Germany's U-boat Rotor Kite of WW2

[@moistmike4150]

I can imagine being that "Autogyro Guy" towed behind the U-Boat and you report, "Hans! There are two British destroyers moving in on our position!"... and suddenly, your cable tow cable goes slack...

[@davidshannon5877]

Hans! Hans? Vhere have you gone?

[@wanderingontheway]

❤😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@Graeko]

I would imagine falling generates enough speed to keep the rotors to a reasonable pace, possibly allowing for a somewhat soft crash landing.

[@slome815]

@@Graeko Well it's an autogyro, so it would be able to land softly without an engine.

[@36minutesago7]

@@Graeko don’t think the landing would be the pilots main concern, but floating in the cold ocean wondering if the sub is going to surface and pick him up might be.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

Astonishingly, I actually remember coming across these towed auto gyros during my WW 2 obsession in high school. 😮. And marveling at their ingenuity.

[@wirelessone2986]

Whats more MAHVALUS DAHLING is well developed radar for unterseeboots

[@sebastiansuteu1829]

@@wirelessone2986 why make an effective radar when you can use this shit?

[@sergeantbigmac]

I think its funny how so many of us of a certain age had that period of WWII obsession in our teens. I wonder what the common denominator was. I just wish I wouldve done something productive with it! Like getting a history degree and working in a museum or archival work or something. Or at the very least had the gumption to interview many Veterans I met most of whom have now passed on.

[@wirelessone2986]

@@sebastiansuteu1829LOL very true

[@jonhohensee3258]

User un friendly - Astonishingly???

[@donaldasayers]

A British report on this note drily that in the event of a crash dive the Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 could release the cable, the pilot could make a controlled decent to the sea and 'drown in the usual manner.'

[@tsoliot5913]

That's unbearably British

[@jackthebassman1]

@@tsoliot5913I agree as a Brit 😂

[@mrmicro22]

Despite my WW2 obsession in high school, I have never heard of this aircraft. Amazing.

[@muhdnaeem9890]

Same

[@FlyWithMe_666]

“Plane alarm! Dive! Dive” … 5 minutes later “Where’s Helikopter Hans? Damn, I think we forgot something…”

[@alltat]

"Wait... what did this plane look like, exactly?"

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

@@alltat... "He'll be fine, we'll tape all of his favorite shows."

[@BROTHERHOOD_OF_NOD1995]

YOU LEFT ME BEHIND

[@jastrapper190]

How deep did we dive? 100 feet? And he was how high when we dived? 90 feet you say? Yeah… I think we might have a problem…

[@edi9892]

This reminds me of a class trip with multiple boats. At the end, the teacher: is everybody here? The class: yes. Meanwhile: a bunch of kids struggling to swim ashore through ice cold water and having to tramp home...

[@fabianrios9659]

I can't believe I'm just now discovering your channel, the movie references to the topic at hand, your humor, the on point social commentary, the constant monty python references, I think this is one of my favorite history channels ever! Great stuff!

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Thanks for the very encouraging words. I try never to miss out on a chance at working in Monty Python :)

[@mattandrews8528]

Now that would definitely be the coolest way to be towed around behind a boat. I dig it.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

It's shark free.

[@johnbeauvais3159]

I’ve wanted to make something like this for years just to tow behind a car or boat

[@josedorsaith5261]

@@johnbeauvais3159 oh that would be cool

[@tissuepaper9962]

​@@johnbeauvais3159 behind a car is veeeeeery sketchy, you need a very big clear area lest you crash and die on a house, tree, power cable, etc.

[@malakiblunt]

WW2 helicopters would be a cool subject

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Absolutely. Korean War helicopters would be fun too. Lots of MASH clips.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq And the first rocket armed tank-buster helicopters that the US Army develops in violation of the agreement between the Air Force and Army. You see, there was an agreement in place between the Army and Air Force concerning armed aircraft…which only the Air Force was allowed to have. 😮. Fortunately, the rivalry between American service branches never got as bad as the problems between the imperial Japanese army and navy.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq... GET TO THA CHOPPA!

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

@@User_Un_Friendly, the US Army/Air Force rivalry has a lot of parallels to the US Navy/Marines rivalry.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

@@warpartyattheoutpost4987 That was actually really bad. The F-ing Navy left the Marines to twist in the wind by refusing to resupply Wake Island, and sailed away from Guadalcanal. Without Japanese rations, the Marines would have starved at Guadalcanal. 😮

[@paleoph6168]

4:40 That ending lmao!

[@brianlevine5213]

I saw a "kite" at the Auto and Technical Museum in Sinsheim,Germany. It was on display but no information placard. I thought it was a training aid for learning to fly helicopters. Now I know it a kite for a submarine.

[@femboyorganist]

Sinsheim and spayer have amazing collections but awful displays... its just like going through a warehouse, so there's minimal education value

[@Shaun_Jones]

There’s also one hanging from the ceiling of the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

[@mxdwnfrcemdia]

holy fuck that ending got me in tears. that caught me off guard

[@The411]

Me too, first time on the channel and the end ref to flat-tardery made me laugh.

[@ThorsDecree]

@@The411 Me three, new and will probably be sticking around. Good thing I wasn't drinking coffee at by the end! This is a little bit of WWII aviation history I was not aware of :)

[@Kruppt808]

ty, some vids just throw away the last few seconds on the ending..... JJ keeps it spicy :)

[@DavidCowie2022]

They have one of these in the air museum at Duxford in England. Probably the one that Johnny says was captured.

[@malakiblunt]

some Autogyros with rotor pre rotation can make vertical take offs they use the engine to spin up the rotor then literaly jump into the air

[@dimasduarte6340]

That´s true, but few attemps have been made to actually produce them and those that did failed, right now we´re working on the design of a gyrocopter with vtol capabilities, hopefully we can have it flying in the next year or two

[@dielink182]

@@dimasduarte6340 Cool! Where can I see that?

[@chouseification]

@@dimasduarte6340 there was a remote controlled autogyro kit on sale in the early 90s that was able to do some truly amazing things. The key innovation in that kit that made it world class was they added another channel (expensive back then) to add a clutch servo - that allowed you to start the motor, step back a safe distance and then engage the clutch to spin up the rotor - once you got them to speed, you could pull the clutch then feed some throttle and the thing would apparently leap up and forward, taking only a couple of feet (5-10 at most if you gave it enough gas) of rolling distance before it leaped skyward.

[@TallDude73]

A Like for the flat earther joke at the end. About the 330, I always thought the pilot would be ecstatic to go up in it, to be free of the claustrophobic submarine and free as a bird.... for a little while.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

As terrifying as the kite would be, I'd probably be happier up there than anywhere else on the uboat.

[@paddington1670]

DIVE DIVE DIVE!!! wait, guys!

[@theplasticcommando7394]

These gyro pilots should have been awarded the Iron Cross just for being a flying submariner!

[@DimBeam1]

The outro burn was prefect.

[@markfeldhaus3693]

Wow first time i've ever heard about the FA 330. Thank you!!

[@rexmundi3108]

I've never seen this before. I'm speechless.

[@StrGzr101]

Mr. Johnson, what say you we hit HomeDepot, build us one of these things, and get somebody to tow it along the Antarctic Ice Wall that divides our plain-et from the nethers that's full of demons and whatnot. No, wait, that's silly. It'll bump the dome. Never mind. Seriously, great work here. I've never even heard of these whirly kites. You bagged a new subscriber.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

haha right on. Welcome to the channel and thanks for the laugh.

[@CGFIELDS]

Love the funny 1 liners & Dad jokes at the end of your videos 😂🤣

[@mbryson2899]

Balls of steel. It reminds me of the Zeppelin observer in "Hell's Angels." First to be sacrificed...

[@TheMilitantHorse]

That burn at the end though, hot damn Johnny.

[@canigetanoorah]

Awesome video, now i need to get ready to go gyroboating. You know that super popular water sport that everyone loves

[@connorhernandez6570]

“Hey captain, do ya think some kid would fly a kite in the middle of the Atlantic?”

[@MichalKaczorowski]

The thumbnail of the film is a graphic from the 1/16 Takom kit :)

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

A man of culture, I see.

[@Crusader_Models]

That’s a good kit!

[@erintyres3609]

An Fa 330 is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Udar-Hazy center near Washington, DC. The display card for it reads in part, "A crew could assemble or disassemble an Fa 330 in three minutes." "U-boat commanders disliked the aircraft -- it gave away their submarine's location both visually and on radar."

[@frin4053]

This looks like a heavy inspiration for the Rust "minicopter". Although it has been proven that the Rust thing, an actual small helicopter, would not at all work in real life, the resemblance between the real and fictional game versions is interesting.

[@theslavicsailor6654]

There are real variants of it for under 30k

[@tissuepaper9962]

you can still buy an autogyro.

[@PSC4.1]

Imagine being a helicopter pilot in ww2, weirdest thing imaginable.

[@oldmonkey7720]

not only helicopter pilot (they existed in Wehrmacht or luftwaffe too), but submarine helicopter pilot 😃

[@cristosl]

The swipe at flat earthers got you a thumbs up

[@flomisa6866]

Amazing video and explanation

[@superchucksvd]

I just got back from the air museum in Dayton and youtube must have heard me talking about thier example because this video popped up. Great video by the way and long live our great flying pancake in space.

[@camelthegamer7165]

I love how one step is "pray."

[@jaggar28]

The last part about the "Flat Earthers" was hilarious

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

No Gyro Captain from *ROAD WARRIOR?!* *"That's dishonest! Low."*

[@edwardbianchi192]

Never seen or heard about this. Thanks!

[@haziqamsyar2009]

this kite gangsta until the line snaps

[@jamesboyle6134]

Mama, can we have an aircraft carrier? Nein, we have aircraft carriers at home! Aircraft carriers at home: ...

[@ExcavationNation]

Congratulations on 100k

[@eamonnclabby7067]

Seconded....

[@eamonnclabby7067]

I didn't,t see that one coming...nice one ,Johnny....

[@rismarck]

Here I go again learning more bout history in 5 minutes than 3 years at a university. Great channel Johnny!

[@stevenschwartzhoff1703]

THere is one in the Museum of the US Airforce in Dayton, Ohio. I was always amazed by it as a kid, but this is to first time I saw how it was really used. Thanks.

[@lot2196]

Yes, I saw it the other month when I visited. Greatest museum in the world! I'm lucky to only live a little over an hour away.

[@getkraken8064]

If I ever write another novel, the U-boat will definitely have one of these. Thanks.

[@starzkream]

Das Boot, the greatest submarine movie ever made. It blows the rest out of the water.

[@joekurtz8303]

Learn something New every day. Thnx hadn't seen or heard of this craft on a submarine, historical concept for observation, thnx

[@Brood_Master]

Love that quip about flat earthers at the end... 😂

[@hkkhgffh3613]

Guys this footage is from a movie called Das Boot!

[@francisebbecke2727]

I had never heard of these before. Thanks for posting these.

[@colingibson3921]

I did read that they could have the pilot in a parachute, and that the aircraft had a quick release. ie. It would detached the blades and he would separate from the frame to descend alone on the shute if a warship or what ever was spotted. ??

[@SpidaMez]

So you are saying that thing is more safe than an Ah-64?

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

@@SpidaMez... about as safe as holding Cuisinart over your head while ice skating? Maybe.

[@grantm6514]

You are correct about jettisoning the rotor, but I think the pilot stayed in his seat since the parachute pack was behind the rotor mast.

[@gooraway1]

You missed the scene in Das Boot of the Captain waterskiing behind the U Boat. He hoped it would catch on after the war!

[@opaaloys]

If we compare modern warfare and WW2. We can generally use it for reconaisance. If you have Autogiro-Kite pulled by a Jeep in the rear of an convoy and the Comander gives a generally order of duck and cover. You get immedately the result how good and fast a convoi is vanishing from the road. A Comander of a Tank battalion gets a good overview of the position of his tanks . To decifer the Enigma on one hand and a Capitain moves his tanks with radio and autogiro -kite that is edge braking in that time.

[@djangorheinhardt]

I am surprised noone has mentioned " Little Nellie " the gyrocopter used in one of the James Bond films .It was built and flown by a Commander Wallis who was made up to look like Bond .It is on display at his farm in the midlands ( i think ! )

[@jonhohensee3258]

no one

[@geordiedog1749]

The comedy value of one of them having to be wound in pronto once a enemy plane CBDR was sighted would be quality.

[@guylelanglois6642]

Amazing that at sixty plus and being a WW2 history buff I have never heard of this unit. Thanks

[@itsjohndell]

You missed the autogyro arrival of W.C. Fields in International House!

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

If it was International House of Pancakes the flat Earthers would've loved it!

[@itsjohndell]

@@warpartyattheoutpost4987 Good one!

[@mikemarcus214]

Nice - interesting content and explained well... ...and I loved the dig at the end.

[@mastur3677]

I'm pretty sure I bought one of these at outpost for scrap before

[@danhay8933]

Ah the 2 seater model, a fine craft indeed

[@blazeelvirafirehoof7844]

If you put a small engine on the autogyro, you could fly the slow little aircraft around after severing the cable for when the submarine crash dive to avoid getting blown up. Doesn't have to a big or powerful one. Just enough to keep above stall speed in a straight line.

[@loishope6605]

There Is one on display at the National AF Museum at Wright Patterson AFB.

[@aaronjohn6586]

Best Auto Gyro was "Little Nellie" from James Bond film, "You only live twice"

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

Sacrilege. It's the gyro from *ROAD WARRIOR*

[@mikebyrd8278]

They sure are fun to fly

[@blasterofmuppets4754]

These are actually mentioned in the Book "Das Boot" .

[@tk-5268]

*starts video* "What did you just call me johnny!?"

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

Fegelein.

[@rbaldino]

That last line was savage, lol.

[@MiBxItchy]

I knew about this Gyrocopter, cause i have a small Book Secret Waopons of Germany. But i never saw this old footage. Thank you very much!

[@gourdlord3064]

Seems like a cool item for a horror movie with a u-boat crew as the protagonists. They send the kite above the mysterious fog, he radios back sounds of wonder and awe and then one final cut short scream as **something** gets him.

[@dragonfell5078]

Yooo that's terrifying

[@ye11owman29]

A big ginat man picks him up and eats him and says More?

[@williamashbless7904]

The minimum towing speed was 17 kts. That’s pretty much flank speed for a U-boat and burning that kind of fuel was usually reserved for making an attack or overtaking a convoy. Also, U-boats were tiny and had a crew of 40-50 seamen. Risking the loss of even one crewman was a huge risk in operations for such small ships. I suppose the success off Madagascar had a lot to do with lack of allied resources in such a remote theatre of war. Again, you provide excellent information in a concise manner that doesn’t bore your viewers.

[@keithammleter3824]

As the man said, they could tow it into the wind, so that the lift is as you get from the sum of boat speed and wind speed, Strong winds are routine out in the ocean. I don't think the German Navy fretted too much about loosing a man now and then. They were cross-trained - no man on board was indispensible. You seriously risked your life serving in a U-boat anyway.

[@shelbyseelbach9568]

Wind speed, not ground speed. There is a big difference. Same reason carriers launch and recover aircraft while pointed into the prevailing wind.

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

Gaijin: Adds it as an overpriced premium

[@regard.pduplessis2109]

Another great video of something i never knew about.

[@clearcreek69]

This reminds me of the helicopter pilot from The Road Warrior.

[@LDN76]

Wauw, its very rare I find something new about the war, this is one of them. Never knew. Cool

[@bigblue6917]

Never apologise to flat earthers. Their problems are all self-inflicted. I do know about Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 as I came across it some time ago. One of the problems it faced was that with the greater use of longer range maritime aircraft and escort carriers it became a liability. Ironically the submarines ability to crash-dive so quickly came about because those submarines used at the beginning of the war took tow minutes to crash-dive which was to long and left them vulnerable to attack. It may have worked much more successfully earlier in the war but by the time it came into service it was too late.

[@aerohk]

Just when you thought you have heard about all the crazy engineering project the german has done, there are always more.

[@jeromewagschal9485]

That's amazing...I was not aware of the existence of that tiny unpowered aircraft... From a technical point of view I wonder how fast the rotor blades turned in order to keep it up in the air like that ?

[@SilliamWilliam-xb7sl]

There's a video on spanish autogyros and if i remember correctly they don't spin that fast because the craft itself is lightweight, it only needs considerable power to generate lift . if you want a related video there's a channel called Mustard that showcases an urban autogyro concept with rocket powered rotor for take off

[@ronjones9447]

You would think with an alert pilot (lookout) that they would spot the enemy 1St and if was a destroyer have plenty of time to be reeled in and dive to safety

[@051570orion]

Especially when he said they could see up to 25 miles away

[@Bigbongguy]

Imagine doing reconnaissance on this tiny kite above ur u-boat and then u see a warship on the horizon just before ur crew closes hatch and submerges without you

[@1KosovoJeSrbija1]

Bruh i wish gyroboating became popular

[@timcastle165]

The Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Dulles,Virginia has a FA330 on display.

[@rolfagten857]

are there any German Rotor Kites still preserved. And where is the Gyrocopter scene from "The Rocketeer" (1991) ??

[@OldJoe212]

Check this out... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Achgelis_Fa_330

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

... and where is Jennifer Connelly?

[@rolfagten857]

@@warpartyattheoutpost4987 in the Cockpit in TopGun Mavrick

[@Thoroughly_Wet]

"Ve needz to dive!" "But Hans iz shtill up zhere!" "I don't givez a damn!"

[@CNCmachiningisfun]

I had a kite like this, when I was a kid. What an amazing thing it was :) . Also, I LOVED your jab at flattards.

[@MyLateralThawts]

Saw one on display in Berlin’s Technische Museum. Nice place to visit.

[@grathlingillingham5135]

I saw one in the Fleet air arm museum, Yeovilton.

[@mollysmoshingtankcrew9441]

they are also increadibly dangerous. my uncle lost his life while piloting a modern gyro copter

[@jeffreyfitzgerald1779]

I thought the drawback of the autogyro has always been that it requires an extra long runway for take off. Short landing, but it takes a long time to build up lift in the rotors to take off under it's own power.

[@kaasmeester5903]

IIRC some autogyros have a little starter engine to spin up the rotors a little, before starting the take off roll. I used to fly an R/C autogyro, it did require a bit of a run on take off even after giving the rotors a spin by hand, but it lifted off nicely at a relatively low speed. Take off took about as long as with a fixed wing plane, but using less runway.

[@timhancock6626]

You do need a runway, but it's not that long if you have the mechanism to spin up the rotor whilst stationary. Ken Wallis used to take off in the field behind his house in Norfolk. My late brother was a close neighbour so we used to go and watch now and again when Ken was flying. He did make it look so easy as he had decades of experience building and flying them. He was a remarkable pilot and engineer.

[@sldessel]

I also remember hearing that they used parasails to do this.

[@guardrailbiter]

"What did you do aboard the submarine?" "Hehe. Pilot."

[@tinymetaltrees]

😮Gyroboating looks fun!

[@halitiko]

Thanks for sharing such videos with us.

[@michrain5872]

Forget sports cars, I want one of these!

[@Marylandbrony]

I'm a flat earther and this video made perfect sense.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

🌎 ❤️

[@MuddieRain]

Space is fake

[@peterlowell7963]

I’m a cow and something happened or something.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

@@peterlowell7963... and now you're a hamburger. Stay away from the gyro's blades.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Are you, seriously?

[@Rockinbiker1946]

One of these is on display at the Pioneer Village in Minden, NE

[@weirdshibainu]

Man...talk about a dicey assignment.

[@nicholaswimborne]

I didn't understand a thing! And, the earth is flat I tell you! But I still enjoyed it. Thanks Johnny!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@pilotmiami1]

thenks

[@kirstywalker6950]

There is one of these in the raf Cosford museum.

[@ahmadsantoso9712]

"Uhh Fritz, this seat isn't an ejection seat is it?"

[@SamShueh]

Amazing. Saw it at Washing DC air museum.

[@federicokurtz2279]

The flat earthers bit did my day XD

[@the_babbleboom]

this thing is like one of those ideas i come up with making an off hand comment to my bf about why that wasn't a thing only to be told "actually they did do that", usually followed by an explanation of how that was a dead end experiment lol