Please “Like & Subscribe!” We have 100s of films in our library. We have licensed footage to major TV networks and cable channels. For more info see ruclips.net/user/ZenosWarbirdsabout Zeno
I was assigned to the 474th TFW, 430th TFS at Nellis AFB from 1980-1989. Wing has a lot of history. The patches have changed since WWII. They were the first to deploy the F-111 in Vietnam. I started on the F4-D then transitioned to the F-16A. When the Thunderbirds went to the F-16, the aircraft were assets of the 474th. The wing was decommissioned in 1989 and the aircraft sent to the reserves/guard. I heard it was reactivated but I’m not sure on that one. We had a great time during those years working on the new F-16. Great video showing some of the roots. To all my fellow Buccaneers (428th), Black Falcons (429th) and finally the Tigers (430th) I salute you!
I was also assigned to the 430th at Nellis from 1979 to 1983 as a weapons troop before cross-training in F-16 A Shop avionics and moving to Falcon AMU in the 57 FWW the same year.
@@heeder777 Correct! I still have an aftermarket stereo in my 2011 Honda CR-V but with a lot of changes since those days. I have 600 watts instead of the 150 watts I had back then, a pair of 12-inch Rockford Fosgate woofers instead of the twin 10-inch Cerwin Vegas, and four 6-1/2-inch JBL coaxial speakers in the doors instead of the Bose 1401 Series II four-speaker system.
I was in the marines from 1970-1980. Worked on helicopters. Shot down in a chopper in 1973 in Vietnam. Many of my family and relatives fought in WW-2. Several where in the navy and flew in planes very rough. My uncle was a B-17 pilot for 3 1/2 years. My pop was on a aircraft carrier as a radio engineer , navigator in planes. Very little did anyone of them talk about what went on. Only once in the early 60’s did my father talk to me about what went on. These guys where true heroes as far as I’m concerned. I thought I had a hard time but nothing compared to what they went thru. A cousin of mine flew in the P-38 in Germany the last 2 years of the war messed him up big time. He used to hide out in the basements when we had family parties. All he every said to me when I asked him a few times was to many bombing missions. He shook all the time. Never really understood what was going on with them in the 60’s. But later in life after I got out it really hit me also as to why.
Shot down right before Vietnam war ended in mid-Jan.1973 is when war cease fired. I was 15 when that occured in 10th grade. Knew some dudes coming back. Seen a big change!
Well it comes back to you and it's like your there again, right suddenly your there again and have fear , excitement , a emotional rollercoaster and a lot of people, and them seeing you go through that is very uncomfortable 😣 cuz your not in control of yourself is what it feels like you can feel in danger, the smallest thing can make you want to leave sometimes and trying to explain it later is even harder, but he knew you were concerned about him 😊 , and I'm sure he apreciated it. It's a condition created when you are between life and death ☠️ over and over , with high periods of adrenaline ! When you have adrenaline rush again and again and you see something or here something to start the process of adrenaline or excitement , like a party 🎉 you get excited or whatever the triggers are, a loud pop of balloons! Boom 💥. Your back there in war ,it feels exactly the same , life and death ☠️ over and over, he just didn't want to go back and nobody really understands what is happening to him ! It's really frustrating when people don't understand!! Understand Lester Miller . my grandfather was under General. MacArthur in the 6th army during WW2 🪖🎖️🇺🇸 🗡️ in the Philippines in Manila , when he came home 🏠 my grandmother said they were in bed 🛏️ one night and boom 💥 a car back fired between the armory Hall and the house and he hit the floor low crawling like he had a rifle, elbows and knees , head down ,butt down low crawling under fire in the bedroom. Sometimes it is an emotional response and a physical response .my uncle Steve was in Vietnam and he had his 18th birthday in Da-Nang in 1969 he was a RTO in the U.S.M.C. all he talked about after he came home was death, killing, how to kill , why to kill , when to kill , did you kill your deer 🦌 while deer hunting right 👍! It was very scary, but I love that man still even though he's past .So just remember ( God said thou shall not kill ) because it is sin and will hurt you, just remember!
I'm a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran. I grew up hero-worshiping these guys. My parents' generation. Thanks for this, I have never seen these films before.
In my unit in Vietnam we had a warrent officer who was a Pearl Harbor veteran, and another who served in the Polish Resistance. In my second tour, I met air force F4 pilots who had white hair and were old enough to be father. I was agog with hero worship!
Thank God I was never in any battles. I was shot at a little, and spent a lot of time on patrol in the jungle mountains and hamlets. Things were always quiet around me. I saw the country, talked to the enemy, met the people and Vietnamese soldiers. It was beautiful, and I loved it, but I did not like the war. I was young and I did some stupid things, but I was lucky. I'm an old man now, and I have a good life. I am very, very grateful. I wish you the adventures you crave, and a happy ending for each of them.
Axgoodofdunemaul Me too. I'm a second generation Marine...68 this year, Nam Vet 68-69. My dad was in 38-46 and served in the Pacific. And passed when I was 17 and never got to see me as a Marine.
Thanks for a terrific piece of work, colour film, period music and most of all, the research you did. On top of that, the P-38 is my favourite bird, hands down!
Our mission is to preserve these historic films for future generations. Your DVD purchases at our store make this channel possible. www.zenosflightshop.com We need your support! Get this video and more on our P-38 DVD, including a P-38 pilot's manual. bit.ly/J0owLJ We have 100s of films in our library. We have licensed footage to major TV networks and cable channels. For more info see ruclips.net/user/ZenosWarbirdsabout Zeno
Adam, the original film footage is silent. Live sound recording in the field was very rare in World War 2, with the exception of an occasional interview or speech. Sound was usually added later in the studio back in the USA. So, I added all the sound effects you hear in this video. The P-38 sounds are taken from sound recordings of real P-38s. Zeno
On the gun camera footage with the black pointer in the upper left corner: Visible = NOT SHOOTING/off trigger; when it disappears = SHOOTING/on trigger. The aircraft only carried enough ammo for several seconds of shooting. This is why you’ll see short bursts. Great video!
Great film. My mother worked at Lockheed during the war helping to build these wonderful airplanes. It brought back many a wonderful story she told us of that time.
WONDERFUL ! These are in such great condition ! If I had the financial where-withall I would gather up as many remaining pictures and films from this period in history as possible and restore them, starting with moving picture like this ! Thanks so much for posting it.
Both turbo and mechanical superchargers were developed before World War 1 and both were tested experimentally in aircraft during that conflict. The P-47 used only a turbocharger, as did the B-17 and B-24. The P-51, F4U, F6F, BF109 & Spitfire used a mechanical supercharger, as did the B-29. Turbos usually worked better at high altitude, but were tricky to produce because of the high temperatures, which is one reason they weren't used as often. Combining both types came after the war in race cars.
Hi,Zenos. I realize this is late but the B-29 did, indeed, use turbos. One could argue that the strategic daylight argue would not have been possible without turbos and the axis never had truly effective high altitude aircraft because they lacked the materials and expertise to build them. Cheers!
Excellent work! Not only was this some truly amazing footage, but even though I thought I knew just about everything about the P-38, I'd never heard of, (let alone seen,) the "Droop Snoop" variant. Also nice catch a rare glimpse of an early model P-61 Black Widow, as well as the almost forgotten B-26s. Thanks for both entertaining and educating me, and for creating this fine tribute to the men of the 9th Air Force.
Absolutely love the period correct music. Thanks for that. I could watch these videos all day and never get bored. Just a glimpse into the what our boys experienced in WW2.
My Dad was in the 428th as a mechanic. the pictures and stories I have are very interesting and help my drive to work on aircraft in the air force. Great video and beautiful aircraft
The P-38 is my favorite WWII fighter. I grew up in northwest Wisconsin and my family drove through Poplar, WI several times a year. Poplar is the hometown of Richard I.Bong, the all-time leading American Ace. At that time there was a P-38 on a stick outside the town's school. I always looked for it as we drove through town and I got a close look at it many times. The plane now resides in nearby Superior, WI at a memorial & museum.
My grandfather, Willard Volney Gilbert, served in the Pacific as a Chief Pharmacist Mate in the Navy. He was on duty at the hospital on Ford Island the morning of December 7, 1941 and had a front row seat as the Nevada ran aground right outside of his window at the hospital. He lost his leg on the island of Ie Shima (same island that Ernie Pyle got killed on) due to friendly fire from one of the ships offshore as it was firing at the Japanese aircraft during an attack. He was coming out of the Corpsman tent as an anti-aircraft round went through his leg into the tent and exploded killing everyone one in the tent behind him. Sadly, he died in 2005. I miss him.
Good video. You added details most ignore such as call signs and unit markings. And not the least, that was a great selection of music. We had the best music that the younger kids can’t equal.
My Dad flew with the 430th and our opinion is he may have been flying the day this video was shot! It is the type of mission he described to me growing up.
My neighbor's father was also a Flight Instructor and P-38 Pilot. He told me once that he flew the P-38 out of Palm Springs. He also flew many planes including the B-17, B-24, B29, etc. He would sit around telling me and his son so many stories including flying the 'Hump'. Dirt runways at DumDum and when when it rained the mud reeked havoc. But the crew said that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing - LOL
An RP-38 was doing Geodetic Survey work out of Concord, NH Airport in 1963. Impressive aircraft! My uncle was a line machinist on these in the South Pacific.
All the tunes are from a public domain collection I have of copies of Nat "King" Cole "V-Discs," records that were distributed free to our troops in the field during World War 2. The first tune is "Swinging the Blues." I don't know who the the singer is on "Rosetta." (CD is long out of print, but Cole recorded these tunes many times elsewhere.) The P-38 sounds that I added are all from real Lightnings.
The P-38 was still a potent threat wherever it was deployed. Besides it is fantastic in how it looks. Great footage and thanks for the details such as identifying the pilots and the plane id markings. It is a nice compilation and thanks for posting it.
Almost 50 years of admiring this ahead-of-its-time Kelly Johnson beauty and I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never heard of the "droop snoot" modification nor did I know it could carry 2 tons of bombs. Thanks. My respect for what these guys (kids) did grows more and more with each passing decade. I thought they were badasses way back in '75, when as a 10 year old my dad took me to the Confederate Air Force in Harlingen. We watched a white P-38, piloted by a 55 year old silver haired vet do some post show (no crowd) fly bys that weren't, according to pops, "10 feet off the deck!"
The term for the specially modified P-38 was “Droop Snoot" (i.e. “Snout") not “Droop Snoop." A small point, but in the interests of accuracy... A GREAT and RARE documentary. Love the P-38.
My Dad was with the 474th FG all thru WW2. He was with the 1228th MP Company attached to HQ and was involved with ground operations and security on the bases. He told me all about what happened on the airbases from England and to the end in Germany. One story was when he was on this base during the Battle of the Buldge and they were told the Germans were trying to break thru and get over the bridges and would be headed toward this base at Florennes, Belgium. They were warming up the engines on the planes that night and were told no retreat. If the Germans got thru the planes were to fly back to England. They did not, and the skies cleared after Gen Patton prayed for that to happen. The planes took off that day and the rest is history. Not too many years ago we were at the WW2 Weeked in Reading, Pa and met Col. Pergrin commander of the 291st Combat Engineers who blew up the bridges the Germans were trying to cross. My Dad thanked him for saving them on this base
Good show; my Uncle Billy Dougan was declared too old to fly during WW II, so he became a test pilot for Lockheed flying the P-38's. He was an ace pilot during WW I.
ZenosWarbirds Thank you for this great upload The P 38 was a fantastic aircraft only wish more of them were around today. Maybe someone will bring out a 2/3 replca
They had General Electric turbos. There is a picture of one spinning on a P-38 at the very beginning of this video at about 6 seconds in. They were located on top of each boom, behind the engines.
Corrie, you're right, and I knew it at the time, but unfortunately I am prone to miss spellings & malapropisms. I corrected it in the RUclips description. I'm thinking about replacing the text with a narration. I'll fix it there
I just read a great article on turbosuperchargers utilized in combat aviation by GE in 1943.I knew of the two different types,turbo and supercharging but was unaware that both were used in conjunction.Thanks.
Seeing the strafing runs in 24 Frames per Second real time is a stunning revelation. They were only straight and level for a few seconds to fire. Otherwise the German Flak gunners would've shot them down! Those were very dangerous missions and the 20mm flak guns were tough. I think you can see rounds coming at them in the footage. They look like white "Golfball" flashes. Superb historical work on this, and a tribute to our WW II Heroes.
I just found out that the designer of the P-38 was born and raised in a small town less than 8 miles from where I'm living here in Marquette, Michigan! Clarence"Kelly" Johnson was discovered by Lockheed while an engineering student at the University of Michigan, He was also the first team leader of the Lockheed Skunk Works, Amazing!!
Outstanding Zeno. What is the first piece of music at the beginning of the video. Thank you for using great music and keeping the level down, bye the way.
B-29's led fire missions called "Pathfinders". Accurate bombing, marking the 'pickle barrels'. There is a huge story behind how P-38's came to have the range to reach Yamamoto, it was due to a very famous U.S. aviator icon, it was his contribution to operations and a taste of combat action, until Washington found out. P-38's were the FIRST aircraft to experience "compressibility" , the airflow speed over the wings was exceeding the speed of sound and it was causing vibration, instability. A few tabs, fixed the problem. Awesome aircraft with that 20 mm cannon. An ideal ground attack aircraft. God Bless The Greatest Generation, my father was a member of this generation and fought in WWII.
Thanks so much! This is a much-appreciated anti-dote to those "quick and dirty" documentaries from History Channel, etc., where they use whatever footage they like to illustrate this or that point, and never both to connect the available footable to real people and known events!
Re the music: Private Joker: "I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir." The text was originally minimal, but kept growing incrementally as I learned more about the subject during the project. I have done voice overs on my more recent documentaries. I may swap out the text with voice if I ever get around to it. "Superchargers" are any mechanical device that increase air flow. They can be gear driven blowers (P-51) or turbos (P-38).
The music is authentically of the period, but it distracts from the video content. Better to have your voice reading screen text-- especially the screens jammed with text, which obstruct the view. No matter what kind of studio voice you may have, that seems a better arrangement than screen text. Of course, the ultimate idea is to present P38s performing in the fuller, more authentic audio of the period, which improved as WW2 proceeded. By 1944, engine sounds were recorded at a much wider frequency range. As a bonus, we hear the engines in actual operations. We can be sure the audio technicians tried their best to capture the fullest possible sound-- why ruin content with "background" music?.
The original footage shown in this video is all silent, raw, in no particular order and unedited. I added all the Sfx including engine & gunfire sounds myself. That took quite a bit of time & effort. Glad you think they are from the original footage. At the time, virtually all WW2 era air combat documentaries you see were shot silent, including all gun camera film and generic engine & mg sounds were edited in later in the studio. A war was being fought & no one really cared about minutiae like that. A lot of people like the music in this video. YMMV. The scrolling text is over static images. It doesn’t obscure any action. I narrate some of my later videos. This one started out with a little added text that grew as I researched it. I’ve thought about doing a narrated version, but I would have to eliminate a lot of info because there isn’t enough original footage to run while I’m talking to include it all. So I decided to leave it the way it is.
My word! Color WW2 footage that I've never seen. Thanks! And you deserve extra credit for looking up the names of the pilots. Well done, sir, well done! BTW: it's Droop Snoot with a T, not Snoop with a P. Snoot was slang for nose, as in, "Did you get a snootful of that?" IOW, "Did you smell that?" The Droop Snoot mod looked like a big drooping nose.
Zeno, Im so stun of this video you cant imagine. All these pilots in Florennes used to rest in my grandfather's Mansion in a village called Rosée. During years, my grandmother told me stories about them every wednesday after school while we were looking at those pictures. To see them now in color movie is quite a strange feeling! I would be very interested to share some information cause I try to find survivor's veteran or their family to send them those pictures I've got now
Small footnotes about the greatest generation in history that did it Right with old fashioned values. Determination, fortitude, hard work, team work and comeradery. Courage and bravery. Above all they had a tremendously dangerous n uncertain future outcome. THEY JUST WENT FOR IT AND GOT THE JOB DONE! No micky mouse and Failure was not an option. As great as all these heros were, they couldn't have accomplished their objectives without all the men and women back home sacrificing of themselves. Makes me proud to call myself an American citizen. Godspeed and God Bless America....Semper Fi
EXCELLENT! I do NOT want any of that ubiquitous and ever insipid voice-over dialog. I'm watching this 1945 shot, 16mm Kodachrome film because I already KNOW what a P38L IS. A very REAL feel, a true "you are there" perspective due in part to the much less well known period-correct music, making it "fresh" but accurate along with the hi-fidelity dubbed in sound effects. I especially appreciated the written commentary on the Droop Snoot P38L as opposed to it having been voice-over spoken. I'd say those who have "disliked"" this film in all probability have real difficulty with reading, are musically hopelessly tone deaf and possess a span of attention of no more than 3 minutes....
There isn't an exact correspondence between the pointer showing and the guns firing, but I was told by WW2 vets that the pointer is there to show the guns were firing. The use of a pointer for gun cameras was not universal. I think it was more common in the P-38. When I was a kid, I used to see adds in photo mags for surplus WW2 gun cameras very cheap. I wish I had picked one up.
Thanks! BTW, it should have read "Droop snoot" rather than "Droop snoop." That was something I knew, but didn't catch in the editing. The perils of auto correct. I've got a number of P-61 & B-26 videos on my RUclips channel if you do a search, Can't list the urls in a RUclips reply.
When i was a kid , i wanted to be a fighter pilot. But after watching many many documentaries about war . I have to say those guys who got into the heavy bombers with no escort protection . Had more guts and courage than i can even imagine now at approaching 74 . I hate war. But every man and woman who served are my true HEROES . GOD BLESS ALL OF THEM .
+crosstimbers2 late late reply; this just popped up on my list. Wright-Patterson in Dayton, Ohio has a Black Widow on display. Absolutely beautiful machine!
Few know that the first US plane credited with shooting down a German aircraft was a P-38, downing a FW200 Condor over Iceland in 1942. Had the nose art piece of that plane, "Mountaineer" in our basement on loan for a while in the 70s from Elza Shahan, the pilot's nephew. Good story in the book "Fork-tailed devils."
Please “Like & Subscribe!”
We have 100s of films in our library. We have licensed footage to major TV networks and cable channels. For more info see ruclips.net/user/ZenosWarbirdsabout
Zeno
I was assigned to the 474th TFW, 430th TFS at Nellis AFB from 1980-1989. Wing has a lot of history. The patches have changed since WWII. They were the first to deploy the F-111 in Vietnam. I started on the F4-D then transitioned to the F-16A. When the Thunderbirds went to the F-16, the aircraft were assets of the 474th. The wing was decommissioned in 1989 and the aircraft sent to the reserves/guard. I heard it was reactivated but I’m not sure on that one. We had a great time during those years working on the new F-16. Great video showing some of the roots. To all my fellow Buccaneers (428th), Black Falcons (429th) and finally the Tigers (430th) I salute you!
I was also assigned to the 430th at Nellis from 1979 to 1983 as a weapons troop before cross-training in F-16 A Shop avionics and moving to Falcon AMU in the 57 FWW the same year.
@@jimrichards1289 I know you! You were always upgrading your car stereo, it was worth more than your car. 715 dorms I think.
@@heeder777 Correct! I still have an aftermarket stereo in my 2011 Honda CR-V but with a lot of changes since those days. I have 600 watts instead of the 150 watts I had back then, a pair of 12-inch Rockford Fosgate woofers instead of the twin 10-inch Cerwin Vegas, and four 6-1/2-inch JBL coaxial speakers in the doors instead of the Bose 1401 Series II four-speaker system.
I was in the marines from 1970-1980. Worked on helicopters. Shot down in a chopper in 1973 in Vietnam. Many of my family and relatives fought in WW-2. Several where in the navy and flew in planes very rough. My uncle was a B-17 pilot for 3 1/2 years. My pop was on a aircraft carrier as a radio engineer , navigator in planes. Very little did anyone of them talk about what went on. Only once in the early 60’s did my father talk to me about what went on. These guys where true heroes as far as I’m concerned. I thought I had a hard time but nothing compared to what they went thru. A cousin of mine flew in the P-38 in Germany the last 2 years of the war messed him up big time. He used to hide out in the basements when we had family parties. All he every said to me when I asked him a few times was to many bombing missions. He shook all the time. Never really understood what was going on with them in the 60’s. But later in life after I got out it really hit me also as to why.
God bless you and your entire family of heroes.
Shot down right before Vietnam war ended in mid-Jan.1973 is when war cease fired. I was 15 when that occured in 10th grade. Knew some dudes coming back. Seen a big change!
Respect.
Well it comes back to you and it's like your there again, right suddenly your there again and have fear , excitement , a emotional rollercoaster and a lot of people, and them seeing you go through that is very uncomfortable 😣 cuz your not in control of yourself is what it feels like you can feel in danger, the smallest thing can make you want to leave sometimes and trying to explain it later is even harder, but he knew you were concerned about him 😊 , and I'm sure he apreciated it. It's a condition created when you are between life and death ☠️ over and over , with high periods of adrenaline ! When you have adrenaline rush again and again and you see something or here something to start the process of adrenaline or excitement , like a party 🎉 you get excited or whatever the triggers are, a loud pop of balloons! Boom 💥. Your back there in war ,it feels exactly the same , life and death ☠️ over and over, he just didn't want to go back and nobody really understands what is happening to him ! It's really frustrating when people don't understand!! Understand Lester Miller . my grandfather was under General. MacArthur in the 6th army during WW2 🪖🎖️🇺🇸 🗡️ in the Philippines in Manila , when he came home 🏠 my grandmother said they were in bed 🛏️ one night and boom 💥 a car back fired between the armory Hall and the house and he hit the floor low crawling like he had a rifle, elbows and knees , head down ,butt down low crawling under fire in the bedroom. Sometimes it is an emotional response and a physical response .my uncle Steve was in Vietnam and he had his 18th birthday in Da-Nang in 1969 he was a RTO in the U.S.M.C. all he talked about after he came home was death, killing, how to kill , why to kill , when to kill , did you kill your deer 🦌 while deer hunting right 👍! It was very scary, but I love that man still even though he's past .So just remember ( God said thou shall not kill ) because it is sin and will hurt you, just remember!
I'm a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran. I grew up hero-worshiping these guys. My parents' generation. Thanks for this, I have never seen these films before.
Yup. We had WW2 vets still serving aboard my first ship, in the navy. Our skipper (bird CAPT) had been a seaman when Pearl got hit.
In my unit in Vietnam we had a warrent officer who was a Pearl Harbor veteran, and another who served in the Polish Resistance. In my second tour, I met air force F4 pilots who had white hair and were old enough to be father. I was agog with hero worship!
wow! Did you see the real battle or you were in backstage in battle?
Thank God I was never in any battles. I was shot at a little, and spent a lot of time on patrol in the jungle mountains and hamlets. Things were always quiet around me. I saw the country, talked to the enemy, met the people and Vietnamese soldiers. It was beautiful, and I loved it, but I did not like the war. I was young and I did some stupid things, but I was lucky. I'm an old man now, and I have a good life. I am very, very grateful. I wish you the adventures you crave, and a happy ending for each of them.
Axgoodofdunemaul
Me too. I'm a second generation Marine...68 this year, Nam Vet 68-69. My dad was in 38-46 and served in the Pacific. And passed when I was 17 and never got to see me as a Marine.
Thanks for a terrific piece of work, colour film, period music and most of all, the research you did. On top of that, the P-38 is my favourite bird, hands down!
Our mission is to preserve these historic films for future generations. Your DVD purchases at our store make this channel possible. www.zenosflightshop.com We need your support! Get this video and more on our P-38 DVD, including a P-38 pilot's manual. bit.ly/J0owLJ
We have 100s of films in our library. We have licensed footage to major TV networks and cable channels. For more info see ruclips.net/user/ZenosWarbirdsabout
Zeno
Great job and love your channel. But just for the record, they were called "Droop Snoot", not "Droop Snoop".
As a historian I can say thanx Zeno. Wonderful music, wonderful documentary. Give me more.
Adam, the original film footage is silent. Live sound recording in the field was very rare in World War 2, with the exception of an occasional interview or speech. Sound was usually added later in the studio back in the USA. So, I added all the sound effects you hear in this video. The P-38 sounds are taken from sound recordings of real P-38s.
Zeno
You done a great service to soldiers of this war and future generations.
On the gun camera footage with the black pointer in the upper left corner: Visible = NOT SHOOTING/off trigger; when it disappears = SHOOTING/on trigger.
The aircraft only carried enough ammo for several seconds of shooting. This is why you’ll see short bursts. Great video!
JT Turner short burst so the gun barrel did not freeze-up
Great film. My mother worked at Lockheed during the war helping to build these wonderful airplanes. It brought back many a wonderful story she told us of that time.
Very nice. Only the 2nd time ever seeing a P61, thought there was only one actually on film. Thanks for posting.
Then you should enjoy this one
ruclips.net/video/vDUHjD0MLqY/видео.html
Superb film. Especially appreciate the P-38L glimpse. Very rare. Cheers, Zeno!
WONDERFUL ! These are in such great condition ! If I had the financial where-withall I would gather up as many remaining pictures and films from this period in history as possible and restore them, starting with moving picture like this ! Thanks so much for posting it.
+Terry Russel AND THE ENGINE SOUNDS ! I hope those are actual recordings ?!?!?!
+Terry Russel
The original footage is silent. I added the sound effects, including engine recordings sampled from real P-38s.
Both turbo and mechanical superchargers were developed before World War 1 and both were tested experimentally in aircraft during that conflict. The P-47 used only a turbocharger, as did the B-17 and B-24. The P-51, F4U, F6F, BF109 & Spitfire used a mechanical supercharger, as did the B-29. Turbos usually worked better at high altitude, but were tricky to produce because of the high temperatures, which is one reason they weren't used as often. Combining both types came after the war in race cars.
Hi,Zenos. I realize this is late but the B-29 did, indeed, use turbos. One could argue that the strategic daylight argue would not have been possible without turbos and the axis never had truly effective high altitude aircraft because they lacked the materials and expertise to build them.
Cheers!
Excellent work!
Not only was this some truly amazing footage, but even though I thought I knew just about everything about the P-38, I'd never heard of, (let alone seen,) the "Droop Snoop" variant.
Also nice catch a rare glimpse of an early model P-61 Black Widow, as well as the almost forgotten B-26s.
Thanks for both entertaining and educating me, and for creating this fine tribute to the men of the 9th Air Force.
Absolutely love the period correct music. Thanks for that. I could watch these videos all day and never get bored. Just a glimpse into the what our boys experienced in WW2.
SpencerMaz e
Men idiot, to best of my knowledge no boys went to war at least men from the USA. To call brave men boys is an insult.
My Dad was in the 428th as a mechanic. the pictures and stories I have are very interesting and help my drive to work on aircraft in the air force. Great video and beautiful aircraft
Thanks for the film! Here's to the men who flew the planes to help win the war; they were so skilled and so courageous.
The P-38 is my favorite WWII fighter. I grew up in northwest Wisconsin and my family drove through Poplar, WI several times a year. Poplar is the hometown of Richard I.Bong, the all-time leading American Ace. At that time there was a P-38 on a stick outside the town's school. I always looked for it as we drove through town and I got a close look at it many times. The plane now resides in nearby Superior, WI at a memorial & museum.
thanks for putting this together. Its wonderful!
Best video of this type I've seen! Thank You!
the P38 was the A10 of it's day..and just as beautiful..Pilots loved 'em, enemies feared them..and respected them..great color video..thanks
My grandfather, Willard Volney Gilbert, served in the Pacific as a Chief Pharmacist Mate in the Navy. He was on duty at the hospital on Ford Island the morning of December 7, 1941 and had a front row seat as the Nevada ran aground right outside of his window at the hospital. He lost his leg on the island of Ie Shima (same island that Ernie Pyle got killed on) due to friendly fire from one of the ships offshore as it was firing at the Japanese aircraft during an attack. He was coming out of the Corpsman tent as an anti-aircraft round went through his leg into the tent and exploded killing everyone one in the tent behind him. Sadly, he died in 2005. I miss him.
Good video. You added details most ignore such as call signs and unit markings. And not the least, that was a great selection of music. We had the best music that the younger kids can’t equal.
My Dad flew with the 430th and our opinion is he may have been flying the day this video was shot! It is the type of mission he described to me growing up.
My neighbor's father was also a Flight Instructor and P-38 Pilot. He told me once that he flew the P-38 out of Palm Springs. He also flew many planes including the B-17, B-24, B29, etc. He would sit around telling me and his son so many stories including flying the 'Hump'. Dirt runways at DumDum and when when it rained the mud reeked havoc. But the crew said that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing - LOL
👍👍👍
Incredible footage, thanks for sharing.
Exquisitely beautiful in every way; thank you.
An RP-38 was doing Geodetic Survey work out of Concord, NH Airport in 1963. Impressive aircraft! My uncle was a line machinist on these in the South Pacific.
All the tunes are from a public domain collection I have of copies of Nat "King" Cole "V-Discs," records that were distributed free to our troops in the field during World War 2. The first tune is "Swinging the Blues." I don't know who the the singer is on "Rosetta." (CD is long out of print, but Cole recorded these tunes many times elsewhere.) The P-38 sounds that I added are all from real Lightnings.
The P-38 was still a potent threat wherever it was deployed. Besides it is fantastic in how it looks. Great footage and thanks for the details such as identifying the pilots and the plane id markings. It is a nice compilation and thanks for posting it.
THANK YOU FRED AND THE REST OF YOU GUYS FROM ENGLAND
The big band music playing in the background was perfect !
Almost 50 years of admiring this ahead-of-its-time Kelly Johnson beauty and I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never heard of the "droop snoot" modification nor did I know it could carry 2 tons of bombs. Thanks.
My respect for what these guys (kids) did grows more and more with each passing decade. I thought they were badasses way back in '75, when as a 10 year old my dad took me to the Confederate Air Force in Harlingen. We watched a white P-38, piloted by a 55 year old silver haired vet do some post show (no crowd) fly bys that weren't, according to pops, "10 feet off the deck!"
Lefty Gardner in his P-38 "White Lightning". Now owned by Red Bull.
Magnificent, music and all !! Thank you !
Brilliant stuff,thanks Zeno.
My Great Uncle was the commanding officer of the 485th FG 9th AF in Florennes, Belgium his P-38 was named FRECKLE !
The term for the specially modified P-38 was “Droop Snoot" (i.e. “Snout") not “Droop Snoop." A small point, but in the interests of accuracy... A GREAT and RARE documentary. Love the P-38.
Amazing video!! I cant believe there is color footage of a P61 and that P38 variant. That's as rare as it gets. Thank you for sharing.
My Dad was with the 474th FG all thru WW2. He was with the 1228th MP Company attached to HQ and was involved with ground operations and security on the bases. He told me all about what happened on the airbases from England and to the end in Germany. One story was when he was on this base during the Battle of the Buldge and they were told the Germans were trying to break thru and get over the bridges and would be headed toward this base at Florennes, Belgium. They were warming up the engines on the planes that night and were told no retreat. If the Germans got thru the planes were to fly back to England. They did not, and the skies cleared after Gen Patton prayed for that to happen. The planes took off that day and the rest is history. Not too many years ago we were at the WW2 Weeked in Reading, Pa and met Col. Pergrin commander of the 291st Combat Engineers who blew up the bridges the Germans were trying to cross. My Dad thanked him for saving them on this base
Respect to your father.
Doubt the skies cleared cause Patton asked God to do it...
This is a outstanding piece of video.So rare is the footage.Fascinating to watch.They all were so brave.Thank You.ZenosWarbirbs
Many thanks for the color video of my favorite warplane. I'm a military historian and author and love videos like this. Thanks again!
Good show; my Uncle Billy Dougan was declared too old to fly during WW II, so he became a test pilot for Lockheed flying the P-38's. He was an ace pilot during WW I.
Great job! thanks for all the work you put into this...
Are you serious? Can you really not tell this was produced back in that time period and not actually put together by this channel?
Fantastic doc! I love the P-61 and I never even knew about the "Pink Feather". I love it , thanks.
David -- Thanks for the heads up! You are correct -- that was a typo on my part. I'll fix it.
finally some decent music, thank you so much, al
Great documentary and thank you for posting it! Love those "Forked Tail Devils!"
I was in the 474 in the 80's we were flying F-16, thanks for up loading this video with some info on the 474th, I was in the 429 tfs .
Thanks Zeno so much! A treasured video again. Great work.
Thanks!
Zeno
Thank you Nat COLE. Those P-38’s look absolutely terrifying as an assault bird.
Thanks for the great clip, awesome musical background too !!
great, footage. this P 38 with Norden Bomb Sight was new for me. Thx for upload.
Thank you!
Zeno
I was not aware of that retro fit either, sounds like it worked ok.
ZenosWarbirds Thank you for this great upload The P 38 was a fantastic aircraft only wish more of them were around today. Maybe someone will bring out a 2/3 replca
Precision shooting before the days of Smart Weapons . Such bravery and skills . Thanks to you all .
They had General Electric turbos. There is a picture of one spinning on a P-38 at the very beginning of this video at about 6 seconds in. They were located on top of each boom, behind the engines.
Corrie, you're right, and I knew it at the time, but unfortunately I am prone to miss spellings & malapropisms. I corrected it in the RUclips description. I'm thinking about replacing the text with a narration. I'll fix it there
I just read a great article on turbosuperchargers utilized in combat aviation by GE in 1943.I knew of the two different types,turbo and supercharging but was unaware that both were used in conjunction.Thanks.
Got it, thanks Zeno. This is one of the best videos of it's kind that I have watched. Great job,.... and the music helped too..;)
Seeing the strafing runs in 24 Frames per Second real time is a stunning revelation. They were only straight and level for a few seconds to fire. Otherwise the German Flak gunners would've shot them down! Those were very dangerous missions and the 20mm flak guns were tough. I think you can see rounds coming at them in the footage. They look like white "Golfball" flashes. Superb historical work on this, and a tribute to our WW II Heroes.
I just found out that the designer of the P-38 was born and raised in a small town less than 8 miles from where I'm living here in Marquette, Michigan! Clarence"Kelly" Johnson was discovered by Lockheed while an engineering student at the University of Michigan, He was also the first team leader of the Lockheed Skunk Works, Amazing!!
Wonderful footage, and the music goes with it. Thank you for sharing
Outstanding Zeno. What is the first piece of music at the beginning of the video. Thank you for using great music and keeping the level down, bye the way.
B-29's led fire missions called "Pathfinders". Accurate bombing, marking the 'pickle barrels'. There is a huge story behind how P-38's came to have the range to reach Yamamoto, it was due to a very famous U.S. aviator icon, it was his contribution to operations and a taste of combat action, until Washington found out. P-38's were the FIRST aircraft to experience "compressibility" , the airflow speed over the wings was exceeding the speed of sound and it was causing vibration, instability. A few tabs, fixed the problem. Awesome aircraft with that 20 mm cannon. An ideal ground attack aircraft. God Bless The Greatest Generation, my father was a member of this generation and fought in WWII.
Great video! Loved the music too.
Thanks so much! This is a much-appreciated anti-dote to those "quick and dirty" documentaries from History Channel, etc., where they use whatever footage they like to illustrate this or that point, and never both to connect the available footable to real people and known events!
Thank you so much Z.
Wonderful presentation.
Re the music: Private Joker: "I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir."
The text was originally minimal, but kept growing incrementally as I learned more about the subject during the project. I have done voice overs on my more recent documentaries. I may swap out the text with voice if I ever get around to it.
"Superchargers" are any mechanical device that increase air flow. They can be gear driven blowers (P-51) or turbos (P-38).
The music is authentically of the period, but it distracts from the video content. Better to have your voice reading screen text-- especially the screens jammed with text, which obstruct the view. No matter what kind of studio voice you may have, that seems a better arrangement than screen text.
Of course, the ultimate idea is to present P38s performing in the fuller, more authentic audio of the period, which improved as WW2 proceeded. By 1944, engine sounds were recorded at a much wider frequency range. As a bonus, we hear the engines in actual operations. We can be sure the audio technicians tried their best to capture the fullest possible sound-- why ruin content with "background" music?.
The original footage shown in this video is all silent, raw, in no particular order and unedited. I added all the Sfx including engine & gunfire sounds myself. That took quite a bit of time & effort. Glad you think they are from the original footage. At the time, virtually all WW2 era air combat documentaries you see were shot silent, including all gun camera film and generic engine & mg sounds were edited in later in the studio. A war was being fought & no one really cared about minutiae like that.
A lot of people like the music in this video. YMMV.
The scrolling text is over static images. It doesn’t obscure any action.
I narrate some of my later videos. This one started out with a little added text that grew as I researched it. I’ve thought about doing a narrated version, but I would have to eliminate a lot of info because there isn’t enough original footage to run while I’m talking to include it all. So I decided to leave it the way it is.
Fantastic film , thank you for sharing .
What makes this ultra cool is that the music track was of the time the pilots were flying
Very nice footage find. Thanks for the education on the P-38 and its variants.
Thank you. Very good piece.
My word! Color WW2 footage that I've never seen. Thanks! And you deserve extra credit for looking up the names of the pilots. Well done, sir, well done!
BTW: it's Droop Snoot with a T, not Snoop with a P. Snoot was slang for nose, as in, "Did you get a snootful of that?" IOW, "Did you smell that?" The Droop Snoot mod looked like a big drooping nose.
Zeno, Im so stun of this video you cant imagine. All these pilots in Florennes used to rest in my grandfather's Mansion in a village called Rosée. During years, my grandmother told me stories about them every wednesday after school while we were looking at those pictures. To see them now in color movie is quite a strange feeling! I would be very interested to share some information cause I try to find survivor's veteran or their family to send them those pictures I've got now
Great footage! The clapping and cheering during the strafing runs was a bit surreal. :)
I watched it again for the music..it brings the video to life of that time
Fantastic vid! Thanks for sharing, and greets from the Netherlands!
Well done. Excellent documentary.
I loved the whole piece, and in particular the music. Thank you very much!
Great job Zeno. As usual for you!
Small footnotes about the greatest generation in history that did it Right with old fashioned values. Determination, fortitude, hard work, team work and comeradery. Courage and bravery. Above all they had a tremendously dangerous n uncertain future outcome. THEY JUST WENT FOR IT AND GOT THE JOB DONE! No micky mouse and Failure was not an option. As great as all these heros were, they couldn't have accomplished their objectives without all the men and women back home sacrificing of themselves. Makes me proud to call myself an American citizen. Godspeed and God Bless America....Semper Fi
EXCELLENT!
I do NOT want any of that ubiquitous and ever insipid voice-over dialog. I'm watching this 1945 shot, 16mm Kodachrome film because I already KNOW what a P38L IS.
A very REAL feel, a true "you are there" perspective due in part to the much less well known period-correct music, making it "fresh" but accurate along with the hi-fidelity dubbed in sound effects. I especially appreciated the written commentary on the Droop Snoot P38L as opposed to it having been voice-over spoken.
I'd say those who have "disliked"" this film in all probability have real difficulty with reading, are musically hopelessly tone deaf and possess a span of attention of no more than 3 minutes....
You are just so super duper smart and cool. Where do I sign up to receive your pathetic ramblings on other topics?
Thanks for sharing 👍
Well there, you see? All these years & I'd never heard of the "Droop Snoop". Thanks, Zeno, good stuff.
That make's two of us. Nice video by the way. Great job collecting and putting it all together.
Love the music, great choice
The P-38L was a great plane. It was the variant that had hydraulic controls and solved the serious compressibility issues with earlier models.
There isn't an exact correspondence between the pointer showing and the guns firing, but I was told by WW2 vets that the pointer is there to show the guns were firing. The use of a pointer for gun cameras was not universal. I think it was more common in the P-38. When I was a kid, I used to see adds in photo mags for surplus WW2 gun cameras very cheap. I wish I had picked one up.
Very very nice work! Thanks so much for this.
This is the kind of music my uncle would have listened to in Itsly, back in 43, if he had the chance
That should be Italy.
You can edit your posts by clicking the 3 vertical dots to the right of the posts, so you can correct errors like this.
Not on my phone.
Thank you👍✈️
Great footage, and I learned stuff like a P-38 with a Bombadier I didn't know that.
So young, doing what needed to be done, preserve this kind of footage !
In the going down of the sun ,we will remember them!
Thanks! BTW, it should have read "Droop snoot" rather than "Droop snoop." That was something I knew, but didn't catch in the editing. The perils of auto correct. I've got a number of P-61 & B-26 videos on my RUclips channel if you do a search, Can't list the urls in a RUclips reply.
When i was a kid , i wanted to be a fighter pilot. But after watching many many documentaries about war . I have to say those guys who got into the heavy bombers with no escort protection . Had more guts and courage than i can even imagine now at approaching 74 . I hate war. But every man and woman who served are my true HEROES . GOD BLESS ALL OF THEM .
Thanks for sharing this. My dad was assigned to the anti aircraft unit guarding their field
Wonderful video! God Bless them All
Between 7:48 and 11:05 what big band is that ? And what song is it ? thanks.
P-61 Black Widow at 4:07 rare footage of this plane.
When I was in the Air Force 1963 there was one of these at Dyess A.F.B. Abilene, Texas. It nas a bad looking Dude
crosstimbers2 j
+crosstimbers2 late late reply; this just popped up on my list. Wright-Patterson in Dayton, Ohio has a Black Widow on display. Absolutely beautiful machine!
I noticed it doesn't have the four .50 call guns on the top
Moe that’s possibly because at the time the remotely controlled turrets were prioritised for the b29s, so some went without!
Remember all those fighting and support people who lost their lives to keep us free and free those who were not. GOD BLESS
Few know that the first US plane credited with shooting down a German aircraft was a P-38, downing a FW200 Condor over Iceland in 1942. Had the nose art piece of that plane, "Mountaineer" in our basement on loan for a while in the 70s from Elza Shahan, the pilot's nephew. Good story in the book "Fork-tailed devils."
Also, the first US plane to land in Japan, P-38!
@@busmirror And the first fighters to Berlin. March 3rd 44 I think?