When a Soviet Pilot Exchanged His Indestructible Aircraft for the Enemy's

Рет қаралды 219,436

Жыл бұрын

During one of the darkest chapters in the Soviet Union’s history, pilot S. Kuzniecov was flying his Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik back from a mission across the vast Russian territories now dominated by the German military when he was engaged by a squadron of Messerschmidt fighters.
A swift and fierce dogfight ensued, but the Soviet pilot was quickly outgunned and shot down from the sky.
As the Sturmovik descended, it left a black streak of smoke behind. However, there was no explosion as it touched down. Noticing this, one of the German pilots decided to land on a nearby flat patch of land to finish off the Soviet pilot and maybe claim a victory trophy.
But the German could not have known what awaited him as he approached the smoldering wreck…
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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: 310

@stevew6138 Жыл бұрын

Can you imagine the Luftwaffe pilot trying to explain how he lost his aircraft?

@JIUNnF Жыл бұрын

Он обяснил оставшимся в руках стрелялом.

@stevenhershman2660 Жыл бұрын

The German Pilot has a lot of explaining or a good ( fake story ) to protect himself.

@WarFoxThunder Жыл бұрын

Lmaoo frfr

@yapoyapoti8807 Жыл бұрын

L armée a dû être comprehensive😂

@yapoyapoti8807 Жыл бұрын

L armée rouge a dû être comprehensive😂

@Rookie_FPS Жыл бұрын

Remember switching to your enemies plane is always faster than reloading

@808bigisland Жыл бұрын

In Hartmanns biography, he wrote that he did not hold the Sturmovik in high esteem because he could easely take them by shooting at the large oilpan/oilcooler from below.

@Desertduleler_88 Жыл бұрын

The Sturmoviks usually flew at low level to prevent fighters from exploiting that weakness.

@appelmelk5664 Жыл бұрын

@@Desertduleler_88 AAA

@georgek9726 Жыл бұрын

As always awesome work

@khankurblaj3934 Жыл бұрын

hartmann was showing off a bit...he could not approach the il2 because they were flying low mostly. And if in huge formation, than escorted by yaks and migs...

@SHAHROOKHSHROFF-uk7ub Жыл бұрын

@@khankurblaj3934... which he took great pleasure in shooting down, en route to his final tally of 352 confirmed aerial victories!

@The_Kayak_Guy. Жыл бұрын

That’s a hell of a boss move. Hero doesn’t come close to what that man did

@IrishRhapsody Жыл бұрын

He pulled the ultimate 'no u' move

@Wolverines77 Жыл бұрын

Seriously, LOL😂

@robot336 Жыл бұрын

THERE SHOULD BE A MEDAL IN HIS HONOUR = THE BOSS MOVE MEDAL 🏅

@timsullivan4566 Жыл бұрын

Actually we tend to over-use the word hero, imo. What he did was bold, clever and well-executed, but anything less would likely have resulted in his death. Saving your own life is not heroic - putting your life at risk to save OTHERS is what defines a hero.

@mosthatedandroidtunernolim9800 Жыл бұрын

@@robot336no there shouldnt

@johnjephcote7636 Жыл бұрын

His survival on that final flight reminds me of the epic return of Saburo Sakai, who, though not landing base-over-apex, had managed to rub one of his eyes enough to dimly see enough to land-on his carrier.

@tyrodtom Жыл бұрын

No Sakai did not, he flew back to Rabaul , Or Lae Sakai was a Naval pilot, but as far as I know he never operated from a carrier.

@IncogNito-gg6uh Жыл бұрын

@@tyrodtom Yes, he flew over 600 miles from the Guadalcanal area to Rabaul. An incredible feat of airmanship.

@whiskey_tango_foxtrot__ Жыл бұрын

Note to self. Akways lock up your airplane if you land in an unknown field looking for war souvenirs.

@aerialcat1 Жыл бұрын

@WTF: at least take the fin’g keys with you. 🤣👍

@HenriFaust Жыл бұрын

Imagine fumbling around for your keys while in an exposed field and under fire from the enemy.

@drmarkintexas-400 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing 🎖️🏆🤗🙏🇺🇲

@akken2112 Жыл бұрын

That was an amazing story. All I can say is WOW! I wonder what happened to the German pilot whose 109 was stolen?

@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188 Жыл бұрын

On foot in a hostile land, I doubt he survived?

@akken2112 Жыл бұрын

@@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188 He probably was a POW who spent 10 or so years in a gulag but, it would be interesting to know for sure what happened to Fritz.

@michaeldillon4431 Жыл бұрын

What about the rear gunner ?

@akken2112 Жыл бұрын

@@michaeldillon4431 The early versions of the Sturmovik didn't have a rear gunner.

@robot336 Жыл бұрын

THERE SHOULD BE A MEDAL IN HIS HONOUR = THE WHAT A LEGEND MEDAL 🏅

@deanosborne3975 Жыл бұрын

What an amazing story,thankyou so much for these videos you post they are without doubt among the very best on youtube.

@denismiller8466 Жыл бұрын

IL-2 is legendary most... legendary

@hztn Жыл бұрын

- Meanwhile most soviet top-pilots prefered to fly on American interceptors, haah.

@IPendragonI Жыл бұрын

@@hztnThat's because the IL-2 was never designed to be an interceptor. It was a flying tank designed to be a ground attack aircraft hence the name shturmovík

@thesaul9484 Жыл бұрын

@@hztn apples to oranges buddy, IL-2 was a CAS plane, Aircobra was a interceptor/fighter plane

@danm3195 Жыл бұрын

I really enjoy these .keep em coming!!!

@johnsjohn1 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the story!

@TimMonbrod Жыл бұрын

Interesting story‼️👍

@clarencehopkins7832 Жыл бұрын

Excellent stuff bro

@sexylexiesdad1 Жыл бұрын

That dude is beyond a hero he's a legend!! He pulled off a bait and switch on the German pilot!!! 😮😮

@Cluster-orchestrator Жыл бұрын

Awesome video!

@JSFGuy Жыл бұрын

It is? You haven't even watched it yet... 10 minute video and you watched it in 5?

@scottmccloud9029 Жыл бұрын

Awesome story. I'd of like to hear the German pilot explain what happened.

@cristitanase6130 Жыл бұрын

They were twenty, no thirty dudes, all of them armed to the teeth. I barely made it out alive!

@MauriceLeviejr Жыл бұрын

“They had us in the second half, not gonna lie”

@Trustkillx Жыл бұрын

Hitler probably gassed him.

@johncox2865 Жыл бұрын

Pretty easy to explain: “Oh shit! I f’d up!”

@alfavulcan4518 Жыл бұрын

@@johncox2865 yea, just strafing it on the ground would have been safer

@eltecladistadeloeste Жыл бұрын

I could only imagine the look on the german pilots face once he realized his mistake. LOL

@beholder2012 Жыл бұрын

„Hey, it's mine! Hold on!”😯

@James-nl6fu Жыл бұрын

You couldn't make up this story. It's too unbelievable.😎♥️

@Cesko_Plny_Fialovejch_Zmrdu Жыл бұрын

*There are some places you just don't let your parked car unlocked* 😂😂😂😂

@joegatt2306 Жыл бұрын

Up to 8th May 1945, 36,526 ‘indestructible’ Ilyushin Il-2 & Il-10 Sturmoviks entered service with the VVS. Of these, 23,600 were irrecoverable losses, (Krivocheev, 1993) while there were 9,316 remaining in service with the VVS (including in flying schools and Far Eastern Front) by May 1945 leaving 3,600 unaccounted for (???). Sturmoviks and other aircraft types such as the Petlyakov Pe-2 accounted for the destruction of at most 2,500 German tanks and SPGs. That is, 9.4 Il-2s were lost (not counting Pe-2s and the 3,600 Il-2s unaccounted for) for every fully tracked German AFV irrecoverably lost on the Eastern Front, not an inspiring exchange rate! A famous Sturmovik exploit, (one of many). In the battle of Kursk, Sturmoviks of the VVS, claimed 260 German tanks destroyed from the 3rd Panzer division in just two hours of air-attack. Just before the start of the battle, this division had on strength, 7 PzKw II, 59 PzKw III, 23 PzKw IV and one command tank, (the division had no SPGs) or 90 tanks in total! On 13th July, after the battle, 3rd Panzer still had 41 operational tanks, and the latter is still regarded to this very day, as a tank massacre from the air. Bottom line, the exploits recorded by these Soviet ‘tank killers’ indeed also by those claimed by the Western Allies and their Luftwaffe counterparts, were all exaggerations. From an Allied survey released post-war, only about 7% of all German tanks destroyed in the Normandy battlefields including at the Falaise Gap, could be attributed to fighter-bombers. The tank-terror image of these aircraft was nothing but an exaggeration. Their real exploits were in attacking soft targets in convoys, supply lines and depots, railway trains and marshalling yards, bridges, airfields, artillery positions etc. The rest is nothing but myth.

@argy007 Жыл бұрын

Yup. Planes during WWII didn’t do well against tanks, since usually a direct hit with a rocket or bomb was needed to destroy a tank, something that is very hard to accomplish with the planes of the time in a combat situation. Even during Iraq wars, A-10s didn’t score that many tank kills. But, the damage dealt to soft skinned vehicles and infantry was considerable and made the losses worth it.

@JSFGuy Жыл бұрын

This just showed up.

@miltmarhoffer729 Жыл бұрын

This is the best "ha,ha you're beat" I've EVER heard!!!

@clearcreek69 Жыл бұрын

I was expecting the Russian pilot to "rejoin" the other enemy fighters & shoot them down. Its a great story none the less.

@bessarion1771 Жыл бұрын

Waite, Il-2 had a rear gunner. what happened to him?

@Paranoid_Rabbit Жыл бұрын

Early Ил-2 had no gunner, just one pilot.

@tirsofelipeduranmendoza5432 Жыл бұрын

That defently would be a great movie!

@conceptalfa Жыл бұрын

WOW, what a guy!!!👍👍👍

@Evan-iq8hd Жыл бұрын

I'd love to be a fly on the wall and listen to the German pilot explain to his superior officer where his plan is. Assuming he made it back before the war's end. or at all.

@michaelpielorz9283 Жыл бұрын

a fly has that kind of brain to believe in this story!

@ML-ev3ks Жыл бұрын

Ist schon beeindruckend, wie man uns nach fast 80 Jahren Wartezeit mit solchen Räuberpistolen, die Taschen vollhauen will....

@vanishingfolklore Жыл бұрын

amazing story

@jagenau6334 Жыл бұрын

Great story.

@peterdwyer4609 Жыл бұрын

That was a hectic moove.both stealing the plane and landing upside down blind..what a ledgend

@richardpopielarz8526 Жыл бұрын

These were separate incidents.

@ramnadm Жыл бұрын

Worth sharing! Any movie has been made?

@davidlewis6015 Жыл бұрын

That would make a great movie

@justinmaddox8353 Жыл бұрын

He had balls of steel.

@JIUNnF Жыл бұрын

"Жить захочеш не так раскорячишся" эпизод из юмористического алкофишинг филма "Особенности националнлй охоты" самолёты фигурируют.

@Perkelepoiko Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this great story; despite being a fan of aviation history, I was not aware of it! Best wishes on the Victory over Nazi Germany day, btw - and the same to all who still remember we were brothers in arms in this. My uncle was a pilot of a lend-lease A-20 Boston, and he always spoke very warmly of Americans who sent over the plane - and also hid a whiskey bottle inside, together with a letter with some heartwarming words in it. As long as common people remember our common history, this planet has a chance)

@wolfganggugelweith8760 Жыл бұрын

Brave German pilots! 💪💪💪💪

@williambrandt9254 Жыл бұрын

What is now our Wentworth Air Force Base in Alaska was the staging area where all of the planes were transferred to the Soviet union

@johndavidson2365 Жыл бұрын

The walk of shame of that german pilot! Lmao😂

@BlindMansRevenge2002 Жыл бұрын

I wonder whatever happened to the guy who lost his ride!

@chriscarbaugh3936 Жыл бұрын

I actually find this story very hard to believe. Landing a 109 in a field with its poor landing gear would not be worth the risk. I have read about Eastern front combat for 40 years and I have never heard this one. Possible

@scharrk Жыл бұрын

Yea i thought the same. Also it seems it was early in Barbarossa, so somewhen 1941 which would make that BF109 an F-Type or earlier. Did those even have a starter which could be used without groundcrew ?

@flycatchful Жыл бұрын

@@scharrk All 109s used a manual inertia starter. This required two ground members to crank the flywheel and a pilot or another ground crew in the cockpit.

@vertmicko4763 Жыл бұрын

@@flycatchful The German pilot musy have left his engine running.

@johnmcfadden802 Жыл бұрын

Yeah not to mention...voluntarily landing behind enemy lines in an aircraft that not only wasn't friendly to off runway excursions, but required 2 guys just to get the thing running. This story reeks of typical Soviet Propoganda

@scharrk Жыл бұрын

@@vertmicko4763 Maybe, it just somewhat adds up to the list of it beeing probably not the whole truth. I would be amazed if the story happened like he said, but i call bs for now. The biggest doubt i get from the fact chris mentioned, just landing in a random field, when a LOT of accidents in the 109 happened during T/O and landing from actual airfields/strips. I also fly planes and had a lot of training landing in fields, without an actual touchdown obviously. It's always a risky thing to do and it will probably suck even more in a 109. I just find it hard to believe, that a pilot would risk his plane and life like this. Maybe he was just an idiot and thats why we never heard of him before, who knows.

@albinekenberg7535 Жыл бұрын

How do i contact you if i have an idea or a video?

@COWBO0000Y Жыл бұрын

Sounds like the scene from the new top gun move.

@chief3378 Жыл бұрын

That's just a crazy story

@Sammydx1 Жыл бұрын

I'll stop court in order to watch these....

@Jim-rc3mk Жыл бұрын

Reminds me off a old boy named Shuffle Staging Ernesto. He was the best and well known as Petter Mughals Partsit Jr. He once shot down a Flanker CX 497 who also built the famous Clipper Desong Chow-Mang 4 EX R W 646. Hats for the boys in yellow vested watches.

@Jim-rc3mk Жыл бұрын

Did you mean the WLP 2188-04

@patrick87100 Жыл бұрын

DANG IT THAT AWESOME

@Trustkillx Жыл бұрын

Wow... I wonder id that German plane exists to this day in a museum somewhere ? Coool story 😂

@thkempe Жыл бұрын

If the story is true, the Russians should be able to show the stolen enemy plane - and identify the German pilot. If not, it's a nice propaganda story.

@Stormidze Жыл бұрын

вроде эта история описывалась в фильме "в бой идут одни старики". трофейный самолет был использован для разведывательных миссий и случайно сбит советским пво из за того, что вовремя не были оповещены силы пво того участка фронта.

@JIUNnF Жыл бұрын

@@Stormidze Номера бортовые сохранены в архивах.

@brianfalls5038 Жыл бұрын

Love the story and I would really love to see the look on that German pilot's face when his own aircraft got stolen right in front of his eyes. Talk about rubbing salt into a wound! I love stories like this!!!!

@maverickcruise99 Жыл бұрын

Oh nein, nein, Scheiße, Scheiße

@christians6734 Жыл бұрын

Although not related, it is nice to see footage of the courrier plane ME 108, mixed between those of ME 109. BTW I doubt, an Il-2 could withstand 20mm projectiles from a ME 109's cannon. Eventually, over 12 000 were shot down

@JRGProjects 9 ай бұрын

Well he got an aircraft carrier named after him and he got "Hero of the Soviet Union Award" not bad for a blind pilot.

@nosondre Жыл бұрын

This is an amazing story!

@shibrik Жыл бұрын

Could you tell me from where you get the videos ? Thanks.

@rickarmknecht8903 Жыл бұрын

I particularly liked the picture of the Me 262 as "the Messerschmitt" on the ground and the light machine gun toting, stahlhelm-wearing soldier as the "German pilot" running to the plane.

@erikk77 Жыл бұрын

Is Robert Beltran the narrator in Dark Skies/Dark Seas videos?

@__Gw Жыл бұрын

What a Sav!!!! BMF

@keithe.bilitsky833 Жыл бұрын

That was a doc !!!

@steffenjachnow8176 Жыл бұрын

Live, really, tells the strangest stories off all!

@louiebandz945 Жыл бұрын

He had zero faith his men could shoot him down 🤣 too bold

@SirLoinBeefsteak Жыл бұрын

Is there a movie of this?

@nd_gunslinger_6264 Жыл бұрын

Thats awesome 😂 now I want it in War Thunder, be even cooler than the "experimental" options

@most_sane_piano_enthusiast Жыл бұрын

"can't have shit in detroit"

@scofab Жыл бұрын

Amazing he could get off the ground at all with balls that big... fantastic. Well told, thank you.

@majorkursk780 Жыл бұрын

The Russian pilot survived an upside down crash landing while flying blind? Sounds pretty amazing if true. Seems more like 1940's style Russian war propaganda to me.

@karlp8484 Жыл бұрын

I call a significant amount of this narrative complete bullshit. I don't believe anything at all from the Russians, and this one reeks of BS.

@RemusKingOfRome Жыл бұрын

The whole story smells ! Never trust socialist propaganda. As if a 109 could land on unprepared terrain. Sorry, no sale.

@nanab256 Жыл бұрын

just plain ukrainian propaganda

@robot336 Жыл бұрын

THERE SHOULD BE A MEDAL IN HIS HONOUR = THE WHAT A LEGEND MEDAL 🏅

@allangibson8494 Жыл бұрын

The Sturmvik was massively overbuilt and armored. It was the Soviet WW2 version of the A-10…

@Hannibal5812 Жыл бұрын

"Coup de gras" ? :) That would translate into Fat blow in english. I think you meant "coup de grace"...

@HubertofLiege Жыл бұрын

It’d been a long war for Yuri

@yasojawijerathna Жыл бұрын

Not only the il-2 the man himself could be named flying tank after surviving two deadly crashes.

@andykerr3803 Жыл бұрын

👀 Wow!!!

@aaronrichter3590 Жыл бұрын

Some of the absolute dopest s*** I've ever watched on KZfaq

@theverseshed Жыл бұрын

I'm often confused by the random appearance of planes and equipment that are irrelevant to the narration . . . where did the the Me262 feature in this story?

@landofstan246 Жыл бұрын

Just happened to have a landing area next to the crash site. How convenient .

@thebagnechannel3183 Жыл бұрын

Fantastic story. I wish I could have met this guy.

@raymondanderson751 Жыл бұрын

DAMN! That guy Cheated death like 5 times, that is simply bad ass!

@petel4119 11 ай бұрын

6:22 Stealing a plane that didn't enter service for another 2 years - yep, a true hero.

@petel4119 11 ай бұрын

Must be an early example of a variable geometry plane where instead of the wings changing shape, the whole aircraft did. It morphed 4 times in a matter of seconds... me-262, bf-109, bf-108, Fw-190. Extraordinary.

@tasospatriwtis396 Жыл бұрын

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL FASCINATING AND UNIK STORY...

@tanksouth Жыл бұрын

Here comes my ride.

@vangestelwijnen Жыл бұрын

Old school version of stealing the delivery man's van.

@chippyjohn1 Жыл бұрын

He got a matrix skill download on how to operate the 109

@donaldsalkovick396 Жыл бұрын

It's a good thing they knew this was gonna be history and filmed it all

@scottthewaterwarrior Жыл бұрын

I feel more of the credit can be given to the trees for saving the pilot then the design of the plane. No matter how sturdy the vehicle, a sudden stop from slamming directly into the ground at high speed is going to be lethal, the tree branches helped slow its decent. Course, the plane would still need some minimal level of structural integrity in order to not disintegrate when hitting the branches, but nothing would have been survivable without the trees.

@martensjd Жыл бұрын

When the Russian pilot is racing towards the German airplane, an ME-262 is shown. That would've been quite the coup for the Soviets. But then when he's in the air, at several points he's apparently flying an ME-108.

@SaurianKing77 Жыл бұрын

My man pulled the ol uno reverse on Jerry

@salsheikh4508 Жыл бұрын

Upside down??? We need an episode

@YZJY Жыл бұрын

Was the fate of the German pilot on the ground behind enemy lines ever found out and revealed?

@jmmartin7766 Жыл бұрын

Please do a "Dark Skies" episode on the Avia s99 in Israeli service. If you have already, I apologize-- I just can't find it

@forthwithtx5852 Жыл бұрын

Mesherschmitt?

@venelinarnaudov7416 Жыл бұрын

Really unbelievable! Me-109 chased by Il-2?!! Very unusual task for Il-2, that is much slower than Me-109! How is it possible to land upside down without smashing the cockpit and pilot? The story must be true, but nevertheless unbelievale.

@cabba6915 Жыл бұрын

But indeed. Definitely a lie of Soviet propaganda. I have never heard of this happening in my life.

@vanpenguin22 Жыл бұрын

Is that aircraft carrier named for him?

@vanpenguin22 Жыл бұрын

@Sydney Stout thank you

@sergantDon Жыл бұрын

A similarly amazing story - a group of Soviet POWs escaped a German concentration camp on a stolen Ju88 to safely return home.

@zachking8786 Жыл бұрын

Double it and give it to the next person

@badensnaxx5804 Жыл бұрын

Whatever happened to his rear gunner? Or was he flying solo.

@andythoms8130 Жыл бұрын

Wasn't it a reconnaissance plane? Probably had camera equipment in place of a rear gunner.

@scottthewaterwarrior Жыл бұрын

Only some models of the IL-2 had a rear gun position.

@PauloPereira-jj4jv Жыл бұрын

I sincerely doubt any pilot would think about landing, when he could just straff a plane on the ground...

@nooneno12 Жыл бұрын

Should read some nazi diaries of the time. Arrogant elitist & racist all combine to make one believe one of them would actually think to land to do such a thing.

@Feuriger_Kriegsheld Жыл бұрын

Now who got the final trophy

@caryccharlson Жыл бұрын

Loss of life for nothing.. These boys will never know what it's like to live. Because old man clean to power

@ErnestExner Жыл бұрын

Why didn't he use the radio when his own comrades started shooting at him?

@christopherrobinson7541 Жыл бұрын

In those days the radios were tuned by fitting different crystals so even if he knew how to use the radio, it would have been set to the wrong frequency.

@nicks3608 Жыл бұрын

RIP REAR GUNNER

@vincedibona4687 Жыл бұрын

No rear gunner in the early models.

@nicks3608 Жыл бұрын

@@vincedibona4687 Whew. Thank you.

@SGTSnakeUSMC Жыл бұрын

Pro gamer move

@derbenshee Жыл бұрын

I am not a pilot, but I wonder if it would be that easy for an untrained pilot to pilot a foreign fighterplane. Especially the 109. At the beginning it says he tried to outmanuever the 109s but whilst working on one was caught be another.... As for Manueverbility I can't imagine the IL-2 to be a match to a dedicatet fighter plane.....

@Southwest_923WR Жыл бұрын

How do you go back to your base and say ""Well, there I was, fat, dumb and happy, and my plane was stolen by the guy I shot down!" 🤣😂🤣😅😂🤣

@mochabear88 Жыл бұрын

wild

@bryanbernart439 Жыл бұрын

"...black fumes scarily emitting from the engine..." WTF?

@aIorse Жыл бұрын

what in the top gun

@leebenton7920 Жыл бұрын

Out standing. I wonder what happened to the german??

@thkempe Жыл бұрын

Nothing. He didn't exist. Otherwise, the Russians should be able to identify the pilot based on his plane's markings and all his personal belongings from the cockpit.