usually a Shotgun wedding has the guy on the business end of the gun....
Yet instead of a Shotgun wedding, this was a 6x50cal wedding⁉️🤔⁉️😉
Forced to ditch into the Philippines sea or be captured by Japanese troops? That aircrew was very lucky.
And prevented handing over a perfectly good C-47 that would certainly have been used for no good.
@@AaronS11979wouldve been used the same way we used them... 😅 Don't go "no good" when it's anyone but your own guys
@@Steve.._. no it's quite possible that they would use it as a recon or some sort of infiltration aircraft. Wolf in sheep's clothing and the like
The Geneva Convention didn't prohibit serving in the same theater that one was captured in; that was US policy.
The reason that the States had that mandate was that when enemies found out that pilots went up against enemies twice, they weren’t treated so good.
You are also wrong.
It was due to the vengeance factor , when highly trained soldiers will make risky costly decisions based on revenge for their captors.
Personal experience.
Also incorrect…. It’s much more simple. A pilot that was shot down and escaped back to allied lines would have knowledge of the local resistance, friendly civilians, safe houses, and other highly sensitive information that if captured, could be extracted and used to put every other downed pilot thereafter, not to mention our allies, at risk.
@@dangeary2134 you are clueless if you think that. ryan hit it accurately. Chuck yeager even stated so in his autobiography.. The only reason he was allowed to return to fighting in europe was that the resistance was openly fighting the germans after the allies invaded the mainland.
@@MysticalDragon73Yes, an insult and referencing the memoirs of a elderly pilot does counter the official historical record.🙄
We sure had a lot of bad ass pilots in WWll.
Amen.
And at least 1 absolute jacka$$ pilot flying that transport .
They truly wrre the greatest generation.
Gotta say 🤔 the U.S. airmen he shot down may have been lost and had a bad radio, still ; A mustang pilot buzzes you, even fires warning shots and you still can’t figure out you should follow him ?!? That’s a new level of ‘’not getting the message’’ 😅
Right.. WTF..
Once the adrenaline is pumping you aint thinking
That had to be a very tough decision on his part to do his best to keep his fellow soldiers from being taken prisoner. He made the right decision to take out the engines enabling to crew to survive.
Wow, what a story! And what a great pilot!
Like to see any airforce personnel do anything remotely close to this now. These guys were just pure balls, with a ton of skill under the circumstances
Flying 400+ mph in a machine with less technology in it than a 1970's 4-function pocket calculator.
Things have changed. There are no dog fights. There is no mass air combat with thousands of enemy planes. You don't outfly the enemy. You probably can't even see the enemy aircraft you shoot a missile at, and neither can the enemy when he shoots his missile at you.
You can get taken out by all kinds of mobile AA from all and any terrain, from 1 or 100 miles away. You probably can't even land on some beach or field.
A-10 pilots on line 1…
His aircraft is featured in the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, AZ.
that story was pretty cool...tnx!
What a marvellous story. Guts and determination knows no bounds. From the old Aussie. I dips me lid.
Great video, thanks for sharing.
the last part of the story was truly incredible⚛😀
None other than ronald reagan is shown in the clip flying a fighter.Great video.Thank you.
The close ups of Curdes flying his P-51D were amazing video....I didn't realize how much he looked like a young RONALD REAGAN....
Absolute Chad for sure. Seems like the mustache seems to be required to be in that top ace tier at least at one point in the career regardless of branch.
Proof that you never let a LT have the map. It took him over a year to travel 90 miles.
@Turnipstalk I wonder how many babies looked just like him a year later.
@@HeinzGuderian_ His grandson is in these comments....maybe don't disparage the family, eh?
@@lanmandragoran8337 go join the military so you understand the joke, eh?
WOW !! One your best stories !!!! Thanks
Curdes Ave. in Ft. Wayne.... prob named after him.... great story!
the starting story continues at 11:35 not sure why it was abruptly broken up like that.
Great content. Just great.
I would have imagined that there were several german pilots who shot down soviet, british and american planes. Some of them must have also had a crack at the odd french, polish, belgian, norwegian and even italian planes, not forgetting spanish. Did you check?
of course this m0ron didnt check he just wanted to put out another inaccurate video.
and a certain pilot accidently shooting down a German plane
The plane is on display at Pima air and space museum
For those that do not know that 6th kill is the aerial recognition mark of the WWII Italian Air Force.
Thanks! 👍
C-47 pilot was like: „dumb da dumb di dumb, ahiagh!“ 🤪
What a great story
Thank you
What a story .Just imagine making that last decision shooting USA plane ...wow
So, he shot down everything but British planes? That's amazing!
And russian
This story would make a good movie!
These pilots did receive survival training prior to the war -- but maybe perhaps later into the war. I personally knew a P-38 pilot who detailed to me the survival training he had prior to going to Italy.
Amazing how many of these historic WWIi missions Ronald Regan flew.
Biden was his co-pilot when they shot Osama bin Laden down in Vietnam, 1776.
@@My_Fair_Lady Regan was not a pilot, he was an actor in many USAF training films, the footage is widely used in historical WWII videos due to the lack of authentic combat film. I expect you already knew this but couldn't resist the opportunity to express your opinion.
@@My_Fair_Lady Um, that would be Carter you are talking about
@@My_Fair_Lady Arrogant and opinionated indeed.
@@Saltee323 mr peanut wasnt squat.
Remember, friendly fire isn't
Wow an amazing story about an American hero. Thank you.
Many are called. Few are chosen.
Batan is not an island, It's a peninsula on the island of Luzon.
wat a story. thanx
What a crazy story. Truly an American hero.
Maybe there were only three American fighter pilots who shot down German, Italian and Japanese aircraft, but there must have been more than three Allied pilots who achieved that feat. Scottish-born Royal Marine Ronnie Hay was one, and I am fairly sure there were several Australians too.
One of your best videos for sure!
its a shite video with so many inaccuracies in it and clips of totally unrelated planes etc. only a fool would think this is a quality video or channel.
Very interesting story indeed
"Bad Angles" reminds me of the wallet in the movie Pulp Fiction.
I didn’t know there was a regulation re: an airman whom was an escaped POW was barred from flying again over the same enemy…
Does this mean if a pilot was shot down over German territory in Africa and was captured, even if they escaped and made it back to friendly lines, they couldn’t fly over German territory in Africa, or would the ban apply to flying over ANY German-held or -captured territory?
It happened to chuck Yeager but he was able to talk the general into bending the rules and he got to fly again
They could compromise the people that helped them. it was out of respect for people like the French underground.
That was strange!
great stuff
That’s pretty incredible. My wife has shot me down before, but it really doesn’t count. I’m pretty much of a sitting duck.
Pfft, i thought he shot down an UFO 👽👾 😂
"The only pilot to shoot down planes from four different countries"? Given that Romania, Finland and Hungary all had air forces and were fighting the USSR under Germany during WWII, I have to question whether that statement is correct.
A time for nobleness, a time for heroes!
What a cool story 👍
Amazing story!!!!
Very rude of the plane not stopping. 12:40
Story not completed, how did he die??
is the brash American pilot in Porco Roso modeled after Lt. Curdes?
"bad angel". lucy with a halo. i dig it.
The later marks of the Mustang are good looking aircraft.
This story doesn't make sense. If they were within 50 miles of the enemy base, they would have been captured. If they were further, there is no telling where they would have landed and shooting them down is crazy. The C47 spotted and navigated towards a Japanese base 50 miles away? You can't even see runways 50 miles away, unless it's the size of LAX, you're 20K high and have perfect haze-less skies. Why didn't he pull up alongside and hand gesture that direction was no good? If a cargo plane were truly lost, he would do what an ally fighter tells him.
The fighter can also pull up alongside and verify the C47 pilot looks american. He can also gesture a radio frequency with his hands. You can get close enough in formation flying to make out dirt and oil on each rivet of the other plane. And if you planned to do that, you wouldn't introduce yourself with a stream of bullets across his nose. This story is baffling.
Great story.
A small 45-caliber pistol??
I don’t remember the context, but it Could have been the “liberator” a single shot stamped pistol 🔫 meant for the Maquis to use to kill a guard or soldier to “liberate” their (better) weapon. Look it up. Pretty neat. Better make that one shot count though!
This is Dark Skies. You'll get used to it . . .
@@GordonDonaldson-v1c Glad im not the only one. Some of what he says is so wrong. He simply doesnt let facts get in the way of his story.
Have you done a video on joseph beyrle?
Does anyone know if there’s a biography of Louis Curtis? Did some googling, didn’t find any books, but would love to read his life story and more detail.
I dont know there is a dedicated biography written. I have seen tons of articles, plenty of shows, and chapters in many books. Of course, I had the benefit of hearing the stories from my grandfather himself.
@@christophercurdes7399if he was your grandfather, how fortunate you were to hear his stories. From what I learned in this video he was a badass American Hero!
4 airplanes make up a "Flight" not a Squadron.
Is that lex fridman in the thumbnail?
I haven't been this early since my mom was 7 months pregnant!
That’s not what your lovers say…
😂😂😂😂😂
fetal alcohol baby?
Say WHAT?
And you're the father
Great story
Curdes pilot! Excellent.
gutsy.
Ayyyyyyyyyyyy love youman!!!
That's one hell of a love story!! 💞
The Greatest Generation!!❣️🇺🇲🙏
No man we count the American plane as well
12:49 did the B-17 have this? I didn’t know this was designed into the plane. The more you know!
The amount of times I was lucky enough to be around B-17s Including 2 that we’re still functioning. Someone has to know more reading this. I want to know what this a thing. if so, was it implemented immediately? Later versions? Only specific versions that were designated and specific locations ie The Pacific Theatre or majority of the time above water..
I like the clips of the p40’s and the THE FLYING TIGERS featuring John Wayne
What would the geneva conventions have to say about where an escaped POW was re-deployed?
None, US policy
@@raymondclark1785 ah, gotcha
"Semper-Fi"
An amazing hodgepodge of random footage….
As I said above. This is Dark Skies. You'll get used to it . . .
Ronald Reagan at the 00:55 videomark.
Thought he looked vaguely familiar.
@@Im_Not_From_Around_Here
Old Ronnie made military training films in Hollywood during the war like many other actors.
OK being Ft. Wayne is my neighborhood this Tube made the hairs on my back stand up.
Is that Lex in the thumbnail?
great
any relation to curtis aircraft?
He spent a year walking through Italy?
I find that to be bullshit unless he spent most of that time hiding from the enemy. It would only take you at most a month to hike across Italy
@@nicholaspayne349 What wasn't held by the allies could be crossed in days, north, south, east and west.
That’s the problem, with hero stories, and sacred manuscripts.
Isnt this a reupload?
If not a re-upload maybe a repackaging. I do remember a video about this pilot who shot down planes from 4 countries. But it wasn't the exact same content.
again.. please reference the movie clips..
This WW2 story was also featured on yarn hub
Don't forget why he shot down the dc3 airplane over the airfield cuz his wife was in the same dc3 had his wife in the plane she was a nurse though
🕊️ Of peace
Really? The video didn’t state that he married that girl/date from the night before. I can imagine the wedding vows… will love you forever and promise not to shoot down any plane you are on ever again…
Personally an F4F fan, but the Mustang is the best overall fighter of th war..
Less than 1k upvotes? We’re all first, but one was First.
When you're a hammer...
Everything looks like a nail...
10:39 and what means that american flag??? no time to watch the whole video...
What a gal, what a gal.
That’s what I call impressing the gal..
9:16 anyone able to expand upon what it is about the Geneva convention that prevents pilots from flying over a theater where they were a PoW?
If a POW escapes, goes back into theater and gets captured again, they may divulge how they were able to escape. Then other POWs wouldn’t be able to use the same method or contacts.
Idk if the Geneva Convention says that for that exact reason though.
David is correct about that policy for fear of endangering those who aided in the pilots escape. The Geneva Convention has nothing to do with this.
absolute jacka$$ pilot flying that transport.
Another pilot shot down a US aircraft, Pappy Boyington :(
Francis Gabreski.