Original color footage filmed by Werner Pichon-Kalau von Hofe of JG 54 fighter operations in 1941-42

[@hw97karbine]

Werner Pichon-Kalau von Hofe was a Luftwaffe ace in WWII claiming a total of 21 aircraft. During his first successful mission during the Battle of Britain, he shot down three RAF Defiant turret fighters on July 19th 1940. Six of nine No. 141 Defiants were shot down that day with ten aircrew killed and it would be the only combat mission flown by the squadron during the battle. Their performance convinced the RAF that the turret fighter was not a viable concept during daylight. Von Hofe would score three other victories over England, all of them Sptfires, before being transferred to the Eastern Front where he claimed the rest of his victories. An accomplished pilot who served as the Technical Officer for Jagdgeschwader 54 "Grünherz" he was also a keen amateur cameraman and this amateur footage is some of what he shot while serving with the squadron. He claimed five Soviet aircraft shot down in one day on March 16th 1942 and the following month he was shot down behind enemy lines but managed to evade capture. He would go on to survive the war and passed away on September 24th 1999. If you would like to support the channel consider visiting www.buymeacoffee.com/hw97karbine

[@SteveSmith-eb6ze]

What if the Germans had the Fw190 in the Battle of Britain?

[@northernskys]

This has to be some of the most amazing footage yet seen on this brilliant channel. Heaven knows how hard it would have been for him to obtain colour film during the war, but, the fact he was filming from the cockpit of his 109, as the Schwarme's of his fellow 109's, peeled away across in front of him, and then flew under him, just makes this footage all the more incredible. Thank you so much for sharing this truly unique footage.

[@ukasz-zm9qc]

There are more color films and photos from the Eastern Front than you think.

[@josefszalontai6165]

This is some of the most incredible unseen footage I've ever had the pleasure to witness.

[@DannyBoy777777]

You haven't seen much then.

[@wanderer7755]

🔔🔚

[@DannyBoy777777]

@@wanderer7755 About your level.

[@adambane1719]

@@DannyBoy777777 Always these muppets here Go back to your video games lil boy

[@DannyBoy777777]

@@adambane1719You're one of them you prat.

[@josefhorndl3469]

Thanks for this video. I've seen only some very small parts of it many years ago. At 0:15 we see the Bf 109 F-2 of Olt Werner Pichon-Kalau von Hofe himself (Stab JG 54) with six victory markings, maybe June 1941 in Lundental (East Prussia). 2:16 Bf 109 F-2 of famous Major Hannes Trautloft (Stab JG 54), end of 1941 in Siverskaya (Russia). 3:05 brand new Bf 109 F-4 of 9/JG 54 (badge: Grinsender Teufelskopf, grining head of devil), probably March 1942 in Siverskaya. 3:25 Bf 109 G-2 of 7/JG 54, (badge Fliegender Holzschuh, flying clog), probably September 1942 (Siverskaya).

[@hw97karbine]

Thank you for the addendum!

[@josefhorndl3469]

@@hw97karbine You're welcome :)

[@kapitan517]

Stunning footage! Thank you for bringing this online. Quite the contrast in operations from Summer to Winter.

[@tomsen413]

This original color footage is priceless…thank you!…

[@reverseuniverse2559]

Great footage it’s hard to think one of them passed away in 1999 good score and good life innings thanks for the footage RIP

[@currawong60911368]

Remarkable footage. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[@scipions]

I don't know where do you get those videos, but my greatest respect to you. It's amazing to see this. Thank you very much!

[@wanderer7755]

Incredible and rare colour footage - thank you for uploading.

[@josephsequeira8020]

HOME MOVIES LIKE THAT ARE A HISTORICAL TREASURE!

[@dks442]

JG 54's aircraft had some of the more unusual paint schemes seen on Eastern Front Luftwaffe fighter planes. Great to see some of them here, in color. hw97karbine is once again posting amazing footage--- and the video descriptions always provide useful, additional information. Thanks!

[@alexwilliamson1486]

Wow! A modellers dream to watch? RLM 78 on fuselage 70/71 overspray? Never seen this before…🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@lorenzcassidy3960]

IIRC, some of those F2/F4s were supposed to be sent to North Africa and so they were painted RLM 79 Sandgelb / RLM 78 Hellblau from the factory. As they were diverted to the Eastern Front instead, they were partly oversprayed with 70/71 and 02 to blend better with the greener environment of the Russian steppe.

[@griffn14]

​@@lorenzcassidy3960 Why aren't the undercarriage legs RLM02 on these planes? Seen that on other videos and images, some people insist that they were 02 and nothing else. Is it overexposed film, worn paint or what?

[@lorenzcassidy3960]

@@griffn14 To interpret these 80 years old, washed out color films it's a hard task! Those u/c legs at the beginning of the clip do look lighter than the usual RLM 02... My personal interpretation is that they could have been oversprayed with RLM 76, which is the underside color in the standard RLM 74/75/76 splinter scheme for the 109 F2 / F4s. But my guess is as good as yours or anyone's else! 😅

[@griffn14]

​@@lorenzcassidy3960 RLM 76 overspray, that could be it. 👍 I got some critique of my Bf109 model because of this, but there are quite a number of color images of definitely not a 02 landing gear. I was just using historical sources here buddy, calm down with the criticism LOL

[@Reactordrone]

JG 54 did a lot of weird camouflage scheme with their own colour mixes.

[@cs7th]

Thank you, great video. It's interesting to see everyday scenes.

[@Americal-v6r]

Rare me109 action doc. Outstanding!

[@Tom-em4ph]

RIP Bud Anderson 16 victories the last WW2 triple ace. Thank you for your service ❤

[@htos1av]

Wow. This is kickass footage! Upload of the year!

[@wazzer2348]

At 1:05 they are above Gdynia or more north, Puck in that general area. That's s the Hel Peninsula in the background.

[@one0nine]

I've known about this for almost 20 years but have never seen it - I've had a brief clip or two on The 109 Lair for years, but this is the first time I've seen the films in their entirety. This is truly fantastic stuff. I particularly liked the cameo by Hans-Ekkehard Bob in his "gelbe 1" in one of the winter scenes... met him back in 2001, just an absolutely wonderful man.

[@herringbone5035]

The Green Hearts.

[@reggaelatinus6705]

Absolutely perfect,thank you,greetings from Slovakia

[@dunbar555]

incredible footage. Thanks Werner for having provided such precious archives.

[@stefanostefanutto7321]

Terrific footage thank you

[@friedrichkertoja]

Well, a very good quality of the old film. Thank's a lot for sharing it here👍

[@SharkHustler]

_Outstanding_ footage! ... Never seen such [interesting/mixed] mid-war paint-/camo-schemes on 109s before. Looks as if they could've been painted in the field [perhaps] - possibly even with captured [Soviet] colours[?] ... Nonetheless, very eye-opening and a rare find. Thanks for posting!

[@bilplaymo6121]

Wow ! kind of footage sleeping during 70's year in a drawers : uncredible east front ! Remember............. thanks for sharing

[@romanborodin8129]

Great thanks from WW2 aircraft modeler 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

[@jonathansteadman7935]

This is Luftwaffe heaven, just love the way they peel of and your in a 109.

[@allgood6760]

Thanks for this 👍

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Youre doing the lords work sharing these. Sick snd tired of seeing the same old IWM, Bundesarchiv, US congress library clips in the talking head documentaries.

[@Grandizer8989]

You and me both. Especially since I’m a 70s kid and have been watching docs ever since

[@ukasz-zm9qc]

Who is forcing you to watch the same old clips? There have been a lot of interesting videos on YT for a long time, you just have to find them.

[@janpavlicek324]

Super, krása a nádhera. Jako bych tam byl! Věčná škoda každého zničeného letadla 😢

[@FroggyFrog9000]

GREAT footage!!!

[@hippyhovel]

Great for Dwecal makers for kits of that era in 1/48 and 1/72 and 1/32 scale

[@hoffmannbernd3011]

Tolle Aufnahmen ! Sie kämpften für Deuschland !

[@alexanderschlott3377]

In der Minute 3:50 ist mein Grossvater Kurt Stöber zu sehen. Ich kenne den kompletten Film den Herr Pichon gedreht hat!

[@johnadm3479]

They looks had huge experiences

[@francescoguzzetta]

Unusual camouflage pattern for a Luftwaffe plane (especially the 109F at the beginning)

[@B17FlyingFortress]

Great footage. I remember, that I saw this footage or part of it in a German documentary 10 or 20 years ago. I hope, you can find the footage of the 379th Bomb Group (Triangle K) in color and a footage, when crew men bailing out of a burning B-17 (possible 91st BG). Existing videos on KZbin has a terrible watermark ;)

[@hw97karbine]

I had posted this on reddit, is it one of the clips you are referring to? old.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/vn5lg5/fw_190_a8s_of_ivjg_3_intercept_b17_flying/

[@B17FlyingFortress]

@@hw97karbine yes, very similar. at 0:34. But I saw a footage, where you see crew men bailing out. I will check later if I can find the videos on KZbin.

[@hw97karbine]

@@B17FlyingFortress This one: old.reddit.com/r/Warplanesnuffporn/comments/qn741v/at_least_6_of_the_crew_make_it_out_a_stricken_b17/

[@B17FlyingFortress]

@@hw97karbine exactly! Thanks!

[@NickGalaz]

The most beatiful plane!

[@bryantbridgewaters7177]

Amazing!

[@Dormidont882]

Тюрингия - зелёное сердце Германии , родина Траутлофта.

[@joepipito7431]

VERY COOL 👍👍👍👍👍

[@papaschlumpf2149]

Whow!

[@theblytonian3906]

Affirming to visually see the gear doors detached from most undercarriage oleos for ops in snowy EF winter conditions.

[@JRCinKY]

There is a lot more film like this locked away in warehouses of the national archives. Will never be seen.

[@marceletiennou5182]

Le 2 vert je l’ai en maquette fait drôle de le voir en vrai 😊

[@randolphgrohnke3471]

I’ll bet most of those pilots never made it to the end of the war. Looks like a bunch of great guys fighting for a mission that was terribly flawed. Led by a man that should’ve been in one of those fighters instead of eating cookies in the afternoon.

[@tulyar1043]

Please explain, Oberst Trautloft flew a lot of missions and had 50 luftsiegen when promoted to Inspektor of Fighters Ost Front in 1944.

[@hjbloem4910]

Depends... They had an early Radar systen,Himmelbett. Lot of night time flying. Also their bases,where quit modern. Landinglights and comms.

[@brucemacallan6831]

I was just about to comment that I thought JG 54 was Gunther Rall's outfit, when at 4:18 I think thats him!!

[@Dormidont882]

Ралль из JG-52.

[@Сергей-м2м3ж]

👍🏻💯

[@Polarbear-nq9nd]

💯💯💯💯💯

[@Teh0X]

The stick at the end has victory markings as well? 😆You don't anyone casually milking cows between fighter planes these days.

[@crazymoose9875]

It would be great with sound....

[@SamLukie]

Feel sorry for the young men and their families. Had to fight to death or end of the war. Evil politicians on all sides.

[@Keckegenkai]

what is that stick they are holding at the end?

[@Reactordrone]

A "victory stick". A swagger stick that the pilot recorded his kills on. Common in WW1 and a few squadrons kept up the tradition in WW2.

[@DanyWoker]

Bf-109 F-2/F-4

[@SamLukie]

What a brave generation. Fought to the end. No tour of duty and then gi home fo German pilots. We won't see their kind again.

[@johnhanson5943]

And they learned nothing! A comment from Germany.

[@T-10M]

What was the original source for this and was there sound with it?

[@5co756]

I wonder what this two guys were talking . 😅

[@saschaesken5524]

No Fastfood bodies😅

[@danteelias5288]

When Germany was a real country......now is an american zombie.

[@TA-152H-1]

HORRIDO PAUKE PAUKE

[@kwestionariusz1]

Mexican filter in film included😂

[@juanbarrios6895]

Amazing!!