High Quality Raw Luftwaffe Gun Camera vs USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators
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Published 2024-02-28
0:00 A well known engagement of a B-17 Flying Fortress partly published in Die Deutsche Wochenschau in March 1944, however what was not shown in the newsreel was that the aircraft was in formation when it first came under attack, and it is seen climbing away from its fellow bombers, a maneuver that is not tactically sound as it would bleed off vital airspeed as well as leaving the relative safety of the interlocking fire from the "combat box" formation. One can therefore surmise that either the flight crew was incapacitated or the controls were damaged. The attacking fighter, likely a Messerschmitt Bf 110, takes advantage of the situation and lands multiple cannon hits on the fuselage and center section, with parts of the disintegrating aircraft structure flying towards it. A substantial fragment barely misses the camera, although it might still have struck the attacking plane. It was not unheard of for the latter to be brought down by debris from its quarry when attacks were pressed home too closely.
0:15 B-24 Liberator under fire with the main bomber formation visible in the distance. Luftwaffe fighters would concentrate a lot of effort on separating aircraft from their formation so they could more easily be finished off. The difficulty of achieving this feat was reflected in the simple separation of a B-17 or B-24 counting as twice as valuable as actually shooting down a single-engined aircraft in the Luftwaffe's point system by which decorations were awarded.
0:26 B-17 with its port wing already on fire engaged at relatively long range. Small black puffs of smoke are visible, these are cannon shells that missed their target and self-destructed. The bomber pitches up as the clip cuts, likely the prelude to a stall and fatal dive.
1:43 B-24 straggler hit at long range, as the attacking aircraft turns away briefly it appears the crew might be bailing out.
2:32 B-24 in formation singled out at long range, the effects of heavy cannon fire is illustrated by the clouds of debris coming off the bomber's structure, which was the desired effect of high capacity "minengeschoss" shells. During the engagement, the B-24 to the top right of the targeted aircraft dumps its bomb load, possibly an emergency jettison as the #1 engine appears to be damaged.
3:16 Gun cameras could be operated independently of the guns and this B-17 going down in flames is a good example
3:24 B-17 in formation with bomb bay doors open taking fire
3:32 Another well known engagement featuring a B-17 that was first featured in a US newsreel filmed from another B-17 as it was falling out of formation with a damaged tail. The wing marking suggests it was a 351st Bomb Group aircraft.
3:44 Frontal attack of a formation of B-17s as explosions burst around the aircraft, the shape of which suggests they are BR 21 rockets rather than flak, followed by another well known B-24 frontal interception by a Fw 190 with concentrated fire around the flight deck.
3:55 Another partly known B-17 clip where a man appears to fall or bail out of the ball turret, in this extended segment we can see what looks like a previous bailout, as well as smoke from the tail gun suggesting return fire.
4:31 B-17 with bomb bay doors open and apparent damage to the vertical tail hit at close range, the top turret initially points at 9 o'clock then swings around to track the fighter but there is no evidence of return fire.
4:42 Probably the best known B-17G interception by a Bf 110 G-2. The latter fires an ineffective initial burst with insufficient deflection while smoke can be seen coming from the bomber's ventral and tail turrets as the gunners return fire, and the main formation is visible in the distance.
5:03 As the 110 settles on the B-17's six, the tail gunner continues to return fire, at which point the 110 pilot also pulls the trigger and starts landing concentrated hits on the B-17 with debris flying off. There is a good number of strikes around the tail gun position but it still appears to fire briefly, then falls silent after a couple of further cannon shell impacts.
5:37 Cannon fire impacts around #3 engine then a shell appears to knock a panel off the ventral ball turret, that by now is seen pointing straight down. This is the position it would need to be in for the gunner to enter the fuselage. The 110 continues to pour in fire at point blank range and as it closes in the damage to the B-17 becomes more apparent, the structure is riddled with holes, fabric covered control surfaces in tatters and the tail gunner's bullet resistant window is smashed. The waist guns hang upwards as they would if no one was holding them, one can only imagine the carnage inside.
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All Comments (21)
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These WWII gun cameras are a lot better than what we have filming UFO's 80 years later. Thanks for posting!
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My dad was 19 years old in 1943 when he was a nose gunner in a B-24J. His bomber was shot down 3 times during his service and he was one of the lucky ones that survived. I can't imagine what it felt like to sit in that little turret and see the muzzle flashes of the cannons of the Messerschmidt coming straight towards him.
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That head on burst at 3:52 is bonkers. Cant imagine being in the cockpit
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The 5:37 clip was gruesome. Looks like the Messerschmidt scored direct hits on the tail and low ball turret gunners. The tail gunner glass was completely shattered and I can only image the carnage inside behind the window. Once those positions were neutralized, the Luftwaffe pilot was confident enough to slow down and take more measured shots at closer range.
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my dad was a navigator in the 455th BG , B-24s, he seldom talked of the bad stuff, but told me about a mission where the pilots head was laying on the throttles and the co-pilot was almost dead, the flight engineer was wrestling the headless body that was thrashing around spraying blood. He was the oldest on the crew at 24. He said of that mission only 3 of ten survived.
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This is some of the most terrifying German gun camera footage I've ever seen.
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Wonderful quality footage- I've seen a few of these clips before, but never so clearly, and many are entirely new to me. Especially the one at 5:00 is impressive as you can see three of the B17's gunners firing- in previous, lower-quality versions of this clip, you an sort of see the ball turret smoke, but I hadn't noticed the tail or top gunners firing before.
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powerful images - thank you for sourcing and sharing
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One things for sure. I wouldn't want to have been a tail gunner in a B-17 or a Lancaster... or any bomber for that matter. It would have been bad enough anywhere on one of those bombers - but tail end Charlie must have had a somewhat shorter life expectancy? Thanks for the upload. Very haunting.
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As an old follower of JG 301 Trivia, I will share the following mit alles meinen Kameraden:: the VON VORNE Angriff (Attack) is the feared HEAD-ON approach....the Aim point is the Pilot and Co-Pilot Compartment......the VON QUERAB is a more Curving Approach from the Side......The VON HINTEN is the Classic Rear Attack; the Tail Gunner is Often Neutralized, then the in-board engine is Fired..... the ME or FW 20 mm Rounds bring the Fire Back to the Oil & Gas Pipe-chase Eventually Destroying the Wing Spar. I kept placing these observations in another Vid, but the Krautenese Jackwadder running that show kept cancelling them out....but this is what he Bomber crews were up against. gl
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Daylight raids with no long range fighter escort was suicidal.
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I have been into WW2 history ever since I was a kid. Books, documentaries, movies, the lot. I have seen plenty of gun camera footage as well but I have to admit that the clarity of the above made it quite hard to watch. Knowing that there were very young men on the other side of those cannon rounds it becomes quite horrifying yet mesmerising at the same time. It's almost unbelievable seeing the real footage that clearly, particularly with Masters of the Air out atm, it's almost easy to think it's all just Hollywood until you see this.
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The B-24 had a ball turret that could be retracted into the main body to allow the gunner to exit. In the B-17, the turret was fixed to a transverse roof beam. The only way to enter or exit the turret in flight was to have the turret oriented with guns pointed down. The odds are good that any time you see a B-17 under attack and the turret is pointing straight down, the gunner has exited into the fuselage. The tailgunner, on the other hand, was isolated in one of the worst locations in the plane. Difficult to exit from, and center mass in the gunsights of a fighter attacking from behind.
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Thank you for sharing. Very interesting and intense footage. I read Donald Miller's book Masters of the Air and am also watching the series which has been excellent and quite well done. I'm sure filming it for the small screen vs a larger theatrical release viewing had it's challenges. But I'm glad the book was turned into a film to tell this story in a broader way. I have some background with the Mighty 8th AF Commemorative organization in the UK and these stories are so important to tell. Thanks, again, for sharing this and I hope people keep the men of the Greatest Generation in their hearts.
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My grandpa was a LUFTWAFFE - Fighter Pilot and here I can see what he often told me !! Sometimes you fire your whole 20 mm ammo into the B-17 or the B-24 ,but it's still moving ahead !! It was not so easy ,to shot down the U.S. HEAVY'S. Later on with the 30 mm Mk- 108 cannon there was more dammage. Grandpa flew's an FW-190 A5. He died in2020 !
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Nearly all of these are of bombers that had dropped out of formation and were by themselves. You could tell the tail gunners had been taken out since there was no return fire and so many shots through the fuselage had to have taken out the waist gunners. That last scene with the guns of the ball turret gunner hanging down and not moving was so sad.
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My father served with 401st Bomb Group Deenethorpe England. I remember him telling me about the mission over Schweinfurt Germany when I was a kid.
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My heart just breaks for all these airmen.
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Sehr beeindruckende Aufnahmen! Der Frontalangriff war der Horror für die Bomber. Eine Garbe aus allen Rohren, 30mm und 20mm, war das Todesurteil für jeden Bomber. Ehre für die Toten beider Seiten.
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Bless those young men, may they rest in peace.
