Fire Hedgehog - WW2 Bomber With 88 Guns!

[@Spectre_22]

A plane with 48 PPSH-41s is a fitting metaphor for the entire Soviet effort in World war 2

[@vicprovost2561]

Mass will fix any problem with that country, yeah, right, tell that to the millions of casualties they lost.

[@b1646717]

More. Everything.

[@scootergeorge7089]

@@b1646717 - God marches with the largest divisions.

[@j.dunlop8295]

Definitely, quantity has quality all it's own over the best!

[@bangyahead1]

yeah when their planes had less than half the ammunition that UK and other allied planes had. When one has half the ammo one must be twice as effective.

[@-.Steven]

Merry Christmas Dr. Felton and everyone.

[@ronaldbobeck9636]

As always excellent job.

[@vaxx5113]

Merry Christmas Steven God Bless

[@-.Steven]

@vaxx5113 Thanks! Merry Christmas to you!

[@danam0228]

You too

[@sgtplop]

Merry Christmas folks

[@Mrjjjjjjjjjj80]

This reminds me somehow of what is supposedly an old Soviet joke---Q. What is bigger than a house, creates a black acrid smoke, makes a tremendous racket, and splits an apple into three parts? A. A Soviet-made machine designed to cut an apple into four slices.

[@finntastique3891]

Good one, I heard it in the Chernobyl TV-series.

[@musclecarbear4704]

The American one can operate in space but cost 60 million a day to develop.

[@truthseeker9454]

[@scrappydoo7887]

Lol that's pretty good

[@johnbeechy]

it is good the Japanese never figured out how to make one. combined with a K type of pilot. the Js could have done more damage than they ever imagined. a K type of pilot would not care about Flak. they all assume a 1 way trip.

[@legionnairegonk4425]

'It sounded like a great idea halfway down the vodka bottle comrade...' 😄

[@Yabuddy53]

When I first saw this I thought flak 88s were mounted to the plane like an old school AC130😂

[@basvleeskruyer]

Yes me too

[@FrankBarnwell-xi8my]

Same thought. Cccp style

[@jamesellis2784]

Ya.

[@-.Steven]

Me too

[@johnt.4947]

One on each wing. Yeah, that would work. 😂

[@YorkGod1]

Just when you think know a fair bit about WW2, something wildly interesting appears! Love this channel for these videos!

[@hiddengem12-o9s]

There's a book called Windswept Lies of War, and it talks from censored history and hidden secrets to lost files and classified documents about World War II, it's the real deal.

[@neilwilson5785]

looks like clickbait to me.

[@paulmurphy42]

Keep 'em coming Mark - we're still waiting for the next episode of Hess!

[@MarkFeltonProductions]

2025

[@TerbrugZondolop]

@@MarkFeltonProductions ;-(

[@johnhiscott-walsh5198]

@@MarkFeltonProductions 👍

[@rodneywalden5358]

Going thru Special Forces training in the mid 70s I was trained as a Weapons Sergeant. I still remember training on the PPSH41.

[@cody481]

Thank you Mark

[@oj_ow]

Never heard of this, thanks Mark. Happy Christmas! 🎄

[@gillespieroad42]

Happy Christmas Mark. It was a pleasure to spot you and your wife in the queue for the church concert the other day and thanks for saying hi.

[@claywest9528]

One of those things that probably looked awesome on paper, but was spoiled by reality.

[@censusgary]

That darned reality!

[@fredericksaxton3991]

Communism in a Nutshell.

[@Harry50cal]

Another fine video Dr Mark Felton! In case you do not upload in the next couple days I Wish you and the family a merry Christmas!

[@jokanaan2486]

Happy Holidays and thank you for all the stories you share.

[@dcross6360]

"Could penetrate German armour up to the mid level"? That is very vague Dr. Felton.

[@cedhome7945]

For someone who shoots regularly this statement is idiotic

[@xenotone3284]

According to the source, "This loading is a steel-cored, 74-grain, incendiary round, meaning it has the proper velocity to penetrate mid-grade armor" but no mention of what that means or where this information comes from.

[@dcross6360]

@cedhome7945 then why did you write it?

[@MordecaiBL1]

Probably referring to modern day body armour. Not Tank armour.

[@mattks1001]

I’m going to assume he’s talking about plate armor? Those can be broken up into low grade, middle grade, and high grade. But did they really have that in WWII era? “Mid level” would be like from Kevlar up to ceramic plates.

[@josephosheavideos3992]

When you said, "Hedgehog," I immediately thought of the Monty Python sketch about "Dynsdale" and his nemesis, the giant hedgehog named, "Spiny Norman." Merry Christmas, Dr. Mark.

[@GaudiaCertaminisGaming]

All the pilots were trained in sarcasm.

[@artawhirler]

Thanks, Mark! I've been a fan of WWll aircraft for decades now, but I never heard of this one before!

[@keviny1936]

Australia developed some designs that featured up to 8 50 caliber machine guns in the space usually occupied by the bombardier and used them against Japanese transport ships bringing troops south during the battle of the Bismark Sea.

[@robertmore703]

the US Army Air Corp sees your 8 and raises you 4. Some B-25's were modified with up to 12 50's. one variant had 6 50s and a modified 75mm from a sherman.

[@scottessery100]

@@robertmore703hold my tea 🫖 what about the Tsetse fly ☺️ just saying

[@robertmore703]

@@scottessery100 lol, yeah, the mossie was a beast

[@iberiksoderblom]

Difference being : 50 cal.

[@David-yo5ws]

"Comrade Ivan, it your turn to load the Hedgehog!" Ivan: (In an angry tone) "I hope they send you to the front line, armed with a toothpick." I guess not all ground support roles were 'glamorous' tasks. Thank you Dr Felton, for this snippet of 'advanced' weaponry in the Russian Air-force.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

All sides in the second war, built some crazy things, for Britain, The Panjandrum! A ridiculous two rocket powered wheels connected by a large central hub packed with bang stuff. They were more dangerous to the people using them than the enemy. They looked like the huge spools that they use for mains electricity cables, about the same size. Each side wheel would accelerate at different rates, they'd go anywhere except forwards.

[@vicprovost2561]

Early war tank design certainly qualifies!

[@censusgary]

Did the Brits actually deploy it?

[@genericpersonx333]

@@censusgary No, it was not deployed, only concept testing to see if it could be made practical. The issue identified was that to work, every rocket had to apply exactly equal force at exactly the same time to its part of the system and that is really not reasonably achievable with rockets even to this day.

[@tz8785]

@@genericpersonx333 The imbalance in thrust might be solvable by attaching the rockets to a third wheel in the middle or the middle of the drum. Although this is probably not a major improvement since this doesn't provide real directional stability, it just removes one factor of instability.

[@kleinjahr]

Apparently it did like to chase dogs.

[@charliedogg7683]

I've only ever read about the Fire Hedgehog, great to see footage of it. I echo several commenters below, looked good on paper; but the first thing people and vehicles under air attack do is scatter, so there goes your neat 1800 x 4 foot rectangle.

[@muskokamike127]

I tell you, (on both sides) weapons designers had some pretty strange ideas back then. hell, EVEN today! The concept is sound, smaller rounds fired en masse. The Mini-gun is basically the same concept along with the C-130 gunship "Spectre". Not to mention the A-10's gatling gun "god's zipper".

[@whiteonggoy7009]

Sir,you never cease to amaze me with your topics

[@EdMcF1]

Imagine a Schrage Musik German fighter flying underneath to fire upwards and coming in range of the down-blast.

[@jonathangehman4005]

NICE! Very Spy versus Spy

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Yes, that's what I thought too.🤔😳

[@bangyahead1]

The US has taken the concept to new levels with a weapon that fires (in theory) up to 1 trillion rounds per second. .22LR rounds are super cheap compared to other ammunition and a 1 second Brrt is enough to shred any incoming missiles. I remember seeing that years ago, but its nice to see the predecessor to the entire concept.

[@kutter_ttl6786]

You might be thinking of Metal Storm from Australia, which did recieve some funding from the US Military.They developed a 36 barrel gun that could fire at 1 million RPM and created acdense wall of 24,000 projectiles.

[@activx11]

"Guns, lots of guns" said the product requirement document

[@Avarua59]

John Wick would approve.

[@harbl99]

The design process in full: "How many guns you want on new plane Comrade Stalin?" "Yes." "Okay, you heard the man..."

[@stevecastro1325]

Merry Christmas, Dr. Felton, to you and your family! Many blessings to them all!

[@patrickbonin137]

Happy festivities 🎉🎉 had my 50 rounds on the gun range..bloody freezing.

[@steveshoemaker6347]

Thank you Sir. 🇺🇸

[@joeyvocals1]

Dr. Felton : you are the best! Merry Christmas to you and your family! Also , everyone here. Army Captain Afghanistan 2017-2019

[@rogerkay8603]

Superb video to accompany the narration, thank you Dr Felton!

[@aleksazunjic9672]

Reason why this was abandoned was simply development of bomblets, i.e. PTAB small HEAT bombs with a mass of 2.5 kg . These were capable of penetrating relatively weak top armor of German vehicles, and could be used against trenches. Carrier for them was Il-2 which would carry 2 or 4 containers, each with 48 bomblets. Thus, during attack it would create a "carpet" and was especially useful when attacking columns of vehicles or trenches lengthwise. As for Tu-2, it was mostly used as light bomber, with counterpart Pe-2 being a dive bomber, with regular FAB-50, 100 , 250 etc ... bombs.

[@Normandy1944]

This was abandoned for the multiple aspects of too light a weapon firing too fast, not having enough range, unreliable firing, having to fly too low to be effective and the ground crew wanting to shoot someone with those guns for thinking of this. This would be almost like having to land with the bomb load you took off with barring how much ammo you dispensed.

[@donarthiazi2443]

​@@Normandy1944 A "bomblet" is not a gun and has no rate of fire.

[@aleksazunjic9672]

@@Normandy1944 Weapon was not too light, or firing too fast. After all, PPsh is one of the most produced submachineguns ever. Height was also not the issue, sturmovik pilots in general did fly very low , i.e. 50 - 100 meters above ground. It was the part of their job. And yes, Germans were firing everything they had at them. Ground crews were also not the problem. After all, you could chose between loading submachineguns at relatively safe airfield, or at the front 😁 It was simply the matter of bomblets being more effective at the job.

[@Normandy1944]

@@donarthiazi2443 Where did I say that in any way shape or form? I ask you to please reread my response.

[@Normandy1944]

@@aleksazunjic9672 No argument that bomblets are the better prerogative. But, as a true tactical weapon using the PPsh, it was pretty crappy...a novelty lets say. If they'd of used just (4) 20mm, then you'd have a weapon.

[@johnt.4947]

Thank-you for another fascinating piece of WW2 history that I learned today!

[@Judgment_Kazzy]

It's always fascinating to hear about these interesting and sometimes weird inventions that were developed during the second World War. Thank you Dr. Felton!

[@samuelheino5448]

Wow! First model spooky. 🤯

[@lolkevandewitte1713]

Sounds like a well thought through concept

[@ffjsb]

After a liter of vodka maybe...

[@TheOrdomalleus666]

This is something that is bound to pop up in War Thunder next year as some kind of joke-plane.

[@nordsturm3698]

That's how I want my ground attack plane to look, like a monster.

[@davidmckayii752]

👍

[@vicprovost2561]

Dr Frankenstein, meet Dr Porche! Let's see what we can cook up today!

[@frazergreen6786]

A copious quantity of vodka was involved in this aircraft's design I'm sure

[@PhillipFelix-kw3zi]

Lol, definitely a Rube Goldberg invention.

[@censusgary]

No doubt true about every Soviet design.

[@andrewpinner3181]

Thanks again Mark, wishing you a very Merry Christmas !

[@smcgilli34]

Yup, my first thought was, ‘How long would it take to load all those guns!?”

[@MisterApol]

Similar to the Junkers-Larsen gunship of the early 1920s--it didn't work so well either.

[@mikedunn7795]

Thanks,I never heard of that one.

[@Dolphinvet]

Those guns appear to be loaded with Suomi drums upside down in the aircraft. I have a bunch of them for a MAC11/9 SMG modified with a Lage upper receiver. They hold 71 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

[@bryanpelton6646]

A 50 round drum? The PPSH-41 used a 71 round drum. Were these specially made to fit in the rack?

[@jacuswoczega9180]

Drums are hand-fitted and constatly jamming. Later issued was flat 35-40 magazine

[@weilim10]

I can't help but think about the song "Bomber" by Motörhead while watching this

[@vicprovost2561]

I LOVE that song! Lemmy forever!

[@KravKernow]

The original bomber truss, as used in the stage shows, lived at a lighting company called Meteorlites. It got rented out to the BBC and appears in a Dr Who story as a Cyberman drilling rig.

[@sharonrigs7999]

Imagine having to clean all the guns ( corrosive ammo) and load the all mags

[@imperialhonorguard1483]

lol

[@Cartoonman154]

The Canberra also experimented with a similar idea later on in the Cold War.

[@JimJanowiecki]

Thank you Dr. Felton for your always excellent WW2 videos! The Buckingham Palace video is a favorite though.

[@thesleepyweasel3775]

Nice work, as always!

[@JeffBilkins]

It reminds me of the Metal Storm concept that used to be on like Future Weapons etc.

[@wweminehead]

Evening Doctor F. Hope your well and enjoying the festive season.

[@donarthiazi2443]

_"you're"_ _(Dr Felton is particular about correctness)_

[@mitchmatthews6713]

Amazing stuff! Cheers, Mark! Have a Happy Christmas!

[@robertsolomielke5134]

TY. I did read about this one , and thought a Sturmovik would be more deadly to armor. Experimental with vodka influence; reloading for hours, many will jam, and the guns are more effective in infantry hands. I was impressed at first also, then woke up on it .

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for the lesson.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Beautiful looking aircraft. Merry Xmas.

[@predragdjuric-tt9uc]

a great video. have a good one Mr.Felton.

[@richardm3023]

Even Paul I "Pappy" Gunn would have been envious of that beast.

[@evilfingers4302]

The History Channel's Wings of the Soviet Union is where I remember seeing this plane. PS. Merry Christmas to everyone.

[@McRocket]

Very interesting. Thank you. ☮

[@HaakonOdinsson]

Fabulous and fascinating stuff as usual Mark! Merry Christmas to you 🎄

[@flyingcod14]

Love things like this, you''d never see this in the history books or on TV.

[@StevenKeery]

Sounds like a real pain to reload, making it rather impractical with the short range. Bizarre.

[@vicprovost2561]

Their KV2 and T28 tanks are also curious monsters and totally impractical.

[@johnm3907]

I read that it took something like a day for 1 person to do it.

[@MrDavkoz]

The concept is not entirely faulty; the USAF today utilizes the Lockheed AC-130 gunship. A deadly prop driven aircraft with multiple gun platforms designed to attack ground targets.

[@MGB-learning]

Great video

[@kimwit1307]

The germans did something similar but with the guns (20 mm cannon) firing upwards, the so called 'schräge music', for night-fighters.

[@phunkeehone]

The difference being that the German night fighter version actually seemed to work. The Russian edition doesn't seem as the best idea, at least not when sober.

[@envitech02]

How many guns you want on the plane? Yes.

[@Zbigniew_Nowak]

I don't understand why this would be better than regular bombs with thousands of metal fragments. In theory, maybe when flying low over a column of vehicles... But The Lazy Dog Bomb probably has a similar effect. Against infantry in a trench - I can't see it very well. A good trench is not made in a straight line.

[@jimmywr32]

great video thank you

[@donaldbrown9437]

Merry Christmas and happy New Year’s 🎉🎄

[@zillsburyy1]

la·bo·ri·ous mark i had to look that one up!!!!

[@JeffBilkins]

Would it be easier to just drop buckets of bullets or darts from cluster weapon?

[@MADmosche]

Great video!

[@CommissarBooks]

A few Pe-2's in the footage. Very similiar layout but different plane. But!!! Great video!

[@rags417]

The PPSH-41 fired a 7.62x25mm round, the muzzle velocity was already lousy and would have been virtually nothing by the time the round traveled the 4-500metres to the target. A great weapon for annoying your enemy, but little else.

[@romaliop]

Surely with gravity and the plane's momentum helping it wouldn't be that bad?

[@vincentmueller3717]

The PPsH drum was a copy of the Finnish Suomi magazine. Both hold 71 rounds

[@craigw.scribner6490]

Thanks, as always, Dr. Felton!

[@ComfortsSpecter]

It’s definitely a Vibe Not very Efficient But a Vibe

[@gregheiden9986]

I thought this meant the Germans mounted an 88mm on a bomber. Lol

[@phunkeehone]

That would most likely have been an even bigger disaster than this one.

[@blank557]

"How many guns can you fit on a TU2, comrade?" "Yes"

[@monostripeexplosiveexplora2374]

1:33 is Pe-2 not a Tu2.. a previous attempt at the multi-machine-pistol concept was the Junkers-Larsen JL-12 with "tommy guns"

[@jamesstaggs4160]

That is both the worst thing I've ever seen in regards to warplanes and the most awesome thing I've seen in regards to warplanes.

[@markhindmarsh2811]

The U.S.A experimented with this type of set up in the inter War years using Tommy guns. Admittedly it was for air to air combat. They found out the weapons were to heavy for the aircraft and engines of the time and the rounds were not powerful enough. The Tu version seems to be the A10's grandaddy

[@johnwhitley2898]

Merry Christmas! Wow! To oversimplify, that would have been a seriously angry swarm of bees stinging right out of a disturbed hive! Yes, 800 feet is just a little bit TOO low....

[@geobloxmodels1186]

It looks like our Mark Felton has 2.23M subscribers. Let's make that 5.56M subscribers, or even better, 7.62M subscribers.

[@-.Steven]

1:10 🎶 The Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind. And Moscow girls make me scream and shout. That Georgia's always on my mind! 😍

[@GordonDonaldson-v1c]

I am always amazed by how the Beatles worked that Hoagy Carmichael quote into Back in the CCCP.

[@Remington53]

You mentioned each PPSh having a 50 round drum. Were special drums used, or did you mean the standard 71 round drum?

[@nigelfaithfull4044]

Love your videos Dr Felton, just read your book Zero Hour , very good indeed , I was wondering what happened to the officer named Hunt who was shot in the foot and had to be left behind, I hope he made it ?

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

Seems crazy. However, if you have lots of PPSh-41s available and need to get something into service quickly....?

[@cyphi474]

Idk, but German tanks roofs were 10-15mm thick. Even in armor piercing bullets its still shot from some 300m distance/height, at some angle, which i would doubt to do much.

[@anisingh9019]

I would love to see your analysis of the movie "The Downfall". I am sure you would have loved the movie, given its accuracy.

[@scrappydoo7887]

I hope you have a great Christmas Dr F 👍 I hope one day we get to shoot clays together 🙂

[@onenote6619]

Metal Storm came up with a similar idea with an array of ultra-fast firing grenade launchers that would 'laser print' a battlefield with explosives. Exactly what that would have done to the airframe was never answered.

[@Cheduepallottole]

I already knew about it, but still very interesting

[@SSWiking-l4q]

another awesome mark felton video!

[@25aida]

I see that the video is 4:20 long. Nice!

[@FrailRider]

Dumb

[@25aida]

@ I’m cultured.

[@natheriver8910]

Very interesting

[@pekkaroponen4920]

This submachine gun was in fact a Finnish design, the Suomi submachine gun. It was very effective in the Winter War, and the Russians copied it.

[@elmsfeuer]

Great Video about a fascinating child of war. But at 2.38: Didn't the ppsh have a 71 rd drum mag?

[@Keimzelle]

Wow! Just another bit about WW2 Russia: Stalin allowed Japan to produce oil on its territory while the Americans were dying in the Pacific. When the US proposed a US bomber base on Russian territory, Stalin declined. It would have given the US forces a huge advantage. But without the US lend-lease tanks, trucks and food, Stalin would have probably lost the war.