Dive-bombing the Tirpitz | "It was a waste of time"

[@davethepikernorth8398]

Can't praise your videos highly enough. You continue to shead light on sadly otherwise over looked episodes in history. Keep it up.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Every "big picture" event is made up of a multitude of "little pictures". I find these fascinating. I'm just sharing what I'd probably be doing anyway (though without the hours of video sourcing and editing!)

[@forthleft]

@@ArmouredCarriers Your very obvious maturity is noted and appreciated. These works are sublime.

[@PaulfromChicago]

I'm a simple man. Jamie posts a video, I click like.

[@anthonychappell9409]

Easily the greatest channel on You Tube. Another fantastic episode. Thank you.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Wow, thank you! High praise indeed.

[@tudorrees7207]

Have only seen this episode today. Excellent work as always. Your format of personal accounts - combined with the research you have done in the archive - is superb. My father was an Observer during WW2 in Swordfish - A/S patrols - ditched three times in the Atlantic. Keep up the great work.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Thanks very much. Having a bit of a break from production at the moment. Hope to get back into the "groove" in a month or so.

[@tudorrees7207]

@@ArmouredCarriers Just out of interest - where do you source your material? IWM?, Kew? FAA Museum? ... I only ask as I (very) occasionally try and get at FAA records myself. Enjoy your break -

[@ArmouredCarriers]

@@tudorrees7207 All over the place. There are public audio archives in the US, UK, NZ and Australia. These can be found in national archive, museum and university collections. And the 75-year copyright rule means everything from before 1949 (with the possible exception of music) is now public domain.

[@darrenjenkins6300]

Fantastic channel, so interesting to hear the crews thoughts and perspectives. Thank you for your hard work!

[@geordiedog1749]

I can’t imagine the dissonance one would feel having gone through that and then feeling it was a “waste of time”.

[@WNH3]

I think they are selling themselves short: the damage they inflicted kept the Tirpitz out of action.

[@geordiedog1749]

@@WNH3 yes, agreed but they still thought’ they hadn’t done enough.

[@jadams3427]

I think the sum of damage from attacks in Altenfjord made the Nazis move Tirpitz to Tromsö, and that brought it in range from UK of the Lancasters with Tallboy bombs. I doubt the Altenfjord attacks were a waste of time.

[@iancarr8682]

Fine work as always Jamie. Always look forward to these, Loved the cartoon which I don't recall ever seeing before.

[@MsZeeZed]

Did not know gremlins wore underpants!

[@jadams3427]

Interesting video. My grandfather was on Op. Tungsten in 829 squadron in a Barracuda. Nowadays I work on a PR Spitfire from a Russian unit called ORAP 118 that was one of the aircraft that made photos of all German activity 'up north'

[@forthleft]

I really appreciate how you do these.

[@garymills562]

You have to admire the no BS statements of these British royal navy pilots, I'm American but grandma was born in Oxford, England.

[@timwingham8952]

A book well worth reading is Barracuda Pilot by Dunstan Hadley. It's very well written and sheds much light on the Barracuda, not all of it negative. Long out of print, it's very cheap to buy online, and highly recommended.

[@Alan-jn2bw]

My father william henry alfred reynolds was a TAG in 827 squadron he was killed on a raid on 6 may 1944 being diverted because of fog to the russian convoy previous raids he said it was ajolly good show he was 22 years old

[@fandangofandango2022]

Great Doco / Brave Men.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

Great animation showing the bomb hits on Tirpitz

[@fandangofandango2022]

What a Sobering Experience /

[@jamescutright919]

Love the video as alway. Thanks!

[@THINKincessantly]

😂the mentioning of “wings falling off” reminds me of the Australian comic pair talking about an Oil Tankers “front fallin off”--look up “the front fell off” for a good laugh ....always a treat to find a new well done history channel --hope it turns prosperous for the owner!

[@AnonNomad]

God bless those lads that came all the way from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Thanks for the vid. Top job.

[@kidmohair8151]

a. l. m. o. s. t. 50k subs! your channel might become self supporting soon! congrats! excellent work as always, telling these stories in the words of the men who wrote them.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

It has slowed a lot in the past 6 months. But it is still mostly a hobby. Certainly not a career. Nor even a second job. But the pocket money has allowed me to get a low-tier professional video card and update the PC. That means the video enhancement and rendering can now be measured in hours, not days!

[@kidmohair8151]

@@ArmouredCarriers I've noticed the difference. and the improvement in audio quality as well

[@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars]

Further thought. I really don't like the way 9sqdn gets written out of the Tirpitz story. They flew on the same raid as 617 but rarely, if ever get a mention!

[@jameswebb4593]

It would have been logical for the Americans to have a try . purely on the grounds that the majority of cargo ships going to Russia were American. But would they have done any better , I doubt it . The Avenger was not a dive bomber , and using torpedo's may have been suicidal . The Barracuda had an impressive bomb load of 1800 lbs , the B-25 only carried 3000 lbs with two engines and two pilots. and four others.

[@redskindan78]

USN would have used the SBD Douglas Dauntless, or, later, the SB2C Curtis Helldiver. Not the Avenger, which was a torpedo bomber and sometimes also used as a horizontal bomber. USS Ranger was assigned to the RN's Home Fleet in 1943, when she was flying the Dauntless, but her dive bombers never took a crack at Tirpitz. Most likely they would have had the same problems aiming through the smoke. Other than Ranger, the USN fleet carriers were sent to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. In 1943 and 1944, the USN Pacific Fleet was fighting its way through the Central Pacific and up the Solomons chain toward the Marianas.

[@conradwood6700]

Excellent. Enthralling.

[@billbolton]

Brilliant, one slight flaw, the wings would fall off. Tales from veterans like this inspired Heart to pen their hit Barracuda. Probably 😊🤟

[@TankBuilders]

There were certainly a few cases where wings were seen to fail. Wing strength was investigated at RAE Farnborough and found to meet specification. A&AEE and later RAE also conducted thorough investigations into flight behaviour which resulted in changes to Pilot's Notes. The probable cause of the wing shedding incidents was mishandling. Once pilots were given adequate guidance, the issue was resolved. It was a symptom of the Barracuda's rushed entry to service - development test flying and initial squadron fielding were run concurrently, which was a risk accepted under wartime conditions. There is also a myth about wing latch pins being made of the wrong material. This was also thoroughly investigated and found not to affect the aircraft in service. The recollections of veterans, always interesting, are also likely to reflect the limited information available to those risking their lives in front line squadrons. The Barracuda was a far better aircraft than its post war reputation suggested.

[@billbolton]

@@TankBuilders thankyou very much for that explanation. The recollections of veterans will always be through the lense of their memory of their experience and they are but a cog in a larger machine with imperfect information. But I still like to listen to them to give an idea of what happened to them.

[@TankBuilders]

@@billbolton Yes, I heartily agree. Although my channel name doesn't show it, I'm also part of the team rebuilding the only surviving Fairey Barracuda and we've done a lot of research to establish what did, and didn't happen in its development and service.

[@billbolton]

@@TankBuilders Hat's off to you sir!

[@raymondyee2008]

Not surprised if Barracuda crews prayed very hard before each mission.

[@leighjones5551]

Exciting stuff

[@trevorjones928]

i do rember that an Australian pilot Tony Gaze shot one down in a spitfire mk14 , As far as mosies reaching 55000 ft i dont think so they were struggling to reach 45000 ,

[@daveboon5992]

Brilliant

[@anselmdanker9519]

Wonder what was the maximum speed in the dive.

[@TankBuilders]

220 knots, for a period reduced to 180

[@waynesimpson2074]

Wings on or wings off?😆

[@opinionminnion]

British attacking Pilot: "The thing is, we kept the Turpitz in". How is this a waste of time?

[@ArmouredCarriers]

It's a quote. Different veterans in this documentary have different opinions and points of view.

[@actonman7291]

The wing broke down on dive bombing runs. Wow

[@colinmartin2921]

Did Fairey ever build a good aircraft? The Swordfish perhaps? That was really only successful because it was obsolete.

[@elswick1542]

They built the first aircraft capable of 1000mph in level flight the Delta 2 and the Firefly.

[@redskindan78]

Were the attacks on Tirpitz a result of Churchill's obsession with her? If Tirpitz had ever sailed into convoy lanes, would the RN have sunk her in a snap, throwing torpedo bombers and dive bombers at her, and following with big guns from a King George V class battleship, or even two? Tirpitz would not have been improved much over Bismarck, while the FAA had improved many times over the single squadron, or two, of Swordfish that crippled Bismarck. Would the Royal Navy have been able to use these ships someplace else?

[@ArmouredCarriers]

I think the fiasco of PQ17 really imprinted on the minds of British politicians the fear of a capital ship being let loose among a convoy. But it's always easier to find a target when it is in harbor. "The best defence is a good offence".

[@jameswebb4593]

It was a threat that tied up the home fleet , that may have been more useful elsewhere .

[@peterfranzen3538]

The thing I can't work out is why a country that built the spitfire , Lancaster , mossy could not make a carrier plane worth flying. The men of the FAA must be some of the bravest men to go to war in substandard air craft.

[@benwilson6145]

It would have been so much better if the US Navy had done this with the MK14 torpedo

[@iancarr8682]

Combination of cancelled / de-prioritised aero engine programmes at the time of the Battle of Britain and the early war and that the FAA had only recentky recovered the responsibility for its aircaft designs from the RAF. Just aswell the Grumman Avenger proved a reliable workhorse and was made available to UK.

[@MsZeeZed]

The air ministry controlled the budget for both and although the Navy prioritised building carriers the RAF deprioritised their aircraft most notably horded all the aero-engines.

[@ieatoutoften872]

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was a fighter used by the US Navy during the early years of World War II. Entering service in 1940, the aircraft first saw combat with the Royal Navy which used the type under the name Martlet.

[@TringmotionCoUk]

The navy only got control back just before WW2 in any meaningful way, these planes were designed to the specifications set by the procurement, just like insisting the sunderland and halifax have 100ft wings and the lancaster 120, with the corresponding increase in ceiling. The navy prioritised different things as they were learning about carrier capability. The seafire was no good, but you should have a word with yourself if you think the sea fury is sub standard.

[@ishmaelsykes9739]

so why do you believe that bombing the terpitz was a waist of time

[@ArmouredCarriers]

It is a direct quote from one of the audio accounts of participants in this video. He lays out his reasoning