Had an Army air captain and a Navel flight instructor from the second W.W. As instructors at the J.C. I was attending to earn my A&P. They were like AL. Good men who lived through tuff times and came home, when so many did not. They never talked much about it. When time would allow, the extent of any lesson was that Being honest and following the Right version of your M.M would be the best bet on doing the job right." Ain't no clouds to park on out there ". Were lucky AL is still around.

That's my grand father he is the strongest person I know

@@ericcouture4204 How lucky you are to have a man like that as your granddad!

@@ericcouture4204 Spend as much time with him as you can!

Maximum respect to him and his fellow airmen.​@@ericcouture4204

Definitely

Thank you, Sir.

our German WWII vets as well? You want to hear theire stories as well?

Of course. The average German fighter was just that. The barbarians get all the press. @@hartmutwrith3134

​@@hartmutwrith3134 I think those are important. The guys that say "the average fighter was just that" do miss a vital point though. The Wehrmacht was participating in war-crimes just as well. There were dissidents but they were few and far in between. When your country is rotten and you don't do anything about it, you're complicit. Doesn't matter if your family is taken hostage, if your life is at stake. You've made a choice. Also, a lot of times, it's forgotten that the nazi armed forces didn't just consist of Germans. The eastern front was full of people from different countries. Even the SS had several divisions with people of different nationalities (either deemed as good as "aryans" or "honorary aryans") because even the nazis knew they couldn't go at it alone.

Exactly. Reaction videos from ww2 vets who lived through this is something I could never get enough of.

Yes Bloopy , you are absolutely right.

Thank you, someone else who sees reason. People are way to overly critical. If the vets like the show that’s good enough for me. We weren’t there

Thank you. A few of your people from the UK have been saying the show made you guys look like lazy bums even though it shows the British carpet bombing the Germans and the conversations between the Americans.

God bless that man ...but the series is a total pile of crap to many of us, Brits ...I actually don't know anyone who has watched the whole series due to the RAF insults and the unfactual Hollywood events ... I just say to myself ... they had an opportunity to express the truth but its just all green screen and crap acting that sells

Yeah agreed. Even as an american.@@mrp8339

​@@mrp8339Yes, it's got to the point that younger people are quite surprised to find out British, Canadian, Polish etc were at Normandy. Same with the RAF that it's insulting, sick of Hollywood.

@@mrp8339I’m from the uk and watched and enjoyed the full series. Obviously the show didn’t tell the full picture of the British efforts but it is a tv show and not a documentary. I could still appreciate the American efforts whilst understanding that it paints the British unfairly 🤷

My father's first cousin was a pilot in the 100th. His first mission was January 29th, 1945. He did 27 missions before the end of the war.

Hey I'm in Phoenix do you remember what it was? I want to read it!

You might consider donating the journals to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. They maintain historical information for research. I think they would find it valuable.

Your father is an American hero and his service is greatly appreciated by many, including me.

@@DrumandbassplanetHumorous, is it ?

@@davechin5639 Not humorous but I will say I am sick and tired of the woke BS history that portrays the Tuskegee Airmen in near demi gods. I mean you can't have a movie about US Bombers in WW2 without the Red Tails making an appearance. The TRUTH is the 332nd Fighter Group was one of the LOWEST performing fighter groups of the war. Not a single pilot from the 332nd earned the title of Ace. Their kill ratio was 1-1, meaning for every enemy aircraft they shot down, one of their own was lost in combat. There were COUNTLESS fighter groups that had 100x better combat record but you NEVER hear about them. Richard Bong, the American Ace Of Aces, he shot down 40 enemy aircraft, all in the P-38. I could ask 1000 college students today who Richard Bong is and not one of them would know but they would ALL know who the Tuskegee Airmen are.

@@CRAZYHORSE19682003Suuuure, buddy, just say you are a bigot and be on your way

@@CRAZYHORSE19682003 Everyone is entitled to an opinion. The reason the Tuskegee Airmen are being included in Masters of the Air, is there is a real life overlap in this true story. 2nd Lt. Alexander Jefferson was downed by flak and spent 9 months in the same Stalag which is covered in the book on the Bloody 100th which the show is from. It is also covered in Alex Jefferson's Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free book, not that you would ever read it. But I will point out that you are incorrect in your facts. I highly recommend you consult the research by Daniel Haulman. He has meticulously documented their activities, as commissioned by the Air Force. He wrote a book I am sure you would like, called 'Misconceptions about the Tuskegee Airmen: Refuting Myths about America's First Black Military Pilots' which corrects the myths, including "...never lost a plane". The truth is. according to his findings, during their 179 bomber escort missions, they lost protected bombers during 7 different missions - a total of 27 lost planes. This is pretty good, compared to the 46 average losses per fighter group in the 15th Air Force. Your 1:1 figure is incorrect. They have a total of 94 confirmed kills. When you look at Dr. Haulman's account of total lost fighters (P-39, P-40, P-47, and P-51) during those 179 escort missions (5 May, 1944 - 23 April, 1945) it lists 75 lost planes. 14 of those losses were attributed to flak. Of course it's hard to know exactly, as that is based on the reports from the field. But with 94 confirmed kills to 75 planes total lost (regardless of flak or not) that is better than 1 to 1. Also Dr. Haulman clarified the Gillem report. Richard Bong's record is absolutely impressive, and deserved the 'Ace of Aces' title. But it is not necessarily an apples to apples comparison as the 332nd never flew CAP missions. That is like comparing Major Bong's 40 kills to that of Erich Hartmann, who had 352 confirmed kills in his ME-109. In any event, you're free to have your opinion and entitled to call it woke BS. I am sure you have done your fair share to earn the right to make such statements. I haven't nor would I ever be able to come close to the accomplishments that my father, the other 991 Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen, and the other several thousand mechanics + support personnel achieved. And all that they endured (and triumphed over), home and abroad, was not done by choice, nor was it to prove a point. It was mandated.

Respect for the man, Al Couture, and also for the movie, which seems to have done a great job, and for the interview. Just so valuable to see someone "who was there" say the movie rings true. That's good enough for me to put it on my list. I wasn't planning to add another war movie to my current movie list. Respect for the whole generation.

Salute from Arizona🫡

@@stephenhosking7384 It's a TV series, not a movie FYI. Otherwise wholeheartedly agree.

Well with all due respect they didn't join before Japan attacked them and Germany declared war on them. They weren't here in 1940 and 1941 during the darkest days.

I wonder how many commentators in other videos slagging the _cowardice_ of the Ireland Free State for *not declaring war* on Germany and how contemptible _neutrality_ was would speak with an American accent? Their American grandfathers and great grandfathers who sacrificed their lives and their youth to put down the nazis truly deserve the highest respect and admiration.

Plenty of Irishmen fought the Nazis too. Don't forget Ireland had been at war with the British Empire just 20 years earlier.

That's a cool story, a sad one at that

@@lyndoncmp5751my country did RIP 35 Aussies and 47 kiwis who were killed in the Battle of Britain 😢❤

Get Mr. Couture down to the World War Two Museum in New Orleans if he is able, and if he hasn't been already

thats great news! I'll be back for sure. I love listening to the first hand testimony of these heroes. I watch their face and try and see where they are mentally. Glad he was able to watch this, I imagine for some its not something they would want to do. thank you Mr. Couture! I apologize on behalf of our country for destroying what you guys gave us.

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

A heartfelt salute to Al for his service!!!

Mr. Couture flew the same theater as my dad, who was a bombardier flying out of Italy. I'm glad to see he's doing well.

Hi, I’m one of Al’s daughters. He regularly attended reunions of the 456th. Dad told me that he meant they didn’t see each other again until the reunions.

@@maggiecouture293 Thanks for clarifying. Good to know.

I was once informed by a veteran of the British units liberating Belsen that those who attended the reunions faired better in overall health - benefitting greatly from the support of shared experiences.

The 100th Bomb Group has been active with reunions for decades! More groups meet than you think :)

The VHPA, Vietnam helicopter pilots association meets annually in different cities. I attended the 1991 reunion in New Orleans with my best friend who served 42 months in county.

True. It's priceless. Thanks to this veteran for sharing the first hand account.

My grandfather was a radar nav in the 15th on B17s in Italy then too! He got his DFC from a run when his mask stopped working (of course lol) and got everyone still thru safe. I idolized him.

This is focused on the Mighty 8th Air Force, not the weak 15th. Jk 😜

@@bradmarkell12167 What a mindless, infantile comment.

My mother's cousin was a navigator on a B24 in the 15th Air Force that survived 3 runs on Poliesti, shot down and killed on his 21st mission, Aug 27th 1944 during a run on the railroad bridge at Ferrara Italy.

The 'Great Bird of the Galaxy, aka Gene Roddenberry flew B24s in Europe!

Thank you, Sir. My father was a C5 navigator. He can find anything by the stars. No GPS needed. God bless you, Sir.

I hope the sacrifices aren't forgotten, but if you're American all you have to do is look at the state of politics in this country and how many in one party side with russia to realize that the battle to preserve freedom never ends...

@@davidg3944 He fought with the Soviets. He literally sided with "Russia" you clown. If anything, he'd hate the anti-racism of today (segregation in armed forces), lgbtq stuff, etc. You have to be a boomer.

Eric Brown was a liar of the first order, and if we were in person I'd teach you better than to mention my country and his name in the same breath.

Chill you muppet its a compliment

@@dukecraig2402lmao, slow down, big fella

@gregkerr725 Great story. I used to work with an ex Mosquito pilot and one of the guys we dealt with in our German affiliate had been an AA gunner based in Hamburg. The two of them got on like a house on fire and worked out that on more than one occasion they had been trying to blast each other out of existence.

Maybe B-25's in the Pacific. They loaded the front end (B-25J) with up to 18 forward facing .50 cal machine guns and made super-strafers out of them. That's what the "extra machine guns" statement might have been about. The other technique they pioneered was skip-bombing from low level.

@Macilmoyle. Exactly what I was thinking. The B-25J was a beast. As I'm sure you're aware, there were some B-25s fitted with a 75mm cannon in the nose for anti shipping work. I'll bet the recoil affected the airspeed to some degree.

This is the comment that makes all the nonsense comments fade into the background. Thanks for this insight into the unusual realities of war.

​@@donaldg.freeman2804...some aircraft were fitted with a 75mm(?) cannon. The breech was next to the pilot, who would both fire the weapon. Mostly used in the antishipping sorties

My grandfather worked midnight's as security guard at the Willow Run plant. He was taught how to fire an anti aircraft gun that was positioned on the roof.

It took several years before the numbers of airframe were being built For a long time the joke nickname for the plant was "will it run".

My uncle was a flight engineer/ top turret gunner with the 455th.

They were an absolute disaster when ditching in water. The shoulder mounted wings were their Achilles heel. One wingtip would dip into a wave and caused the cockpit to be sheared off the remainder airframe

@@philgiglio7922 oh lord, that’s even worse than I imagined.

And thank you for recognizing the fight for freedom doesn't end. I also stand with Ukraine, and against those who side with russia.

@@davidg3944 Thanks David, it's very rare I get a positive comment about my support for Ukraine. It's typically Russian trolls and all types of nasty stuff and I thought about changing my profile pic but I refuse too because right is right and wrong is wrong, the least I can do is tell the world that I'm on the right side of history, even if they think I'm wrong.

That's incredible!