D-Day From the Perspective of a P-51 Mustang Pilot
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2024
- This is episode 4 in the story of Ed McNeff and his incredible journey as a P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in the 355th Fighter Group during World War II. This will cover his missions of D-Day, taking place on June 6th and June 7th of 1944. This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder
A big thanks to the Commemorative Air Force Airbase Georgia for their commentary in this video. Check them out here!
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/ @cafmediatv
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Thanks my friend ans Ed.....
Shoe🇺🇸
@thepedophileexposingbounty I do not make enough from RUclips to fly across the country, pay a camera man, and interview the last surviving heroes of this generation. You can call me greedy if you like, but I've spent more than $10k this year alone (of my own money) to try and save this history. And as I wrote above, veterans will get missed without help. But whatever you want to think friend. Have a good one.
@@TJ3Don’t listen to him, you already work hard enough on your videos and these interviews! I wouldn’t ask for any more. Good luck on the grind man! I also dropped a sub
Funfact about D-Day:
There were only 2 FW-190s on the beach.
i wish i knew this before 2021 before my great grandpa died he was in the Korean war
Seeing videos such as this, I wind up wishing that you could have been able to start your work 30 years ago. Still, what you are creating is historic treasures for future generations.
Agreed. Going to do my best with what I have!
Ed McNeff is a true American hero. Hearing and watching his story has been truly inspiring. I'm very glad that I found this channel.
Sorry to say he died a few months after this interview. We were lucky to get his story when we did.
20 yr old, poor soul. It is difficult to comprehend, look around at your modern day 20 yr olds or recall what you were doing when you were 20? Imagine having to dish out death and destruction or receive it. What a generation, I'm eternally grateful.
Today they do it with video games.
If that's what was needed today, that's what would be done
1983 I was twenty I was on patrol as a frontline south African infantryman in the cold war on a two week patrol in ANGOLA.
Also spent my 21st in the bush
@@JooLaa-zq7mc I was a PFC on a search patrol, hunting Charlie down, it was in the jungle war of 65...
@@waynesimpson2074 Viet Nam 1971. Twenty years young.
Dad flew his first combat mission on D-Day - and one of the 354FS pilots that found and shot down a Ju 87 inbound to the beach. The 354th and 357th scored 12 destroyed of the 15 Ju 87s. He was flying 'tail end charlie' as #4 in Blue Flight, and became 354FS Operations officer just after he shot down 2 109s near Rugen Island two weeks later. Then 354FS CO and Fighter Ace 7 weeks later.
Very Good!
NIce...Lucky you ,to hear stories from the veterans themselves
I was in the 354th in 1969 as a mechanic
there was no JU87 attack on D-Day or later in Normandie
@@rolfharry4753 - you are incorect. II./SG 103, a Stuka Training unit was interecepted by a section each of the 354th FS and 357th FS near Janville, heading for Normandy at very low alttude. - and annihilated.
Sadly, 10 years ago we lost the last veteran I knew of WWII. He served with the Army Air Force as well but so much of his career was classified he never really told any war stories. Being a history buff, though, he was always glad to put the broader events into historical context. In loving memory to him and his family.
Let’s go another video of Ed Mcneff! I’m glad to see another video, the videos are getting better and better.
Thank you!
It took a lot of intestinal fortitude to brave German flak. It must have been pretty frightening being in a single engine fighter. Unlike those on the ground, you had nowhere to hide when the shit started flying. You just had to hunker down and pray for luck. My hat goes off to those guys. What they did was truly heroic.
It's very ironic. I'm sure alot of bomber crews volunteered for the Army Air Corps to "get out of the trenches" and into the sky. But I'm sure it didn't feel safer than the trenches when your formation is maintaining a strict bearing, altitude and speed while German Flak Batteries walk in their rounds to your formation.
Great to see ed again with his story TJ you're a master 😎👍
Awesome video. Thankyou! One of the pilots on June 7th who went missing was flying Leonard Fullers OS-E which he had flown on June 6th. Harwood Harral took it up and the plane went down in the French countryside. I have pictures of the plane. Found them on an French evasion site. Pretty crazy for me to see.
Hey Donna. Don't worry still working on this ;) that video hasn't started yet. That's July 7th, not June 7th!
@@TJ3 I know! But was very excited to see this as well. I knew about Lt. Foster from my records. Just not all the details. Just all the military details of where they were when they flew. Pretty amazing to hear it from Ed McNeff. How hard it must have been for him to relay these memories to you.
@donnabonning5587 awesome :) got some special stuff coming for you! Stay tuned.
@@TJ3 Can't wait! My friend James Eshelman is glued as well. His father Francis flew with Ed. In fact he was up on that mission with Ed when Foster was lost.
Altogether, the 355th lost 6 P-51s and their pilots on June 7th (and two MIA on the 6th).
My name sake was also killed on D-Day. He was staffing the enemy as our troops were coming in. His plane was hit and he jumped out but was to close to the ground for the parachute to open fully. His name was Jack Winchael. Another hero of the day.
Fantastic simulator content for this film, exactly choreographed for the story. The cockpit pilots faces lit up in the foggy dawn take offs did it for me, that's detail 😉
I think there are one gun cam footage where an P 51 are caught in the explosion during an strafe run of a train in France. The explosion cause the plane to roll to the left away from the lenght of the train, and crashing in a field nose down and maybe upside down. This footage is used often in documentaries.
As a nation we stand on the shoulders of giants!
But many forget about these giants, and they think as though they are flying
giant mafia boss'
Many nations enjoy the actual freedom forged by these gents.
And the pansies of today are allowing that greatness fade. You saw how much freedom you truly had when the 19 hit us. Our constitution states we have the right to assemble. How did they say no, church, no large groups of any kind?
IMPORTANT: If you know a living veteran of the air war, please fill out the form HERE so we can tell their story! forms.gle/ZVH1X5wqPZMMeWeT6
Historical notes: In this video, you might catch a few inaccurate skins and A-36s playing the role of P-51s. These are because of limitations of my flight sim. Also, because of these limitations, Thomas Foster is shown in a D model. I believe he was KIA in a B model. Also, a big thanks to the Commemorative Air Force Airbase Georgia for helping provide commentary! Check them out here! facebook.com/CAFAirbaseGeorgia
Now are you not glad a game like war thunder exists? Videos like this would have been impossible without a brilliant special effects team. Now they’re a piece of cake thanks to game platforms like this! Bravo!!!👏 👏👏👏
My dad served in the 361st FG (The Yellowjackets) during this time. One of his stories that I recall him telling regarded the invasion stripes. The application of the stripes was attempted secretly but many of the German planes to their surprise arrived with the same stripes!
Not true. No German aircraft had strips
@@monza1002000 you can dismiss the eyewitness accounts if you prefer, but your statement is unreasonable. Just because something may not have been documented does not mean it did not happen. The 361st FG, specifically men of the 374th Fighter Squadron, encountered German fighters with invasion stripes.
@dougpendleton1266
No they did not. All Luffwaffe aircraft and units that operated in Normandy are accounted for, NONE of their aircraft used copies "invasion" stripes. It did not happen
@@dougpendleton1266 Just because it’s an “eyewitness account” does not make something 100% reliable, especially if it’s something retold years or decades after the fact. Jagdverband 44 is the only Luftwaffe squadron I found that employed red/white stripes for IFF purposes but it was not something commonly used by other units as those stripes are meant to be visible from a distance, the last thing a German pilot would want to be in 44-45.
@@BullGator-kd6ge You make some very reasonable points and I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Since I heard this directly from my father who was there, and not a chain of folks passing the tale along, I am sure that you will appreciate that my beliefs have not changed. We will just need to "agree to disagree". Regards...
Thank you so much for this, & moreso, for helping our next generations appreciate what our "Greatest Generation" did for us. My Dad & 4 of 5 uncles served in WWII (the 5th in Korea), & their mothers, fathers, & sisters served & sacrificed so much at home. I chose a career to teach history to honor of them & all our generous ancestors who deserve so much of our humble gratitude.
21:38: Just a strange detail: Foster died on June 7th in "Rhone, Draguignan, France" according to the document showed in the video.
Well, I'm French: Rhone is a "Departement" (an administrative area around a main city, to make it simple). The "département of Rhone" (Rhone being the name of a river) is located around Lyon, let's say more or less in the middle of the country while Draguignan is a city located in South-East France, 800 km south from Paris, 80 km north of Toulon on the Mediterranean coast, nothing to do with Rhone, neither the département nor the river itself. Moreover nobody was flying overthere on D-Day so that the document displayed in the video doesn't make any sense. It's rather curious.
However being buried in "Département du Calvados" is the only thing consistent since it's indeed the area around the landing beaches. Just for information
Another amazing video from the GOAT. It's gonna be a good day
Thanks :)
Wow. I didn't expect your pursuit of history as this. Bravo Zulu in US Navy parlance because getting to this family tree sacrifice is wonderful and respectful.
The Mustangs painted in the black and white look absolutely wicked in the strictest sense of the word. Both beautiful and utterly lethal.
Thanks for bringing these Hero's stories to us, lest we forget the brutality of war, and the high price we paid to crush evil
There were 1 or 2 pilots flying Dauntless dive bombers in the Pacific who had a little bit of experience for that job.
Those men are the roots of this time.
They'll never forget!!!
You are doing fantastic work!
Thank you!
You are very but very well educated on WWII history especially the air war. Please keep this very good work up. I’m subscribed and will continue following you. Just to say this I educated my so on things WWII so the legacy will live on. He is only 30 and in many ways has surpassed my knowledge of WWII. That was not an easy thing to do.
The P 51D simply the most beautiful flying machine ever!Ethernal Glory to those who fighted the evil of those times!
After D-Day, the Forward Air Control (FAC) doctrine was very efficient for dedicated Fighter Ground Attack (FGA) squadrons eg Typhoons/ Tempests. FAC parties were attached to forward battalions (like Artillery Foward Observation Officers (FOO) were attached to companies). Flights of aircraft from squadrons loitering over rear areas, were called forward individually by the FAC for specific targets.
This was a real treat, thanks TJ!
Thanks so much!
I love p 51 and tj3 history videos they are sooooo good!
Thank you!
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job making it easier for viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Class A research project special thanks to the veteran guest speakers for sharing their personal combat experiences/log books 📚/diaries. Making this documentary more authentic and possible. Fighting/perishing/surviving knowing certain death/debilitating wounds were often possible. That's true grit style determination to succeed.
What photography?
That's simulator generated!
thank God for such brave heroes!
The Greatest Generation. Many of my College Engineering instructors were WWII vets.
And they had the scars or missing li:bs to show for it.
Their legacy and the men they raised to follow in their footsteps for this great country lasted until 1992. They included my Father. A SAC Pilot from the 1950s until 1967. Until he took a detour, due to Robert McNamara's debacle in the skies over South East Asia. He survived 104 missions and came back to SAC HQ in Omaha as a Strategic Nuclear Planner for the Bomber Wing of the Nuclear Triad. He left ASAP in 1973 after one year in DC. He apologized to me because it would be my third High School. But, he said he would have a heart attack if he stayed there any longer. The Military was trying to dump people as the Vietnam pullout began in 1973. As did the first OPEC gasoline price crisis. The first year of forced racial integration bussing in DC. And, don't forget, the Watergate Hearings and Nixon's resignation soon after in 1974.
It's been a steady downhill path since. Our country's leadership has been slowly infiltrated for a long time...~110 years. In 2008, we went into a Neo-Marxist free fall. We had a temporary "drogue chute" slowing things down from 2016-2020. Our Main Chute and Reserve chute were disabled by our own government. We hit the ground at terminal velocity in 2020. Since then we've only seen PsyOp theater, Gas Lighting, Bread and Circuses. Misinfo, Disinfo and other Propaganda up the Wazoo. Wanna' be self-proclaimed "chosen ones" and their useful idiot Criminal Abettors (PTOCs - Psychopathic Traitorous Organized Criminals). Are rapidly trying to consolidate their power over the whole world. As I write this. Their long term Strategic Plan to Divide and Conquer is nearly complete. Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder could "see" what has happened, and is continuing to occur. Unfortunately, ~50% of Americans are "blind" to this.
I watched a short video by John Lovell who is a founder and leader of the Warrior Poet Society Network. I agree 100% with what he said. There are almost no "blue states". Only large dysfunctional "blue cities" inside those Red States. Most will not be shocked to find that these "blue cities" are controlled by the same PTOCs I described above. Organized Criminals. It's almost a 100% correlation.
These are the people that take turns with their hands stuck up JBs puppet ass, to put it bluntly. Almost exactly like the 1989 Movie, "Weekend at Bernie's". Check out "Wag the Dog" if you haven't seen it for awhile. Both movies made by these same PTOCs.
As if anybody doesn't know who JB really is. Unfortunately for him and the USA, a demented old man...and a major criminal. The PTOCs "puppeteers" have ~19 months to crash the economic system (the economy is NOT the effing stock market) and/or start WWIII. With the Nuclear "Sword of Damocles" held over the head of humanity.
Never forget. They Do Not Care about you...or humanity. As George Carlin said so eloquently.
They only care about themselves.
The mainstream media is on the enemies side as well
Yes Wag the Dog.
How the hell did you get there…
A memorable sentence from one of the D-Day histories: "The largest sea force ever assembled. Anyone who looked out and saw it was dead by noon."
Even though incorrect , yeah I guess it's "memorable"🙄
Most of the invasion fleet was RN/RCN
@@monza1002000 BWAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no, it wasn't.
@jonnyblayze5149 Yes it was. All a matter of record. US components were small in number, most aircraft were Commonweath, most of the troops were Commonweath, and the US only took 2 of the 5 beaches.
@@monza1002000 🥱 and where and how do you think all these magically produced British and commonwealth crafts were built when they didn't have the resources or facilities to do so ? Just knock it off kid.
Great video. Thank you for your time and research to make this video.
As much as I love the mustang; i would have rather flown the p47 for these missions! Excellent history video! So well done!
I'm new to this channel, but am already a fan. Glad this channel popped up in my feed.
Hey TJ, you should do a video on the legend of y-29 at the battle of the bulge which was a massive air battle which the Americans overcame overwhelming odds
I will look into it!
Thank you, great video by the way on Ed!
Amazing videos and historical research, what a great channel. Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Great storytelling of brave people and stunning acts to beat the Nazis. These stories must be kept alive! Thank You!
If you ever need some background infofmation for the 100th BG when "Masters of the Air" comes out. I can share Cpt Fred Schaffhausen's diary entires he recorded from July 17 - Oct 30 1944. He recorded exact times he resched each objective, payload, target, and brief summary of what he went though on 33 missions.
One of the things creators of the flight sim videos that are out there do not get correct is the D Day black and white stripes. They always make them crisp and perfectly aligned. This was never the case. The stripes were always crooked and sloppy looking because they were added in haste and applied with simple paint brushes and not masked and sprayed on. A pet peeve of mine, LOL! 😉
Better to be straight late than evidence of a waver forever?
Thank you for your effort!
Thanks Lancelot!
After they secured all the beach heads. Some Spitfires where modified to carry Beer kegs in their underwing pylons normally carrying bombs or had external fuel tanks converted into holding beer. These were dropped then for the soldiers to enjoy.
Typoons would fly to Manson, load two barrels of beer and take them to the forward airfields. They never dropped beer, ever as it would simply burst open. Only the Bombtoons could carry the barrels but had to stop doing it as P47s would attack them low down, mistaking them for Fw190s on "hit and run" raids.
True heros, real men. Thank you.
You can tell that the possibility of it being his bombs that sent his wingman down weighs heavy upon him to this day. I hope he finds his peace, and if the afterlife is real, I hope he gets to have a long overdue chat with his friend.
The B and C model P-51's were actually 9 mph faster than the D model due to the drag produced
by the bubble canopy.
Amazing video TJ! Keep em coming!
Thank you!
My father was a RNZAF pilot in the Pacific flying fu4 and p40 he has since died of old age he love the fu4 and told all about flying them but not so much about the war I still have his log books and have been to where he was stationed too miss him
F4u*
Nicely done. Thank you 🙏
Most popular movie's and commentary only talk about the skies over the beaches and usually state there was little to no German Air Force present. Your video's show the reality. Thank you for sharing this bit of history.
Thanks!
I can't support you financially but you got a sub. Every bit helps with the algorithm.
Did you say early summer, 1944? Dday? Summer solstice in the northern hemisphere is on June 21. So, late spring.
Just like nINe eLeVeN in 2001 wasn't a beautiful sunny Fall day as is often reported.
It was a beautiful sunny late Summer day.
What I have never understood is why, on D-day, at least some of the planes didn't provide suppressing fire by continuously strafing the German pill boxes, machine gun nests, and whatever. Or did they but no-one talks about it ?
High risk of friendly fire!
Think of the trajectory of naval gunfire. The ships are firing from miles away and it is a plunging fire so for a low flying plane it would be above and behind the planes (out of the sun so to speak). These shells are flying faster than the speed of sound, faster than a me262 or me263 so very hard to dodge if bracketed by a broadside salvo
Utter waste of time. The Germans would not even notice
Machine gun bullets would have had no, affect, against the concrete of a pill box. How many machine guns were out in the open. Not many.
Great video! When is the can you survive series coming back?
It's been on my list for a while. I hope to bring it back soon. It's hard because those videos are a ton of work and they are often hit or miss!
@@TJ3 They were all hits if you ask me!
The P51 began it's operational history as fast recon and ground attack aircraft by the British. Tha U.S. Army Air Corps adopted the ground attack Mustang version designated A36 Apache. These were equipped with the Allison engine, which proved highly capable at low altitudes, less so higher up. When a switch was made to the Merlin, the Mustang started it's evolution to the long range, high altitude escort fighter we all know and love. Even so, our guys loved to go down on the deck to shoot up anything that moved. More P51's were lost to ground fire than to enemy aircraft.
Reminds me of the Spifire 944 story. Well done, very interesting.
A couple things missing from describing how difficult dive bombing is. The dive angle isn't the only factor that affects bomb trajectory. You also have to deal with speed at release, and altitude at release. If any one of those three factors deviates, your bomb will fall short or long.
Movies tend to get two things wrong, possibly because of availability issues, but still… 1. in June, 1944 the mustangs were mostly olive drab and gray with invasion stripes, B and C models, no bubble canopy. 2. Ground support planes were far more likely to be Thunderbolts rather than Mustangs. Mustangs were used for ground support, but were mostly replacing Thunderbolts for high altitude bomber escorts. In movies, such as Saving Private Ryan, when a fighter makes a strafing run, it’s often a bare aluminum P51-D, which is possible but unlikely.
2:23, I saw that P51 in person at the Houston airshow
A WW2 log book is priceless.
Great job on this Siri's a videos! WOW that was awesome 👌! 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Great vid as always!
Thanks!
My father flew P51D #4413849 "Little Buster" air cover for D Day. He was stationed in RAF Bodney 352nd Fighter Group. He flew B's, C's, and eventually the D model. Had to bail out over the North Sea from his B due to fuel starvation, but was picked up by a Brit minesweeper who say him bailout.
If I had do ground attack I would much prefer to be in a P 47D than in a P 51D because the P 47 was a much tougher aircraft. Because it was powered by a radial engine, the P 47 was less vulnerable to ground fire, unlike the P 51 where one hit to the cooling system of its inline engine would bring it down. The P 47 also had more fire power, being equipped with 8 x 50 cals compared to the 6 x 50 cals of the P 51. It also carried a much heavier bomb load.
Ironically the P47's were faster at altitude in level flight and in a dive
And did you know that the dday invasion stripes caused a shortage of black and white paint in the uk?
Very cool!
Damn ❕️❗️❕️ 😢 *Foster's* family line coming to an end.
Opening thoughts i've never had before. 📚📚📚
I had a conversation with a P-38 pilot. His unit was told to do some bombing on the cliffs . He didn't understand why, just thought that they needed practice and did what he was told. On D Day he realized why, the forces on beaches were using the bomb craters as fox holes. His D Day mission was to fly up and down the coast at 6000 ft. Also saw a C-47 painted a funny color. Just flew right past, found out later it was a captured plane the Gremans were flying for reconnaissance.
Mustang one of the most beautiful aircraft ever
SUPER Awesome story
In the initial run, I would think that the Jug would have been the preferred close support aircraft for the invasion on D Day.
Great information, thanks
God be with them all. 👍😎🇺🇸
Another great story!
Cpt Norman Gross and his crew went MIA on D-Day due to running out of gas and likley crashing into the Enginsh Channel. Many delays caused them to expend more fuel than normal. His brother was part of Task Force Smith (notorious and doomed Quick Reaction Force sent to Korea to delay Communist forces with broken equipment). He was captured and died in captivity.
These were the famous "Steeple Morden Strafers." The 355th Fighter Group based at Steeple Morden England. Try reading: "The Last Dragon of Steeple Morden."
Dive bombing in an aircraft not designed for it is very difficult. Ground attack is a different animal as well. Even today, you don't send a F-16 to do an A-10s job. But with the F-35, we're back to 'Jack of all trades. Master of none.' That the 8AF pulled this off as well as they did shows their determination and piloting skills.
both the RAF and USAAF were involved on supporting the Ground troops in first months off the Lands till the end of the war using everything they had
God bless these folks for protecting Western civilization. We cant even imagine how hard this was.
What I learned from this story is that the more important thing than flying skills is common sense.
Playing these on 1.25 speed. Really helps with the. Strange fluctuating. slow speech cadence.
Weren't B & C models the same but the designation indicated mfging location? Dallas & Cali, I just don't remember which was which.
Sign that you have complete air superiority: zebra stripes.
This made me laugh.
mly dad built a plane with an air force general from 3 wars. WW2 Korea and Vietnam.........He didnt talk much but when he did he had some great stories.......He said the thousand pound bomb was his favorite.......He finally passed away about ten yrs ago. He was a good old boy.......he treated my dad good. We still have the plane they built..........
Don’t forget the Royal Air Force !
P-51 Mustang was originally designed as a low level ground attack fighter/bomber it was the aircraft there develop the practice of skipping the bomb on the ground to it target
Best channel ever ❤
Thank you :)
I had no idea that Ju 87's were still being used (and made) THAT late in the war.
Manufactured until December '44 as tank busters
I was wondering how it could have been "of course" dark at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. in early June. Even with DST, civil twilight should have started before 4:30, sunrise before 5:00. The answer: British Double Summer Time. Didn't know that before.
your videos are amazing
Steering up down in front or sides flaps pivot north to south
Most soldier anticipated stuka with siren dive toward them while their otw to the beach which never came
It’s incredible how young an average fighter pilot was, especially given the circumstances surrounding them in those moments, major respect for these men.
Wasn't D-Day originally scheduled on the fifth...then postponed 24hrs due to weather..??
with my 2 big toes 4 mega thumbs up
It's just amazing
I live next door to the 8th Air Force HQ. 🤘👌
Thanks!
Thank you!
Thanks!
Thank you Kenneth!