Wings of the Luftwaffe: Bf-109 "Legend"

[@Psilanderfan1884]

I loved watching this classic documentary series on Discovery Wings back in the 90’s. Alex Scott does a superb job with his narration!

[@jaggar28]

Its a shame that they cannot produce documentaries like this anymore :(

[@williampaz2092]

Moinul Hossain they CAN, they just WON’T!

[@kickassandchewbubblegum639]

way too woke today...and the uni party minions brainwashed are complete idiots...everyting in the west is going to hell...quality has no meaning anymore cuz there is no more quality of anything

[@sgt13echo]

when the history channel did history and this was my favorite episode of Wings Of the Luftwaffe

[@pilotsebastian]

I also enjoyed Wings of the Red Star and Modern Marvels. Sadly those shows will never be seen again on the History channel.

[@renardgrise]

Actually, WINGS was a Discovery Channel show... I used to watch marathons of Wings in the mid to late 90's ALL DAY while playing computer games. Ah... those were the days.

[@nallepuh6969]

But... But it WAS aliens I swear!

[@dankucker5973]

Ya remember tales of the gun? Almost as good as this.

[@vitiate5093]

Military channel and history were two different channels.

[@The_Honcho]

Never since has a more elegant weapon ever exited in human history. From the Emil to the Gustav and Kurfurst models, it was always the best looking and arguably best performing plane in the sky.

[@X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X]

What a gorgeous version of the first movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"!

[@olivertaltynov9220]

But very bad "placing."

[@jdmmike7225]

I'm extremely happy they use the correct designation of "BF" instead of the improper designation of "ME". Because the fact of the matter is Willy Messerschmitt did not take over Bayerische Flugzeugwerke aka BFW until 1938, 4 years after the 109 was designed & built, having previously been a shareholder and chief designer. Great video, thanks for uploading the series.

[@allin4395]

“This was a machine of which to beware!” Awesome. What a classic aircraft. I like the gun in the nose and how the gear came up unevenly.

[@Ellesmere888]

Excellent documentary. One of the best of the Wings series.

[@waynebrown616]

Love the 30mm cannon firing through the propeller hub.

[@williampaz2092]

If The History Channel still made series like this and real history documentaries I might still be watching television..

[@Gemineye77]

Ericsson Aircraft Collection in Madras , Oregon has an air worthy Bf-109 on display as well as a flyable FW-190 , KI-43 & P-47 among many others.

[@winfriedkloeser3244]

A problem the germans had was poor grade fuel. This limited the power that they could get out of there engines. Octane was only 84 compared to allied 105. This limited the amount of boost from the supercharger.

[@winfriedkloeser3244]

Hans jochim Marsaille had 158 kills in less than a year. Most of his kills were spits and hurricanes. The 109 was the favored aircraft for all the top aces. At the end of the war , the russians admited that the 109 was the hardest to shoot down. The russians also had spits, and they hated them.

[@charlesm7589]

It's more the pilot than the plane. He could have done just as well in any of the top aircraft of the day Spitfire, a Mustang, FW190 or a Corsair.

[@winfriedkloeser3244]

Fuel injection was a big plus on the 109’s behalf. Allowed an extra manoeuvre that others could not do.

[@adamfrazer5150]

Our History Channel had programs like this. Today on History Channel : The full history of Lizard People (zero irony implied) 😐

[@DarkWizard83]

23:34 "I prophesize that a great empire will be destroyed." In the end a great empire was destroyed - his own.

[@steveperreira5850]

Make the Fuhrer eat his own words, ha ha!

[@thomasbenck9525]

Just like Croesus and the Oracle of Delphi.

[@vitiate5093]

@Danny n well both were destroyed.

[@RENEBACON]

Messerschmitt Bf-109. Production of its prototypes began only at the end of 1934 and the first training flight of the prototype "Messeru" took place on May 28, 1935. The deadly fighting machine, represented by a single sample, was equipped with an English Rolls-Royce engine "Kestrel V". Wondering why English? Simply because German engines of this class were not yet available. That is why the British "comrades" rushed to the aid. At that time, England was the world's main exporter of weapons and military equipment ... However, not only the first prototype was equipped with a British engine. All serial Messerschmitts had these engines until German industry began production of its own Germany received a large number of patents from the American companies Pratt and Whitney, Douglas and the Bendix Corporation, and the "Junker-87" depth bomber was manufactured using exclusively American technology. In August 1934, the American oil giant Standard Oil bought 730,000 acres of land in Germany and built huge oil refineries that supplied the Nazis with oil. At the same time, the United States secretly provided Germany with state-of-the-art equipment for aircraft factories that soon began producing German aircraft. In 1941, when World War II was in full swing, US investment in Germany totaled $ 475 million, Standard Oil invested $ 120 million, General Motors $ 35 million, ITT $ 30 million, and Ford $ 17.5 million.

[@LeninovaPles]

Best documentary on Luftwaffe ever.

[@gdebruin82]

That closing credits music is so awesome!

[@ТимофейТимофеев-т9м]

Der Vater meines Cousins war fünf Jahre alt und ging 1941 mit seiner älteren Tante in einem Garten in der Nähe der Stadt Kolomna spazieren. Die BF-109 flog weg und eröffnete das Feuer. Die Frau fiel zu Boden und war mit einem Strohhut bedeckt, während der Junge um die Baustelle rannte, immer wieder mit einem Flugzeug zu ihr flog und das Feuer eröffnete. So lebte er für ein großes, teures Herz und versteckte sich vor unaufhörlichen Warteschlangen. Als das Flugzeug über die Frontlinie flog. Es gab Kugeln in der Linde, und er zeigte sie lange. Und seine Tante hatte einen undichten Hut. Aber das hat sie nicht berührt. So amüsierten sich die deutschen Asse.

[@FN_FAL_4_ever]

I’m surprised there was no mentioning of the Czechoslovakian built Avia S-199, powered by a Junkers Jumo 211 engine

[@JohnSmith-rw8uh]

the mule

[@juliusdream2683]

What a great video. The luftwaffe was an honorable organization besides the fat one as Goring was called by his men. Adolf “Dalfo” Gallant was a major asset to the luftwaffe who stayed out of politics more than any other branch . The waffen SS was not liked by 99% of the heroes of the luftwaffe. Jagsgeschwader 27 was one of the best unit’s. R.I.P. Franz Stigler.

[@ZeppelinAdventures25]

Jagsgeschwader 27 is where Marseille is from, too, right?

[@vitiate5093]

Most of the German military didn’t care for the nazis and their horse shit. The Luftwaffe was likely the most outspoken about it or showed it the most. A good chunk of the army weren’t hitler fans either same with the kriegsmarine.

[@drstevenrey]

15:01. No, the cannon was mounted behind the engine not on top. The barrel went straight thru the crankshaft. Brilliant, really. The 109 was eventually only beaten because it was designed in the early thirties and was not continually developed over the war years. Between 1935 and 1945 it only got from A to the G version, that is just seven major versions.

[@charlesm7589]

It most certainly was continually developed over the war years. They went all the way to a G model. It was simply an outdated airframe when compared to Spits and Mustangs or even the FW 190.

[@aydankhaliq2967]

Every time it shoots down an allied aircraft göring gets fatter

[@harrylarry4672]

Hey thats actully pretty clever joke there bud good stuff.

[@saider895]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the footage beginning at 21:36 is from the first day of Operation Barbarossa in the USSR, not Poland.

[@osiris_the_great6861]

Haider A you are right i think i see Russian planes

[@davidrobert1229]

Love this series.

[@peterclark4685]

"Pedants, pedants, everywhere, and all the thoughts did shrink, "Picking detailed nits from out the air, and historian hearts did sink."

[@threadworm437]

Rime of the Ancient Mariner 😉

[@adamfrazer5150]

I wonder what the average Pervetin dosage was for Luftwaffe pilots during the first few months....

[@markmitchell450]

The m 190 was around before many of the later developed planes the main rival was the spit they both had plus and minus points

[@DannyBoy777777]

@Joe Guitar Allegedly, yes. And the French briefly. They rebuilt some heavy tank units with the Panther until 1946.

[@peterclark4685]

6:00 "Tried to change the (working) system." Step 1 in the 'How to spot a Narcissist' manual.

[@cannoneer155mm]

As a side note, Bf 109's were Israel's first fighters used in the early days of the Israel's existence. They performed well against the Arab Air Forces.

[@Beemer917]

They didn't do so good against those same polish pilots once those poles had English airplanes to fly.

[@harrylarry4672]

What are you talking about?

[@harrylarry4672]

Just where did you come up with that you must be polish.

[@steveperreira5850]

Indeed come out those Polish pilots were the most Aggressive in the battle of Britain. A number of Polish pilots served In the American 56th fighter group and they shot down a lot of ME109’s. Gabreski was the leading American air to air is in the European theater, and as you probably know he was Polish.

[@cripplehawk]

6:06 *"WANKSTAIN!!!!!!!!"*

[@cindernubblebutt1340]

Fegelein. Fegelein. FEGELEIN!

[@garyrunnalls7714]

Surprised no mention of Hartman and Barkhorn, 352 and 301 kills.

[@mohammadnoori3914]

documentary is abut ME 109 and not BF 190.

[@TedSCSI]

21:37 Another WW2 myth, just before outbreak of the war Poles dispersed most of their planes among small (often improvised) airfields, only small amount of Polish planes were destroyed on the ground (btw. those movie shots showing attacks on a planes standing on the airfields are from "Barbarossa"). Another huge mistake is amount of planes which Luftwaffe lost during attack on Poland (21:55), less than 80 aircraft is far away from a real numbers, the number of confirmed Luftwaffe losses during September 1939 is around 247 - 258 (combat losses + accidents), one should add a significant amount of planes which simply wear out during that time.

[@WeeShoeyDugless]

He was referring to BF 109 losses and not total aircraft losses.

[@TedSCSI]

@@WeeShoeyDugless Still does not make sense. Here is a complete list of verified Luftwaffe loses during September campaign: - single seat fighters (bf109 + Ar68) - 56 (

[@nonyabiz9487]

Its not a Nazi plane or Hitler plane its a German plane made by the Messerschmitt company. It would be like calling the F-22 Raptor a George W. Bush made plane or the P-51 Mustang made by Capitalist Democrats.

[@rayyannavilafreda325]

Alright.. Let's start this again BF-109 or ME-109

[@ivandasty277]

It is time for producing a historical ducument about"history channel " itself. isn't it ?

[@MH-fb5kr]

So which is it… German or Spanish built… the last survivor?

[@cjmanson5692]

At the time this documentary was made, it probably was.

[@JoeOvercoat]

26:11 Mortal Combat

[@rahdobrack173]

18:35

[@1950dallas]

For The Discovery Channel

[@buckduane1991]

The narrator is wrong around the 8 minute mark. Germany didn't fall into the grip of right wing extremists, it fell into the hands of LEFT wing socialist extremists: the National Socialist People's Party (or "N.A.Z.I." Party as called by the British). Both socialism and fascism are left wing as they are both opposite of what is right.

[@jsalbano]

it's really that simple, big government= left, small government = right. also, for those who say the nazis were not socialist, ask Hugo Eckener how he liked it when the nazis stole the zeppelin company from him and proceeded to make idiotic decisions that led to disaster. Hugo Junkers was also forced out of his company for not matching the party line.

[@tortoisewerx]

the narrator is wrong on many details... the writers really need to check their facts

[@erospawn]

I see you caught that.. he said National Socialist party led by right wing zealots..

[@spaxspore]

100% correct. Right wing - is for less government intervention, more freedom. The nazi party was the complete opposite.

[@JamLeGull]

So I take it everyone in this thread believes that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a democracy, and a titmouse is... uh... something not safe for work. Read nazi speeches. Look at what they said. Regardless of your bizarre belief that right wing regimes want less government than left wing regimes on principle, actual politics and history works differently.

[@Italianstallion-v2f]

Can’t have a story where a bf takes down an allied pilot. Why should I believe it’s a good plane

[@mongomoonbladder8023]

They could have added that Spanish built 109s used Merlin engines.... Oh, the irony....

[@gabriellaroberts5090]

The video even says "Ironically powered by Rolls Royce engines." I'm thinking you wrote this trying to look smart. Fail lol.

[@kashyap4245]

Watch from 39:10 they have mentioned it.

[@mongomoonbladder8023]

@@gabriellaroberts5090 Ooh, missed that bit.😀

[@BusinessRaptor520]

Starts watching documentary on the bf109; talks about everything else possible and blatanly lies about only one still being air worthy. PASS

[@threadworm437]

At the time there was only 1, this is an old documentary

[@gretalind6590]

E har løst å heng me....

[@aydankhaliq2967]

Every time it shoots down an allied

[@egomaniac4392]

Fake ass 109 in the beginning, does not have the inverted engine

[@DubbleTwice]

Its a much better plane than the "BS-109". ... that one was terrible.

[@bogomir67]

What is a BS-109?

[@DubbleTwice]

(I'm joking)

[@olivert1922]

I get it! BS=Bullshit!

[@edwardjj4224]

It was good show how much the German pilots did as little they have haw long they have hold

[@williamjohnson4958]

Dubble Twice umm

[@drstevenrey]

I will forever and always be amazed at how badly any English Speaker can butcher any and all words from any other language. Laughing out loudly at every single: Woofwaffa and the Reichshtag, actually pronounced Reichs........Tag. Same problems with Kilometers. Kill...Ometers, when is actually is one thousand (Kilo) Meters.

[@charlesm7589]

I'm amazed that you are amazed. Why would one be expected to fluently speak a language that one does not speak? BTW, do non-English speakers butcher words from English and other languages? Of course they do.

[@benquinney2]

Stand-off

[@jorgegonzalez-or3ku]

england ☠☠☠strike 1st

[@Nothingschanged]

Other than the rubbish commentating, the footage is well done.

[@vitiate5093]

Cope harder

[@Unreallarrysniper]

How can u be half a religion.can u be half catholic.if your parents happen to be catholic .you aren't born being catholic.noone has ever been born Jewish or catholic or Muslim.that happens once u pick an organized religion. So Hitler never killed Jewish hee killed humans some followed judisim some were people their ancestors happen to follow judisim.and they automatically were also followers of judisim.how stupid are we.to think people's choice of how they follow God.is supposed to be their race.uh the race is human.theres only one.used to be 2 Neanderthal.that is another race.adaption attributes to climatic conditions doesn't dictate race.as about as much as the religion thy follow.hello I'm a catholic race person.duh

[@hammmodjabeer7278]

The best fighter in World War II.

[@williampaz2092]

Hammmod Jabeer I have to disagree. Speaking just about American Fighters I submit the P-38, P-47 and above all the P-51 were better.

[@harrylarry4672]

Hands down

[@harrylarry4672]

@@williampaz2092 all of those came after the 109.

[@harrylarry4672]

Germany was way ahead they were done with prop planes way way way before the West. So if you want to submit later planes I will submit the 262 which was way better

[@steveperreira5850]

Dear Hammond: certainly the most numerous produced, and certainly a great fighter, but hardly can it be said to be better than long range fighters such as the P 51 Mustang, or other tough Fighters such as the P 47 thunderbolt. Each particular aircraft has its limitations. The ME109 was easy to shoot down, lightly armed, and very very short range. I guess that works when you are on the defensive over your own territory. Certainly they did not perform stellar in the battle of Britain against the spitfires. The range limitation alone prevented them from dominating. God only knows which aircraft was the ultimate fighter of World War II, since there are so many complicating factors. I think on the defensive the ME109 was a great Fighter, I just don’t see how it was over all the best fighter since it was an old design and was by the wars and pretty much left behind as a super heavy, super small, super fast, but less maneuverable aircraft. It was running out of bells and whistle‘s before the war ended. I personally believe that the Focke Wulf 190 Was an all-around far superior fighter, and this documentary makes that claim. It also makes the claim that many a pilot preferred the ME109.

[@tim76239]

The narrator starts off this full of crap. No one actually thinks this was the best fighter of the war, not even your most ardent schnitzel eating Bavarian Nazi. As far as piston fighters it was clearly totally out classed by the P-51, with kill ratios est. between 11:1 kill ratio to a 19:1 . The ME-262 could make this claim based on actual performance specs but not this plane even with it's later varients. Ironically the American volunteers for the Israel air force used it and had nothing good to say about it compared to the Mustangs and Thunderbolt they drove in WWII

[@MrBritdog2]

tim76239 Nope. read Bob fighter by Walter Day, and first to the last, the p 51 got almost all their kills on the ground, landing etc and outnumbering them 100 to 1 or more in the air, according to junkpedia, Germany only lost 26,000 single aircraft, count allied fighter losses about 80,000

[@tim76239]

BS The p-51 outclassed the 109. The aircraft were comparable in most key areas with the 51 being faster and having a higher service ceiling while the 109 was a tighter turning craft.. Both well armed, canons on the 109 were designed to take out B-17s good for a short fight but not for protracted dog fighting. But With all the stats if you show me a 109 that can make it to Britain, fight for an hour then make it back You win. Total range on the 51 was nearly 3 times that of the 109. If you can't take the fight to the enemy you have a really nice plane but not a true offensive weapon. AS far as most of the kills were on the ground this stat is dubious at best.The Conservative kill ratios of 11-1 do not include ground craft.( the 19-1 numbers I believe are highly inflated) Yes air to ground combat was part of the mission, the primary mission was to be at altitude protecting bombers. 80k losses would have to include all theaters all aircraft, all alies and there was only a small % that were p-51s I do not need to read one book when I have studied WWII for 40 years. However I can understand your confusion MODERN GAMERS tend to think the video game represents actual combat and the internet is now dominated by Gamers discussing their air victories LOL

[@TheLeadSled]

tim76239 I always thought the FW-190 was a much better plane overall then the BF-109 as far as German Fighters from WW2. I agree the P-51 was the overall best fighter of WW2, but my personal favorite will always be the Vought F4U Corsair, just love those gull wings.

[@tim76239]

I agree and I think allied pilots would agree to, the 190 was feared more. The 262 was a break thru but had lots of issues......I grew up watching ba ba black sheep I loved the F4u

[@romanace3432]

tim76239 the k-4 variant performed better than the mustang

[@mongomoonbladder8023]

They could have added that Spanish built 109s used Merlin engines.... Oh, the irony....

[@markmitchell450]

Never knew that

[@juniperberry4295]

Pleased to see someone else saw that.

[@aaronseet2738]

The narrator did mention that.

[@mongomoonbladder8023]

@@aaronseet2738 Fair enough, I must have missed that bit.

[@RENEBACON]

And should added the production of its prototypes began only at the end of 1934 and the first training flight of the prototype "Messeru" took place on May 28, 1935. The deadly fighting machine, represented by a single sample, was equipped with an English Rolls-Royce engine "Kestrel V". Wondering why English? Simply because German engines of this class were not yet available. That is why the British rushed to the aid. At that time, England was the world's main exporter of weapons and military equipment ... However, not only the first prototype was equipped with a British engine. All serial Messerschmitts had these engines until German industry began production of its own Germany received a large number of patents from the American companies Pratt and Whitney, Douglas and the Bendix Corporation, and the "Junker-87" depth bomber was manufactured using exclusively American technology. In August 1934, the American oil giant Standard Oil bought 730,000 acres of land in Germany and built huge oil refineries that supplied the Nazis with oil. At the same time, the United States secretly provided Germany with state-of-the-art equipment for aircraft factories that soon began producing German aircraft. In 1941, when World War II was in full swing, US investment in Germany totaled $ 475 million, Standard Oil invested $ 120 million, General Motors $ 35 million, ITT $ 30 million, and Ford $ 17.5 million.