The Plane that Always Pointed Down No Matter What

Рет қаралды 529,751

Жыл бұрын

After the war exploded in Europe with the invasion of Poland, both Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the very first raids were about to begin.
At the time, the 4 Group of the Royal Air Force was the only trained night bomber force in the entire world, and the reliable Armstrong Whitworth Whitley would have to bear the brunt of the first aerial missions over Germany, Italy, and the rest of occupied-Europe until more advanced aircraft came around.
On the first night of the war, the Whitley had the critical task of bombing several German cities, making it the first Royal Air Force Bomber Command to penetrate the enemy nation.
But when the squadron approached its target and the Whitleys released their bombload, it wasn't precisely explosives that fell on top of the German population…
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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.
All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

Пікірлер: 630

@davidlee6442 Жыл бұрын

Boy it's strange that they didn't mention the 4 engine variant that was a dead ringer for the B-24. There certainly is a lot of footage of that mark.

@dovidell Жыл бұрын

s'why I disliked the video

@lampy5490 Жыл бұрын

"retractable ventral gun" ... Shows footage of tail gun turret.

@tlwisner Жыл бұрын

What coincidence. Very common coincidence on this channel.

@ukrainiipyat Жыл бұрын

It was as though the creator of the video ran out of footage and just used footage of B-24 as "filler" - but it does denigrate whatever useful information you might receive after seeing that blooper.

@billdlyaegra9394 Жыл бұрын

yep detracts and confuses, no similarities between b 24 and subject, aside from both being bombers why is it included.

@eveningstarnm3107 Жыл бұрын

A request: When you're talking about the Whitley, for instance, and no other aircraft, please make sure that the only pictures you show are of the Whitley. You can show diagrams and especially good stills or manufacturing locations or anything related to Whitleys if you need to fill some space. But Liberators and Flying Fortresses are not Whitleys, and they shouldn't be shown when they aren't relevant. Great video, though. Seriously. I enjoy all of your videos. Thank you!

@n523dg5 Жыл бұрын

totally agree these videos are very well done but show diagrams or anything else instead of the wrong planes :)

@YouveBeenMiddled Жыл бұрын

You've got to realize that there's only _so much_ footage of each of the topics... And of that footage, only a very, *very* small portion of that is public domain. You'd also complain about seeing the same 104 seconds repeated over and over for the length of the discussion.

@teebosaurusyou Жыл бұрын

@@YouveBeenMiddled The same 104 seconds of the Whitley are already repeated over and over again, dozens of times.

@eveningstarnm3107 Жыл бұрын

@@YouveBeenMiddled Yes, I'm aware of that. Perhaps more imagination would be required.

@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 Жыл бұрын

That's totally unfair! You missed out the Fairey Battle and, I think, some Blenheims.

@stuartkynoch7289 Жыл бұрын

My guitar teacher's father flew a Whitley on the first mission over Germany. He was dropping pamphlets. The ship went down and he was the first Canadian POW of WW2. He met Hermann Göring ( they talked about Hockey) and was also the 68th escapee from Stalag Luft III. Alfred Burke Thompson (RIP)

@alanwatts9232 Жыл бұрын

Alfred Burke (Alfie the artist) was the name of a character in Hogan's Heroes The Safecracker Suite. I wonder if that's where they got the name from?

@timbushell8640 Жыл бұрын

@@Tex_actual no Americans were in the "Great Escape"... they certainly helped - but were relocated to a new camp, so III was Commonwealth and Europeans only at the time the 79 left... 3 got "home", 50 executed/murdered, and 26 returned to camp...

@paulslevinsky580 Жыл бұрын

@@timbushell8640 Dude...didn't you ever see the movie??? The tunnel king, kooler king and James Garner were Murikahn

@nerdyali4154 Жыл бұрын

@@timbushell8640 Ever read "The Latter Days at Colditz"? Great book. British prisoners built a false wall to hide construction of a glider to launch a relative of Churchill's to safety if there was ever a danger to his life. There was a film made with a VERY similar story, but of course featuring a Merkan bashing the feckless Brits into shape to get things going.

@davef.2329 Жыл бұрын

@@paulslevinsky580 And they had their Ausweis.

@offshoretinker Жыл бұрын

Tom Dobney was 15 years old when he flew Whitleys over Germany during the Second World War. He was 14 when he enlisted and trained in Canada after soloing 12 hours in a Tiger moth. He was so small he had to sit on a cushion under his parachute to see over the cockpit.He flew 20 missions as captain in charge of a crew of five before his age was discovered and was discharged. He nearly managed to enlist again but was again discovered. He was the youngest military pilot of WW2. I have been in awe of him ever since hearing his story and I have his signature.

@jameswebb4593 Жыл бұрын

Dont omit that he was English , not Canadian .

@offshoretinker Жыл бұрын

@@jameswebb4593 Anybody with an interest in WW2 aviation would know that Canada was huge in the UK training program and many pilots trained on Moths here before going to Canada getting their wings there.

@jameswebb4593 Жыл бұрын

@@offshoretinker Never denied that , Also Rhodesia and South Africa were significant. Just the post suggested that he was Canadian ,which is false . An Englishman from Gloucester .

@brettsnively4278 Жыл бұрын

who GAF after you killed our anglo cousins???

@mikepette4422 Жыл бұрын

no he didn't

@davidgifford8112 Жыл бұрын

Always lovely to see repeated old footage of Fairy Battles, Vickers Wellingtons, B24 Liberators and others but still scratching my head over their relevance.

@patrickdurham8393 Жыл бұрын

You have to put something in there.

@richardmale3191 Жыл бұрын

Don't forget the Bristol Blenheims. Blenheims along with the Fairey Battles in the introduction to the clip which was supposed to be about the Whitley. Very odd. Better to show stills of the Whitley rather than adopt a policy of 'anything will do so long as it moves'.

@davidgifford8112 Жыл бұрын

@@richardmale3191 I could have mentioned several other random aircraft such as the Avro Anson, where do you stop?

@timhancock6626 Жыл бұрын

There isn't much footage of the Whitley out there....thats why he had to fill the gaps with other aircraft footage. Give him a break. I thought he did really well to feature such an otherwise little known British aircraft that kept us going in the years we thought invasion by Hitler was almost inevitable. Dark days as well as dark skies.

@richardmale3191 Жыл бұрын

@@davidgifford8112 I know. I stopped with the introduction but you already made the point. I merely filled in with another prominent item at the beginning. I applaud the Dark Skies gent's attempts to provide detailed historical accounts. But, again, he could have mentioned, or provided captions with very little extra effort - just for example - to the effect that these aircraft were contemporaries of the Whitley in the early years of the war. Not the first time that I've been reminded of the phrase "spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar".

@daBEAGLE1017 Жыл бұрын

From Biplanes to Jet engines in just 10 years. Incredible.

@linkin543210 Жыл бұрын

Necessity is the mother of all inventions

@Tommy06Goalie Жыл бұрын

And War is the statistically best way to invent new things

@Dreamvivid Жыл бұрын

Then the introduction of the SR-71 shortly after. Incredible leap of innovation in such a short time considering the lack of technology compared to today.

@sparky4878 Жыл бұрын

Lancaster to Vulcan, about 11 & 1/2 years and the same designer. Incredible.

@power21100 Жыл бұрын

From a great metropolis to a crumbled, smoldering wasteland in less than 5 minutes. if we don't keep our guard up

@jacobmccandles1767 Жыл бұрын

I find no ugly in the Whitley. It is absolutely beautiful for it's era

@hughjass1044 Жыл бұрын

Agreed. There's a certain look to British planes of the era and I like it.

@rileycpo Жыл бұрын

A lot of those Whitley's look like B-24s. I wonder how many still exist?

@None-zc5vg Жыл бұрын

The 'Whitley' was a flying death-trap, as was the much-more-sophisticated 'B-24' which had four motors instead of the 'Whitley's' two. No 'Whitleys' survived the war.

@andywhite40 Жыл бұрын

Great video with plenty of information about an easily overlooked aircraft. The most startling thing here is that it was produced quite some time into the war which I wasn't aware of before and in large numbers too. Hats off to the crews who flew this aircraft as it looks awfully cumbersome and a sitting duck TBH.

@larryjohnson7591 Жыл бұрын

I have heard and read about this plane, but this is the first time I have actually seen one flying during the War. Thank You for such a great History lesson.

@teto85 Жыл бұрын

Nice clip of four engined B-24s from the 1940s when talking about the twin engine Whitley in the 1930s

@dorightal4965 Жыл бұрын

The footage of B24's was somewhat inappropriate. They were totally out of place in your discourse on the Whitley.

@Buck1954 Жыл бұрын

You think we wouldn't notice the B-24's? Good video on a less-known aircraft over the pond.

@danielsnow4868 Жыл бұрын

Nice video, thanks for posting. But curious as to why you showed multiple shots of B-24's while discussing the Whitley?

@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 Жыл бұрын

Does it all the time. Not wired up properly.

@ianjones3568 Жыл бұрын

And the Wellington, never explained.

@jeffrogers5929 Жыл бұрын

@@ianjones3568 Wellington was a Medium bomber, not heavy.

@ianjones3568 Жыл бұрын

@@jeffrogers5929 ?? Wasn't disputing that.

@eveningstarnm3107 Жыл бұрын

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite's "Twentieth Century" in the late 50s and early 60s. (I was different from the other kids.). You're telling many of the same kinds of stories that he did. You employ a different style of dramatic effect, but I think you do Cronkite-quality work. Thank you. I enjoyed this video a lot. Ever since you softened your enunciation and (slightly) slowed your cadence, I've enjoyed all of the dozens of your videos that I've seen so far. Also a lot. Although I wouldn't be opposed to a bit more softening. Anyway, you do top-quality work. However, be aware that advertisers will make very tempting offers to place ads in your videos. The money might be worth it, too. But please don't ever let an advertiser make a suggestion. A patron? Of course, but I'm tellin' ya, Fab, Gain, and ALL work exactly the same in the washer. Seriously, the only thing that you'd be selling to your viewers is the color of the box, and they already know it's b.s. because their moms told them when they were helping with the laundry.

@johnrogers9481 Жыл бұрын

Yes, their videos are nicely edited and are easy to watch!

@colonial6452 Жыл бұрын

I watched those programs in the 1950's too. I also enjoyed Air Power, another Cronkite work.

@michaeljerauld9757 Жыл бұрын

Bloody good episode lad! Keep 'em coming!

@derekstocker6661 Жыл бұрын

Yet another very interesting and informative video, thanks so much for this and RIP to the souls who were lost.

@andrewcomerford264 Жыл бұрын

The Whitley V was merely a Whitley IV with an extended rear fuselage - which greatly improved the tail-gunner's field-of-view. It was already a major variant in 1939.

@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 Жыл бұрын

Your B-24 video seems to have a voice over about the A W Whitley, perhaps you didn't get a chance to check it before sending it to KZfaq?

@EthanKnight97 Жыл бұрын

Always love to see the unsung heroes get their much deserved recognition

@thesweatleaf Жыл бұрын

You made a hell of a documentary out of a pure labor of love. Thanks for featuring the Whitley!!

@samhklm Жыл бұрын

4:10 This is a 4 engine bomber - not a Whitley. B-24 Liberator?

@artnull13 Жыл бұрын

Special American version of the Whitley 😂

@indianasunsets5738 Жыл бұрын

The Butt Report showed that RAF bombers for the first two years of the war did no significant damage to the German war machine. Only one out if five were shown to have gotten within five miles if their target. Over heavily defended targets such as the Ruhr only one in ten dropped bombs within 5 miles if the target. They lost hundreds of aircraft and thousands of highly trained aircrew essentially for nothing. It took another year for the RAF to develop methods of reliably finding large target like cities. They then switched to incinerating German cities which caused no appreciable damage to German warmaking while losing massive numbers of expensive bombers and more expensive aircrew.

@SSgtBaloo Жыл бұрын

When I was first stationed at a base that was flying B-52s, I was astonished to discover that when they took off, the tail lifted first. I don't think they flew with as extreme a nose-down posture as the plane in this video, but they did have a slightly nose-down attitude in level flight.

@nopenotme6369 Жыл бұрын

First time I saw that I thought my eyes were fooling me, crew chiefed them for 4 years.

@eveningstarnm3107 Жыл бұрын

Theoretically, a B-52's tail might lift off a few inches and microseconds before the front, especially if the pilot made an error, but that isn't how it normally takes off. They're intended to fly straight and level. However, a B-52 can take off sideways. I mean, with the plane's wheels pointed straight into the wind, but with the nose pointed waaay off-center. Also, if you lived so close to them that they woke you up every morning at 6:30 when you were a kid and they were warmed up on the flight line, you could tell the difference between the Pratt & Whitney model G's and the earlier J57 models. They had a different startup cadence. But I was seven. I don't remember it that well. Besides, my dad flew the KC-135, and I knew more about them than about the B-52.

@MrStick-oc7yo Жыл бұрын

As I have heard, the B-52 is unusual in that its center of lift is slightly behind its center of gravity, and this is responsible for its slightly nose-down attitude on takeoff.

@robertheinkel6225 Жыл бұрын

@@eveningstarnm3107 were you at Castle AFB?

@eveningstarnm3107 Жыл бұрын

@@robertheinkel6225 We were there for one summer. It was my favorite base. We had a big fig tree with a tree house in the back yard, we were at the edge of a peach grove where no one could see you steal a peach.

@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188 Жыл бұрын

When living in my former home in Denmark, we had a stream to the south with Europes, by then longest, English built bridge from 1937 (Dorman, Long & Co.) going over: "Storstroems Broen" (3,2 km)! Close by, an old 1th World War Fort, which the invading German troops honored with the first ever "parachute attack" (Besides Antwerpen and Rotterdam, the day before!) to secure the bridge not being destoyed! At a time a Whitley had to land in the water close by, being damaged and its full crew got away from the plane, which sank in the deep, fast moving water! Local divers have seen the wreck in the water, so it is still there!!

@bradolsen8629 Жыл бұрын

I always enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work fellas.

@agcgilmour Жыл бұрын

Why were you showing B-24 Liberators???

@robertbamford8266 Жыл бұрын

A unsung hero. Thank you for the video. (Did you occasionally sneak in pictures of a 4 engine bomber?)

@irishrover4658 Жыл бұрын

Why repeated clips of B-24s??

@chuckh.2227 Жыл бұрын

Very well presented as always

@stevegeorge5322 Жыл бұрын

Enjoy all your programs. Thanks for your efforts.

@mohammedsaysrashid3587 Жыл бұрын

It's a wonderful video about Whitley bombers that never I heard about it...thanks for sharing

@tim7052 Жыл бұрын

Great narration! Thank you. 👍

@SAHBfan Жыл бұрын

Leonard Cheshire, famous as one of the 'Dambusters' - was fond of the Whitley which he said was a very good aircraft, just very dated by the start of the war. It did have a reasonable range - and a remarkable bomb load!

@Laidback61 Жыл бұрын

Leonard Cheshire VC was not one of the Dambusters, but he was CO of 617 Squadron after Guy Gibson.

@dafyddthomas7299 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your great video - didn't know much about this plane until now

@captaccordion Жыл бұрын

For a video about Whitleys, there is an awful lot of footage of Bristol Blenheims and others.

@davidbrown5411 Жыл бұрын

When Whitley's were used to deploy paratroopers, the jumpers would exit via a hole in the floor. One hazard of this technique, was the slipstream would push the legs back causing the head to strike the edge of the hole. This was described as "ringing the bell". Interestingly back in the 80's, some of the balloon cages used for jump training still contained the remnants of the floor exit holes. Glad they were no longer in use at that point!

@ianhudson2193 Жыл бұрын

The jump hatch of the Witley was actually the mount ring for the little used and ineffectual Boulton Paul Ventral Turret....

@HarryJamesBooks Жыл бұрын

AKA "The Whitley Kiss"

@colinmartin2921 Жыл бұрын

It amazes me how quickly aircraft evolved during the war, just compare the Whitley with the A26 Marauder.

@gavinconnolly699 Жыл бұрын

The style of the narration and content is very good. I really enjoy these videos.

@melgillham462 Жыл бұрын

An interesting aircraft. One I didnt hear much more than the name of in my WW2 airware infatuation in my childhood.

@ryankennard6626 Жыл бұрын

The B52 also flies nose-down with an adjustable attitude angle on the horizontal stabilizer. This is to allow the bombs to gradually meet the air flowing across the bottom of the aircraft, dramatically improving the accuracy of gravity weapons.

@shawnmiller4781 Жыл бұрын

Actually a B-52 can’t rotate while on the ground due to the double tandem landing gear, so the wing is mounted on the fuselage at the angle of attack it would need to takeoff. In flight that large of a pitch angle isn’t needed so the plane flies nose low

@agwhitaker Жыл бұрын

- surprised they didn't try and sneak in a few B-52 over Vietnam images while talking about Whitleys dropping leaflets.

@jeffstone7912 Жыл бұрын

Hey dark skies, why are you showing footage I would B-24?

@rwhutchnlj Жыл бұрын

That's OK - in most posts about B-24s, half the footage is of B-17s or B-25s.

@daveogarf Жыл бұрын

Why do you keep showing American Consolidated B-24 Liberators?

@daBEAGLE1017 Жыл бұрын

Because they were the Liberators.

@TeeeRoyJenkins Жыл бұрын

@@enigmamod it's probably difficult finding war footage of certain planes

@lancerevell5979 Жыл бұрын

"But... but... they have twin tails. The viewers won't know the difference."

@daveogarf Жыл бұрын

@@lancerevell5979 😄

@maltnz Жыл бұрын

@@lancerevell5979 Not to mention two additional engines.

@trainsontuesday Жыл бұрын

The footage of almost anything but Whitleys spoiled this video.

@robbabcock_ Жыл бұрын

Great stuff! I didn't know much about this airplane at all.

@JAQUESDIBLET Жыл бұрын

Merry Christmas brother and thank you for entertaining me so much in 2022

@DataWaveTaGo Жыл бұрын

*Dark Skies film of Avro Lancaster, Blenheim, He-111, Ju-88, Halifax, Pe-2 etc. always contains 70% clips of B-24. A tribute to the B-24s large production run.*

@rich478 Жыл бұрын

The Dark Channels are some of my favorite KZfaq channels. Keep doing what you do.

@Oskarsgaminglife 8 ай бұрын

My great great uncle was the pilot of a Whitley v and his plane got shot down over a small village in France in 1943 the plane was going to hit the village but my great great uncle redirected it and it hit a field a small boy saw the plane go down and 60 years later one of his kids I think wrote a book about it called,six men on a nickel,at least I know about all of this and I’m thankful that he served in the war. Btw no one on board survived just to get that out of the way👍🏻 And my great great uncle was the first ever Chinese pilot in Windsor Ontario and his family was one of the first Chinese immigrants from 🇨🇳

@brianjones7660 Жыл бұрын

for greater accuracy the B24 footage needs to be spliced with USS Arizona exploding at Pearl Harbor and the Graf Spee scuttled in Montevideo . As long as its about the RAF lets be accurate...🤨

@blacksquirrel4008 Жыл бұрын

I like the Art Deco feel of that chin and sloping fuselage. Gives it a real Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow feel.

@Flies2FLL Жыл бұрын

The 767 I fly has a positive 1-2 degree deck angle in cruise flight. On approach with flaps 30, it is about 0 degrees. To land this plane you get to 20 feet and lift the nose about 2 degrees and slowly retard the throttle; It will settle on the runway nicely. If you try to flare this airplane you WILL strike the tail skid! Interestingly, the similar sized A300 has a deck angle of about 4 degrees on final with full flaps. Supposedly this results in lower fuel use, but everyone that has flown this plane tells me it is hard to land smooth due to the deck angle. Great video!

@philipberry6477 Жыл бұрын

Flown both; landing the A-300 only slightly different, more like doing a low fly past without flaring it on. Flap 15 landings at high altitude definitely require this technique or long touchdown and overheated brakes result in deflated tyres.

@joshwoodburn3828 Жыл бұрын

It would be awesome if you guys made a documentary on the gliders

@stephenlarkin3690 Жыл бұрын

Go to the Midlands Air Museum. There you will find a section of fuselage; about the last 6ft of the tail. This is all that remains of the last Whitley. A great shame.

@jeffreykelley8598 Жыл бұрын

Watch video of the B 52 in level flight..it flies nose down, tail high....from side view or from head on in a low level flyby..

@research903 Жыл бұрын

Many of the videos in this presentation depict 4-engine B-24 bombers when describing incidents or actions taken by the 2-engine Whitley.

@macjim Жыл бұрын

An aircraft that is forgotten from WW2 is the Stirling bomber. It was unfortunately hampered by a wingspan that was too short (I believe because it had to fit into hangers that couldn’t accommodate longer spans) and a split bomb bay that could not accommodate larger bombs such as the ones the Lancs carried.

@johndallman2692 Жыл бұрын

The wingspan limit wasn't to fit into hangers. It was set by the Air Ministry in an attempt to control weight and cost. That worked, but the side-effects were unfortunate. The split bomb bay was the result of designing too tightly to the specification of the kinds of bombs to be carried: Handley Page and Avro realised that things might be different in the future, and designed more versatile bomb bays.

@mulgerbill Жыл бұрын

Quite right. Existing RAF hangars were only 100 feet across the doors, the Stirling was designed with a 99 foot span. It was otherwise a very good heavy bomber and amazingly maneuvrable considering the size.

@johnathanh2660 Жыл бұрын

@@johndallman2692 The design specs for the Lancaster was to allow the bomb bay to be large enough (by weight and volume) to carry two torpedoes. AVRO also had access to the Merlin. The 'basic' design of the B29 had the main spar bisecting the bomb bay splitting it into two sections, as such it wasn't big enough to carry the nuclear weapons used on Japan. To get around this 11 'Silverside' B29s were built with a different design of the main spar. Until these were ready there was a squadron of 6 Lancasters based near Gloucester that spent most of 1943/44 doing 'dummy runs', over the Atlantic in case the nuclear bomb was built before the B29. As such the RAF could've been dropping nuclear weapons in late 1943/44.

@kirkp7470 11 ай бұрын

They could've done a lot more development with the Stirling, but somehow, the Manchester-cum-Lancs won the politicking.

@richardrichard5409 10 ай бұрын

@@johndallman2692correct, but that hanger myth will never go away 😎

@jimanderton6684 Жыл бұрын

One of my uncles flew on leaflet raids in Whitleys...said the aircraft were and drafty and could not maintain altitude on a single engine on takeoff and climb. They were later used for training, which was also dangerous as the aircraft were old and worn and initially, the concrete "bombs" used for training were wired in place to prevent rookies from dropping them on populated areas. An engine failure meant almost certain loss of the airplane, and that practise was stopped.

@leonasmith6180 Жыл бұрын

Thanks Leona

@TREVORALLMAN Жыл бұрын

I can recommend the book "And Some Fell On Stony Ground" by Leslie Mann, which is a fictional account of a Whitley crew based on his own experience during the war in that aircraft type.

@chrisweeks6973 Жыл бұрын

I would also recommend the book "The Whitley Boys" by G.L. Donnelly, a factual account of 4 Group Bomber Operations in 1939-40.

@christophertownley9441 Жыл бұрын

The B-24 Bomber was a USA Bomber, commonly called the Liberator, not the Wittley, at the start of WW2!

@davidwaterhouse2552 Жыл бұрын

Fab aircraft! Thanks dx

@petertyson4022 Жыл бұрын

You don't hear match about the whitley in the 2nd ww drama in documentary series. Good to learn . A Unsung hero . 👍🌲🎅

@CaptWindShear Жыл бұрын

My Dad had a few sorties over Holland, 10 Sqd, "leaflet raids". Always mentioned a certain Sdn Ldr Pollock Gore, and had a song for him. No idea who he was... "Squadron Leader Pollock Gore, how he loves his hangar floor..." Some other stuff about polishing it all the time :D

@teresagreene1821 Жыл бұрын

I think the officer observing through binoculars at 8.26 is Ewen Montagu, architect of the 'Man Who Never Was' deception.

@chrisweeks6973 Жыл бұрын

The Mk IV referred to at 5.18 did not have radial engines. It was fitted with the inline Merlin IV engine. Only 33 Mk IV's were built. The Whitley's radials, as fitted to the first three Marks, were made by Armstrong Siddeley.

@zimondye Жыл бұрын

My Father, a pilot, flew these on the anti-U-boat patrols from St Eval. He loved flying it, but to his eternal relief, he never actually spotted a U-Boat! He was convinced it would be suicide, as the Whitleys were so slow and unmanoueverable, and the U-Boats had, at that stage, been ordered to stay on the surface and fight it out in the event of aircraft attack

@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 Жыл бұрын

I'm surprised they were using Whitleys that late, but if it turned away the risk is that the U boat could catch it.

@zimondye Жыл бұрын

@@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 yes, but the point was to keep them down so that they couldn’t recharge their batteries. So all Dad was doing was flying patterns over the Bay. A U-Boat commander, having a look through his sky periscope before surfacing, would see a plane and therefore stay down. If it got to the point of actual combat, well so be it, but that wasn’t really the point of the mission, which was to slow down the U-Boats, force them to expend nearly all their electric battery power, and therefore have to stay on the surface for a long time recharging, giving Coastal Command or the Royal Navy time to vector in more capable assets. Also Coastal Command was, for a large part of the war, a sort of dumping ground for redundant or obsolescent RAF aircraft. When my Dad flew these missions is was part of his progression to the front line - in effect, part of his training. He went from St Eval to 1651 HCU at Waterbeach, to convert to Stirlings. Having said all that, I am a bit surprised at the timing too, and I wonder if his memory wasn’t a little confused when he told me this.

@1maico1 Жыл бұрын

@@zimondye On 20 June 1943 a Whitley from St Eval was shot down while attacking an Italian submarine in the Bay of Biscay. An OTU (operational training unit) aircraft

@EspionageTV Жыл бұрын

I used to have dreams as a kid dropping behind enemy lines in old Germany before D Day fighting through hedges etc

@g6otu Жыл бұрын

I know and knew some people who did that. They still have nightmares.

@EspionageTV Жыл бұрын

Apart of me not physically but something else that is hard to explain was in a lot of combat and loved it got a rush from it, the fearlessness of what most world call dangerous I still possess.

@DaveGIS123 Жыл бұрын

You'd probably like the old British movie "The Red Beret" (1953) starring Alan Ladd. There are no Whitleys but there are a couple of Wellingtons.

@rororp Жыл бұрын

In the RAF squadrons are referred to by their numerical number ie 10 (ten) squadron, not number 10 squadron and 51 (fifty one) squadron and 58 ( fifty eight) squadron, not the 51st and 58th as used by the USAAF. When RAF squadrons get into the hundreds they are referred to in singular numbers ie 101 ( one o one) 115 ( one one five) etc... Interesting video, although I don't understand why there are clips of USAAF Liberators shown.

@chrisweeks6973 Жыл бұрын

Quite right, though the singular exception is 111 squadron, which is always referred to as Treble One. My last OC flew with them in 1940, out of North Weald.

@billycorgi6342 Жыл бұрын

Throughout the presentation there are continual shots of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Why? How are these related to the Whitley Bomber?

@narabdela Жыл бұрын

Talking about the Whitley at 0:31 while showing Blenheims? USAAF Liberators at 4:40 and repeated later? Describing the Whitley's ventral turret whilst showing a photo of a rear turret? Talking about "radial power plants" while showing a Whitley with in-line engines? The Fairey Battle shown as an example of "More modern aircraft"? wtf? This mess is even worse than the usual Dark Skies muddle😀

@videotrexx Жыл бұрын

Dark Skies is a joke.

@davidferry548 Жыл бұрын

Interesting video don’t quite understand the shots of tbe B24s and Fair Battles, but interesting

@davidward6741 Жыл бұрын

I can tell your speed of narration is slower,I just became a subscriber,thank you

@neiloconnor9349 Жыл бұрын

@ 5:11 - 5:12... "retractable ventral gun" ? What is shown appears to be a tail gun turret. Can you explain?

@theshamanarchist5441 Жыл бұрын

The folks at the back wouldn't get a look-in of the drinks trolley. 😂

@sayrerowan734 Жыл бұрын

Like others had already spotted, you put Consolidated B24s on screen at one point

@andrewdrabble8939 Жыл бұрын

I can't say anything about the first bombing raid but according to sources, the first allied aeroplane to fly over enemy territory was a Bristol Blenheim

@olgierdogden4742 Жыл бұрын

I don’t own any compressor blades of the Whitley but I do have a blade from the B52 and The Hurricane. The engineering is an incredible feat which changed flight. And personally with reference to the preparation of WW2 in Britain as early as 1934 I’ve always thought that WW2 started when Hitler was made chancellor of Germany in 1933.

@bronsonperich9430 Жыл бұрын

“The British Military…” starts off with shots of the Home Guard 😂😂😂

@hughbiggins4339 Жыл бұрын

Well, it's more accurate than some of the nonsense in the video.

@johnsalisbury4330 Жыл бұрын

You show B-24 Liberators when talking about this airplane!!

@henrys.6864 Жыл бұрын

The B-52 also has a high angle of incidence of its wing and flies at a nose down attitude.

@macjim Жыл бұрын

We’re back to the showing of aircraft that are not Whitleys…

@videotrexx Жыл бұрын

Typical Dark Skies video... lots of filler that's off topic.

@Aquila-sz8pl Жыл бұрын

Good video. I little disjointed perhaps. I get the shortage of relevant subject aircraft footage and appreciate seeing footage of contemporary aircraft which gives a fuller view of thinking at the time. But the liberators, B24’s, seemed irrelevant? If we were buying these from the US at the time of the Whitley it would be useful to explain their presence in the story. Also, for the uninitiated it would be useful to add a post script saying which aircraft were featured?

@angelikaopland7880 Жыл бұрын

I gather you couldn't find more Whitley footage? There are a lot of Bristol Blenheims, Fairey Battles, Wellingtons, even the odd Martin Baltimore & several Consolidated B-24's standing in while the narrator talks exclusively about the Whitley here. Even one segment of bombing-up an He111. Yes, a decidedly odd-looking bird!

@_od_7825 Жыл бұрын

What’s with all the footage of the B-24?

@Deepthought-42 Жыл бұрын

Exactly. Not e en the same number of engines 😡

@Deepthought-42 Жыл бұрын

Not sure about a pleasure to fly. They couldn’t maintain level flight on one engine with anything approaching a full load. My father cash landed one shortly after take off when there was a problem with one of the engines when he was on submarine patrol in the Hebrides in 1943.

@System-Update Жыл бұрын

Great vid as ever, but why all the shots of the Liberators?

@vaughanhill6933 Жыл бұрын

I can't understand why there is so much footage of thr B 24 Liberator ikn a Whitley Vedeo ?

@johnwalters5131 Жыл бұрын

mi dad was training at RAF Cranwell when he heard pilot officers refer to whitley bombers as "barn doors" . he said it was bcs their wing area was so vast even a novice enemy gunner could not miss . (😲!)

@richard63 Жыл бұрын

During large conflicts, every little bit helps.

@hoppinonabronzeleg9477 Жыл бұрын

So that explais it, the angle of attack of the wing to th efuselage is 8.5 deg, a colossal angle, the Short Stirling was 7degrees. So to get the right angle of attack, you had to point the nose down to compensate for the massive angle of attack, with there being no flaps, you had to use the elevator, it could have done with 'performance flaps, and set them in negative to allow the fuse to be aligned into the airflow!

@Diddleywah Жыл бұрын

I am pretty certain that Whitleys were also used to tow Airspeed Horsa Assault Gliders in earlier days of the assault gliders and before Albermarles and Halifaxes were used to tow them into action towards the end of WW2.....

@chrisbentleywalkingandrambling Жыл бұрын

Bomber Command, the backbone of WWII.

@DaveSCameron Жыл бұрын

Bomber Command definitely missed a trick by not calling the Lancaster, The Scouse.

@baanibarnes9711 Жыл бұрын

Generally very good videos, my only criticism would be - please try to use footage of the aircraft being discussed - I have long experience building models and studying WWII machines and have recognised at least 5 other aircraft types in this presentation not remotely connected with the Whitley, very confusing for those not familiar with aircraft of this period!