How German Anti-Aircraft Works

[@PremierHistory]

What are your thoughts on this training film? Did you learn something new? Welcome back! If you are new here make sure to hit subscribe to expand your knowledge on Military History and join the growing Premier History Community!

[@alancranford3398]

I found it ironic that the USAAF Bomber Mafia had to discount anti-aircraft artillery and enemy interceptor aircraft--but then had to eat their words. For example, ack-ack or flak pushed bombers to bomb from high altitudes, out of the reach of AAA fire. This reduced bombing accuracy and scattered bomb patterns. The Norden bomb sight could, in good weather, drop a bomb on a football field from 10,000 feet altitude. Bombing as low as 5000 feet was more accurate, but the limit of the Norden was about 15,000 feet. In order to avoid being shot down by cannon fire, bombers had to fly above 20,000 feet, fly around the fire fan of flak, and use the evasive maneuvers pioneered by the world's navies, only in four dimensions rather than three. Time is a dimension, even though time is basically linear and one-way. Before I forget, bombers had to protect themselves from enemy fighter aviation by flying where there were no fighters, flying high, flying fast, then making the bombers bulletproof and adding defensive machine guns to discourage the enemy, flying in convoys for mutual protection. Sounds as if the bomber was threatened by the two things that the Bomber Mafia promised were harmless.

[@ClimateScepticSceptic-ub2rg]

Escort fighters eventually gave bombers the defence they needed against enemy fighters, at which point flak took over as the main cause of bomber losses.

[@mattiasolsson2354]

Don't you mean "worked"? Or are they still active?

[@alancranford3398]

@@mattiasolsson2354Still does. There are several light anti-aircraft cannon still in service. Warships have dual-purpose cannon ranging from 75mm to 130mm that can target both airborne and surface targets. In this age of inexpensive drones, AAA can provide air defense without firing million-dollar missiles.

[@christopherslade663]

Does it really take 27 seconds to fire that far up?

[@MitchM240]

It never occurred to me that FLAK was so sophisticated. You always see them using those giant spotlights like Batman. I assumed they just fired by sight. Amazing video thanks!

[@richardmillhousenixon]

I mean in a gross oversimplification they did. For accurate fire, they needed visual acquisition, radar wasn't positionally accurate enough for good fire control, especially not early in the war. They got visual acquisition, held it with the rangefinder, and the rangefinder did the complex math to hit the aircraft. But without visual acquisition, that rangefinder was kinda useless

[@haihuynh8337]

I tried to simulate flak in a 3D game using Bullet physics and found this the hard way...

[@nebuchadnezzar47]

and thats only 70-90 year old technology imagine how sophisticated modern warfare is

[@alancranford3398]

During the First Gulf War I was attending DeVry after a decade in military intelligence and chanced to see random Iraqi anti-aircraft fire over Baghdad during a nighttime air raid. That told me the command center for the anti-aircraft artillery had been knocked off-line and the guns were local control--probably at the individual gun position. They were firing blindly at cruise missiles and F-117A "stealth fighters." That was during 1991, four decades of flak evolution. The Iraqi air defense system was far more advanced than Germany's in 1944 and would have been more effective had the command centers and the radar sites not been damaged. There are multiple ways to disable flak. During the Second Gulf War Baghdad didn't bother with air raid blackouts. Anti-bomber defenses have become more sophisticated, too.

[@ThreeLeftOverCrest]

That was a pretty dumb assumption to be honest with you

[@achimschmidt5888]

Hi from Germany. My Father used to be a gunner at a 8.8 Flak battery. He talked sometimes about operating that gun. As a kid it was hard for me to understand what he was talking about. At my age of 50 I tryed to understand the technology behind it. First of all it was hitech there was the radar called Funkmessgerät that said planes are coming. It measured how high and how fast they fly and whether they are enemy aircraft. To adjust the radar right to the planes they had optical displays screens with the very new television technic . like they told in the video the data was send by wire to the electromechanical computer called Komandogerät 40 ( cost 40000 RM) they got the object more precise with a huge stereo optic tube, that was build in that computing machine. The calculator had something like Parabola stencils, because the way of the projectile would be a Parabola. so the computer sent a signal to every gun. This signal controlled servo motors of the three angle pointers of the gun. The gunner had to align the cannon so that the pointed pointer aligned with the actual pointer. Every air grenade had a clock on board.Then the grante's clock had to be activated and set to the calculated blast time To do this, the grenade was placed in the so-called Zünzeit cup. The computing device also provided the data via cable. then the Granate was pushed in the barrel. the "Computer" flashed a red light at the gun. and then came the order. "Gruppe 1 Feuer" Gruppe 2 Feuer, "Gruppe 3 Feuer" . A Gruppe or Group were three 8.8. Flak. A battery were 3 Groups. The firerate was between 15 to 20 seconds. For being as precise as possible the V0, that means the projectile exit speed of the barrel was measured electronically every day. these datas were given to the "computer". But when the Bombers started to fly very hight they couldn't do anything, they were out of range.

[@kimjong-illest9549]

Interesting history. Thank you for sharing.

[@seamon9732]

Fascinating, thanks for the additional information and history bit.

[@hindflight]

Thank you for this information, you should make a video yourself so we have both sides. German military technology was very advanced and was the basis for post war weapons development for both US and the Soviets.

[@sublimeade]

Thank you for your fathers service

[@DawwaYT]

@@sublimeade excuse me 💀

[@Artyomi]

I know the systems are complex and all.. But i’m also in awe of the extremely clear presentation style of the training video and it’s animation

[@dewinmoonl]

I adore the old animated tutorials of the Americans. So down to earth, simple language, clear intentions. 0 wasted words. Check out the one on differential gear. One of my favorite

[@georgeofhamilton]

Incredible how much brainpower went into World War II-everything from munitions engineering, target acquisition and logistics to espionage, codebreaking and even politics. As they say, you could make a whole World War II movie without firing a single shot.

[@ShellShock11C]

Sad, isn't it? So much brain power to murder each other.

[@rm5902]

8⁸

[@BoopSnoot]

These days our college educated students can't even tell you the difference between a man and a woman. This is how the medieval people must have felt after the fall of the Roman Empire, so much intelligence lost.

[@cupofjoen]

Does AA batteries of WW2 related to AA batteries used in our wall mounted clock? I am confused why they're called batteries

[@jonnyd9351]

It was pretty much just the US, british, and germans condensing decades of research and development into a few years.

[@JeanLucCaptain]

The more I learn about the sophistication of wwII analog systems the more impressed i am. This is the stuff that still works no matter what even during an EMP.

[@peghead]

The "Animagraffs" video on WWII U.S. submarines is something I believe you would enjoy, available on You Tube.

[@GAPphp]

Have you heard about the problems with the new ifv tank here in germany? There was an electronic update by the weapons factory on the tanks system and later all of these tanks were unable to work. That has happened some years ago on an exercise in the baltic area. It was the Puma IFV that got an update from Rheinmetall defence

[@paisuk6566]

​@@GAPphp He talking about ww2 not Morden day

[@GAPphp]

@@paisuk6566 yes I know. What do you think works better? There are even old Mercedes Cars equipped with less electric stuff, driven 300.000 to over 400.000 kilometers and more. My new Honda Jazz from 2012 went 140.000 kilometers and gear went damaged. My Smart car broke down because water had intruded the electricity.! Even had some dangerous Problems with the chip that control the electricity!!

[@OwnedEpicStyle]

@@GAPphphe’s not talking about modern day bro. He’s talking about 1940s dude wake up

[@alancranford3398]

A decade ago I gave an hour-long lecture on WW2 airbase defense at the Hill Aerospace Museum. In my audience of about 50 were several WW2 vets including two who had flown in B-17's over Europe. Flak countermeasures were part of my presentation, and that included setting up the flak guns in the anticipated flight path, the bomber detection networks (radio eavesdropping, radar, ground observers, espionage, scout aircraft), fire control systems (radar, mechanical analogue computers, time fuse systems), decoys, smoke screens, and camouflaging the flak batteries. Also part of flak used to defend air bases were light automatic cannon to deal with low-flying photographic aircraft. The flak batteries had to be positioned away from the defended target. If the guns were emplaced on the target, the bomber could drop bombs when the flak guns began firing and the forward vector imparted on the bombs by the aircraft would carry the bombs to the target. Flak batteries had to establish their barrages miles away from the target and fire in a direction that wouldn't endanger the target with anti-aircraft fallback. The process of developing flak intelligence was another subject--this training film just covered evasive action and why evasive action worked. About those WW2 vets--they're gone now. They did comment that I had demonstrated encyclopedic knowledge--but I owe that knowledge to lots of books and to videos such as this.

[@bingcoteeagle6932]

The question I have is how well followed were the flac countermeasures by the bomber crews. From 1943 on?

[@alancranford3398]

@@bingcoteeagle6932 That can be demonstrated by the effects of The Big Week in February 1944. Bomber loses from fighters dropped. Your question was on flak and without giving you numbers I can only impart a generalized picture. Germany had to shift fighters to the Russian Front to hold the line in the east and to keep American and British fighter sweeps from destroying the entire German air force. By June 1944 American and British aviation had free reign over occupied France and limited opposition over Germany. Italy was another place where Allied air power did whatever it wanted. One of those missions was flying photo recon--to find the flak. A number of missions to locate enemy flak included some flak suppression. Germany was launching V-1 and V-2 raids and heavy bombers were "diverted" to pummel tactical targets with carpet bombing missions--limited flak. A number of raids were decoys--fly a formation and then return no flak. Permanent flak batteries took months to build and needed scarce steel and concrete--and attracted low-level air raids to suppress them. Mobile flak needed time to move at night--moving by day risked those fighter sweeps. The flak batteries had to be emplaced, a matter of hours, usually less than a couple of days including time to pack the flak up and move it to a new location. All this had a synergetic effect because Germany could have a strong flak defense in a few places or be weak everywhere. As the strategic bombers had the freedom to pick which city would become charred rubble today, the Hobson's choices were leave cities undefended, put up weak defenses, or use the few flak guns as a mobile fire brigade an guess which targets the Allies would hit today and tonight. It got worse. There was a severe fuel shortage. It took something like 10,000 heavy shells (88mm, 105mm, 128mm) to destroy one bomber--the major effect of flak was forcing bombers to take countermeasures against flak, which reduced bombing effectiveness. All those flak guns in Germany could have been used on the Russian Front busting Soviet tanks and shelling Red Army infantry--no, had to stop British bombing by night and American bombing by day. Shells had to be manufactured and moved to the guns. The hardest part about bombing is finding the targets. Jimmy Doolittle commanded 8th Army Air Force and employed a shuttle system of fighter escorts--when the escorts competed their part, they were released to snoop and shoot if they still had fuel and bullets. Anything moving on the ground was a target. I had several Germans who lived through those days complain that American fighters would dive out of the sky and machine gun a girl on a bicycle. When there were fewer Luftwaffe fighters in the sky, some of the American and British fighters bombed up so they could attack ground targets harder. In the days leading up to D-Day Luftwaffe airfields in France were so dangerous that the German aircraft moved out of reach--which meant that D-Day was conducted with virtually no interference from the Luftwaffe. No Luftwaffe--fighter pilots had to file reports on where they shot things up, which often was followed up with a photo plane or two to see if there was anything else worth shooting up. Some of those things were flak guns. Trains were a major transportation system in Germany and locomotive busting became a game--no flak shells reached the guns. Trucks suffered from lack of fuel, too few trucks, and night-time only. The P-61 Black Widow was supposed to clear the night sky of Luftwaffe, but when there was no enemy in the sky, those radar-equipped night fighters would drop down and scan the ground with their radars and shoot up night movement. Good thing I didn't print out tables. You can see from my brief description that there were many different things suppressing flak ranging from simply bombing where there was no flak to starving the guns of ammo by busting locomotives and trucks by day or night. All this reduced flak losses to the point where after Operation Boilerplate (the German air force's part of the Battle of the Bulge, carried out on New Years Day 1945) flak losses and fighter losses combined were lower than losses due to bad weather or mechanical issues.

[@bingcoteeagle6932]

Thank you .I was aware of much of what you related but was unsure just how enforced the course and height corrections were. Although, with the lack of enemy fighter cover, the reduction of flack weapons, a lack of ammo for the same, the increase of friendly fighter cover, the need for evasive flight doctrines would become much less than in say 1942/1943. The New years raid by the dregs of a hodge podge of Franken fighter groups seems to be about the end of the German fighter/bomber threat to the allies. Oh, a few units still hunted right up to the end of the war, yet any cohesive threat of attack was finished. I find it fascinating to see just how quickly the German political and military machine fell apart. As with all institutions on the decline, it still functioned dysfunctionally for a short time, but in two short years, crumbled into chaos and ruin. To return to the army air force, what a tragic learning curve they had. As a boy, I grew up with the survivors of that war . My family was navy, but I met and knew people from both theater's of conflict. Also, more than a few holocaust survivors. When I could gain their trust to open up to me, the stories they had to tell made my blood run cold and one or two nightmares.

[@bunnystrasse]

@@alancranford3398bombed up?

[@elminero49]

avoid flak by flying to a neutral country. Stay there and pick flowers until the war is over.

[@steffandescat3860]

POV: you’re high at 3 am and now watching how German flak works

[@ponderin]

I don't know if I'm more worried by how spot on this comment is for me personally, or the fact that in 2 days, we have 12 pple in the same situation on the same video 😅😂

[@Yeraveragemoron]

❤

[@pierrelecoq4945]

men would watch this and say : heil yeah

[@kawaii2k555]

Right now high as heck eating biscuit

[@ThePizzaGoblin]

Right there with you

[@Absaalookemensch]

Flak: Flug (flying) Abwher (defense) Kanone (cannon). Pak: Panzer (tank) Abwher (defense) Kanone (cannon).

[@brittakriep2938]

Abwehr,, not Abwher. Sich wehren - to defend yourself. Die Wehr- dated the weapon. Das Wehr- a kind of dyke in small rivers, to lead some water into turbines or oldfashioned water mills.

[@sgt_wills5742]

abwehr*

[@HATECELL]

And if you ever stumble over the word "Flab", that's Flug (flying) Abwehr (defense, to ward off) Batterie (battery), so basically an entire air defense setup. In more modern settings there is also Flarak: Flug (flying) Abwehr( defense) Rakete (rocket or missile)

[@Absaalookemensch]

@@sgt_wills5742 Correct...I knew that. Thank you.

[@frasermitchell9183]

I thought it was Flugzeug Abwehr Kanon. (Antiaircraft gun).

[@seamon9732]

Had no idea the FLAK targeting systems were so advanced in WW2, without modern technology to guide the shells on target. Fascinating and very educative video. If I had been a bomber pilot back then, I would've taken extensive notes and put it in practice.

[@FiendWS6]

You should check out the videos on proxy fuse development. It's probably the single wildest piece of WW2 tech. Internal chemical batteries which activated when the shell was fired to keep the explosives from arming prior to it. The liquid part of the battery only made contact with the lead plates when the round was spun after the liquid vial was broken during firing. Micro transistors using the doppler frequency to tell when a plane is as close as its going to get.

[@RemyCT63]

Keep in mind all those exploding shells and pieces of shrapnel had to fall back to the ground. I was told by a German civilian that they could not come up from the air raid shelter until they heard the all clear siren. The kids would run around and collect all the pieces of shrapnel and also the spent shell casings from the .50 caliber machine-guns.

[@kylejonesUB]

That had to be terrifying, both training and action. The young men on all sides, just 20 years, were and still are astounding.

[@jerrymail]

I live near an Air Force Base used as Luftwaffe airfield during the war (actually, they were two airfields, but one of them is now used for civil planes). I know we had Me 109 here and torpedo bombers He-111 H and Ju - 88 A-4 & A17 (KG.26, KG. 100 and KG. 77) There was all sort of guns: 2cm, 3,7 cm and 8.8 cm guns. I know a good part of the locations. The 8.8 cm FlaK guns were the guns located the farest from the base.

[@marcos14223]

Yes because of the range, small guns are for low flying so it makes sense

[@jerrymail]

@@marcos14223 My great-grandfather owned a farm on the edge of the airfield. There was a light FlaK location just 100m from his house. And incidentally, Ju-88s parked right in front of his farm...

[@joegoldman3065]

I learn that I will never be able to appreciate the sheer terror of being in one of those plans

[@rookooful]

The allies used proximity fuses in their flak shells. This eliminated some of the complexity in trying to predict where the plane was. It simplified it to load the shell with maximum powder and try and put the shell near the enemy. The proximity fuse would do the rest.

[@Cjwazzy]

The americans did, not the allies as a whole. And only used it in the pacific until d day. Else they were manual calc and twist to set fuses

[@tristandaries1129]

I will never get over how “panzerkampfwagen” literally just means “armour fight car”

[@TheLukasDirector]

Armor battle* car (or wagon, if you will). That's the beauty of most Germanic languages, you can make new words by just pasting existing words together. Same goes for Flak.

[@phunnymannfromphunnyland]

an accurate translation would be Armoured Fighting Vehicle

[@ikat_tracer]

It pretty much just means armored fighting vehicle. Just because a wagen is a car doesn't mean that every wagen is a car. In the context it's a vehicle. The definition of the word "Panzerkampfwagen" just is "armored vehicle to fight things"

[@TheLukasDirector]

@@ikat_tracer If you're looking for a meaningful translation of Panzerkampfwagen to English, that translation is just "tank". An armored fighting vehicle ("AFV") could be many more things (IFVs, APCs, SPGs, etc).

[@humanbeing2420]

Imagine watching the Air Force training film and knowing your ability to understand, absorb and retain the information will be the difference between life and death....

[@aaronsmith7935]

That’s all that was going through my mind watching this. Insane.

[@shrayesraman5192]

Its absolutely nuts.

[@SuperUltimateLP]

And luck! Bomber crews didn't have a high life expectancy...

[@benjamindains6906]

And on top of that there were still pilots that did exactly what they needed to and by luck they still perished. War is cruel.

[@amg863]

I had no idea the visible clouds of flak weren't dangerous. I thought they damaged engines

[@8vantor8]

The clouds are just smoke from the shell exploding, the dangerous part of flack is the shrapnel from the case surrounding the the explosives

[@richardmillhousenixon]

​@@8vantor8 And the shrapnel loses velocity very quickly after the shell burst. You'll hear it impacting against your aircraft like heavy rain, but it won't do much damage.

[@FairyRat]

First Motion Picture Unit of Army Air Forces goes really hard I gotta say. Fascinating and crucial stuff that literally helped to win the war, all presented brilliantly.

[@dech9570]

Brilliant upload PremierHistory. Thanks.

[@phillipfletcher2251]

It is amazing as I get older (being a millennial), I always thought of WWII as being very rudimentary and unsophisticated as a youth. In my teenage years I got more interested in history and got into some milsurp firearms. When I was about 20, my cousin who was about 26 wanted to see some of them. I showed her a K-98 and M-Garand, etc. she deadass seriously asked me if guns from WWII could actually kill a person. She asked how many times you’d have to shoot someone to kill then with a Garand vs an M-4. She said they certainly couldn’t be as deadly as modern guns. People are fuckin ignorant. Lol

[@billpetersen298]

They didn’t have, friendly fire, back then. It was all serious.

[@mackenzieblair8135]

Wait until you find out how sophisticated warfare was in the 19th century.

[@scottlewisparsons9551]

Thank you for another very informative video. Up until now I didn’t know the details of how flak worked or how to avoid it. All the best everyone from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@iKvetch558]

Great video...so fascinating to see how they used films for training purposes. But mostly I will say it again...thank goodness the Germans never developed a proximity fuse that worked until right at the end of the war, when it was too late to be used in quantity. 💯

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

Yes, guessing that a lot of those conventional flak shells were whizzing past very close to bombers before exploding out of range. Allied development of proximity fuzes and US production was a closely guarded secret that provided a significant advantage. Later in WW2, British antiaircraft batteries were shooting down V1s with US proximity shell firing guns. The technology was based on miniature valves (tubes in the US) originally developed for hearing aids!

[@PremierHistory]

Very fascinating indeed, they always put a lot of effort into their training videos

[@TheLukasDirector]

​@@PremierHistoryEven today, there probably is no better way to teach for things like this. You only need to look at KZbin. And with plenty of excellent animators available, who could all be repurposed because of the almost "total war" mentality of the time, I think the Americans made a good call on the training videos.

[@marianpazdzioch5437]

​@@TheLukasDirector any other as good training videos as this one?

[@marianpazdzioch5437]

​@@Steve-GM0HUU can you say more about those valves from hearing aids?

[@kiereluurs1243]

Both sides approaching this cleverly. Indeed more than I knew. Scary to be in a bomber.

[@mikepalmer1971]

For real man. Those guys back then were brace as hell. I would of been crapping my pants I think.

[@peghead]

The U.S. 8th Air Force, stationed in England, lost 26,000 airmen, more than the U.S. Marines in the Pacific island hopping campaign.

[@A-MR.E]

So fascinating. I love old clips like this. Best video yet.

[@wizcorn9958]

Hey, me and a few buddies were wondering if you still loved old clips like this?

[@pluxauag7555]

That was a bloody good lesson. Never knew that about Flak. Superb find from the War Archives. Amazing.

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

Thanks for posting and very interesting. From books about WW2 Allied bombing, I can remember comments that flak was not thought to be too dangerous (e.g. compared to fighters). What I did not realise was that bombers were being advised to change course so frequently and continuously. I am curious on how bombers in formation actually managed to do this without colliding.

[@PremierHistory]

I would say a lot of communication between the lead aircraft and those following, but given the size of the formations you are right, great point

[@dukecraig2402]

​@@PremierHistory There was no communication between them, radio silence was maintained even when they were being shot at and the Germans obviously knew where they were at, this was because any kind of communication where the lead aircraft would be calling out maneuver commands could be monitored by the German flak batteries and used to anticipate where to aim the guns. It was done simply by everyone else in the bomber box maneuvering off the lead bomber, that's how they trained and how they flew.

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

@@dukecraig2402 Thank you.

[@admiralcraddock464]

My old dad lived throught he London Blitz as a teenager before he was called up. After an air raid hed go out in the streets of Stepney and collect pieces of shrapnel from the AA guns that were placed in the local parks. I remember he had a collection of pieces including the nose cone of a shell with the timer settings engraved on it. They were thrown out as junk in the early seventies along with other WW2 items including a German Cross in gold that was taken from a captured German officer. Just junk fifty years ago; they`s be treasured items now.

[@DarrenWalley]

The training film was brilliant & I was enthralled throughout. Next thing I know, it was over. Thank you for sharing. Also, a big 'Hello' 👋 from Stoke-on-Trent.

[@JohnSmith-ef2rn]

I appreciate the effort made in explaining how flak works and why evasive manoeuvres are required. The script writers and animators knew that the lives of the pilots and aircrews depended on their understanding of these concepts and put a lot of effort into their work to make it as easily understood as possible. Of course, the reassuring tone of the film is meant to encourage pilots to continue on their mission. The film gives this impression that if you follow the advice given, you’ll make it through. In reality, even if the best pilot follows the best advice, they could still be killed, and through no fault of their own. Evasive manoeuvres will reduce the likelihood of being shot down and killed, but it did not render it zero. And that’s the worst thing about modern warfare - the best soldier, with the best training, can be killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and through no fault of his own.

[@Yaroslav_Tselovanskyi]

I'm mostly amazed by the quality of the graphics.

[@johns3106]

So…I would love to know how they went about changing direction/altitude every 10-30 seconds in a tight formation of many bombers.

[@tedwojtasik8781]

It's called coordination by the lead aircraft within the group. That was one of three purposes of the lead aircraft.

[@danielebrparish4271]

The same way a naval convoy knew when to go from a zig to a zag.

[@johns3106]

@@danielebrparish4271 ….annnnddd how did they know?!

[@danielebrparish4271]

Every preflight briefing ended with the syncronization of the crew's watches. The briefing officer would give the time at the mark. Pulling out the wind stem stopped the watch and twisting it with the stem pulled out would move the minute hand. On the mark the stem would be pushed in thus restarting the second hand. In flight they changed direction according to their watches. The navy syncronized their clocks with that of the lead command ships clock by a signal. From then on the ship's clock alarm was the signal to change direction. It took a lot of skill to avoid colliding with other ships. Even modern naval ships still rely on sailors serving watch duty around the ship to warn the bridge of potential collisions.@@johns3106

[@claytonwall4263]

If I were to hazard a guess, the crews paid attention to the mission brief when the planned evasion timeline was covered. Then they made the planned course changes at the appointed times. When in doubt, they played follow the leader with the lead aircraft.

[@peacebewithyou911]

When I say this checks all the boxes I mean it. What an amazing piece of history. I’ve been ate up with masters of the air and this just goes to show how much time they took to be as historically accurate as possible. Wow! Thanks for sharing

[@keithad6485]

There is an excellent detailed description of German airfield defence flak abteilung in a book written by an RAF Tempest pilot - Pierre Closterman, The Big Show. He describes 250 bullets - 20mm and 37mm thrown up every second! And describes the early warning observers well away from the airfield. He described how Brit pilots never followed a German aircraft as it was landing as this was certain death from the flak. Yet he describes the death of German Me 262 pilot Nowotny who was landing but an allied fighter pilot followed him, shot him down, yet in spite of the heavy flak, survived the encounter.

[@waltergold3457]

This is just a ripoff of a film preserved by Periscope, a channel which should be supported in preference to this one.

[@ajmpatriot4899]

Wow I had no idea this was so complex! Excellent video! 👍

[@orchidahussuhadihcro9862]

Excellent video, but why did he steal it ?

[@michaelroberts9427]

There was much more to FLAK and avoiding it than I ever imagined. This video demonstrates the importance of learning math and physics in school...so you can survive warfare and defeat your enemies.

[@mattomite9097]

Thank you for posting these videos. Such an interesting snap shot into history

[@kisschicken]

This video is terrifying.

[@wizcorn9958]

Hey, me and some buddies were wondering if you were still scared of this video?

[@LoserInChief]

The Allies developing the VT Fuse was a massive game changer for AA. It rapidly sped up on-the-fly calculations that were often useless by the time the shell was fired.

[@ThePizzaGoblin]

I wonder how much of this is true, and how much is to get the crew's confidence up. I ask because I remember watching a training video say the MG-42 was nothing to be worried about and that its bark was worse than its bite.

[@90FF1]

That was an interesting video. I can't help but be in awe of the bravery of those flight crews who did it time and time again.

[@claudiocorleone7856]

I learned more with this training film than years of war documentaries. Amazingly well presented and clearly communicated.

[@WilliamNeacy]

In Hudson, MA there is one of three remaining fire directors used by 88mm flak batteries. American Heritage Museum. If you are ever in Boston, it's well worth the 30 minute trip.

[@DennisMathias]

This is great and it was almost all new as far as evasive maneuvering.

[@mtathos_]

Amazing production value for the time. good work yanks

[@PremierHistory]

It really was a well thought out and informative production

[@mtathos_]

@@PremierHistory Very much so, I was very impressed, not to mention your videos being just as good!

[@rsinger2597]

Good companion to masters of the air. Very clever targeting. I always love the animation from this era too... people were really pros in those days.

[@hackedbyBLAGH]

Thank you

[@MrMike95113]

And thank you for those that gave their lives. Is really the only thing that comes to mind. I just can't imagine flying a plane and getting shot at. I served, US Navy 1997 to 2001 USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), AO3.

[@chrishagreen3988]

my grandpa was a bomber pilot in WW2 Europe and Pacific. Was a POW in Japan. HUGE balls on those crews!!!!!

[@i_am_ironman3380]

I can only imagine the complexity of the mechanical calculators

[@Dylan-zf4xh]

I wasnt sure whether flak was timed or used some other mechanisim, but its insane that the calculations are computed

[@nuqirs]

blows my mind we had this technology in WW2

[@tomvalpo9361]

Excellent video. I definitely learned how much more sophisticated flak was. Prior, I was just familiar with the barrage strategy. Thanks.

[@davidallred991]

Perfect timing. Watching the new Apple series about ww2 bombers and seeing the flak I was wondering about this. Thanks

[@dflash77yt]

Same

[@mikem.s.1183]

Excellent. This is exquisite information on so many levels. Big thank you. Subbed.

[@darrencarwardine3230]

Very interesting 👍👍..... Didn't realise it was so sophisticated 🥺

[@MrSteve280]

Not sure who was doing the math in this film. The German 88 Flak 37/41 had a muzzle velocity of about 2800 fps so going only 1000 feet in one second is a wee bit off. As far as how long to 27K feet, it would take about 16 to 19 seconds on a 90 degree angle shot, depending on who's math you believe.

[@ruperterskin2117]

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@morgankuphal3417]

That is one of the coolest, most interesting pieces of content I’ve seen in awhile!

[@morgankuphal3417]

I cannot even imagine what doing that must be like. Great grandpa had some balls.

[@Wurdswurth]

I wonder how the navigator deals with the constant course changes.

[@mikepalmer1971]

I always knew those guys were one of the most important people in the plane and now I that reinforces it for me. Actually they were probably the most important.

[@dukecraig2402]

By the time they were that close to the target the navigators job was done, at that point it was up to the lead pilot to quit jinking at the last minute and line the bombers up with the target at which point he would engage the auto pilot system and them the bombardier would slave the bombsight into it to make right or left corrections to line up the target. By the time all this evasive maneuvering started they were close enough to the target that they knew where it was, the navigators job was already done at that point.

[@Wurdswurth]

@@dukecraig2402 I don’t think they were that close though because when they are, it’s straight and level flight until they drop the payload. There were enough flak batteries scattered throughout Europe at the time that those maneuvers could be applicable hundreds of miles away from the target.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@Wurdswurth No, that's not how it worked, mission planners had their routes so that they'd avoid any fixed positions, and the Germans didn't have enough fuel and the other resources to have non fixed batteries moving their guns and the thousands of rounds for them all over the countryside all willy-nilly just to have surprises for Allied bombers in the off chance they might fly over them, listen to the mission briefings, they knew exactly where the batteries were at and had their routes planned to avoid them until the rings of air defense around the actual targets, by the time they got to them the bombers, the Germans, God and everyone else knew exactly where they were at, after coming off the target then the navigator needed to start picking up landmarks to plot their position to run the planned route back.

[@tedwojtasik8781]

Or to break it down succinctly, flak are airborne grenades. They damage the aircraft by tossing shrapnel. That's it.

[@christianx8494]

Flak is the acronym for Flug Abwehr Kanone= Aviation Defense gun.

[@DaveSCameron]

Excellent upload

[@wizcorn9958]

Hey, me and some buddies were wondering if you still thought this was an excellent upload?

[@GeOl011919954]

Fascinating

[@banjodeano2202]

brilliant, thanks for the upload

[@edbutler994]

I had no idea AA systems were so advanced 80 years ago, very interesting.

[@twistedwires7318]

Putting myself in that training room, I can imagine what watching this video would have done to my brain. It reminds me of my 1st day in Afghanistan in 2007, where I served with a US Special Forces group. Upon arrival in KAF, we sat in a briefing with the outgoing SF group, where they went over the past six months of contact with the enemy and the statistics on casualties. I distinctly remember being physically struck by the numbers and what they meant to me personally. You'd probably get excited if you were told you had a 1% chance of winning a million dollars. The exact opposite was true when I heard three of the 300 people who'd arrived that day wouldn't be going home in one piece or alive. Statistics don't matter when it happens to you. A small chance of death felt way too high. For the WWII airmen, I can easily imagine hoping the 'big sky, little plane' theory worked in their favor. Unfortunately, lots of hot metal found their targets in that big sky. God bless every one of them who flew into that for the sake of our freedom today.

[@chocksaway100]

Thanks for uploading interesting video.

[@BANTSTER]

Awesome video! Thanks

[@funkysanta9052]

My late uncle served in the Luftwaffe. He was captured in France by a British unit. He often told me that the German anti-aircraft defense system was superior than what the Allies had. Even in the infantry, German snipers and German machine gunners were among the most feared and hated units by the Allies. They had everything down to a science. Everything.

[@Disco-Mike]

I am proud to be German again. This is top notch technology.

[@hoyschelsilversteinberg4521]

You should. Never a reason not to.

[@MichaelLeBlanc-p4f]

Excellent !

[@PremierHistory]

Glad you liked it!

[@derekpierkowski7641]

I had no idea!👍

[@wizcorn9958]

Hey, me and some buddies were wondering if you still had no idea?

[@derekpierkowski7641]

@@wizcorn9958 Well I do Now. Thanks fer giving a fuck.👍🏻

[@ancientgamer3645]

The USA had the proximity fused AA rounds. The Axis powers did not. The ideal was from a movie actress and worked out by her and a movie technician.

[@dukecraig2402]

No, Hedy Lamarr had nothing to do with the proximity fuse, her contribution was a radio guidance system for torpedoes that used broad spectrum and radio hopping frequency technology to prevent being jammed. Although it's still controversial whether or not she thought it up as she claimed or stole the idea and technology from a high ranking Nazi military scientist she was involved with before she left Europe and came to America, I myself find it kind of hard to believe that a woman who at the age of 12 fell in love with theater and at that age determined she wanted to be an actress and as such put all her efforts into that and never received any kind of technical education whatsoever came up with that, according to her she supposedly learned about technology from her father who explained high tech principles of the era to her when they'd take walks in the woods. Sounds like a fairytale story to me, everyone else has to spend years in higher education to learn thing's like electronics and the principles of radio waves but she picked up everything she needed from walks in the woods with her dad, yea right, then years later she just happened to be screwing around with a high ranking German military scientist who coincidentally happened to be the guy who developed radio guided torpedoes for the German navy, but she didn't get the idea or steal plans off him then flee to America, no, she just happened to parallel develop the same thing herself out of the clear blue after she arrived in America. Maybe she left a tooth under her pillow and the next morning it was gone and a set of plans for a radio guided torpedo that used frequency hopping technology was in it's place, I'd say that's more likely than her version of things.

[@WildernessMedic]

How were the already burst flak rounds no longer dangerous? Wouldn't hitting shrapnel at 200+MPH cause damage?

[@mijnbeeldscherm]

Will keep this in mind next time I am flying to Germany

[@JTA1961]

You might get some "flack" for that comment

[@wizcorn9958]

Hey, me and some buddies were wondering if you’ve had a chance to make it to Germany yet?

[@mijnbeeldscherm]

@@wizcorn9958 Yes I did. The guys of the FLAK had a party and weren't wachting ;-)

[@mijnbeeldscherm]

@@JTA1961 🥵

[@PhilipDarragh]

Great info. IMHO. Tks.😊

[@markbenn1907]

So impressive

[@bucksdiaryfan]

It was like the old Missile Command game on Atari

[@dukecraig2402]

That brings back a flood of memories.

[@drewmac4046]

Very informative. Thanks

[@neilbingham6785]

Very informative .... excellent!!

[@davidwilliams1060]

I didn’t know any of the details of how flak worked. Every war movie makes it seem like just a minor nuisance. Thanks.

[@ShellShock11C]

Very informative, but what dis flak rounds use as projectiles? Are they like, loaded with ballbearings that would explode everywhere? Or just the shell itself?

[@samuelruby2760]

I did actually!.I learned hoe heavy anti-aircraft works! Thank you ^_^

[@recifebra3]

Thanks for this!!

[@Wilde_Wolfe]

Very Interesting! Learned a lot! Thank you!!! -Your New Sub

[@PremierHistory]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the support Wilde Wolfe

[@kickpublishing]

Got it. When do I take off?

[@shabadooshabadoo4918]

I always wondered how flak knew when to explode. If I understand the video correctly (i only watched a small part of it), altitude was never determined by people and always by a computer. Let me know if I'm wrong. and if it was ever determined by a person, how they did it.

[@DaRyteJuan]

Wow. Amazing. 👍

[@liddz434]

I know I’m going to cop a bit of ‘flak’ for this but wow…great vid!😉

[@kai_plays_khomus]

My grandma is still talking about what they called "lametta", metallic stripes the allied employed to scatter the flak's radar.

[@justinokraski3796]

We called it chaff

[@kai_plays_khomus]

@@justinokraski3796 Sorry, but who are "we"? It's not meant as a snarky reply - I'm legitimatly interested about context i.e. which region and language (or local variant thereof) we are speaking about here. Have you been a contemporary witness yourself or did you pick it up when parents or greatparents told about their wartime experiences? I'm an ADHD autist with an obsessive interest in a variety of topics - you can't just throw me an isolated factoid without context and expect me to be satisfied. Bringing up even more questions than I already have to somehow contain in what little brain I have on a daily basis to begin with is an evil move.. 😅 Greetings from Berlin!

[@jeromecap6746]

I wondered if my DAD had seen this same film 81 years ago. He was body gunner on B24s over Europe?

[@Redeemedbylove1987]

I'm dealing with a lot of flak at work.

[@coachtim6188]

The thousand feet per second seems almost impossible. A shell reaching 30,000 feet in 30 seconds is so insanely slow. At that slow of a rate it almost seems as if it would never make it that high without dropping out of the sky.

[@williesnyder2899]

Interesting!! I learned a lot!!

[@RichardCInman]

I am so glad I did not have to fight in WWII.

[@pixelpusher8986]

Okay. I’m ready. Put me in coach.

[@BuzzSargent]

I am wondering what happens when all that flak hits the ground? What goes up must come down...right! What does it even look like?

[@Kiwii.TheGoat]

Really interesting question !

[@sasin2715]

it doesn't, it explodes thanks to the time fuse

[@TttTtt-zo7kt]

The flak burns up during re-entry and descent through the atmosphere. (Okay, it doesn't, but I'll bet 9 out of 10 Americans would believe me.)

[@BuzzSargent]

@@TttTtt-zo7kt I am trying to understand if people on the ground will feel the effect of Flack when it is fired into the sky 🤔❗I know that when WDW fires fireworks every night. Stuff falls to the ground, we wear hard hats 🤠

[@aaronfieldman3957]

I can't believe they had autonomous anti-aircraft technology in WW2.

[@8vantor8]

Not autonomous, it just told the gunners where to aim

[@dragineeztoo61]

At the time it was released, this film would have been considered classified.