This video is a rather tired and exaggerated story. The HE-177 had serious teething issues, something it shared with the early B-17s and B-29s. The B-29 certainly killed more of its crews and American civilians on the ground. Seriously, the HE-177 wasn't even close in terms of losses, aborted missions, and crew fatalities. The B-17 was not much better until after the C model. Of the first 22 combat missions the B-17 flew on, nearly half were aborted due to mechanical and electrical problems. By 1944, the HE-177 was quite reliable. The Germans did not put nearly the amount of resources into perfecting the HE-177 as the allies did the B-29, mainly because they had limited resources and production capacity. The claim that it is not known how much damage the HE-177 did on the Eastern front is not correct. Both Soviet and German sources state they were quite effective against railyards and munitions depots disrupting Soviet supply efforts and timelines. On July 25, 1944, at the Bug River, near Brest-Litovsk, the HE-177 bombers of KG1 also destroyed the headquarters of the Soviet 80th Army Corps, killing the Soviet commander in the process. These planes hit the Soviet supply bases at Molodechno, southeast of Vilnius, Minsk, Velikiye Luki, Molodechno, and Novosokolniki. These raids entailed very few combat losses and minimal technical issues. Although not mentioned in the video, it is also falsely claimed in many English language accounts that HE-177s suffered very high losses when used as dive bombers against the Soviets, this is false, the units involved suffered loss rates no higher than on many B-17 squadrons routinely did, although they were not very effective when used as dive bombers (In the three days of intense divebombing operations during June 1944, II Kg.1 lost a total of 5 aircraft). At this stage of the war there were few reliability issues, as mentioned the lack of fuel grounded them.

When the germans want to build a new ciggarets lighter but over engineer exist.

Your map shows post-1992 Russia, but in WW2, there was no state called Russia, only the (larger) Soviet Union. Please don't create anachronisms.

As far as I know, the bomber was originally planned as a four-engined aircraft, but a genius at the RLM demanded dive bombing capability and so two engines were coupled in each nacelle. That´s where the trouble started. All in all it was a stillborn child.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

I really enjoy that your editing is reasonably kinetic. It follows with the script and also has some quickness to it that encourages visual engagement. I also appreciate that your narration doesn't require watching the video. It's very clever and I think you're doing a great job!

B-29 engine fires downed more than the Japanese. Wasn’t just the Germans whose engines caught fire predicably

I read somewhere that eventually the He177 was developed enough so that it was actually a competent design and decent machine of war, however by that time it was mod 1944 or so and the Germans' days of massed bomber attacks were over. During Operation Steinbock it didn't do too badly in its limited numbers, operating singly and at night.

Greif in German is pronounced with the long I sound, as in "life".

You may want to talk about the He 177's "Sequel" aircaft: The Heinkel He277 and He 274. Heinkel did try a MUCH simpler solution by converting the twinned engines into 4 sepaerate engines, like a Lancaster orr B-17 and dropping the requirement for dive bombing. The He 274 was developed in France during the occupation and a number Flew in the French L'Armee de L'Aire post war, lasting until the 1950s. Apparently it was quite popular and the range made it suitable for Maritime Patrols and SAR duties. The 277, using BMW801 engines (Radials) was also relatively trouble free in testing but ended as a casualty of the Termination of Bomber production in 1944 with only a couple built. The RLM was very "down" on this idea and tried to cancel or delay, it several times

What's ironic is that the requirement for dive-bombing was rescinded when its effect on overall weight was finally acknowledged by the RLM, but it was too late in the design process to change without delays and cost. Goering hated the idea and said "It is a straightforward idiocy to ask of a four-engine bomber that it should dive. Had I been told of this for one moment, I should have exclaimed at once, 'What kind of nonsense is that!' But now we are stuck with it." Goering had also wondered publicly why it had two, inaccessible, "welded-together" engines, when he had thought the engines would be mounted in tandem.

Interesting to contrast the He-177 with the Avro Manchester. Both were designed with coupled engines, with at least a shallow dive capacity, aimed at producing a twin with a heavy bomber capabilities. The German’s rejected the Do-19 and Ju-89 strategic bombers as pedestrian in performance as well as beyond the capacity of German industry to create in number or fuel. (When KG-1 got 90 He-177 operational, an operation needed 480 tonnes of fuel, at the time the entire daily output of aviation fuel)

Nice and informative video, thank you. Reportedly a follow-up version with four separate DB603 engines in four nacelles has been envisaged as the He 177B. However that variant obviously came to nought although it might have been a promising improvement over the twin nacelle 177, not unlike the way the Lancaster evolved out of the Manchester.

I bet if they made the engine nacelles P4M-1 style they would have had less issues with heat and get the bonus of jet engines. Making it again technically a 4 engined aircraft. If I were a german engineer I would suggest replacing the engines with four Fw 190D engines likely would have each engine behind the other running either a counter prop system in the front or a propeller on the front and back side of the nacelles like the F.222.2,

Subbed and liked, great content.. thank you for your passion and what you do sir

Real shame about the 177, i honestly think its one of the best looking and on paper, best bombers if the war. Easily better than b-17's. Anyway its a real shame the whole engine issue never got ironed out. Much like the Tiger snd the Panther tanks that did get improved throughout the war.

Great video, you kept it entertaining! Thanks.

Worth an upvote just for the subtitle.

As others have pointed out; they got the engines, mostly sorted out and the B-29 had similar issues. Big ass engine in a tight cowl with poorly designed fuel and oil line routing. Plus the R-3350's crankcase was made out of magnesium which really burns well!

Great video