The WRISTWATCH That Changed the Course of WWII!

[@JamesSmith-op7yc]

My Father was a Technical Sargent 4"bar" radio operator in the Pacific Theater. 1942-45. He threw the thing (watch) in the trash right after he got back to the states from Tinian. He said "I was sick of the goddamned war, I didn't need any memorabilia". He'd be 104yrs now. RIP Franklin Smith. Thanks for sharing. James from Michigan.

[@stevejette2329]

James - My dad was born in 1919. He died at almost 100. He was with Patton's tanks in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He would not talk or remember anything about the war.

[@robboinnz]

I saw an interview with Major Winters of Band of Brothers, he said after the war he never wore a wrist watch again, it reminded him of the stress of being ‘on time’ in war, otherwise people died…

[@WilliamBlinky]

@@robboinnz That's an interesting take on things by a man who is much respected.

[@Cici_Dial]

Nice video about clanging, banging, tin-can noise. But... what's with all the clips of airplanes and watches?

[@Anirossa]

If I was in that war I'd get sick of looking at anything that reminded me of it as well, it was a slaughter. I wasn't in it though, so I'm a WWII nerd

[@echohunter4199]

Absolutely correct. I’m just a retired Army Infantry Senior NCO and we used to be issued quality field watches until the late 80’s then young NCO’s like myself would go buy the best watch we could afford/find. We still use the watch for navigation purposes but todays NCO’s don’t use the old methods as I did but they know how to do it if it’s an emergency so they also carry a quality timepiece. My favorite is an ABC watch meaning it has an Altimeter, Barometer and a Compass. I use a Casio ProTrek PRG-600 series, it has a large, easy to read dial face and is solar charged, they work great. You’ll have to wear it slightly loose to prevent a constant hot spot on your wrist. These work great for pilots as well and Casio has a watch designed for pilots that I recommend.

[@coppertopv365]

I've worn a few casios since I bought one in entering basic. Still wearing one.

[@KaleemLmar]

Don't rely on a digital watch in a world full of jammers and what have you, find a good mechanical watch.

[@coryfogle5353]

My dad proudly wore his throughout his entire life. The back plate of the watch had worn so thin, he took to building it up with fingernail polish.

[@Rockinbiker1946]

Hamilton Watch Co of Lancaster, PA made hundreds of thousands of their watches for US troops during WW2. My father received one and wore it during 5 major campaigns in Europe during WW2. I have a photo of him wearing the watch in Northern France. I recently purchased the modern equivalent from Hamilton, a Khaki Field Murph automatic. One other thing, my family who founded Lancaster was the Hamilton family the watch was named after.

[@robbbbery]

I'm an A-11 fan and a descendant of a wwii army airforce man. I've been waiting a long time for someone to truly bring to life the story of this watch, and you have made this hope come true for me in spectacular fashion. Thank you!!!

[@dutchman7216]

That was a wonderful documentary. Thank you

[@oldguy7402]

I was an ICBM launch officer during the cold war. The timing for our launches relied on a wind-up clock set every day to WWV. Our timing too had to be split second to avoid missile fratricide.

[@billurban3940]

Mom was about 20 and worked at Hamilton watch in Lancaster Pa. Her job was making the timing mechanism for hand gernades.

[@REVNUMANEWBERN]

THANKS for sharing your story

[@stephencrane811]

Timing mechanism for hand grenades? It’s a black powder fuse

[@jody6851]

I inherited one of these watches from my father who was a Marine in WWII. He told me they were standard issue to all corpsmen once you arrived at bootcamp. They are wound by hand. No batteries in this watch. About ten years ago, I brought it in to a watch place to get a new band, see if there was any need for internal cleaning, and also to clean the glass cover which had discolored over the years. The the watch repair guy told me these watches have diamond mechanisms -- standard issue diamond mechanisms 83 years ago! I don't know if he was exaggerating or not, but he told me one of these watches today -- a real vintage US military watch of that quality and the diamond mechanisms -- sells for over $5000 to collectors.

[@ono147]

A-11's were only issued to USAAF Officers.

[@SMichaelDeHart]

Hamilton Watch company is still operating today. They've put out WWII commemorative watches.

[@barrymuller5131]

Dillard’s department store Carrie’s the Hamilton watches.

[@bobstern7827]

Now I know know why my father would only wear Hamilton watches.

[@madmanmechanic8847]

knock offs from china good shit

[@SMichaelDeHart]

@@madmanmechanic8847 maybe do some research before making an arse of yourself!! Hamilton originated in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the late 1800's. The brand and all technology was purchased by a Swiss Watchmakibg company that now operates it. I own a couple Buchereer Swiss watches myself. Best made in the world, Einstein!!

[@mmascitti]

The cockpit of the P-38 also had an excellent clock.😊

[@lonzo61]

....and a compass, and a directional gyro, and they were able to home in on the radio transmissions of the Jap planes (from what I read).

[@stevekaczynski3793]

I wondered about that. Most aircraft control panels do and that was certainly the case in WW2.

[@davidj.winter6782]

What about vibration ? I never had a clock in a car that worked until the last 20 or so years....

[@elihusmails7401]

@@davidj.winter6782old school car clocks were electromechanical, old school airplane clocks were wind up fully mechanical (more reliable, more accurate and much more expensive). FWIW, I know this because I’m an old naval aviator and long time antique car owner.

[@Hibernicus1968]

I have a Bulova A-11 that looks almost exactly like the one at 0:14 in the video. It was made in 1943. I'm lucky that the case is in good shape. The plating is completely gone, but the white metal alloy (the three companies that made these used different ones, as the government contract just specified base metal, and left it up to the manufacturers, Bulova, Elgin, and Waltham, which base metal they used) hasn't gotten pitted like a lot of these A-11's you see.

[@ono147]

Notice they keep showing Hamiltons, who didn't make them. I have 1 of all 3 you mention, love them

[@josephjackson3502]

When I started fight school in 1971, that watch was part of my equipment issue, with my flight suits, boots, parachute, clip board, calculators(whiz wheel), helmet and later my parachute and O2 mask. There were no glass cockpits. That watch was critical to every thing you did in the cockpit. When I was in Medical School everyone wanted one of the A-11’s. Mind burned up in a house fire in 1998.

[@HistoryX]

Man, that watch sure had a wild ride! Sorry to hear about the fire, though. Here’s to the good old days and all the epic gear we had!

[@PMA65537]

Have you broken the first and second rules of fight school?

[@josephjackson3502]

@@PMA65537 not that I can recall.

[@m444ss]

in this age of GPS, it's probably hard for people, esp younger people, to fathom just how amazing this is

[@kentcostello5286]

Hay thank you guys my hat is off too you all and thank you for your services.

[@lonzo61]

Aw jeepers, fella, why don't you knock if off with the tired platitudes. I'm so sick of hearing "Thank your for your service," that I just tell people to stop saying it while they're in mid-sentence.

[@mencken8]

“It’s about a mission that changed the course of WWII.” The mission that killed Yamamoto DID NOT change the course of the war. It was basically about revenge, and a huge propaganda coup, and had some unmeasurable demoralizing effect on the Japanese. But Japan was beaten well before April 1943, it was all just a matter of attrition- as Yamamoto himself had predicted.

[@HistoryX]

Totally get what you’re saying! Sometimes it feels like these missions are more about the story than the actual impact. History is wild like that!

[@Demaenetus]

@mencken8 Yeah, it’s interesting information but the usual clickbait title. No single thing won the war, certainly not a wrist watch.

[@grandaddyoe1434]

The mission almost compromised the Allies' ability to read Japanese codes. UK military was NOT impressed . . .

[@johnfox2483]

Could US announce they killed Yamamoto? Probably not, at least not before Japan announce it. So ... was there any propapaganda ?

[@kevinm.8682]

​@grandaddyoe1434 Having credible, actionable intel, and not using because "they might figure out we've broken their code!" Is foolish. Why even bother to gather the info? The US took precautions to safeguard the source, like continuing to send sorties that way for several days afterwards, giving the impression it was a lucky happenstance. Other, lesser targets were ignored, and sadly, people that could have been saved were allowed to die so the secret could be kept.

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

Please turn off the background music. I cannot hear it. Half of what you're saying because of the music

[@Mike-kr9ys]

I agree - background music is really not needed and does interfere with some of your audience hearing your content.

[@flick22601]

I third that.

[@Dave_C.]

It would have been nice at the end to have included information on how many of the planes actually made it back home.

[@briancooper2112]

The Navy compass used by the flight leader also contributed.

[@HistoryX]

So true! Thanks for sharing that insight! The Navy compass was indeed a vital tool for that flight.

[@harrylister804]

@@HistoryX Dont forget the bubble sextant used in aircraft, probably not used on that mission, but many long range aircraft had an observation port for using a sextant.

[@williamwallace9826]

So at 1:05 and again at 5:28 they show four wristwatches, only one of which appears to be an A-11. I still wear a quartz replica of an A-11. They're very hard to find, but for me there's no better design for a wristwatch.

[@ono147]

all over ebay. but why they show hamiltons is funny, they didn't make A-11's

[@warrenstephens8894]

Hamilton watch company hasn’t existed since 1969. The Hamilton name is the intellectual property of a Swiss company. Hamilton like so many American watch companies was drawn into war production. To make watches for the government and aircraft instruments etc. The Swiss companies roared in to replace the watch supply void and American watch companies never recovered.

[@KevinMaxwell-o3t]

It's so nice that our American friends went to so much trouble to greet Yamamoto like this. I'm sure he really appreciated it. Funny, isn't it, that the Japanese thought they were untouchable?

[@cgross82]

I lived in Elgin, Illinois for 25 years, home of the Elgin Watch Company. It was exciting during your video to see “Elgin” stamped on the watch casings!

[@proto57]

Sorry... that "music" is just too jarring and distracting. Maybe I'm alone in that, IDK. Best of luck with your channel, though.

[@arthurbilenker2622]

At 4:48 is a Japanese Betty bomber. The only existing remnant of a Betty is the front of the aircraft located at the Smithsonian. I saw it years ago at the restoration facility in Suitland MD. I may be corrected here, fine, but that is what I was told during the tour at that time. It was significant because so many were built and that piece was all that was left.

[@Jon.......]

07:00 | One key factor was missed: SPEED! Heading and time on track mean nothing without the speed. TD

[@choppergirlfpv]

My grandfather Blue 2 was a P-38 pilot at Henderson Field, he never mentioned anything about any wrist watch. But, he's wearing one posing in front of a P-47 in the photograph on my website. So is his flight leader and wing man Sully, in the photo below that standing in front of the plane assignment chalk board.

[@lonzo61]

My uncle flew combat in the P-38 in the MTO, and I never once heard him say that his A-ll won the war. I never once heard him mention his A-11, in fact. He did have some good stories. I have his daily log from the war. Interesting reading. Even so, I wish I had an A-11. They are neat watches, but they're too expensive--even the modern versions.

[@calvingifford9442]

Would really like to see that image. My Dad (yes, DAD - lol) was a B-17 and later, B-24 Belly Gunner that flew out of Henderson Field at least a few times.

[@HolidayArt]

I can't verify anywhere that the range of the Yamamoto mission "Vengance" was critical. One of the main reasons for using the p38 in the Pacific theater was the vast distances over the ocean. P38s often flew 1,200 mile missions, and 1,000 miles was comfortably within the range of a p38 with drop tanks. And the watch wasn't critical, either. There was a clock inside the cockpit.

[@alfredpambuena6874]

Since I was a kid...1950s....my favorite plane of all time was and is the P-38....I must have built at least 20 to 30 models from kits and actually knew a former P-38 pilot who flew in north africa....I now have an exact replica of this watch made from the exact specs....I was told by a jeweler that it was one of the best built watches he ever saw...

[@wacojones8062]

Key feature of the watch was when setting before a mission the hands on the watch especially the second hand were not moving at the end of the briefing the watches were all set at the same time to the second.

[@lonzo61]

It's called a "hack" watch for that reason. The user pulls the crown all the way out to hack it with the mission briefer.

[@rabbi120348]

I really enjoyed watching this.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

Didnt a/c have clock in instrument panel.

[@jmevb60]

I'm thinking of car clocks which were terrible

[@Ron-n2o]

They synchronized their watches with each other before every mission, which would be hard to do with the clock on the panel. Also, the watch had a "hacking" feature, which means it stops when you pull out the stem to set it, and starts again when you push the stem in (which allows for setting down to the second). I don't know if the clock in the airplane had that feature or not. I assume you could set the panel clock to match your watch, but I think they were trained to use their watch if possible.

[@Ron-n2o]

Interesting side note: Some pilots wore their watches on the inside of their wrists, instead of the usual way. You can see this at 5:41 and also at 5:49 where some of the pilots are wearing them one way, and some the other way. Supposedly this is because the landing gear handle on the AT-6 trainer could suddenly snap sideways when the gear retracted, which could break your watch if your wrist was in the way (I'm not sure if this story is true or not, but in either case the purpose is to protect the face of the watch). Even long after the war, some people continued to wear their watches "WWII style". My uncle, who was in gradeschool during the war, always wore his watch this way, he died just a few years ago.

[@HistoryX]

That’s super cool! I love hearing stories like that. The watch thing is just one of those quirky little details that make life interesting!

[@harrylister804]

@@HistoryX Yup, I wore my Timex that way in 1st grade in the late 1960's. Also, if youre right handed, watch on left hand and vice versa for lefties.

[@EdwardKelly-vi9sg]

GREAT VIDEO AND HISTORY LESSON...👍

[@HistoryX]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@1225KPH]

The film clips of Hamilton A11s are all videos of modern battery powered watches.

[@ono147]

WWII only Officers got A-11's, made by Elgin, Bulova and Waltham. Good eye!!

[@BlackDragon-E]

It is confusing to see the Broad Arrow [UK DOD marks] on the watch face at the 8:41 mark.

[@williamreymond2669]

The Hamilton A-1 wrist watch? I own, and still wear, a Hamilton 921 railroad watch from 1908, still keeps less than a minute a week.

[@erintyres3609]

There was a huge amount of luck in this interception. 1) Flying two hours without any waypoints meant that the wind would have carried them off course by a considerable distance. Of course they checked the wind before takeoff and estimated the proper corrections, but the wind changes over time and at different altitudes. 2) There was no guarantee that the Japanese would arrive on time. Many little things can delay takeoff time. Actual flight time depends on headwinds or tailwinds.

[@NCF8710]

Synchronize your watches! These watches had a 'hack' function that would stop the movement when the crown was pulled out to set the time. The movement would start again when the crown was pushed back into position. This way, each watch in a group can be set identically to the second.

[@casparcoaster1936]

Also a p-38 lover, love that pov take off vid... and the heading on the legs of the trip!! But how could you leave out the controversy of who shot down Yamamoto???????????? That was why I watched. Sad, very sad.

[@jimmymundane1084]

Col. Stanley Butler was stationed in the Aleutians. He was the first pilot to splash a Japanese fighter while piloting the P38. According to his wife, he later got bone cancer from wearing the radium dial watch issued to him in the Air Corps. Unfortunate, as he loved to play the mandolin and lost his right hand to the cancer. It later consumed him entirely.

[@stevecooper2873]

Sad. I thought it was mandatory to wear a watch on one's left wrist.

[@jimmymundane1084]

@@stevecooper2873 I'm probably mistaken about which hand. His widow told me the story. He became the commandant of K.I. Sawyer SAC Base during the cold war.

[@stevejette2329]

I understand that guys in combat never wear watches that light, like Indiglo by Timex. Makes a good target in the dark.

[@stevecooper2873]

Later versions had an integral cover for that very reason.

[@stevejette2329]

@@stevecooper2873 I like the scene in Band of Brothers where Winters uses a raincoat to hide the light on the map and compass.

[@drunio1504]

🔥 Wow! the Commentariat is having a field day ripping the OP a new one over "winning the war". Phew - sure am glad I'm safe sitting behind my console. 🙏

[@jamestarhalla6735]

The most important element of this story is the navigator of Yamamoto’s plane. If he had been late or early the Americans would have missed Yamamoto.

[@paulmanoli5175]

Was the watch dial of the A-11 radioactive ?

[@RobertBelt-x6d]

Though an interesting story, I often look for dependencies in such footage as this one. (FYI) For example take a moment to pause the film at minute 2:32 note the airman on the left is wearing an early 1950's US Air Force khaki uniform. (Note the stripes on the airman's left sleeve.) Reminder the film is discussing WWII actions in the Pacific. Reminder the US Air Force was not yet in existence until a few years after the end of WWII.

[@samegalle1089]

The mission did less to win the war than it did to get Rex Barber payback for December 7, 1941. Yamamoto himself said that the war would be lost if Japan allowed it to go past two years. His death was a strategic victory, but it didnt win the war.

[@malcolmwolfgram7414]

Yamamoto looks around and says.....WTF!

[@LarryHoth]

Old chinese saying: Man with one watch knows time. Man with many watches never knows time. I must assume the cockpit clock could be updated to the pilot’s field watch. Otherwise, why have both?

[@LarsDcCase]

except for that irritating, loud, annoying, cheesy background music👎👎 this was interesting. Next time keep that crappy noise at home, turn it up, and blast your eardrums.

[@frederickking1660]

Charles Lindburg showed them that by running on auto lean they could really extend their range. Lindburg had gone out and flew with them secretly. Rumors have it he shot down a Japanese aircraft at some point.

[@jagsdomain203]

Did killing Yamamoto actually make a difference anyway. Firstly I don't think Yamamoto is all that great anyway you look at his plans You're so insanely complicated it's why they lost Midway. I just don't know if taking him out really made that much of a difference cuz the guy that replaced him was basically him as well

[@OriginalCoalRollers]

Jap lover, next time we go to war we’ll make sure your charge

[@FactCheckerGuy]

IIRC, there was actually some argument made that they should not kill Yamamoto bc he was not particularly good.

[@FairwayJack]

the pilot named Barber was the guy who shot down Yamamoto

[@erintyres3609]

Hamilton also built naval chronometers.

[@antontsau]

Since 1920s and up to nowadays the legal requirement for flight is 4 instruments - speed, direction, altitude and time. But at least time instrument - clock or watch - became cheap, reliable and precise since digital electronics appearance. 80 years ago it was a real problem.

[@HistoryX]

Right? Imagine pilots back in the day using pocket watches and trying to keep track of time while flying! Talk about an airborne game of "guess the hour!"

[@antontsau]

@HistoryX as noticed - its still the same, at least when you are learning and pass licence exam. Paper map, protractor, pencil, wristwatch... everything like when Churchill was a secretary for aviation, nothing to imagine just feel. And all this by yourself, not by dedicated navigator.

[@lonzo61]

@@antontsau He's right. I got my private pilot's license in 2009, and I had to learn "pilotage and dead reckoning"--which means I, and every other pilot trainee since the old days, had to wear a watch or have some kind of time piece. I did all of my cross country flights looking at my watch at regular intervals while looking at checkpoints on the ground. I soloed in a 1946 Aeronca Champ, did most of my training in a Cherokee 140, and finished up in an Archer. Of course, most pilots rely on modern gps once they have their licenses. For IFR flights, it's pretty much a necessity.

[@antontsau]

@lonzo61 yes, as I said - like 100 years ago, just with more advanced maps (which appeared late 1930s) and cheap reliable electronic watch, not sensitive to any vibration, stresses, overloads, pressure changes and so on. I do the same.

[@lonzo61]

@@antontsau Well, I was referring to your reply, not the creator's comment. So, sorry for the confusion and that you had to repeat your comment. BTW, I did have never used a quartz watch. I still use wind up watches that are from the 1950 and 1960s. I am a small time watch collector. They are fine for bacis navigation--so long as you remember to wind them up before putting them on. And there is no worry about "pressure changes". There is nothing special, in fact, about most wristwatches in that most modern versions (going back to probably the 1930s) tend to be anti-shock and anti-magnetic. The maim advantage of modern quartz movements, however, is obviously no winding and they are very, very accurate.

[@Larry660]

2:33: Those stripes did not exist during WWII.

[@davidinflorida6814]

Thank you. I was about to say that. Those are post-1947 USAF uniforms.

[@DavidLee-qe3rd]

Also the clips of watches bearing the "broad arrow" marking at the bottom of the dial show British RAF issue watches. The arrow signifies property of the UK Ministry of Defence (or War Department as it was called prior to 1971).

[@lonzo61]

The claim made that the potential success of this mission rested on one piece of equipment is absurd. The wrist watch was one of a number of pieces of equipment that made such missions possible over the vast expanses of oceans during WW2. And this one mission did not change the course of WW2, unless you're one of those "historians" who simply loves that overused phrase. Many, many events changed the course of the war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even so, not a bad mini-doc.

[@HistoryX]

It’s true, a wrist watch alone can’t change the course of history-unless it’s the new Apple Watch that's coming out with time travel capabilities! ⏳😉

[@lonzo61]

@@HistoryX Say, what's the big idea? Are you plugging for Apple now? Jeepers. You sold out, man! Me? I'm going to stick with my A-11, I tell ya.

[@AsaTrenchard1865]

Hello, Yamamoto 😁

[@lonzo61]

I didn't know that a wristwatch won WW2. I thought it was the M1 rifle, er, the Merlin engine, er, Bletchley Park, er, Winston Churchill, er, the T-34 tank, er, the P-51 Mustang, er, the DUKW, er, the jeep, er, microwave radar, er, the atomic bomb, er.......add whatever you like. It does become rather tedious, don't you think?

[@davidinflorida6814]

Add C-47 in there please. (You can see a couple of them at 4:01) My brother was a EC-47 pilot in Vietnam. He said he looked at the manufacturers plate on the different aircraft when he went to the flight deck and never flew one that wasn't older than he was!

[@lonzo61]

@@davidinflorida6814 How could I forget to add the venerable C-47?!? And that's an interesting note about your brother. I did not know about the EC-47, but I was aware of the gun ship (Spooky) version. (I just read about the EC version a moment ago.) The C-47 had many lives in its long history. There are estimates on how many are still in commercial service that vary, but it's amazing that there are any in that role.

[@andreaslehr1898]

I’d go for the DC-3. Ensures you have the stuff you need, where you need it when you need it. Wars are won by logistics. The best weapons do not matter when you do t have them when you need them.

[@merikatools568]

And your grandma's Honeypot cooze

[@haroldjohnson2041]

Compass and watch. Then next, a radio driction finder

[@guyh.4553]

Not much changed in the wristwatch from 1943 to 1990. My issued watch looked very close to the same

[@tomunderwood4283]

Could the planes draft off each other to get a longer range?

[@tomjohnson5700]

Odd the guy on the left at 2:32 is wearing Air Force stripes on his sleeve seeing that there was no US Air Force until 1947

[@davidfreiboth1360]

Great content. On nit to respectfully pick. To keep the historical discussions truly neutral it would be better to term the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a surprise attack rather than a "sneak" attack. I don't think I have ever heard the British attack on Taranto termed a sneak attack. In addition, when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 the tactic was universally praised by western observers. Referring to the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor as a "sneak" attack plays to conscious and unconscious racist regard for the "sneaky" Japanese. Thus, it really isn't a neutral term. And please don't go down the rabbit hole that the US and Japan were not in a state of war at the time of the attack. US intelligence knew perfectly well that a Japanese attack was very likely. Digressing into esoteric viewpoints on the diplomatic environment at the time of the attack is of no practical value if the goal is objectivity.

[@FactCheckerGuy]

@davidfreiboth1360: "it would be better to term the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a surprise attack rather than a "sneak" attack." The UK and Italy had been officially at war for several months when the British fleet struck Taranto. In contrast, the use of the term "sneak attack" is an appropriately derogatory way to label the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

[@merikatools568]

You should say "thrust" more often

[@arsenalroo]

This event did not in ANY way change the course of the war. At all. The task itself was not that big of a deal. Dead reckoning was a common thing using any decent watch.

[@superdave380]

How did the killing of Yamamoto change the course of the war? What would have happened if he wasn't killed?

[@aprilmay578]

Oh Brother! It is just a watch.

[@davidinflorida6814]

Wait. What? German flight crews used the A-11 wristwatch? That's who you're showing at 5:04. Come on, you can do better than that.

[@KaleemLmar]

What a 'movie', truly enjoyed it, however . . . luck doesn't seem on America's side anymore, avoid WW 3, at any cost.

[@rodneywilliams1154]

Why is this video so slow? Is this done on purpose to make the video longer? I played on double speed, it seemed totally fine. I would say that 3x would work, this video is oddly slow. Stupid, you have a good video. The video has a interesting story with good production value. Then the pacing. Jeez. How manipulative.

[@scinanisern9845]

The A11... sounds like it had a radium face.

[@ono147]

hands

[@scinanisern9845]

@@ono147 yep, hands too.

[@stevecooper2873]

As did nearly all the cockpit instruments.

[@RichRogerson-o4w]

Thanks to Charles Lindberg for his help in the war effort.

[@davidcrandall2415]

I read where he had given P-38 pilots advice on how to fly them to greatly extend their range. At first they didn't believe him, and so he had to show them how it could be done.

[@RichRogerson-o4w]

@davidcrandall2415 exactly what I mean.

[@ericvantassell6809]

Don't fall for clickbait. No wristwatch won a war ever. It may have contributed in a minor way but click away now and save 9:10.

[@awatt]

One did help create the British Empire

[@andrewallen9993]

The British navy could navigate accurately thanks to their watches, other navies could not.

[@gkauto1959]

Well it didnt win the war all by itself but in removing their best single commander from the field it demoralized them and subsequent commanders goofed every time they went up against the us Navy. So it shortened it since Yamamoto himself once gone left their leadership and command structure all but ruined. They didnt have anyone of his caliber to replace him and so lost the war quicker as a result.

[@johnfox2483]

Well ... - had Japan working radar at this time? - airplanes didn't have clocks in cockpits ? - there is always wind in air, which drift airplanes from its designed course and speed, great clock precision do not help at all. -Yamamoto could fly not very precisely. I wonder, how they synchronized watches - usually you can change minute, but not the second hand.

[@FactCheckerGuy]

Yes, Japan had working radar. Japan's radar deficiencies are sometimes exaggerated. Japanese scientists understood the theory of radar and knew that the British and Germans were applying it to good effect, but making quality sets in quantity was mostly a manufacturing problem.

[@ono147]

Hamilton didn't make WWII A-11's, Waltham, Elgin and Bulova, and they were only issued to Army Air Force Officers, not enlisted men, who didn't need to know time. This doesn't mean that anyone could go buy any watch they wanted.

[@miguelvaliente1475]

The Yamoto again

[@antaine1916]

The A-11 did not have lume on the hands and markers. The A-17, did, but that wasn't adopted until after the war.

[@ono147]

Yes they did, I have one of every make, including an early Elgin whiteface

[@williamthethespian]

The tease seemed to be a watch. When the show very very late got to the watch....nothing revealed itself as to what made it special. Disappointing..

[@MichChief]

I agree. I expected more about the watch itself. Who made them? (Hamilton, Eglin, anyone else?) How many were made? What design features made them so robust? Were they only issued to pilots? Officers? How long were they issued...do they have a successor? Oh well.

[@zillsburyy1]

what about the dirty dozen

[@lonzo61]

Those were used by Commonwealth pilots, mate.

[@stephencrane811]

Killing Yamamoto hardly changed the course of the war; Japan would have lost regardless

[@REVNUMANEWBERN]

SALUTE to these PATRIOTS, when men were men & women were women & they wasn't confused about it!

[@ono147]

get over it

[@AndrewLynch-w3e]

Bo gan ville. Not Boo gan ville.

[@abrahamlevi3556]

This type of flieger watch, no matter how accurate and reliable, cannot really replace a chronograph type watch--even a simple stopwatch when it comes to dead-reckoning navigation over the ocean. Over the ocean, naval aviators had a special radio homing device that they had used for homing toward or vectoring out from a carrier. Just google the YE-ZB homing system. Bear in mind that a carrier is not stationary like a checkpoint on a map for the purpose of calculating ETAs.

[@K7AAY]

hilarious use of post-war found footage.

[@philipbuckley759]

please stop the annoying music....

[@jimster32]

Poorly titled documentary. This is simply the oft-told tale of Operation Vengeance. If you’re looking for information on the designing, procurement, manufacture, deployment, or performance of the A-11, or even a primer on how it was used in aerial navigation in 1943, forget it. If the A-11 changed the course of WW2, nothing on that point is presented. (Since the course of the Pacific war was changed well before Admiral Yamamoto was killed.)

[@thebluegreengoose]

A documentary I saw. Pilot that shot down Yamamoto said he was clearing his guns. Unintended shot. Think about it.

[@HistoryX]

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know that!

[@stefanschutz5166]

A mission that changed the course of WW II. Hyperbolic nonsense. But certainly a feat.

[@HistoryX]

Totally get what you mean! History's got its flair for drama, but those wild missions really did shake things up!

[@timcameron9023]

a nothing story - this sounds A.I. generated

[@personnelente]

Get real: a tiny wristwatch did not win World War 2.

[@TillmanBaker]

Did not change the course of the war, Japan could never be successful

[@ap-zm3bl]

what a dumb background music, just blocked your channel

[@papalegbar2303]

HOW MANY GOT BACK?????

[@RichRogerson-o4w]

Thanks to Charles Lindberg for his help in the war effort.

[@lynnmcculloch-m4h]

❤❤❤❤❤ Roosevelt wouldn't let him head east toward germany