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I just stumbled on your site. It’s terrific. I was wondering if you have done anything on the Lysander missions into occupied France? Another mission that Mossies flew was the extraction of several VIPs, including Nihls Bohr out of Scandinavia. Those missions were flown essentially by civilians and were very risky. Little discussed. Great work!
@@toddrf4058 No, I haven't done anything about the Lysander yet but you're right I should definitely put it on my list. I'm also going to have to read up on those extractions. Very interesting.
In the aftermath of the Aarhus Raid, a lot of important papers from the Gestapo Hq were found all over the University Campus. A lot of is was collected by the students and then given to the university janitor who quickly disposed of it, by throwing it in the oven of the central heating system. Rumour has it the German soldiers guarding the Gestapo Hq were quite impressed by the speed the locals tidied up the area, not realising what was really going on 😄
My uncle flew Mosquitoes in the RCAF. He likened it to a Porsche - a high performance vehicle which can bite you very hard. He called it an “800 ft” aircraft. Whilst taking off the flight controls were notably unresponsive until you gained an altitude of about 800 ft and you were effectively along for the ride. Similarly, you were “locked and loaded” about that height on landing. Having hopefully aligned yourself to go over the fence, there was little or no means to abort and go around due to unresponsive controls and engines that would not come up to power in time. He also told us of poor single-engine flight characteristics and serious issues in evacuating the aircraft, especially for a crew member in the bombing position in the glass-nosed aircraft. Still, next to my aunt (???) it was the love of his life.
My grandad was groundcrew in the 2nd TAF, and said that they were absolute hell to get wounded aircrew out of if they had landed wheels up. There were two engines close by the side of the cockpit which were likely to burst into flames, the crew entry hatch would have been held closed by the ground and all they had was the cockpit escape hatch which, if they were hurt, must have been hard to use.
Another Mosquito role that i find interesting was its use by BOAC during the war for diplomatic and cargo runs between RAF Leuchars and Stockholm. It was one of these aircraft, G-AGFV, that flew Niels Bohr (stashed in the bomb bay) to the UK to join the atomic weapons programme in October 1943. :)
The Danish film on Netflix, The Bombardment, is centred around the bombing of the Gestapo Headquarters the video mentioned under number 1. Excellent film and truly sad how many children were killed. Unfortunately a Mosquito clipped it's wing whilst flying so low, and crashed into the Catholic school, causing some of the second wave to target the burning school instead of the Gestapo HQ.
What the film about this didn't mention was the fact the when an aircraft carrier heads into the wind, your closing speed is reduced! So if you need (I forget the speeds needed, both the minimum air speed for the Mossie, and the maximum speed that it could Trap) 120 knots, and the maximum arresting gear rating its 80 knots with the ship going 25 knots into a 30 knot headwind, your closing speed is now 65 knots!!!
@@CalibanRising Why, Winkle had all the numbers worked out and flew the aircraft according to his calculations. He even nominated the third arrestor wire. His flying was that precise he could catch any wire he wanted or that someone would nominate. Flying the DH-98 onto a carrier's deck at *below* the aircraft's stall speed was just numbers and skill.
My father in law told me he only lived about 500 meters from Kleykamp building and run to it as fast as they could and indeed was a witness of the total destruction of the big villa. Now there’s an ugly bank building instead 😢
I can't imagine what that must have been like for him. My grandparents used to tell me about their wartime experiences, but we'll never quite understand what it was really like, especially for children.
The Gestapo weren't nearly as clever as they thought they were. After the Aarhus raid, they carefully camouflaged the Shellhaus thinking that the RAF wouldn't find it. However, as it was the only camouflaged building on the street, it was easy to pick out from all of the others. The bombing of the school was an unfortunate accident. One of the leading group of aircraft struck a light pole at the railway station and crashed into the school. Some aircraft of the following groups saw the smoke and bombed the building by mistake. Group Captain Basil Embry took part in the raid, but under a false identity (Wing Commander Smith), as he was a wanted man by the Germans, having earlier, in 1940, escaped capture by killing his German guard, in contravention of the Geneva Convention at the time.
Slight correction, the Aircraft that crashed flown by Wing Commander Kleboe, crashed into the Allenberg garage facilty next to the school. The combination of burning aircraft+fuel and what flammable material that was in the garage facility, made a large plume of black smoke that obscured the line of sight to the Shellhouse for the 2nd attack wave and a few aircraft dropped their bombs on the school. While more aircraft from the 3rd wave also made the same mistake. For all the success of the mission, as it did forfill its objective of destroying the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen, the raid has always been marred for obvious reasons of the tragedy of the mistaken bombing of the school, which killed more than 80 children.😥😥😥 Another sad paradox is, that the reason why many danish resistance fighters managed to escape the Shellhouse rooftop prison during the raid, was because many of the bombs, from the 2nd and 3rd attack wave, intended for the Shellhouse, was expended on the school. If all bombs dropped, had been on target, the Shellhouse most likely would have been leveled to the ground so fast, that there had been no chance for the prisoners to escape. All in all the raid to this day is somewhat difficult to put a verdict on, if the price paid for the missions "success" was worth it. 🤔🤔🤔
@@kimleechristensen2679 The mission was at the request of the Danish resistance. An officer had been brought over to Britain to discuss some of the details of the raid, and stated categorically that the building should be attacked. It was thought that the prisoners were being held in the upper floors, and if the lower floors could be damaged, some of the resistance prisoners may yet escape. In fact, at least one who did returned to help with the wounded. Apparently one who escaped told the story that he was being questioned in one of the upper rooms, and had his back top a wall, with the Gestapo officer sitting opposite him in the other side of a wooden table, Through the window, the prisoner could see the first Mosquitos approaching, and shoved the table across the room and knocked the Gestapo officer over. He managed to get out of the room before the bomb went off, but allegedly the Gestapo lost one of its finest when the bomb went off.
@@Jon.Cullen Yes it was hoped that some prisoners may escape during the raid, but it was readily accepted that they might all be killed, as the raid's primary target was to destroy the archives in the basement of the building, this was the Gestapo's "database" which they used to great efficiency to cross reference information gathered, so they could make arrests and disruptions of the Danish resistance network which they were steadily tearing up. Considering that each attacking Mosquito carried a pair of 500 lb bombs + incendiaries, that's 36 bombs in total, that many or even half IMHO would destroy completely the Shellhouse building. One added contributing reason, for the prisoneres escape, besides mistaken attack on the school, was that when some of the aircraft of 2nd attack wave realised their mistake and aborted their attack, they circled around in an attempt to find the real target, and got mixed up in the process with 3rd wave, which resulted in the aircraft from the 2nd and 3rd that did relocate the real target and attacked it, got delayed long enough for the prisoners to escape. In short the time delay between the 1st and subsequent 2nd and 3rd waves was a crucial factor for some of the prisoners to get clear of the building in time. Had 2nd and 3rd wave been on time, their bombs would have hit the Shellhouse while the prisoners was still in the lower floors of the building trying to find a way out. The prisoner you refer to seeing the approaching aircraft out the window, from what I recall from reading, was the SOE agent Paul Bork. (Its what I remember reading of the bat) I can only imagine how surprised the interrogators must have been when he suddenly bolted out the door midway in a line of questioning. Its something even Hollywood couldn't make up in their own movie/tv shows 🤔
@@kimleechristensen2679 I read the account in a book about the Mosguito, particularly the Aarhus and Copenhagen raids, although the Oslo raid preceded them all. After the war, Group Captain Johnnie Johnson was stationed at Kastrup, and organised an air show, with proceeds from the ticket sales going to the orphanage that had been bombed. I believe the the current Queen Margarethe attended as a child Princess. (Wing Leader - Johnnie Johnson)
My late father was an RAF Armourer based at RAF Lasham with 613 Squadron ( Kleykamp Raid )with their Mosquito FB V1; 1943- D Day . The squadron moved to Cambrai/Epinoy in France after D Day where my dad saw out his war . He always spoke very fondly of the Mossie .
Actually, the first aircraft to have the "D-Day" stripes were the Hawker Typhoons! The British AA gunners had gotten so use to the idea that the only friendly low flying airplanes were the easily ID'd Spitfires that a few Typhoons were shot down. (There's a "How To Identify The Hawker Typhoon" training fly out there...) The stripes were only on the underside of the wings and fuselage.
All of them were incredibly daring. But the Shell House raid a d Operation Jericho were the most amazing. I'd love to see you do a video about both Sir Basil Embry (who led the Shell House raid) and Squadron Leader Percy "Pick" Pickard. The story of Pick's dog Ming postwar is incredible.
@@CalibanRising Ming was Pick's terrier. He had a very specific whistle for her and she responded to it. Whenever Ming heard the sound of the Mosquito engines, she would look skyward. After Pick was killed, his widow remarried and moved to New Zealand, taking Ming with her. Then...in 1954, on the 10th anniversary of Operation Jericho, Ming was sleeping when her owner saw her suddenly wake up, and look heavenward. She then distinctly heard exactly the same whistle Pick had used to call Ming. And the elderly dog then lay down...and died. Pick's widow was convinced that Ming heard Pick call her to come to him exactly 10 years to the day of his own death. Read "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down," in the epilogue.
Pickard was a Group Captain on that raid. Not only had he been the star of the 1941 film Target for Tonight. He was also the leader of the Whitley force that dropped the para's (plus engineers and a RAF Radar Fitter) on the Bruneval Raid.
No. 487 Squadron (RNZAF) conducted the Aarhus and Copenhagen raids, and also took part in the Amiens prison raid. Its Squadron Leader, Leonard Trent, was awarded the VC for his conduct in Operation Ramrod 16, although the squadron was flying Venturas at that time. No. 487 Squadron also had one of the best squadron badges: a wickedly grinning tiki clutching a bomb and the motto "Ki te Mutunga" ("Through to the End").
Wow no way! I've read a lot of ww2 history & as a Kiwi also I'd never ever heard of this. How awesome, I loved the plane already & this is just another reason to love the Mosquito & another reason to be proud to be a Kiwi. Kia Kaha.😁
@@evryhndlestakn 487 Sqn got the shit quite literally kicked out of them on the Ramrod 16 mission. 12 aircraft took off, 1 aborted and the other 11 got shot down. Not only did Len Trent get a VC, but two of the most amazing escapes from shot down aircraft happened, from two different ends of the same aircraft!!! The navigator / bomb aimer went out of the forward escape hatch with his parachute pack in his hands and clipped it on in free fall (as the whole of the interior of the aircraft was on fire). While the Gunner in the back had his chute destroyed by the fire and his escape route blocked by the raging inferno. Just as he expected to be roasted, the tail section broke off with him in it and slowly descended to the ground like a sycamore leaf, hitting some trees that stopped the tail hitting the ground. He survived the impact with very minor injuries.
@@richardvernon317 awesome, thanks for the info, important pieces of history that deserve to be remembered & respected but never forgotten. I once met an older bloke a few times delivering some timber & such & he was another kiwi that fought in the battle of Britain. On one scramble they got into a dogfight & on that occasion he had his plane chewed apart by cannon fire to the extent that he didnt bail out of his plane so much as it disintegrated around him & he was simply falling through the air somewhat surprised. He pulled his chute & French resistance must have hidden him until he could get back in some way, I'm pretty sure he wasn't picked up or spent time in any camps. After surviving from an unexpected freefall he may have considered every minute thereafter a bonus & so being a p.o.w wasn't worth mentioning but from memory, finding himself in a sitting position a few thousand feet in the air minus his plane was that sorties lowlight. R.I.P to all of our former service men & women & a sympathetic r.i.p RNZAF Skyhawks.
@@treyhelms5282 The Bf 110 was mainly designed as a Heavy Fighter for long range escort. And at first, when converted to be a "fighter" bomber they had to remove the "tray" that held it's two 20mm cannon! The Mossie was designed with enough margin for various equipment to be mounted inside of it....
@@timengineman2nd714 what you say about the BF1 10 simply isn’t true. It was conceived from the start as a Zerstorer, an attack aircraft to do the duties of fighter and bomber. Pointing out different models had different armament doesn’t change the fact how it was used. As a fighter bomber, and other roles. LOL by your standard the mosquito isn’t a fighter bomber. It was designed and used as just a bomber initially. And then the armament was altered, and performed other roles. And again, the BF 110 was four years earlier than the mosquito. The BF 110, and possibly other aircraft, have a good claim to being the first “fighter bomber”s. The mosquito does not.
@David Barr In what parallel universe is the Blenheim a FIGHTER AIRCRAFT? It was a light bomber for it's time. You might as well call the B-25 a fighter aircraft after it was fitted with heavy armament forward, or the JU-88 night fighter, which would be equal stretches for an actual fighter bomber. Pressing a light bomber into fighter roles doesn't make it a fighter, just a stop-gap. The BF110 was introduced same year as the Blenheim, with the Blenheim as a light bomber and performing other roles later, while the 110 was a "Destroyer" fighter-bomber from the start. It introduced the concept of as you say an aircraft fit to purpose as we call a "fighter bomber" today.
I love the fact that if you was to make a feature film about such raids people would probably think that's a bit far fetched but reality being stranger than fiction these raids were flown and flown successfully! The skill and bravery shown as well as the audacity is staggering the pilots and crew must of had balls of chromed steel, lol! It's so important to keep history alive to honour the brave service members, excellent video, thank you, 👍👍👍👊✌️🇬🇧.
@@RogersRamblings I've seen it many times and I have all of Frederick E Smiths 633 squadron books, I've also watched the film Mosquito Squadron, another good film. I must give the 633 Squadron series of books another read. There is a set of books by Robert Jackson, the Yeoman series, charting a pilots career through WW2 and after, well worth the read. All the best, 👍👍👍👊✌️.
The Danish film on Netflix, The Bombardment, is centred around the bombing of the Gestapo Headquarters the video mentioned under number 1. Excellent film and truly sad how many children were killed because a Mosquito clipped it's wing flying so low and crashed into the Catholic school, causing some of the second wave to target the burning school instead of the Gestapo HQ.
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Operation Jerico, One pilot said they flew down the approach road so low he had to lift one wing to get it over the tops of the trees lining the street! By the way, your simulation didn't appear correct to me, The Mossie could out run any German fighter of the time so would have done so if attacked from behind!
I agree, It must have taken real skill to carry out that mission. As for the simulation, that's just the gameplay I have to work with and DCS only has the Me 109 G or long nose FW 190 to work with. So not 100% realistic I admit, but some decent eye candy nonetheless. 😀
At low altitude, the Mosquito would have run away and hid from the Fw-190A-5, etc. Your animation also shows D-Day stripes, painted in June 1944, and the long-nose Fw-190D, also from mid-1944. Other than that, I would have LOVED some footage of actual Mosquitos, possibly from "633 Squadron" perhaps... Hammer
If sighted early enough, and the Fw 190 had altitude, it could catch a Mossie by diving.... Of course, when the Mossie had 50 feet or less (sometimes only 25 feet) underneath, not too many enemy pilots would press a close attack unless they wanted the nose of their airplane dig their grave!!!
Hi. I watched a docce of Mosquitoes doing night raids using spotlights, which they blinded their ground targets with, moments before they attacked. l could relate to the enemy's absolute fear.
Nice video. The DH Mosquito is my favourite aircraft of WW2. Two of the missions featured as inspiration for plots in the films 633 Squadron (Oslo Raid) and Mosquito Squadron (Operation Jericho).
I go back and forth between Speeches #5, and Amien #4. The Berlin Raid was a psychologically impacting operation because of the optics of delivered to the Reich that while leaders were trying to convince the people of their dominance, the cognitive dissonance of the Mossies bombs echoing in the background made it clear that it was all garbage. Amien was just amazing because of the boldness of the raid. The acceptable losses illustrate the stark reality of WWII planning. In general pretty much anything Mossies did I am in awe of, even their use as pathfinders and weather/reconnaissance platforms. The example in the Museum of the USAF is beautiful.
As soon as you intruded this video Operation Jericho sprang to mind; however you have provided further Chanel’s of thought here. Mind yo6the rolesof Pickard, are indeed legendary, especially his role a a Lysander pilot - ferrying agents, messages & Maria line and out of France during moonlit periods , was probably what he shouldbe most recognised for.
The Speeches raid. Or Amiens. Anything by Mosquitoes really because they were so disruptive... Meanwhile, why is your video showing loads of footage of Mosquitoes being shot down?
It's a combination of the long nose FW 190 I had to use in this game and the AI Mosquitos. Unfortunately I don't have time to perfectly fly every scene and get the ideal footage I'd like. Gotta work with the time and tools I have!
A bunch of us recreated an Event for that Fjord attack mission in the MMO Aces High 3 super WW2 Flight Sim. Man I love the Mossie more having flown it. 👍👍 10⭐🏆
Amiens, closely followed by Carthage...question : were Mossie fighter- bombers flown with a stick or a yoke? I like the yoke as I think the pilot would have better control...plus it the yoke looks really neat...thanks!
Daring? Well, maybe not so much, but I loved the double attack same day on the speeches. It was cheeky and effective at communicating to the Nazis they weren't so powerful after all.
Operation "Jerico` was most complicated and was challenged by prison walls inside and outside the target. The object was first to drop timed-fused bombs against the outside wallon the outside of the prison and then bombing the inside building which was where the Nazi guards had their quarters. Unfortunately, one the RAF's most celebrated fighter pilots was killed at the Amiens prison raid.
Imagine if Mitchell had worked with de havilland & produced a single seat fighter out of plywood mated with merlin with 2 stage supercharger like mk 9 spit' would even have given me 262 a run for it's money as would have been capable of about 440mph.
The 1978 South African Air Force successful raid on the military base of Cassinga, in Angola, was led/initiated by a 'defense suppression' strike by 4 B12 Canberras after a 1000 nm Hi-Lo sortie.... planned and executed using 105 ( Mosquito ) Sqn low-level techniques. It is not often appreciated that the RAFG's Strike Force Canberras trained for missions very similar to the more famous WW2 sorties against Germany. The two aircraft were remarkably similar in many ways.
Just before the 1956 Sinai war, Israel airforce photo-recce Mossie did a daylight mission to photograph egyptian airfields around Cairo and returned unharmed. Remember in 1956 both sides were using jets.
What about Tsetse attacks on U Boats/anything Nazi/ Floaty? I note Some seem to think `633 Squadron` was a real raid - alas, not, but a great film, in it`s day, without CG. Amiens!
Find the Ashley Walk bombing range via RUclips. WW2 slo-mo footage of Mosquitos dropping bouncing bombs against walls. Perhaps the intention was to find a wall-demolishing bomb for raids like these. I can see why a "Chastise"-type bomb wasn't adopted for these raids. The bomb had a habit of hitting a wall and then recoiling away from it.
The Mosquitos were testing Highball - a version of Barnes-Wallis' bouncing bomb for use against Japanese shipping. The bombs were to bounce over the anti-torpedo nets, roll down the side of the ship and explode underneath to 'break the back' of the hull.
I never realised tge 633 squadron was fictional .... l just looked up about it ..... Doh ! 😮 The film about the Aiemes prison that the mosquito was used to held break out french prisoners is real though 😁
I feel like the "stealth" claims were really just Germans making excuses. Even the Horton flying wing, which was also made of wood, had a significant radar cross-section when tested by the Smithsonian.
After Amiens was liberated, the RAF sent one of their officers to the city to find out why the raid was ordered. Squadron Leader Edwin Houghton found out nothing - not even a list of supposed executions that were meant to have been carried out by the Gestapo of men who were saved by the RAF. History Learning site UK Operation Jericho
@@CalibanRising I think during the Jericho raid that a squadron of Typhoons took off, but never made the rendezvous. It must be difficult navigating while flying low level, so I suppose the navigator was fully employed. OTOH, Fw190 pilots managed tip-and-run bombing raids without navigators. I often wonder what was the optimum crew size for bombers. The heavy bombers seem like they were overmanned to me.
@@KevTheImpaler Funny you should mention Typhoons. I was reading Pierre Clostermann's book again recently and he complained a lot about Tiffies not showing up. Some great points here too, I'll have to see if I can come up with some answers for you. Cheers!
What must be taken into consideration when choosing the best or most important battles etc , is the impact they have afterwards . This is why I disagree with all of the options highlighted . Raids that were better PR then war winning . In my opinion the 100 group Nightfighter Bomber escort missions had a greater impact . Lets examine the facts , two squadrons of Mosquito's shot down nearly 200 German NF's trying to intercept the bomber streams . Contrary to popular opinion , the biggest killer of bomber crews wasn't Flack but Me 110's and Ju88 and 188's . Lets assume that the average German NF shot down 5 RAF heavy bombers , the loss of 200 could save 7000 aircrews lives. This doesn't take into consideration those Mosquito's that stopped many from engaging. German Nightfighter Ace Wilhelm Johnen ( 34 victories ) wrote in his biography " Duel under the Stars ". I paraphrase as its too long for me to cite here. Fast Mosquitos from the mainland were dispatched to join the Bomber stream and supply aircover . It was incredibly difficult to get a bomber in our sights , for the Mosquitos sought us out and sped like rockets to aid the bomber , the losses rose appallingly . I think that gives the flavour of what was happening , far and away more important then freeing French prisoners .
Night Fighter Mosquitos were what Harris really wanted from 1942 onwards. He didn't get any until early 1944 for direct attack of the German Night fighter force and the aircraft he got were next to knackered and had the wrong radar kit fitted. He didn't get aircraft with decent radars until April 1944 and had two squadrons of them taken off him for anti V-1 operations between June and September 1944. His operational force in 100 group was 6 squadrons which is around 72 operational fighters. Most Squadrons never put up more than 10 aircraft on any one night,
No Doubt Operation Jericho! Sadly what Nazi's did to prison's made almost everyone talk. Protection the location of the Landing was everything. If you study that landing, Hitler could have released a giant tank division to stop it, if he knew where it was for sure. This could have made a giant difference, in at least giving Germany more time to develop their own weapons such as the jet. I would guess that one mission could have saved a million lives and possibly the Allied victory itself. It was also big for the moral of the French resistance which made a big difference in the war.
Hey Guys, you need to update/change your graphics, your video is showing Mossies with INVASION STRIPES ON THEM, these strips weren't used until 6 June, 1944, they were special high visibility markings designed to ensure that allied aircraft WERE NOT shot down by friendly ground and sea forces when flying over them, so, the first "Quisling Raid", the "Speeches Raid" "Operation Jericho" (Feb. 1944), "Hague Raid" (April 1944) video are WRONG! The last two of them being 10/1944 & 45 might be "OK". Cheers.
Thanks for the comment Joe. I think when I made this video I didn't have access to any other livery for the Mossie, so it was stripes or nothing at all.
@@CalibanRising NP, sorry if I sounded a bit "bossy", but being a bit of a HX buff, I get a bit, shall we say "ticked" when things aren't "right", there's enough "off" info on the web as it is, we don't need more of it. God knows how many "kids" & "young adults" just learning about REAL History that might get the wrong info from watching a video that doesn't portray the correct information. Here I go again preaching, sorry, I guess it's my little bug-a-bo! 🥴 Cheers mate. ✌🏼
'Mossie ' is naturally the English contraction of Mosquito and 'moz' would be another natural if less common contraction of 'mossie'. It's just how the language works. 😁
I am always amuses me how someone on you tube can know the inner state of people's minds 75 years later. Are we now in a time when reality matters not one iota ? Lets just make shit up, it makes for a "better" video.
Stopping this right at the beginning. Why is it we always see Allied aircraft in the markings of black and white stripes on both top and underneath signifying the makings used on all Allied aircraft on D Day and thereafter? This happens on this site and others . It's rather annoying seeing this and perhaps the people who do these video games are not even aware of the stripes significance? After all the RAF were doing plenty throughout the war, not just after D-day. As for the raids? Amiens prison for me. You mentioned it was led by Group Captain Charles ( he never used Percy) Pickard, you should have mentioned that he and his Navigator / Observer, Flight Lieutenant Bill Broadley, were shot down and killed whilst circling Amiens checking to see if there were survivors from another downed Mozzie flown by Squadron Leader Ian McRitchie who survived the crash and navigator/ observer Flight Lieutenant Richard Webb Sampson who unfortunately did not survive.
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I just stumbled on your site. It’s terrific. I was wondering if you have done anything on the Lysander missions into occupied France? Another mission that Mossies flew was the extraction of several VIPs, including Nihls Bohr out of Scandinavia. Those missions were flown essentially by civilians and were very risky. Little discussed. Great work!
@@toddrf4058 No, I haven't done anything about the Lysander yet but you're right I should definitely put it on my list. I'm also going to have to read up on those extractions. Very interesting.
My grandfather was the navigator on the lead mosquito for the Quisling mission.
In the aftermath of the Aarhus Raid, a lot of important papers from the Gestapo Hq were found all over the University Campus. A lot of is was collected by the students and then given to the university janitor who quickly disposed of it, by throwing it in the oven of the central heating system. Rumour has it the German soldiers guarding the Gestapo Hq were quite impressed by the speed the locals tidied up the area, not realising what was really going on 😄
Raid # 4 - Op Jericho. For me it had the greatest positive effect on the war of all Mosquito Raids you mentioned. What a plane - cant help loving it.
My uncle flew Mosquitoes in the RCAF. He likened it to a Porsche - a high performance vehicle which can bite you very hard. He called it an “800 ft” aircraft. Whilst taking off the flight controls were notably unresponsive until you gained an altitude of about 800 ft and you were effectively along for the ride. Similarly, you were “locked and loaded” about that height on landing. Having hopefully aligned yourself to go over the fence, there was little or no means to abort and go around due to unresponsive controls and engines that would not come up to power in time. He also told us of poor single-engine flight characteristics and serious issues in evacuating the aircraft, especially for a crew member in the bombing position in the glass-nosed aircraft. Still, next to my aunt (???) it was the love of his life.
My grandad was groundcrew in the 2nd TAF, and said that they were absolute hell to get wounded aircrew out of if they had landed wheels up. There were two engines close by the side of the cockpit which were likely to burst into flames, the crew entry hatch would have been held closed by the ground and all they had was the cockpit escape hatch which, if they were hurt, must have been hard to use.
Here in sweden our S31 snapped in half when pulling manuvers
Another Mosquito role that i find interesting was its use by BOAC during the war for diplomatic and cargo runs between RAF Leuchars and Stockholm. It was one of these aircraft, G-AGFV, that flew Niels Bohr (stashed in the bomb bay) to the UK to join the atomic weapons programme in October 1943. :)
The Danish film on Netflix, The Bombardment, is centred around the bombing of the Gestapo Headquarters the video mentioned under number 1. Excellent film and truly sad how many children were killed. Unfortunately a Mosquito clipped it's wing whilst flying so low, and crashed into the Catholic school, causing some of the second wave to target the burning school instead of the Gestapo HQ.
Not a mission, but Winkle Brown landing one on a carrier deck must have been terrifying.
Yep, that must have been a brown-trousers sortie.
What the film about this didn't mention was the fact the when an aircraft carrier heads into the wind, your closing speed is reduced! So if you need (I forget the speeds needed, both the minimum air speed for the Mossie, and the maximum speed that it could Trap) 120 knots, and the maximum arresting gear rating its 80 knots with the ship going 25 knots into a 30 knot headwind, your closing speed is now 65 knots!!!
Correction that the minimum landing speed for a "trap" of the Mossie was 120....
@@CalibanRising Why, Winkle had all the numbers worked out and flew the aircraft according to his calculations. He even nominated the third arrestor wire. His flying was that precise he could catch any wire he wanted or that someone would nominate. Flying the DH-98 onto a carrier's deck at *below* the aircraft's stall speed was just numbers and skill.
What about Operation Oyster, the raid on the Phillips factory? One Mossie came back with a clothesline on a tail wheel if memory serves......
633 Squadron was a excellent documentary on how good the mosquito was.
The Amiens Prison raid, Hands down.
My father in law told me he only lived about 500 meters from Kleykamp building and run to it as fast as they could and indeed was a witness of the total destruction of the big villa. Now there’s an ugly bank building instead 😢
I can't imagine what that must have been like for him. My grandparents used to tell me about their wartime experiences, but we'll never quite understand what it was really like, especially for children.
The Gestapo weren't nearly as clever as they thought they were. After the Aarhus raid, they carefully camouflaged the Shellhaus thinking that the RAF wouldn't find it. However, as it was the only camouflaged building on the street, it was easy to pick out from all of the others.
The bombing of the school was an unfortunate accident. One of the leading group of aircraft struck a light pole at the railway station and crashed into the school. Some aircraft of the following groups saw the smoke and bombed the building by mistake.
Group Captain Basil Embry took part in the raid, but under a false identity (Wing Commander Smith), as he was a wanted man by the Germans, having earlier, in 1940, escaped capture by killing his German guard, in contravention of the Geneva Convention at the time.
Ah yes. Camofleg
Slight correction, the Aircraft that crashed flown by Wing Commander Kleboe, crashed into the Allenberg garage facilty next to the school.
The combination of burning aircraft+fuel and what flammable material that was in the garage facility, made a large plume of black smoke that obscured the line of sight to the Shellhouse for the 2nd attack wave and a few aircraft dropped their bombs on the school.
While more aircraft from the 3rd wave also made the same mistake.
For all the success of the mission, as it did forfill its objective of destroying the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen, the raid has always been marred for obvious reasons of the tragedy of the mistaken bombing of the school, which killed more than 80 children.😥😥😥
Another sad paradox is, that the reason why many danish resistance fighters managed to escape the Shellhouse rooftop prison during the raid, was because many of the bombs, from the 2nd and 3rd attack wave, intended for the Shellhouse, was expended on the school.
If all bombs dropped, had been on target, the Shellhouse most likely would have been leveled to the ground so fast, that there had been no chance for the prisoners to escape.
All in all the raid to this day is somewhat difficult to put a verdict on, if the price paid for the missions "success" was worth it.
🤔🤔🤔
@@kimleechristensen2679 The mission was at the request of the Danish resistance. An officer had been brought over to Britain to discuss some of the details of the raid, and stated categorically that the building should be attacked. It was thought that the prisoners were being held in the upper floors, and if the lower floors could be damaged, some of the resistance prisoners may yet escape. In fact, at least one who did returned to help with the wounded. Apparently one who escaped told the story that he was being questioned in one of the upper rooms, and had his back top a wall, with the Gestapo officer sitting opposite him in the other side of a wooden table, Through the window, the prisoner could see the first Mosquitos approaching, and shoved the table across the room and knocked the Gestapo officer over. He managed to get out of the room before the bomb went off, but allegedly the Gestapo lost one of its finest when the bomb went off.
@@Jon.Cullen Yes it was hoped that some prisoners may escape during the raid, but it was readily accepted that they might all be killed, as the raid's primary target was to destroy the archives in the basement of the building, this was the Gestapo's "database" which they used to great efficiency to cross reference information gathered, so they could make arrests and disruptions of the Danish resistance network which they were steadily tearing up.
Considering that each attacking Mosquito carried a pair of 500 lb bombs + incendiaries, that's 36 bombs in total, that many or even half IMHO would destroy completely the Shellhouse building.
One added contributing reason, for the prisoneres escape, besides mistaken attack on the school, was that when some of the aircraft of 2nd attack wave realised their mistake and aborted their attack, they circled around in an attempt to find the real target, and got mixed up in the process with 3rd wave, which resulted in the aircraft from the 2nd and 3rd that did relocate the real target and attacked it, got delayed long enough for the prisoners to escape.
In short the time delay between the 1st and subsequent 2nd and 3rd waves was a crucial factor for some of the prisoners to get clear of the building in time.
Had 2nd and 3rd wave been on time, their bombs would have hit the Shellhouse while the prisoners was still in the lower floors of the building trying to find a way out.
The prisoner you refer to seeing the approaching aircraft out the window, from what I recall from reading, was the SOE agent Paul Bork.
(Its what I remember reading of the bat)
I can only imagine how surprised the interrogators must have been when he suddenly bolted out the door midway in a line of questioning.
Its something even Hollywood couldn't make up in their own movie/tv shows 🤔
@@kimleechristensen2679 I read the account in a book about the Mosguito, particularly the Aarhus and Copenhagen raids, although the Oslo raid preceded them all.
After the war, Group Captain Johnnie Johnson was stationed at Kastrup, and organised an air show, with proceeds from the ticket sales going to the orphanage that had been bombed. I believe the the current Queen Margarethe attended as a child Princess. (Wing Leader - Johnnie Johnson)
My late father was an RAF Armourer based at RAF Lasham with 613 Squadron ( Kleykamp Raid )with their Mosquito FB V1; 1943- D Day . The squadron moved to Cambrai/Epinoy in France after D Day where my dad saw out his war . He always spoke very fondly of the Mossie .
The Amiens raid is well known, but to me the lesser known Aarhus raid stands out for its degree of difficulty, success and sheer audacity.
Nice video and lovely animated. Just one thing. D-Day stripes on the planes where painted in towards may 1944 and later.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to remember that next time and pick the right paint schemes.
Actually, the first aircraft to have the "D-Day" stripes were the Hawker Typhoons! The British AA gunners had gotten so use to the idea that the only friendly low flying airplanes were the easily ID'd Spitfires that a few Typhoons were shot down. (There's a "How To Identify The Hawker Typhoon" training fly out there...)
The stripes were only on the underside of the wings and fuselage.
All of them were incredibly daring. But the Shell House raid a d Operation Jericho were the most amazing. I'd love to see you do a video about both Sir Basil Embry (who led the Shell House raid) and Squadron Leader Percy "Pick" Pickard. The story of Pick's dog Ming postwar is incredible.
Thanks Mark, I'll have to find out more about Pickard's dog!
@@CalibanRising Ming was Pick's terrier. He had a very specific whistle for her and she responded to it. Whenever Ming heard the sound of the Mosquito engines, she would look skyward.
After Pick was killed, his widow remarried and moved to New Zealand, taking Ming with her. Then...in 1954, on the 10th anniversary of Operation Jericho, Ming was sleeping when her owner saw her suddenly wake up, and look heavenward. She then distinctly heard exactly the same whistle Pick had used to call Ming. And the elderly dog then lay down...and died. Pick's widow was convinced that Ming heard Pick call her to come to him exactly 10 years to the day of his own death. Read "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down," in the epilogue.
Pickard was a Group Captain on that raid. Not only had he been the star of the 1941 film Target for Tonight. He was also the leader of the Whitley force that dropped the para's (plus engineers and a RAF Radar Fitter) on the Bruneval Raid.
No. 487 Squadron (RNZAF) conducted the Aarhus and Copenhagen raids, and also took part in the Amiens prison raid. Its Squadron Leader, Leonard Trent, was awarded the VC for his conduct in Operation Ramrod 16, although the squadron was flying Venturas at that time. No. 487 Squadron also had one of the best squadron badges: a wickedly grinning tiki clutching a bomb and the motto "Ki te Mutunga" ("Through to the End").
Wow no way! I've read a lot of ww2 history & as a Kiwi also I'd never ever heard of this. How awesome, I loved the plane already & this is just another reason to love the Mosquito & another reason to be proud to be a Kiwi. Kia Kaha.😁
@@evryhndlestakn 487 Sqn got the shit quite literally kicked out of them on the Ramrod 16 mission. 12 aircraft took off, 1 aborted and the other 11 got shot down. Not only did Len Trent get a VC, but two of the most amazing escapes from shot down aircraft happened, from two different ends of the same aircraft!!! The navigator / bomb aimer went out of the forward escape hatch with his parachute pack in his hands and clipped it on in free fall (as the whole of the interior of the aircraft was on fire). While the Gunner in the back had his chute destroyed by the fire and his escape route blocked by the raging inferno. Just as he expected to be roasted, the tail section broke off with him in it and slowly descended to the ground like a sycamore leaf, hitting some trees that stopped the tail hitting the ground. He survived the impact with very minor injuries.
@@richardvernon317 awesome, thanks for the info, important pieces of history that deserve to be remembered & respected but never forgotten.
I once met an older bloke a few times delivering some timber & such & he was another kiwi that fought in the battle of Britain. On one scramble they got into a dogfight & on that occasion he had his plane chewed apart by cannon fire to the extent that he didnt bail out of his plane so much as it disintegrated around him & he was simply falling through the air somewhat surprised. He pulled his chute & French resistance must have hidden him until he could get back in some way, I'm pretty sure he wasn't picked up or spent time in any camps. After surviving from an unexpected freefall he may have considered every minute thereafter a bonus & so being a p.o.w wasn't worth mentioning but from memory, finding himself in a sitting position a few thousand feet in the air minus his plane was that sorties lowlight.
R.I.P to all of our former service men & women & a sympathetic r.i.p RNZAF Skyhawks.
Mosquito, the first true fighter/bomber. What a beautiful aircraft!
First fighter-bomber? The BF 110 predates the Mossie by about 4 years. There may be other aircraft that qualify as well.
@@treyhelms5282 The Bf 110 was mainly designed as a Heavy Fighter for long range escort. And at first, when converted to be a "fighter" bomber they had to remove the "tray" that held it's two 20mm cannon!
The Mossie was designed with enough margin for various equipment to be mounted inside of it....
@@timengineman2nd714 what you say about the BF1 10 simply isn’t true. It was conceived from the start as a Zerstorer, an attack aircraft to do the duties of fighter and bomber. Pointing out different models had different armament doesn’t change the fact how it was used. As a fighter bomber, and other roles.
LOL by your standard the mosquito isn’t a fighter bomber. It was designed and used as just a bomber initially. And then the armament was altered, and performed other roles.
And again, the BF 110 was four years earlier than the mosquito. The BF 110, and possibly other aircraft, have a good claim to being the first “fighter bomber”s. The mosquito does not.
@David Barr In what parallel universe is the Blenheim a FIGHTER AIRCRAFT?
It was a light bomber for it's time. You might as well call the B-25 a fighter aircraft after it was fitted with heavy armament forward, or the JU-88 night fighter, which would be equal stretches for an actual fighter bomber. Pressing a light bomber into fighter roles doesn't make it a fighter, just a stop-gap.
The BF110 was introduced same year as the Blenheim, with the Blenheim as a light bomber and performing other roles later, while the 110 was a "Destroyer" fighter-bomber from the start. It introduced the concept of as you say an aircraft fit to purpose as we call a "fighter bomber" today.
I love the fact that if you was to make a feature film about such raids people would probably think that's a bit far fetched but reality being stranger than fiction these raids were flown and flown successfully! The skill and bravery shown as well as the audacity is staggering the pilots and crew must of had balls of chromed steel, lol! It's so important to keep history alive to honour the brave service members, excellent video, thank you, 👍👍👍👊✌️🇬🇧.
I take your point, but watch the film, 633 Squadron.
@@RogersRamblings I've seen it many times and I have all of Frederick E Smiths 633 squadron books, I've also watched the film Mosquito Squadron, another good film. I must give the 633 Squadron series of books another read. There is a set of books by Robert Jackson, the Yeoman series, charting a pilots career through WW2 and after, well worth the read. All the best, 👍👍👍👊✌️.
A lot of people would say the same thing about Operation Chastise (the Dam Buster Raid)!
The Danish film on Netflix, The Bombardment, is centred around the bombing of the Gestapo Headquarters the video mentioned under number 1. Excellent film and truly sad how many children were killed because a Mosquito clipped it's wing flying so low and crashed into the Catholic school, causing some of the second wave to target the burning school instead of the Gestapo HQ.
...and to remind your western kids that such wars may yet be fought again.
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Nice to see the Mosquitoes are in the D.day allied colours . And it has to be the prison breakout .
I vote for the Berkin raids. Simply, as you noted, for the sheer comedy of it.
The Mossies depicted in the 1942 Norway raid have June 6 1944 D-Day easy recognition stripes - only applied on June 5 , the night before D-Day !!!!
Plus all the other raids shown which were before June 6th 1944 - the easy recognition stripes weren't applied until June 5 1944 !
Good spot. The limitation of using flight sims for footage.
Operation Jerico, One pilot said they flew down the approach road so low he had to lift one wing to get it over the tops of the trees lining the street! By the way, your simulation didn't appear correct to me, The Mossie could out run any German fighter of the time so would have done so if attacked from behind!
I agree, It must have taken real skill to carry out that mission.
As for the simulation, that's just the gameplay I have to work with and DCS only has the Me 109 G or long nose FW 190 to work with. So not 100% realistic I admit, but some decent eye candy nonetheless. 😀
At low altitude, the Mosquito would have run away and hid from the Fw-190A-5, etc. Your animation also shows D-Day stripes, painted in June 1944, and the long-nose Fw-190D, also from mid-1944. Other than that, I would have LOVED some footage of actual Mosquitos, possibly from "633 Squadron" perhaps...
Hammer
If sighted early enough, and the Fw 190 had altitude, it could catch a Mossie by diving.... Of course, when the Mossie had 50 feet or less (sometimes only 25 feet) underneath, not too many enemy pilots would press a close attack unless they wanted the nose of their airplane dig their grave!!!
Hi. I watched a docce of Mosquitoes doing night raids using spotlights, which they blinded their ground targets with, moments before they attacked.
l could relate to the enemy's absolute fear.
Nice video. The DH Mosquito is my favourite aircraft of WW2. Two of the missions featured as inspiration for plots in the films 633 Squadron (Oslo Raid) and Mosquito Squadron (Operation Jericho).
I go back and forth between Speeches #5, and Amien #4. The Berlin Raid was a psychologically impacting operation because of the optics of delivered to the Reich that while leaders were trying to convince the people of their dominance, the cognitive dissonance of the Mossies bombs echoing in the background made it clear that it was all garbage. Amien was just amazing because of the boldness of the raid. The acceptable losses illustrate the stark reality of WWII planning. In general pretty much anything Mossies did I am in awe of, even their use as pathfinders and weather/reconnaissance platforms. The example in the Museum of the USAF is beautiful.
Operation Carthage, brilliant navigation, pinpoint bombing unfortunate that some mosquito's inadvertently bombed the wrong place.
Mozzies and Mustangs together on a raid. Must have been quite a sight !
Mustangs powered by merlin engines.
Amiens for me also.
One of the first multi roll aircraft that helped to win the war.
A shame you didn't include the Mosquito raid on the Norwegian industrial plant by 633 Squadron. 😉
That was a fictional mission
@@timengineman2nd714 You missed the 😉 then? 😊😊
@@timengineman2nd714¿
As soon as you intruded this video Operation Jericho sprang to mind; however you have provided further Chanel’s of thought here. Mind yo6the rolesof Pickard, are indeed legendary, especially his role a a Lysander pilot - ferrying agents, messages & Maria line and out of France during moonlit periods , was probably what he shouldbe most recognised for.
Operation Jericho followed by earlier speeches raid. Never knew about Kleykamp building destruction.
The Speeches raid. Or Amiens. Anything by Mosquitoes really because they were so disruptive...
Meanwhile, why is your video showing loads of footage of Mosquitoes being shot down?
It's a combination of the long nose FW 190 I had to use in this game and the AI Mosquitos. Unfortunately I don't have time to perfectly fly every scene and get the ideal footage I'd like. Gotta work with the time and tools I have!
@@CalibanRising that seems fair enough! Interesting video otherwise. Thanks.
On the southwestern corner of Shellhus there is a propeller blade from a Mustang escort fighter that crashed in Østerbro during Operation Carthage
A bunch of us recreated an Event for that Fjord attack mission in the MMO Aces High 3 super WW2 Flight Sim. Man I love the Mossie more having flown it. 👍👍 10⭐🏆
I just love the idea of mosquitoes lurking around night fighter bases at night then pouncing on them as they come into land 😂
You forgot Trevarez. Just up the road from me in Finisterre!
I have to say the Operation Jericho raid impressed me the most.
Jericho or Carthage.
No other aircraft could've pulled off those raids. USAAF would've just flattened both areas, "Just to make sure!"
Amiens, closely followed by Carthage...question : were Mossie fighter- bombers flown with a stick or a yoke? I like the yoke as I think the pilot would have better control...plus it the yoke looks really neat...thanks!
Fighter bombers had a stick, bombers used a yoke
For me it has to be the Amiens raid.The raid took off from RAF Hunsdon Herts and the Mosquito was also built in Hertfordshire.
Dropping new .legs for Douglas Bader
Not exactly a raid but IMHO the mosquitos greatest role is in Fredrick Forsyth's"The Shepard"
love the mossie
She's a beaut!
I liked the one where they flew up a Norwegian fjord and bombed a rock overhanging a Nazi heavy water plant.
My Fav? #2, or (if different), the one where they bombed a prison to allow prisoners to escape.
Daring? Well, maybe not so much, but I loved the double attack same day on the speeches. It was cheeky and effective at communicating to the Nazis they weren't so powerful after all.
Operation Jericho for me!
A video about the heroic of the mosquito showing animation of mosquitoes being shot down is a little twisted.
I don't know what to tell you, men died during these missions. The leader of Operation Jericho, GC Pickard, was himself shot down and killed.
op Carthage.Thanks for the good show.
Glad you enjoyed it
Operation "Jerico` was most complicated and was challenged by prison walls inside and outside the target. The object was first to drop timed-fused bombs against the outside wallon the outside of the prison and then bombing the inside building which was where the Nazi guards had their quarters. Unfortunately, one the RAF's most celebrated fighter pilots was killed at the Amiens prison raid.
The mosquito hands down
Wondered what app the plane flying was in ?
Imagine if Mitchell had worked with de havilland & produced a single seat fighter out of plywood mated with merlin with 2 stage supercharger like mk 9 spit' would even have given me 262 a run for it's money as would have been capable of about 440mph.
So you have numbers of planes sent versus planes returned ?
Just noticing the animated flights of the planes you talk about . Are you flying these ? Is flying them accurate in terms of layout and impression?
I think that the Mosquito was the fastest plane so the FW-190 and BF-109 couldn't intercept it.
The 1978 South African Air Force successful raid on the military base of Cassinga, in Angola, was led/initiated by a 'defense suppression' strike by 4 B12 Canberras after a 1000 nm Hi-Lo sortie.... planned and executed using 105 ( Mosquito ) Sqn low-level techniques. It is not often appreciated that the RAFG's Strike Force Canberras trained for missions very similar to the more famous WW2 sorties against Germany. The two aircraft were remarkably similar in many ways.
I'll have to research that more Wil, very interesting.
Just before the 1956 Sinai war, Israel airforce photo-recce Mossie did a daylight mission to photograph egyptian airfields around Cairo and returned unharmed. Remember in 1956 both sides were using jets.
The wooden wonder!
What about Tsetse attacks on U Boats/anything Nazi/ Floaty? I note Some seem to think `633 Squadron` was a real raid - alas, not, but a great film, in it`s day, without CG. Amiens!
Find the Ashley Walk bombing range via RUclips. WW2 slo-mo footage of Mosquitos dropping bouncing bombs against walls. Perhaps the intention was to find a wall-demolishing bomb for raids like these. I can see why a "Chastise"-type bomb wasn't adopted for these raids. The bomb had a habit of hitting a wall and then recoiling away from it.
The Mosquitos were testing Highball - a version of Barnes-Wallis' bouncing bomb for use against Japanese shipping. The bombs were to bounce over the anti-torpedo nets, roll down the side of the ship and explode underneath to 'break the back' of the hull.
@@kumasenlac5504 Highball could've been used for an operation like Jericho, except the bombs kept recoiling from the brick wall.
I never realised tge 633 squadron was fictional .... l just looked up about it ..... Doh ! 😮 The film about the Aiemes prison that the mosquito was used to held break out french prisoners is real though 😁
First 400mph. Stealth Fighter bomber in WW2.
I feel like the "stealth" claims were really just Germans making excuses. Even the Horton flying wing, which was also made of wood, had a significant radar cross-section when tested by the Smithsonian.
The best mission was by far the one pulled off when it was first shown to the Air ministry! Ha ha!
Carthage Copenhagen
You have to redo you animations as none of the earlier missions would have had D-Day invasion stripes.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll bear that in mind in the future.
Berlin
I think the raid on the philipps factory was the most important mission.
After Amiens was liberated, the RAF sent one of their officers to the city to find out why the raid was ordered. Squadron Leader Edwin Houghton found out nothing - not even a list of supposed executions that were meant to have been carried out by the Gestapo of men who were saved by the RAF.
History Learning site UK Operation Jericho
What I want to know was how much the second man in the crew made made a difference.
I suppose at the very least he halved the workload and was an extra set of eyes.
@@CalibanRising I think during the Jericho raid that a squadron of Typhoons took off, but never made the rendezvous. It must be difficult navigating while flying low level, so I suppose the navigator was fully employed. OTOH, Fw190 pilots managed tip-and-run bombing raids without navigators. I often wonder what was the optimum crew size for bombers. The heavy bombers seem like they were overmanned to me.
@@KevTheImpaler Funny you should mention Typhoons. I was reading Pierre Clostermann's book again recently and he complained a lot about Tiffies not showing up. Some great points here too, I'll have to see if I can come up with some answers for you. Cheers!
What must be taken into consideration when choosing the best or most important battles etc , is the impact they have afterwards .
This is why I disagree with all of the options highlighted . Raids that were better PR then war winning .
In my opinion the 100 group Nightfighter Bomber escort missions had a greater impact .
Lets examine the facts , two squadrons of Mosquito's shot down nearly 200 German NF's trying to intercept the bomber streams . Contrary to popular opinion , the biggest killer of bomber crews wasn't Flack but Me 110's and Ju88 and 188's .
Lets assume that the average German NF shot down 5 RAF heavy bombers , the loss of 200 could save 7000 aircrews lives. This doesn't take into consideration those Mosquito's that stopped many from engaging.
German Nightfighter Ace Wilhelm Johnen ( 34 victories ) wrote in his biography " Duel under the Stars ". I paraphrase as its too long for me to cite here.
Fast Mosquitos from the mainland were dispatched to join the Bomber stream and supply aircover . It was incredibly difficult to get a bomber in our sights , for the Mosquitos sought us out and sped like rockets to aid the bomber , the losses rose appallingly .
I think that gives the flavour of what was happening , far and away more important then freeing French prisoners .
Night Fighter Mosquitos were what Harris really wanted from 1942 onwards. He didn't get any until early 1944 for direct attack of the German Night fighter force and the aircraft he got were next to knackered and had the wrong radar kit fitted. He didn't get aircraft with decent radars until April 1944 and had two squadrons of them taken off him for anti V-1 operations between June and September 1944. His operational force in 100 group was 6 squadrons which is around 72 operational fighters. Most Squadrons never put up more than 10 aircraft on any one night,
No Doubt Operation Jericho! Sadly what Nazi's did to prison's made almost everyone talk. Protection the location of the Landing was everything. If you study that landing, Hitler could have released a giant tank division to stop it, if he knew where it was for sure. This could have made a giant difference, in at least giving Germany more time to develop their own weapons such as the jet. I would guess that one mission could have saved a million lives and possibly the Allied victory itself. It was also big for the moral of the French resistance which made a big difference in the war.
Jericho
The Amiens prison raid
Hey Guys, you need to update/change your graphics, your video is showing Mossies with INVASION STRIPES ON THEM, these strips weren't used until 6 June, 1944, they were special high visibility markings designed to ensure that allied aircraft WERE NOT shot down by friendly ground and sea forces when flying over them, so, the first "Quisling Raid", the "Speeches Raid" "Operation Jericho" (Feb. 1944), "Hague Raid" (April 1944) video are WRONG! The last two of them being 10/1944 & 45 might be "OK".
Cheers.
Thanks for the comment Joe. I think when I made this video I didn't have access to any other livery for the Mossie, so it was stripes or nothing at all.
@@CalibanRising NP, sorry if I sounded a bit "bossy", but being a bit of a HX buff, I get a bit, shall we say "ticked" when things aren't "right", there's enough "off" info on the web as it is, we don't need more of it.
God knows how many "kids" & "young adults" just learning about REAL History that might get the wrong info from watching a video that doesn't portray the correct information.
Here I go again preaching, sorry, I guess it's my little bug-a-bo! 🥴
Cheers mate. ✌🏼
The one mission that's missing here is the ball-bearing runs to Sweden flown by BOAC pilots on unarmed Mosquitos.
I'll have to read up on that, thanks.
Operation Jerrico
If the mosquito could outrun anything why did it need escort Fighters?
Operation jericho!
has to be Jericho
Operation Jericho.
Operation Jerichoe
Gregs airplanes is pronounced it mossie nor mozze any one got any ww2 films where they say mozze?
'Mossie ' is naturally the English contraction of Mosquito and 'moz' would be another natural if less common contraction of 'mossie'. It's just how the language works. 😁
@@CalibanRising but he is saying like moss there was Misson that old car. moss ie is not how it's pronounced
Decent video. But reducing the 116 civilian deaths (86 children) in the raid on “Shellhuset” to “several dead children” seems disingenious at best.
Thanks for the feedback.
I am always amuses me how someone on you tube can know the inner state of people's minds 75 years later. Are we now in a time when reality matters not one iota ? Lets just make shit up, it makes for a "better" video.
Thanks for the feedback.
Goering - no british plane will bomb berlin
RAF - oh yeah?
daring and the fucking finest piece of trolling ever
😁😆😂
All things to all men!
Stopping this right at the beginning. Why is it we always see Allied aircraft in the markings of black and white stripes on both top and underneath signifying the makings used on all Allied aircraft on D Day and thereafter? This happens on this site and others . It's rather annoying seeing this and perhaps the people who do these video games are not even aware of the stripes significance? After all the RAF were doing plenty throughout the war, not just after D-day.
As for the raids? Amiens prison for me. You mentioned it was led by Group Captain Charles ( he never used Percy) Pickard, you should have mentioned that he and his Navigator / Observer, Flight Lieutenant Bill Broadley, were shot down and killed whilst circling Amiens checking to see if there were survivors from another downed Mozzie flown by Squadron Leader Ian McRitchie who survived the crash and navigator/ observer Flight Lieutenant Richard Webb Sampson who unfortunately did not survive.
I agree, the game I used for this only had the one paint scheme.
From a time when the Brits could make a world beater. Now the clown of the world.
Clearly the best for propaganda purposes was the speeches raid.
My vote for most inspiring raid is the one number 5 on the list (against Nazi speechgivers).
hmm, all the known historical video and all u do is talk.
Get to the point!