I had to bail out of my WW2 vintage 1945 TBM Avenger at low altitude over the White Mountains over Arizona in 2018, and I can tell you it is hard to get your body out with the air stream forces pinning you against the rear canopy side - (STRAIGHT AND LEVEL), and then once out, not to get hit by the tail, I was lucky to survive it. (N337VT).
The fact that you failed to mention you had a passenger with you makes me believe you are lying and just read the accident report a couple months ago. Now I could be incørrect but I just have a hard time believing Ronald Carlson has a CZcams channel about forgotten dead people.
As a teen I read the book of french ace Pierre clostermann. He described bailing out by releasing canopy, unfasten, hive yourself up and with your foot slam the stick forward. The dive would eject you of the plane. He was shot down 3 times and survived the war. He flew English typhoon and tempest
Spitfire and Tempest. The typhoon was only for conversion. But strangely enough I have all books from Clostermann and he never mentions bailing out, although he did. Clostermann passed away in 2006. If I ever had an Idol in my life, it was him.
My father bailed from his 17 in Feb '43, after hitting Wilhelmshaven, POW till wars end. Told me he later learned that his crew was thought to be the first full crew to successfully all survive bailing. One of the few facts dad shared, spoke very little of any part of the war...
Old Professor Rodgers at KSU was a waist gunner in a B-17. When their plane was hit by flak, it immediately went into a steep dive and they were held to the floor by the g-force and couldn't move. The fuselage broke between the wing and the tail and they(waist gunners) were flung out and clear of the plane around 6000 ft. They were the only two survivors of a crew of ten. They were lucky to come down just inside allied lines.
Damn. I shudder at imagining how the eight other crewmembers must have felt knowing, seeing the ground and their death was nearing and they couldn't do anything to get out.
@@Briselance- For sure for the Ball Turret gunner and the Tail gunner. Their plane took a big hit forward so he never knew how many guys were killed instantly.
So he and the other waist gunner were wearing their parachutes before they got hit then I assume? I guess they were flying a B17G Flying Fortress where the waist gunner positions were staggered, because on the preceding models, the positions weren't staggered so they'd often bump into each other, and thus they usually didn't wear their parachutes because it got too cramped.
@@Nghilifa Yes, you are correct on both assumptions. The defensive gunners had discarded the armored flak vests and wore the lighter electrically heated suits. All of that being tossed around, stripped them of O2 mask, goggles, electric cords and gloves. It was at the time of the Battle of the Bulge so there was snow on the ground.
Even though most people thought the "car doors" on the P-39 and P-63 were hard to bail out of because they open against the windstream, they were actually some of the easiest aircraft to bail out of. Inside the cockpit, there was an emergency door jettison, which took the door off at the hinges. Then all you had to do was roll out onto the wing and you were out.
A dear friend of our family was a Canadian pilot flying out of England in WWII. He flew Halifax bombers & converted to Lancasters for his last two missions. He celebrated his 99th birthday this past August (2021). He's still very sharp. He told me they were not trained in parachute jumping. The only jump he ever made was over the Lake District of Carlisle in Cumbria (August 1944) on his 17th trip. They'd run out of fuel, as his navigator had missed a diversion signal to another airfield. Our friend was the last to leave the bomber. He recalls swinging in one direction after catching wind & may have completed a swing in the other before hitting the ground. He also told me he personally knew of pilots who, though uninjured in an aircraft that was crippled & going down, refused to leave their seats because there were wounded crew-mates aboard who could not bail out. Gives me chills whenever I think about that.
My grandfather bailed out 5 times, broke his skull once, when the. Ceiling of his Messerschmidt didn't detach and the ejector seat struck it. He was a test pilot for Heinkel, Junkers and Messerschmidt.
The ‘ejector seat’ of your grandfather’s Messerschmitt? Which Messerschmitt fighter was that? I’m puzzled cause I have never heard of any Messerschmitt war time aircraft using ejection seats. Also I was under the impression that test pilots flew for one design bureau only; for example the famous Fritz Wendel flew exclusively for Messerschmitt from 1939 to 1945 without flying for other designers. What is your grand fathers name?
@@antartis73 I could be wrong about the plane, since I heard this when I was a small child. His name was Gustav Reisinger, he worked for Junkers, Heinkel and he definitely tested the Messerschmitt jet fighter near the end of the war. He lived in Brusendorf(Schloss Brusendorf) in Königs Wusterhausen near Berlin(formerly in the DDR, Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Where the family fled before the wall could be built. He worked as a Porsche dealer for a while near Hamburg, but drank himself to death, because the Allied occupational government wouldn't allow Germans to fly, using Dutch pilots instead, like at Lufthansa). What he said was that the ejection seat went off after he triggered it, but the top/ceiling(I forgot the German word he used)wouldn't detach, so his head banged against it, cracking his skull(the German word he used was Schaedelbasisbruch, that's what the doctor called it). I still have the picture he had of the Me Jetplane without markings, he kept all the time. He also stayed in Rosenheim, Bavaria, after escaping from Berlin. When my mom was born, her Godfather was Ernst Udet, another pilot my grandfather was close with. I hope this helps your research. My mom threw away his briefcase with his documents/awards over my protests(I was only a young boy then). There was also a pic of him with other pilots and "you know who" with initials A.H. but some embarrassed family member cut A.H. out of it, maybe for fear of reprisals? That's all I can remember.
@@antartis73 I just looked up WW2 German planes with ejector seats on Duck Duck Go. It mentions that Heinkel had ejector seats. So it could have been in one of their planes. He worked there also(as I mentioned before). I saw you left a comment, but I can't see it here. How's the research going? I haven't thought about all that until I saw this video. I'm sure you know much more about this stuff than me. 👍👍💯
@Andy Metternich @antartis73 Please see - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_162 See the section on 'Design' which says this production aircraft was fitted with an ejection seat. Additionally you'll see the link to the earlier He 219 Night Fighter from 1942. If you dig about into the history of the medical experiments eventually it will be uncovered subjects were taken from the concentration camps, checked over for physical health, then strapped into the early ejection seats which were fired out by explosive charges, and tested to death to find out the best ways of ejecting pilots the fastest and safest ways, so they survived. Other experiments conducted by the Luftwaffe were tried by immersing people into icy cold water and finding out the best life supporting designs of life vests. I'll leave you to find the research and your imagination into how they worked that out.
@@alexwild4350 well, granddad wasn't in Auschwitz, but a test pilot. Interesting about the Heinkel plane. He didn't mention what plane the accident happened in(I thought it was a Messerschmitt because of the jet fighter pic he had). It could have been the Uhu🦉 or another Heinkel model(like the Volksjaeger?).
The sole survivor of my uncle's Lancaster bomber crew bailed out and landed in a German field in the middle of the night. He was found by a group of German civilians and one soldier. The civilians started to kick him to death, but the soldier stopped them. A second member of the crew bailed out but did not survive.
The British Lancasters were notorious for having a bail out hatch that was too small to easily jump out of. I read one statistic that only about 15% of Lancaster crew that were shot down bailed out successfully. The fact that they mostly flew at night also made bailing out more difficult.
@@gandalfgreyhame3425 Agreed. I have seen the same information about the survival percentage and undersized escape hatch. The survivor from my uncle's crew bailed out of the rear door, but that had its own hazards, such as the risk of being hit by the tailplane, or being doused in burning fuel if the wing tanks were hit.
I’ve bailed out of a glider that fell apart mid-air. I can tell you it’s fraught. Now everything inside your cockpit now tries to stop you getting out. That is if the aircraft’s g loading doesn’t prevent you getting out. Even once you are out, you are still not safe as bits of airborne wreckage can still take you out. I also question whether a stricken aircraft is controllable.
" I also question whether a stricken aircraft is controllable." Quite a vast question, even for civilian situations. I guess it depends on how badly damaged the aeroplane is, what parts are damaged, what the weather is like around the plane. And on the pilot's condition/status, of course.
Every time I was in an airplane or helicopter, I never had a parachute. There were seven of us in an old Seahorse helicopter when a rotor blade snapped off. Fortunately we were only six feet off the deck so we didn't get anything but minor injuries. You never saw guys get out of a helicopter so fast!!! Probably only 1/3 of the time, the bomber pilot could turn on the auto-pilot and the crew could bail out per the manual. What caused your glider to fall apart?
Old wooden glider, or massive overspeed and flutter? AFAIK most new fiberglass/carbon composite gliders are pretty hard to kill with g force alone, either have to make them flutter with overspeed and hard control inputs or do something silly as slam the variable geometry flaps/wölbklappen fully positive at high speed....
If I recall the story right my dad's best buddy (P51 pilot in the Pacific during WWII) had to bail out and got something (I forget what) caught and had to climb back into the cockpit and bail out again. Must of been terrible.
"had to climb back into the cockpit and bail out again." :-O :-S It **must** have been terrible, you say. Quite the understatement for this prime PTSD-material. :-P
I was going to say.....about 15 years ago, we had an old P-38 pilot visit our plant on Veteran's Day. He told a story about the time he had to bail out......& it involved rolling the plane over onto its back so he could drop out.
I've also read the technique of applying full nose-down trim while forcing the aircraft to stay level and crouching on the seat, then suddenly letting go of the stick and jumping out of the aircraft helped by the forward momentum of the plane diving. Quite a scary way to leave an aircraft!
Maybe another hazard hasn't been pointed out is landing using uncontrollable parachute- round , not like modern winglike. So pilot after missing death in the air could meet it unfortunately in some trees, pond, river or due to strong wind. Great video👍
The German jet fighter He 280, which was only produced in small series, was the first aircraft in the world to receive an ejection seat. On January 13, 1943, Captain Helmut Schenk operated the ejection seat of his He 280 during a test flight at the Rechlin test site after the aircraft had become uncontrollable due to icing; this was the first emergency ejection in the history of aviation. Schenk was uninjured; the He 280 crashed into a forest. The world's second emergency ejection also took place in Germany: On July 15, 1943, Captain Hans-Joachim Pancherz, a test pilot for Junkers, had to eject from a Junkers Ju 290 at Lärz (Rechlin) after parts of the aircraft broke off at top speed. The first aircraft with an ejection seat fitted as standard was the German night fighter Heinkel He 219, developed from 1940 onwards. The first known double ejection was also made from such an aircraft on April 11, 1944, when the pilot, Corporal Herter, and his gunner, Private Perbix, managed to save themselves by using the ejection seat. All newly developed aircraft of the German Luftwaffe from 1942 onward were planned with ejection seats, such as the Do 335, in which the tail propeller could be dangerous for ejecting pilots, and the so-called "Volksjäger" He 162. In all, ejection seats saved the lives of more than 60 German crew members during World War II.The ejection seat is a German invention.
I remember my dad telling me a story about a bailout where the pilot reached into the slipstream and his arm broke from the wind force. Now the pilot had to reach over with his good arm and pull his flapping broken arm back into the plane before bailing out. It's stories like that you remember. He said it was easier and safer to roll the plane over and bail straight out, depending on other circumstances that is.
Yes, a the uncle of a friend of mine was in the Croatian Air Force and lost two fingers opening up the canopy of his Messerschmidt to bail out over the Austrian border.
The 109 had an emergency release handle witch jettison the whole canopy. This feature is not included in the sim IL-2 BOS but is in IL-2 Cliffs of Dover and DCS. I think this is why some people online get this wrong
A great book about WWII English Bomber crews is "Men of Air", by Kevin Wilson. It has many first hand accounts of bailing out of RAF Bombers, usually over occupied Europe. Two which vividly stuck in my mind... One, by the pilot. As you mention, the pilot had to hold the aircraft while the rest of the crew bailed out. In this case, the plane exploded while the other crew had started to bail out, and he was thrown out, and was able to open his parachute. AIR, non of the others survived. He was the only pilot to tell his story in this book. Two. A crew member (navigator or wireless operator, as I recall) was moving from his position to the door, and he saw through a window the flames of the engines. He thought to himself "This is the only time in my life I'll ever see, close-up, burning engines on a plane at night". He took a few extra seconds to take in the sight, before continuing to bail out. WOW!!!
Thanks for the interesting video. A close family friend was shot down during an air raid on Oldenburg. I asked him about it but didn't get much information other than that he was able to parachute and was trapped in a tree until the German soldiers captured him. He spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. I believe only two or three from his B-24 crew survived and six (including the pilot and copilot) died. I am grateful that he survived as his friendship was an important one.
My uncle bailout from his PAF P-51D the first is step is not panic. Stir your plane away from civilian residence. and perform a perfect push-off. One of Germary 's highest ace pilot died from an imperfected push off I'm certain all pilots aware .
I flew in a 2 seat Boltbee Spitfire for 65th birthday. Much emphasise was placed on safety and how to bale out. The instruction I most remembered was to dive out and aim for the trailing edge of the wing!
Some canopies would actually jam if a pilot tried to open it. The famous P-47 Thunderbolt pilot Robert Johnson faced this. His 47 was hit by Focke-Wulf 190 cannon fire, and his plane entered the death spiral. He was able to slam down the rudder and level the wings, but his canopy jammed when trying to bail out. He then noticed that the plexiglas shattered in some areas. He tried to squeeze through, but his parachute snagged. He decided to stay in the plane. During that time, he was intercepted by who-is-believed-to-be Egon Mayer. His plane took several hits, but it still remained aloft. Mayer ran out of ammunition, and he left the American alone. Johnson would make it back to base.
"Once you were out and floating down you could watch the dogfight" yea right LOL, not only a few were shot in there shoots but a lot were murdered in there shoots, war was war. The graphics were pretty good on this vid :)
" a lot were murdered in there shoots" A lot? It happened, that much is true. But how would you know there were lots murdered in their chutes? "war was war." No. That wasn't war. That was murder.
@@Briselance Just listen to some of actual WW2 military interviews from soldiers that were actually there, their were enemy fighters that would shoot at the bomber crews as they were floating down and they would be swinging from the bullets hitting them. Coming from a 90 year old vet I would say it was true.
1st plane I ever flew in was a T6. When the pilot told me that if we had to bail out , to dive down or the tail would cut me in half. I thought, what am I doing here. Was a great flight
From a Me109 (if you still have some control!) - get rid of the canopy, undo your seat harness, put a foot on the top of the joystick and ... kick REALLY hard. Read from the memoirs of a Luftwaffe pilot....
A friend of mine lost her father during World War Two after he strafed a German airfield in France. He did manage to jump but struck the tail. Ironically the P 51 was named after her in as much as she was a new born at the time. He was an ace at the time and like the vast majority of other P51 pilots he was shot down by ground fire.
This could have been a how to film back in the thirties and forties it was so well done. Great editing and the clips were awesome. Johan mentioned the Typhoon's car door, same as the P-39, don't want to think about that. I would like to see another how hard was it video, maybe a bombing run, torpedo attacks or dive bombing, maybe landing a fully loaded glider in a meadow. Excellent work as always, glad to see the sponsors and the sub numbers climbing. Cheers.
Well one point not mentioned for the bomber crews was that the turrets were pretty small, and in the British designs at least the gunners had to put on their chutes before jumping. They also had to contend with very small hatches in Lancasters. Only about 1 in 7 Lancaster crew survived being shot down.
@@kellybreen5526 I am hoping he might do a video on the bomber crews, later on and put that information in it. Very good point. I have read survivor stories from Lancaster crew who had to bail out, can't even imagine. Cheers.
Speed is the great opponent to bailing out. It was incredibly simple in WWI, assuming you had that option. World War II was tough, but lacked the G-forces we face today. That's why we have much better ejection systems. If you remember in the Iraq war our captured pilot(aviator). He had been 'roughed up' facially; later we learned, that was actually the signs of a high-speed bailout...
One thing pilots did to help them get out. Was when they were ready they push the control stick hard forward wit their feet. The negative G force helped throw them free. Another danger of not being able to bail out was being in a high speed dive. The slip stream would just pin you halfway out of the plane.
I think I read it somewhere, but if I remember correctly on occasions where the track for the canopy was damaged and couldn't roll it back you were screwed. I think of that scene in Dunkirk when the British pilot had ditched in the water and couldn't get the canopy open.
No mention about how hard it was for rear fuselage gunners in British bombers to escape once their " kite" was hit ( on the Lanc , they couldn't even fit into the cramped gunnery area with their parachute , the gunner had to leave to parachute inside the fuselage , and close the door between him and the " quad" gunnery position . When the Lanc was hit , the gunner had to somehow open the door , put the parachute on and try and find his way to the bomb bay , OR grab his parachute , turn the gun position , and exit into the sky , all the while as the bomber fell to the ground - a death sentence for many either way )
I met a Lancaster gunner who told me the story of his bailout over Belgium. Normally one would regard the fuselage breaking open as catastrophic, but in this case it probably saved his life. He was also fortunate to have survived captivity.
Good grief ... are you kidding me?? Jumping out of a burning fighter plane at 2000' ?? I have trouble getting out of the tub. Hats off to these men. heroes.
With the DH98 Mosquito, bailing out of the starboard door puts you right next to the prop, which the pilot may or may not be able to stop; though you had the option of going out the top.
I’ve been inside two WW II vintage aircraft: a C-47 and a PBY. I found exceeding difficult to bail out from aircraft like these, which are full of bulkheads, parts protruding, equipment, etc. Now add the urgency of bailing out, a possible spin, the G forces, possible darkness and wounds and the equipment you’re wearing, mask, goggles, flak vest, Mae West, etc plus the chute itself. I think it was a miracle every time any one managed to get out in time. In the PBY I visited, I banged my head and knees several times and she was parked.
America, Britain, & Germany used Irvin Airchute styled parachutes. Anyone that used one was eligible to become a member of the "Caterpillar Club." Germans included, though none applied.
Nice anecdote. :-) The German aircrews and former aircrews were probably not too eager to meet with former enemies, who could still have harboured hard feelings against them. And even without such hard feelings, interactions could have been, well, awkward, at least at first.
Yeah. The Japanese also had an AA battery at some park in Tokyo because the trees held the spirits of their ancestors. Guns that were desperately needed elsewhere. That is their wacky mentality.
I served with 3rd Battalion Rangers. During my time at jump school & with my Battalion, we jumped out of planes countless times, but you never just fall out or drop straight down. The winds are so powerful, that you get sucked out & then slammed to the side, so the animation showing the pilot jumping out of his cockpit & going straight down is pretty unrealistic. He'd more than likely slide against the side of his plane as he got hit by the winds towards his horizontal stabilizer maybe just missing it or bumping some part of his body or head. Many times we got slammed to the side then hit against the C130 on our way down before our chutes deployed. . .
I think the situation of the bomber crews was more difficult. A lot of them didn't wear their parachute during the mission they had to unconnected the heating of their suits, leaf their station, some tried to change for proper shoes instead the insulated things they wore instead, than they had to grep their parachute find an exit door and jump out. AFAIK there where differences in American and British planes, the US planes had some additional doors that could be used to enter the plane and to bail out, the British planes had not (or less) so it was more to luck if they managed to jump in time.
The Fairey Swordfish served with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, not the RAF. Also, it wasn’t constructed of ‘canvas and wood’. It had an all metal airframe covered in doped linen and aluminium panels. The Bf-109 had a canopy jettison, the pilots who bailed out did NOT swing the canopy out on its hinges.
The BE 109's cockpit was very heavy and hard to open even under ordinary conditions . Let alone when under high G forces or being wounded . I only flew light aircraft and gliders . In the glider we always had a chute , but I never had to use it . We had a D shaped handle on the left side . And were told not to use the right hand to open it , but always the left . Or your twisting your body would tangle the lines . I do not know if this is true or no . But I wouldn't care to test it for real ! A second point which amazed me . I was told by a parachute packer , ( ours had to be repacked twice a year ). Was provided , you could get the chute open, it would save you from 400 feet !
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Very well done. The B-17 was a death trap when trying to bail. Most of the men could not reach an exit once the plane began to spin because of all the small hatches and doorways in the craft.
I had a distant relative who died bailing out from a WW2 Hawker Typhoon. It suffered engine failure and he bailed out over the sea and was last seen struggling in the sea and sadly drowned. One theory is he hit the tail on the way out and might have been injured. Sad how he died in an avoidable tragic accident and not from combat.
I have an uncle who flew Spitfires for the Canadian Air Force. He was shot down twice. In the case of thee Spit he said he release his harness rolled the plane over on its back and simply let gravity do the rest as he fell out of the cockpit.
My grandfather was one of only a handful of men who managed to safely bail out of a P-38. The engine caught fire at low altitude, and he had to get out. His experience helped write the manual on bailing from the Lightning. The last time he told the story he said he was just going fast enough to get pulled under the elevator instead of hitting it.
Good video. Your discussion implies that ejection is a walk in the park. Pull the handle and all is safe and serene. I trained on and flew on Martin Baker and North American ejection seats. The training was extensive and the idea that one could simply pull the go handle and experience a no risk aircraft evacuation, (combat or non-combat), is far wide of the mark. Sitting on a bomb (ballistic) or a rocket seat is a bit sobering. Do a video on ejection seat aircraft egress.
I had a distant relative who died bailing out from a Hawker Typhoon. It suffered engine failure and he bailed out over the sea and sadly drowned. One theory is he hit the tail on the way out. Sad how he died in a tragic accident and not from combat
I believe you are incorrect about pilots generally frowning on shooting down pilots who have parachuted. I believe it was standard practice by the Japanese to shoot down American pilots who have bailed out.
My neighbor, Wally King, flew a P47 Thunderbolt over Europe during the war and talked about his experience having to bail out after his plane was hit with flak and caught fire over western Germany. I asked him how many times he had practiced using a parachute during his training and he said, "zilch" The first time he ever used a parachute was when his plane was on fire and going down. Due to the counterclockwise rotation of the propeller, he said the were instructed to jump out the right side of the plane as otherwise they would be blown back towards the plane. He also said on his first attempt, the force of the wind threw him back into his seat. On his next try, now less than a thousand feet up, he climbed up on his seat and jumped upward toward the right side as hard as he could. He remembers tumbling around and then ending up with upside down with his right leg caught in the shroud lines. He was surprised his parachute had opened as he didn't remember pulling the ripcord. The next thing he recalled was how quiet it was drifting towards the ground. The silence didn't last as soon he heard something that sounded like bees and realized it was the locals shooting at him. He said he rocked his parachute side to side to make himself a harder target. His story can be seen on CZcams: czcams.com/video/cnXtc4lrWdo/video.html
The Dh Mosquito had a escape hatch on the top of the canopy and another escape hatch below the cockpit. My cousin was thrown out of a Halifax, when it blew up over Duisburg.
Pappy boyington had a great story about his bailout. I don't think he opened the canopy but performed a radical manuver which after unbuckling harness propelled him through the canopy
I remember my first "air experience flight" in the Air cadets, Climbing into that DeHavilland Chipmunk with an old WW2 chute swinging below my 14 year old arse made me feel like Bob Stanford tuck !!!! Heady days indeed !!!
Me too. At RAF Finningley and RAF Church Fenton. I remember the Chipmunks canopy slided backwards on a rail or there was the most smallest pane on glass that could be popped off the left hand side of the canopy. The engine was started by something similar to blank shotgun cartridges and the wing was made from canvas with a thin black walkway. Interestingly a Chipmunk still flies today at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby.
@@notmenotme614 Aye, all exactly as I remember too, I took my first flights at the then RAF Turnhouse outside Edinburgh, and flying in a brilliant blue sky over the the Forth Bridge... unforgettable for a 14 year old lad. "you have control"....... "I have control sir" !!!
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 I remember the VHS video we had to watch as a safety briefing . And Chipmunk being a surprisingly aerobatic aircraft. Last night I had a look online and it’s interesting that some can be still found for sale, if only I had the money.
@@notmenotme614 Bang on about its aerobatic capabilities, not me. At another camp (at RAF Valley on Anglesea this time) the pilot was up for a bit of fun, and asked me if I had a strong constitution (imagine asking that of a kid today?..... consti..... what?). Eagerly I gave a "yes, give it your best shot" sort of reply, and he commenced into a variety of barrel rolls, loops and stall turns. I managed to hold my breakfast coco pops down, but it impressed on my young mind how easily the disorientation gripped hold of you, as the horizon flipped every way imaginable, and the sensation of the G forces as your arms suddenly weighed 3 times their normal weight. What an experience for a young kid, it really made me "feel" the BoB stories I used to read as a lad. I have to laugh in thinking back, as nowadays I feel nauseous if I so much as go on the teacups at the fair !!! All the best , thanks for the trip down "memory lane" Not me!!!
Hans-Joachim Marseille wasn't the only one who was hit by the Messer's tail. Lt. Tibor Tobak, a Hungarian Bf-109 pilot describes how his best friend, Lt. Cserny bailed out of a Messer in 1945, and only realized he lost a leg when he was already hanging on the parachute. His life was saved by some SS soldiers, but his leg was gone forever. It was cut off by the tail.
fighter pilots always used their parachutes as seat cushions in WWII. American bomber crews had one that they could clip onto a harness that they wore, and often did not actually have the parachute itself on themselves but just the harness. If they had to bail out they had to grab the parachute from where ever it was stored, clip it on and get out.
It was the same for the rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber. His turret was so small and cramped that the gunner could not fit inside with his parachute, his chute was stored on a rack further along the fuselage. If the bomber was shot down he had to swivel the turret and open the turret doors so he could get back into the fuselage, pick up his chute, clip it on, then make his way back to the turret, turn the turret 90 degrees to the side and fall out the back of the turret
My Father flew in a B-17 during the war. He never had to jump but came close once. He said that they typically flew at over 25,000 feet and were told to make sure not to open their chute until they were low enough to breath.
I think your interpretation of the Japanese pilots is not that accurate, rather something you read in a book. If you go to the kamikaze museum in Kyushu you will see first hand accounts of just how scared they were. They did their duty (according to culture) but they suffered emotionally pre flight and shared it in journals and letters home (subtly). They were given parachutes in SOME cases but this was a token gesture as they were told directly what was expected of them even if they were just boys.
A friend of mine’s father was on the Swordfish design team and ended his career on an air to air missile design team. Amazing to think that the speed of development of combat aviation from the 1910s to the 1960s.
Most non pilots cannot imagine an immediate exposure to a 200mph slipstream. Just open cockpit flying a stearman at 100mph the thought of getting out with any thing other than an absolute struggle is unimaginable. Of coarse adrenalin working thru a 20 year olds body would certainly help, but your mind's surrender to the physically overwhelming circumstances of the moment might mean the difference between life and the here after.
Theres a video of a pilot bailing from a p51 at an air show. If you type p51 skyraider crash it should come up. He got out really low only breaking his elbow on the tail. Also the beaufighter wasnt a popular one for bailing, the props were very close to the cockpit.
Of all the video on that subject the one that horrified me the most, was trying, yes I said --trying-- to safely bail out of the tail gunner position in a Lancaster.
Yep they couldn’t fit inside the turret with the parachute, they had to hope the turret still worked so he could swivel it around to get back into the Lancaster fuselage and get to his parachute, then clip it on, then exit the aircraft. I think some had to get back into the turret, rotate it 90 degrees to the side and fall out the back of the turret.
one of the best fighter pilots, hans joachin Marseille dies in a bail out, and adding to your video, Another reason why the Japanese pilots did not carry parachutes was because it was a hindrance to them inside the cabin, this was said by saburo sakai
P-39's would be easy. They had car style doors on each side that you could release, and they would fall from the plane. I have a strange, inexplicable love for that aircraft.
9:10 I do not think the tail was the relevant thing in P-38. It does not matter how wide the tail is. You can hit only the part that is behind you. The relevant part is the position is the cockpit relative to the wing. On planes like Spitfire it was at the back of the wing. On P-38 it was at the front of it.
Hard or not all that hard. Sometimes gunfire jammed a canopy shut. Sometimes control was lost and G forces pinned you in place. Sometimes you hit the tail section. If you had altitude, could open the canopy, and had some control of your plane your chances were pretty good. However, that's a lot of ifs.
I was told that many pilots would roll the aircraft over and put their boots on the control stick, the downward motion would cause the pilot to be thrown from the aircraft by the g forces of the planes movement.
Baker, of the Martin Baker aircraft company was killed test flying an aircraft that they were developing. This effected the remaining founder so much that he switched from aircraft development to inventing the ejection seat. The Martin Baker company are still one of the biggest ejection seat suppliers in the world.
The Germans invented the ejection seat. *The He 280 was equipped with a compressed-air powered ejection seat, the first aircraft to carry one and the first aircraft to successfully employ one in an emergency.[1]* From the article on the Heinkel He 280 on wikipedia. The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" was the first operational aircraft with ejection seats (it was a 2 seat aircraft) fitted as standard. (The 280 was never put into production)
In a bomber, let's see. Some stations could not be fit into wearing your chute. Aircrew set their chutes as close to them as they could. You go into a flat spin, tumble, gyrate and so on. Certrifical force pins you where you are. Guys went down with the plane, perfectly conscious. On average a 2 minute ride to the ground. Fight the laws of physics, put on your chute and make it to a hatch. If you got out, you had to fall clear of the action for fear of being gunned down. If you got a damp chute from the parachute hanger, you now had a brick on your back that froze in the 40 below temp.
I think that the first combat use of a parachute by a pilot was in the 1911 Italian-Turkish war in Libya - not in WW1. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.
i toured Memphis Belle wearing shorts and tee-shirt , it was claustrophobic , i can't believe anyone wearing flying gear and parachute could move in that thing . especially the tailgunner and the guy in that bottem bubble thing , while the plane is spinning .
After you successfully bailed out you have to deal with high-voltage lines, trees, lakes and swamps. The reason why japanese pilot decided to stay in their stricken planes, was not only samurai mentality but the fact that they flew mainly over sea (pacific ocean) full of man eating hawks. bailing out over sea, the desert or wilderness full of woolves, bears and other dagerous animals means a long and awful death.
One scary thing is, if your plane went down, you had to rely on the canopy opening I read the book Flyboys, by James Bradley (I think his name was), and one story was of a pilot who ran out of fuel, and was about to land on a carrier, and then missed it, because they undershot (again no fuel) and their canopy didn't open and they drowned Edit:if your flying a plane without a canopy or with a canopy the blows off, then you should be fine
I had to bail out of my WW2 vintage 1945 TBM Avenger at low altitude over the White Mountains over Arizona in 2018, and I can tell you it is hard to get your body out with the air stream forces pinning you against the rear canopy side - (STRAIGHT AND LEVEL), and then once out, not to get hit by the tail, I was lucky to survive it. (N337VT).
wow any news outlets cover it?
It's REALLY hard for the crew to get out bc the spaces are so incredibly tight. Glad to hear u made it!
really sorry about your loss of the Avenger, that might have sucked
Thank you for your service.
The fact that you failed to mention you had a passenger with you makes me believe you are lying and just read the accident report a couple months ago. Now I could be incørrect but I just have a hard time believing Ronald Carlson has a CZcams channel about forgotten dead people.
As a teen I read the book of french ace Pierre clostermann. He described bailing out by releasing canopy, unfasten, hive yourself up and with your foot slam the stick forward. The dive would eject you of the plane. He was shot down 3 times and survived the war. He flew English typhoon and tempest
I had read similar things from BF109 pilots ...
Spitfire and Tempest. The typhoon was only for conversion.
But strangely enough I have all books from Clostermann and he never mentions bailing out, although he did.
Clostermann passed away in 2006. If I ever had an Idol in my life, it was him.
hes a liar there was not 1 ace for france on the ground or in the air soft
Yes that was the right technique, you Just kick down the Stick so you get thrown up
YO!
My father bailed from his 17 in Feb '43, after hitting Wilhelmshaven, POW till wars end. Told me he later learned that his crew was thought to be the first full crew to successfully all survive bailing. One of the few facts dad shared, spoke very little of any part of the war...
Old Professor Rodgers at KSU was a waist gunner in a B-17. When their plane was hit by flak, it immediately went into a steep dive and they were held to the floor by the g-force and couldn't move. The fuselage broke between the wing and the tail and they(waist gunners) were flung out and clear of the plane around 6000 ft. They were the only two survivors of a crew of ten. They were lucky to come down just inside allied lines.
Damn. I shudder at imagining how the eight other crewmembers must have felt knowing, seeing the ground and their death was nearing and they couldn't do anything to get out.
@@Briselance- For sure for the Ball Turret gunner and the Tail gunner. Their plane took a big hit forward so he never knew how many guys were killed instantly.
So he and the other waist gunner were wearing their parachutes before they got hit then I assume?
I guess they were flying a B17G Flying Fortress where the waist gunner positions were staggered, because on the preceding models, the positions weren't staggered so they'd often bump into each other, and thus they usually didn't wear their parachutes because it got too cramped.
@@Nghilifa Yes, you are correct on both assumptions. The defensive gunners had discarded the armored flak vests and wore the lighter electrically heated suits. All of that being tossed around, stripped them of O2 mask, goggles, electric cords and gloves. It was at the time of the Battle of the Bulge so there was snow on the ground.
I’ve was in a Loadstar the pilot was spiraling down and it was like being glued to the floor.
Even though most people thought the "car doors" on the P-39 and P-63 were hard to bail out of because they open against the windstream, they were actually some of the easiest aircraft to bail out of. Inside the cockpit, there was an emergency door jettison, which took the door off at the hinges. Then all you had to do was roll out onto the wing and you were out.
A dear friend of our family was a Canadian pilot flying out of England in WWII. He flew Halifax bombers & converted to Lancasters for his last two missions. He celebrated his 99th birthday this past August (2021). He's still very sharp. He told me they were not trained in parachute jumping. The only jump he ever made was over the Lake District of Carlisle in Cumbria (August 1944) on his 17th trip. They'd run out of fuel, as his navigator had missed a diversion signal to another airfield. Our friend was the last to leave the bomber. He recalls swinging in one direction after catching wind & may have completed a swing in the other before hitting the ground. He also told me he personally knew of pilots who, though uninjured in an aircraft that was crippled & going down, refused to leave their seats because there were wounded crew-mates aboard who could not bail out. Gives me chills whenever I think about that.
I grew up near Carlisle.
"He told me they were not trained in parachute jumping"
What??! Aircrews not trained in parachute jumping??! How could that have been?
@@Briselance easy such training leads to probable injury and or death especially back then. Some videos on the subject and "training" is complete.
My grandfather bailed out 5 times, broke his skull once, when the. Ceiling of his Messerschmidt didn't detach and the ejector seat struck it. He was a test pilot for Heinkel, Junkers and Messerschmidt.
The ‘ejector seat’ of your grandfather’s Messerschmitt? Which Messerschmitt fighter was that? I’m puzzled cause I have never heard of any Messerschmitt war time aircraft using ejection seats. Also I was under the impression that test pilots flew for one design bureau only; for example the famous Fritz Wendel flew exclusively for Messerschmitt from 1939 to 1945 without flying for other designers. What is your grand fathers name?
@@antartis73 I could be wrong about the plane, since I heard this when I was a small child. His name was Gustav Reisinger, he worked for Junkers, Heinkel and he definitely tested the Messerschmitt jet fighter near the end of the war. He lived in Brusendorf(Schloss Brusendorf) in Königs Wusterhausen near Berlin(formerly in the DDR, Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Where the family fled before the wall could be built. He worked as a Porsche dealer for a while near Hamburg, but drank himself to death, because the Allied occupational government wouldn't allow Germans to fly, using Dutch pilots instead, like at Lufthansa). What he said was that the ejection seat went off after he triggered it, but the top/ceiling(I forgot the German word he used)wouldn't detach, so his head banged against it, cracking his skull(the German word he used was Schaedelbasisbruch, that's what the doctor called it). I still have the picture he had of the Me Jetplane without markings, he kept all the time. He also stayed in Rosenheim, Bavaria, after escaping from Berlin. When my mom was born, her Godfather was Ernst Udet, another pilot my grandfather was close with. I hope this helps your research. My mom threw away his briefcase with his documents/awards over my protests(I was only a young boy then). There was also a pic of him with other pilots and "you know who" with initials A.H. but some embarrassed family member cut A.H. out of it, maybe for fear of reprisals?
That's all I can remember.
@@antartis73 I just looked up WW2 German planes with ejector seats on Duck Duck Go. It mentions that Heinkel had ejector seats. So it could have been in one of their planes. He worked there also(as I mentioned before). I saw you left a comment, but I can't see it here. How's the research going? I haven't thought about all that until I saw this video. I'm sure you know much more about this stuff than me. 👍👍💯
@Andy Metternich @antartis73 Please see -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_162
See the section on 'Design' which says this production aircraft was fitted with an ejection seat. Additionally you'll see the link to the earlier He 219 Night Fighter from 1942.
If you dig about into the history of the medical experiments eventually it will be uncovered subjects were taken from the concentration camps, checked over for physical health, then strapped into the early ejection seats which were fired out by explosive charges, and tested to death to find out the best ways of ejecting pilots the fastest and safest ways, so they survived.
Other experiments conducted by the Luftwaffe were tried by immersing people into icy cold water and finding out the best life supporting designs of life vests. I'll leave you to find the research and your imagination into how they worked that out.
@@alexwild4350 well, granddad wasn't in Auschwitz, but a test pilot. Interesting about the Heinkel plane. He didn't mention what plane the accident happened in(I thought it was a Messerschmitt because of the jet fighter pic he had). It could have been the Uhu🦉 or another Heinkel model(like the Volksjaeger?).
The sole survivor of my uncle's Lancaster bomber crew bailed out and landed in a German field in the middle of the night. He was found by a group of German civilians and one soldier. The civilians started to kick him to death, but the soldier stopped them. A second member of the crew bailed out but did not survive.
All you recount is sadly very common.
The British Lancasters were notorious for having a bail out hatch that was too small to easily jump out of. I read one statistic that only about 15% of Lancaster crew that were shot down bailed out successfully. The fact that they mostly flew at night also made bailing out more difficult.
@@gandalfgreyhame3425 Agreed. I have seen the same information about the survival percentage and undersized escape hatch. The survivor from my uncle's crew bailed out of the rear door, but that had its own hazards, such as the risk of being hit by the tailplane, or being doused in burning fuel if the wing tanks were hit.
You don't hear much of German civs being that disdainful to enemy soldiers
I’ve bailed out of a glider that fell apart mid-air. I can tell you it’s fraught. Now everything inside your cockpit now tries to stop you getting out. That is if the aircraft’s g loading doesn’t prevent you getting out. Even once you are out, you are still not safe as bits of airborne wreckage can still take you out. I also question whether a stricken aircraft is controllable.
" I also question whether a stricken aircraft is controllable."
Quite a vast question, even for civilian situations.
I guess it depends on how badly damaged the aeroplane is, what parts are damaged, what the weather is like around the plane. And on the pilot's condition/status, of course.
How come did the glider fell apart? Because of drag/G forces?
Every time I was in an airplane or helicopter, I never had a parachute. There were seven of us in an old Seahorse helicopter when a rotor blade snapped off. Fortunately we were only six feet off the deck so we didn't get anything but minor injuries. You never saw guys get out of a helicopter so fast!!! Probably only 1/3 of the time, the bomber pilot could turn on the auto-pilot and the crew could bail out per the manual. What caused your glider to fall apart?
Old wooden glider, or massive overspeed and flutter?
AFAIK most new fiberglass/carbon composite gliders are pretty hard to kill with g force alone, either have to make them flutter with overspeed and hard control inputs or do something silly as slam the variable geometry flaps/wölbklappen fully positive at high speed....
that would depend on the damage no? But good points, glad you survived...IIRC that makes you a member of the silk caterpillar club.
If I recall the story right my dad's best buddy (P51 pilot in the Pacific during WWII) had to bail out and got something (I forget what) caught and had to climb back into the cockpit and bail out again. Must of been terrible.
"had to climb back into the cockpit and bail out again."
:-O :-S
It **must** have been terrible, you say. Quite the understatement for this prime PTSD-material. :-P
@@Briselance He lived a long and happy life. Died a couple of years ago in his 90s.
Most probably he forgot to disconnect the headphone jack or the oxigen hose.
I was going to say.....about 15 years ago, we had an old P-38 pilot visit our plant on Veteran's Day. He told a story about the time he had to bail out......& it involved rolling the plane over onto its back so he could drop out.
I've also read the technique of applying full nose-down trim while forcing the aircraft to stay level and crouching on the seat, then suddenly letting go of the stick and jumping out of the aircraft helped by the forward momentum of the plane diving. Quite a scary way to leave an aircraft!
That may have been how Pappy Boyington did it
Maybe another hazard hasn't been pointed out is landing using uncontrollable parachute- round , not like modern winglike. So pilot after missing death in the air could meet it unfortunately in some trees, pond, river or due to strong wind. Great video👍
Wow, I remember when you were at a few thousand and now nearly 42k and getting sponsored! Congrats man keep up the good work.👍
Thanks a ton!
@@TJ3 ok exelent video
P
The German jet fighter He 280, which was only produced in small series, was the first aircraft in the world to receive an ejection seat. On January 13, 1943, Captain Helmut Schenk operated the ejection seat of his He 280 during a test flight at the Rechlin test site after the aircraft had become uncontrollable due to icing; this was the first emergency ejection in the history of aviation. Schenk was uninjured; the He 280 crashed into a forest. The world's second emergency ejection also took place in Germany: On July 15, 1943, Captain Hans-Joachim Pancherz, a test pilot for Junkers, had to eject from a Junkers Ju 290 at Lärz (Rechlin) after parts of the aircraft broke off at top speed.
The first aircraft with an ejection seat fitted as standard was the German night fighter Heinkel He 219, developed from 1940 onwards. The first known double ejection was also made from such an aircraft on April 11, 1944, when the pilot, Corporal Herter, and his gunner, Private Perbix, managed to save themselves by using the ejection seat. All newly developed aircraft of the German Luftwaffe from 1942 onward were planned with ejection seats, such as the Do 335, in which the tail propeller could be dangerous for ejecting pilots, and the so-called "Volksjäger" He 162. In all, ejection seats saved the lives of more than 60 German crew members during World War II.The ejection seat is a German invention.
The tail propeller of the Do 335 actually had explosive bolts to detach it as part of the ejection procedure.
I remember my dad telling me a story about a bailout where the pilot reached into the slipstream and his arm broke from the wind force. Now the pilot had to reach over with his good arm and pull his flapping broken arm back into the plane before bailing out.
It's stories like that you remember.
He said it was easier and safer to roll the plane over and bail straight out, depending on other circumstances that is.
Yes, a the uncle of a friend of mine was in the Croatian Air Force and lost two fingers opening up the canopy of his Messerschmidt to bail out over the Austrian border.
The 109 had an emergency release handle witch jettison the whole canopy. This feature is not included in the sim IL-2 BOS but is in IL-2 Cliffs of Dover and DCS. I think this is why some people online get this wrong
A great book about WWII English Bomber crews is "Men of Air", by Kevin Wilson. It has many first hand accounts of bailing out of RAF Bombers, usually over occupied Europe. Two which vividly stuck in my mind...
One, by the pilot. As you mention, the pilot had to hold the aircraft while the rest of the crew bailed out. In this case, the plane exploded while the other crew had started to bail out, and he was thrown out, and was able to open his parachute. AIR, non of the others survived. He was the only pilot to tell his story in this book.
Two. A crew member (navigator or wireless operator, as I recall) was moving from his position to the door, and he saw through a window the flames of the engines. He thought to himself "This is the only time in my life I'll ever see, close-up, burning engines on a plane at night". He took a few extra seconds to take in the sight, before continuing to bail out. WOW!!!
Thanks for the interesting video. A close family friend was shot down during an air raid on Oldenburg. I asked him about it but didn't get much information other than that he was able to parachute and was trapped in a tree until the German soldiers captured him. He spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. I believe only two or three from his B-24 crew survived and six (including the pilot and copilot) died. I am grateful that he survived as his friendship was an important one.
The nostalgia tingles are real with the Disney-style animated instructional videos and the grainy narration with mid-Atlantic accent.
My uncle bailout from his PAF P-51D the first is step is not panic. Stir your plane away from civilian residence. and perform a perfect push-off. One of Germary 's highest ace pilot died from an imperfected push off I'm certain all pilots aware .
I flew in a 2 seat Boltbee Spitfire for 65th birthday. Much emphasise was placed on safety and how to bale out. The instruction I most remembered was to dive out and aim for the trailing edge of the wing!
Some canopies would actually jam if a pilot tried to open it.
The famous P-47 Thunderbolt pilot Robert Johnson faced this. His 47 was hit by Focke-Wulf 190 cannon fire, and his plane entered the death spiral. He was able to slam down the rudder and level the wings, but his canopy jammed when trying to bail out. He then noticed that the plexiglas shattered in some areas. He tried to squeeze through, but his parachute snagged. He decided to stay in the plane. During that time, he was intercepted by who-is-believed-to-be Egon Mayer. His plane took several hits, but it still remained aloft. Mayer ran out of ammunition, and he left the American alone. Johnson would make it back to base.
"Once you were out and floating down you could watch the dogfight" yea right LOL, not only a few were shot in there shoots but a lot were murdered in there shoots, war was war. The graphics were pretty good on this vid :)
FFS - 'chutes' not 'shoots'. It's an abbreviation of parachutes.
Also 'their' not 'there'
" a lot were murdered in there shoots"
A lot? It happened, that much is true. But how would you know there were lots murdered in their chutes?
"war was war."
No. That wasn't war. That was murder.
@@Briselance Just listen to some of actual WW2 military interviews from soldiers that were actually there, their were enemy fighters that would shoot at the bomber crews as they were floating down and they would be swinging from the bullets hitting them. Coming from a 90 year old vet I would say it was true.
1st plane I ever flew in was a T6. When the pilot told me that if we had to bail out , to dive down or the tail would cut me in half. I thought, what am I doing here. Was a great flight
From a Me109 (if you still have some control!) - get rid of the canopy, undo your seat harness, put a foot on the top of the joystick and ... kick REALLY hard. Read from the memoirs of a Luftwaffe pilot....
A friend of mine lost her father during World War Two after he strafed a German airfield in France. He did manage to jump but struck the tail. Ironically the P 51 was named after her in as much as she was a new born at the time.
He was an ace at the time and like the vast majority of other P51 pilots he was shot down by ground fire.
This could have been a how to film back in the thirties and forties it was so well done. Great editing and the clips were awesome. Johan mentioned the Typhoon's car door, same as the P-39, don't want to think about that. I would like to see another how hard was it video, maybe a bombing run, torpedo attacks or dive bombing, maybe landing a fully loaded glider in a meadow. Excellent work as always, glad to see the sponsors and the sub numbers climbing. Cheers.
Beat me do it...dammit! 😂
Well one point not mentioned for the bomber crews was that the turrets were pretty small, and in the British designs at least the gunners had to put on their chutes before jumping. They also had to contend with very small hatches in Lancasters.
Only about 1 in 7 Lancaster crew survived being shot down.
@@kellybreen5526 I am hoping he might do a video on the bomber crews, later on and put that information in it. Very good point. I have read survivor stories from Lancaster crew who had to bail out, can't even imagine. Cheers.
like you saying that you could have been Einstein 100 million years ago
Speed is the great opponent to bailing out. It was incredibly simple in WWI, assuming you had that option. World War II was tough, but lacked the G-forces we face today. That's why we have much better ejection systems. If you remember in the Iraq war our captured pilot(aviator). He had been 'roughed up' facially; later we learned, that was actually the signs of a high-speed bailout...
One thing pilots did to help them get out. Was when they were ready they push the control stick hard forward wit their feet. The negative G force helped throw them free. Another danger of not being able to bail out was being in a high speed dive. The slip stream would just pin you halfway out of the plane.
I think I read it somewhere, but if I remember correctly on occasions where the track for the canopy was damaged and couldn't roll it back you were screwed. I think of that scene in Dunkirk when the British pilot had ditched in the water and couldn't get the canopy open.
No mention about how hard it was for rear fuselage gunners in British bombers to escape once their " kite" was hit ( on the Lanc , they couldn't even fit into the cramped gunnery area with their parachute , the gunner had to leave to parachute inside the fuselage , and close the door between him and the " quad" gunnery position . When the Lanc was hit , the gunner had to somehow open the door , put the parachute on and try and find his way to the bomb bay , OR grab his parachute , turn the gun position , and exit into the sky , all the while as the bomber fell to the ground - a death sentence for many either way )
The design was not very user-friendly, to say the least. :-S
tail end charlie refers to the last plane in the formation, not the tail gunner.
@@HeyZeus096 - my bad !!, correcting original text
I met a Lancaster gunner who told me the story of his bailout over Belgium. Normally one would regard the fuselage breaking open as catastrophic, but in this case it probably saved his life. He was also fortunate to have survived captivity.
The best was was to invert your plane and fall out.😁, But that wasn't always an option in an out of control plane.😩
Good grief ... are you kidding me?? Jumping out of a burning fighter plane at 2000' ??
I have trouble getting out of the tub. Hats off to these men. heroes.
The RAF never operated the Fairey Swordfish! That was flown by the Fleet Air Arm the flying wing of the Royal Navy.
With the DH98 Mosquito, bailing out of the starboard door puts you right next to the prop, which the pilot may or may not be able to stop; though you had the option of going out the top.
I’ve been inside two WW II vintage aircraft: a C-47 and a PBY. I found exceeding difficult to bail out from aircraft like these, which are full of bulkheads, parts protruding, equipment, etc. Now add the urgency of bailing out, a possible spin, the G forces, possible darkness and wounds and the equipment you’re wearing, mask, goggles, flak vest, Mae West, etc plus the chute itself. I think it was a miracle every time any one managed to get out in time. In the PBY I visited, I banged my head and knees several times and she was parked.
America, Britain, & Germany used Irvin Airchute styled parachutes. Anyone that used one was eligible to become a member of the "Caterpillar Club." Germans included, though none applied.
Nice anecdote. :-) The German aircrews and former aircrews were probably not too eager to meet with former enemies, who could still have harboured hard feelings against them.
And even without such hard feelings, interactions could have been, well, awkward, at least at first.
Every country: bail out so can fly another day
Japanese: that's dishonorable!! You must fight till you die!!
That's how you lose a war.
Yeah. The Japanese also had an AA battery at some park in Tokyo because the trees held the spirits of their ancestors. Guns that were desperately needed elsewhere. That is their wacky mentality.
I served with 3rd Battalion Rangers. During my time at jump school & with my Battalion, we jumped out of planes countless times, but you never just fall out or drop straight down. The winds are so powerful, that you get sucked out & then slammed to the side, so the animation showing the pilot jumping out of his cockpit & going straight down is pretty unrealistic. He'd more than likely slide against the side of his plane as he got hit by the winds towards his horizontal stabilizer maybe just missing it or bumping some part of his body or head. Many times we got slammed to the side then hit against the C130 on our way down before our chutes deployed. . .
6:55 Stringless kites with an engine.😄
I think the situation of the bomber crews was more difficult.
A lot of them didn't wear their parachute during the mission they had to unconnected the heating of their suits, leaf their station, some tried to change for proper shoes instead the insulated things they wore instead, than they had to grep their parachute find an exit door and jump out.
AFAIK there where differences in American and British planes, the US planes had some additional doors that could be used to enter the plane and to bail out, the British planes had not (or less) so it was more to luck if they managed to jump in time.
The Fairey Swordfish served with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, not the RAF.
Also, it wasn’t constructed of ‘canvas and wood’. It had an all metal airframe covered in doped linen and aluminium panels.
The Bf-109 had a canopy jettison, the pilots who bailed out did NOT swing the canopy out on its hinges.
Thanks for that detail regarding the 109. I'd always wondered how a pilot could escape from an overturned aircraft.
The BE 109's cockpit was very heavy and hard to open even under ordinary conditions . Let alone when under high G forces or being wounded . I only flew light aircraft and gliders . In the glider we always had a chute , but I never had to use it . We had a D shaped handle on the left side . And were told not to use the right hand to open it , but always the left . Or your twisting your body would tangle the lines . I do not know if this is true or no . But I wouldn't care to test it for real ! A second point which amazed me . I was told by a parachute packer , ( ours had to be repacked twice a year ). Was provided , you could get the chute open, it would save you from 400 feet !
The Bf 109 did have an emergency release for the canopy that blew the whole canopy assembly off its hinges, making bailouts considerably easier.
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Very well done. The B-17 was a death trap when trying to bail. Most of the men could not reach an exit once the plane began to spin because of all the small hatches and doorways in the craft.
I had a distant relative who died bailing out from a WW2 Hawker Typhoon. It suffered engine failure and he bailed out over the sea and was last seen struggling in the sea and sadly drowned. One theory is he hit the tail on the way out and might have been injured. Sad how he died in an avoidable tragic accident and not from combat.
I have an uncle who flew Spitfires for the Canadian Air Force. He was shot down twice. In the case of thee Spit he said he release his harness rolled the plane over on its back and simply let gravity do the rest as he fell out of the cockpit.
That was really informative, never really thought about it until you brought it up!👍
My grandfather was one of only a handful of men who managed to safely bail out of a P-38. The engine caught fire at low altitude, and he had to get out. His experience helped write the manual on bailing from the Lightning. The last time he told the story he said he was just going fast enough to get pulled under the elevator instead of hitting it.
Good video. Your discussion implies that ejection is a walk in the park. Pull the handle and all is safe and serene. I trained on and flew on Martin Baker and North American ejection seats. The training was extensive and the idea that one could simply pull the go handle and experience a no risk aircraft evacuation, (combat or non-combat), is far wide of the mark.
Sitting on a bomb (ballistic) or a rocket seat is a bit sobering. Do a video on ejection seat aircraft egress.
What to think about the first Hawker Typhoons, opening a friggin car door against 350mph winds!
The P-39 Airacobra as well.
@@kimvibk9242
It had emergency release pins so the door could fall off. The C-150 Aerobat had the same.
@@fazole Thanks for clarifying!
I had a distant relative who died bailing out from a Hawker Typhoon. It suffered engine failure and he bailed out over the sea and sadly drowned. One theory is he hit the tail on the way out. Sad how he died in a tragic accident and not from combat
I believe you are incorrect about pilots generally frowning on shooting down pilots who have parachuted. I believe it was standard practice by the Japanese to shoot down American pilots who have bailed out.
My neighbor, Wally King, flew a P47 Thunderbolt over Europe during the war and talked about his experience having to bail out after his plane was hit with flak and caught fire over western Germany. I asked him how many times he had practiced using a parachute during his training and he said, "zilch" The first time he ever used a parachute was when his plane was on fire and going down. Due to the counterclockwise rotation of the propeller, he said the were instructed to jump out the right side of the plane as otherwise they would be blown back towards the plane. He also said on his first attempt, the force of the wind threw him back into his seat. On his next try, now less than a thousand feet up, he climbed up on his seat and jumped upward toward the right side as hard as he could. He remembers tumbling around and then ending up with upside down with his right leg caught in the shroud lines. He was surprised his parachute had opened as he didn't remember pulling the ripcord. The next thing he recalled was how quiet it was drifting towards the ground. The silence didn't last as soon he heard something that sounded like bees and realized it was the locals shooting at him. He said he rocked his parachute side to side to make himself a harder target. His story can be seen on CZcams: czcams.com/video/cnXtc4lrWdo/video.html
The Swordish was Royal Navy exclusively.
Nice vid and a again congrats for sponsorship.
The Dh Mosquito had a escape hatch on the top of the canopy and another escape hatch below the cockpit.
My cousin was thrown out of a Halifax, when it blew up over Duisburg.
Pappy boyington had a great story about his bailout. I don't think he opened the canopy but performed a radical manuver which after unbuckling harness propelled him through the canopy
I remember my first "air experience flight" in the Air cadets, Climbing into that DeHavilland Chipmunk with an old WW2 chute swinging below my 14 year old arse made me feel like Bob Stanford tuck !!!! Heady days indeed !!!
Me too. At RAF Finningley and RAF Church Fenton. I remember the Chipmunks canopy slided backwards on a rail or there was the most smallest pane on glass that could be popped off the left hand side of the canopy. The engine was started by something similar to blank shotgun cartridges and the wing was made from canvas with a thin black walkway.
Interestingly a Chipmunk still flies today at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby.
@@notmenotme614 Aye, all exactly as I remember too, I took my first flights at the then RAF Turnhouse outside Edinburgh, and flying in a brilliant blue sky over the the Forth Bridge... unforgettable for a 14 year old lad. "you have control"....... "I have control sir" !!!
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 I remember the VHS video we had to watch as a safety briefing . And Chipmunk being a surprisingly aerobatic aircraft.
Last night I had a look online and it’s interesting that some can be still found for sale, if only I had the money.
@@notmenotme614 Bang on about its aerobatic capabilities, not me. At another camp (at RAF Valley on Anglesea this time) the pilot was up for a bit of fun, and asked me if I had a strong constitution (imagine asking that of a kid today?..... consti..... what?). Eagerly I gave a "yes, give it your best shot" sort of reply, and he commenced into a variety of barrel rolls, loops and stall turns. I managed to hold my breakfast coco pops down, but it impressed on my young mind how easily the disorientation gripped hold of you, as the horizon flipped every way imaginable, and the sensation of the G forces as your arms suddenly weighed 3 times their normal weight. What an experience for a young kid, it really made me "feel" the BoB stories I used to read as a lad.
I have to laugh in thinking back, as nowadays I feel nauseous if I so much as go on the teacups at the fair !!!
All the best , thanks for the trip down "memory lane" Not me!!!
Hans-Joachim Marseille wasn't the only one who was hit by the Messer's tail. Lt. Tibor Tobak, a Hungarian Bf-109 pilot describes how his best friend, Lt. Cserny bailed out of a Messer in 1945, and only realized he lost a leg when he was already hanging on the parachute. His life was saved by some SS soldiers, but his leg was gone forever. It was cut off by the tail.
Swordfish - RAF????? - nope - Fleet Air Arm (RN) it has an amazing record for sinking major enemy units and did a fantastic job!! 😁😁😁
fighter pilots always used their parachutes as seat cushions in WWII. American bomber crews had one that they could clip onto a harness that they wore, and often did not actually have the parachute itself on themselves but just the harness. If they had to bail out they had to grab the parachute from where ever it was stored, clip it on and get out.
It was the same for the rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber. His turret was so small and cramped that the gunner could not fit inside with his parachute, his chute was stored on a rack further along the fuselage. If the bomber was shot down he had to swivel the turret and open the turret doors so he could get back into the fuselage, pick up his chute, clip it on, then make his way back to the turret, turn the turret 90 degrees to the side and fall out the back of the turret
My Father flew in a B-17 during the war. He never had to jump but came close once. He said that they typically flew at over 25,000 feet and were told to make sure not to open their chute until they were low enough to breath.
I think your interpretation of the Japanese pilots is not that accurate, rather something you read in a book.
If you go to the kamikaze museum in Kyushu you will see first hand accounts of just how scared they were. They did their duty (according to culture) but they suffered emotionally pre flight and shared it in journals and letters home (subtly). They were given parachutes in SOME cases but this was a token gesture as they were told directly what was expected of them even if they were just boys.
Awesome what a great topic thank you!
The swordfish was operated by the Fleet Air Arm and not the R.A.F. to my knowledge.
I beg your pardon, I've checked and it was operated by the RAF but it was predominantly a carrier based torpedo bomber for the Royal Navy.
A friend of mine’s father was on the Swordfish design team and ended his career on an air to air missile design team. Amazing to think that the speed of development of combat aviation from the 1910s to the 1960s.
Nice to se a Macchi MC 202 with a "Tony" camo.. Very beautiful
Absolutely brilliant choice of topic for a video
Most non pilots cannot imagine an immediate exposure to a 200mph slipstream. Just open cockpit flying a stearman at 100mph the thought of getting out with any thing other than an absolute struggle is unimaginable. Of coarse adrenalin working thru a 20 year olds body would certainly help, but your mind's surrender to the physically overwhelming circumstances of the moment might mean the difference between life and the here after.
finally! i always wondered what effect the g forces would have too
Theres a video of a pilot bailing from a p51 at an air show. If you type p51 skyraider crash it should come up. He got out really low only breaking his elbow on the tail. Also the beaufighter wasnt a popular one for bailing, the props were very close to the cockpit.
Ok, this parachute may save-
Japan: *cushion*
Of all the video on that subject the one that horrified me the most, was trying, yes I said --trying-- to safely bail out of the tail gunner position in a Lancaster.
Yep they couldn’t fit inside the turret with the parachute, they had to hope the turret still worked so he could swivel it around to get back into the Lancaster fuselage and get to his parachute, then clip it on, then exit the aircraft. I think some had to get back into the turret, rotate it 90 degrees to the side and fall out the back of the turret.
one of the best fighter pilots, hans joachin Marseille dies in a bail out, and adding to your video, Another reason why the Japanese pilots did not carry parachutes was because it was a hindrance to them inside the cabin, this was said by saburo sakai
dont know the tittle but there is a west german movie about marseille
@@andrewfischer8564 the star of africa
4:40 There is no such thing as an "injured plane".....just saying.
P-39's would be easy. They had car style doors on each side that you could release, and they would fall from the plane. I have a strange, inexplicable love for that aircraft.
Yeah but the booster seat ejection method compresses the pilot's spine with every ejection thus shortening the height of the pilot.
9:10 I do not think the tail was the relevant thing in P-38. It does not matter how wide the tail is. You can hit only the part that is behind you. The relevant part is the position is the cockpit relative to the wing. On planes like Spitfire it was at the back of the wing. On P-38 it was at the front of it.
the hardest part of bailing out is undoubtedly the fact that you're under fire the entire time.
Not necessarily.
Hey, could you do video in future about 343 kokutai? It would be really nice.
*parachute deploys*
New Objective: SURVIVE
Hard or not all that hard. Sometimes gunfire jammed a canopy shut. Sometimes control was lost and G forces pinned you in place. Sometimes you hit the tail section.
If you had altitude, could open the canopy, and had some control of your plane your chances were pretty good. However, that's a lot of ifs.
It's also on console not just PC, thanks for the vid.
Thanx Mark I dont remember any of my ancestry being pilots so I have nothing to add but this is great content..
I was told that many pilots would roll the aircraft over and put their boots on the control stick, the downward motion would cause the pilot to be thrown from the aircraft by the g forces of the planes movement.
Baker, of the Martin Baker aircraft company was killed test flying an aircraft that they were developing. This effected the remaining founder so much that he switched from aircraft development to inventing the ejection seat. The Martin Baker company are still one of the biggest ejection seat suppliers in the world.
The Germans invented the ejection seat.
*The He 280 was equipped with a compressed-air powered ejection seat, the first aircraft to carry one and the first aircraft to successfully employ one in an emergency.[1]*
From the article on the Heinkel He 280 on wikipedia.
The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" was the first operational aircraft with ejection seats (it was a 2 seat aircraft) fitted as standard. (The 280 was never put into production)
@@Nghilifa give the Martin Baker company lawyers a call.
@@mattheweagles5123 What for? Facts are facts.🤷🏿♂🤷🏿♂🤦🏿♂🤦🏿♂
@@Nghilifa apparently copyright infringement according to you.
It wasn't just the US Air Service, the RAF, FAF, IRAS and ItAF had similar policies.
In a bomber, let's see. Some stations could not be fit into wearing your chute. Aircrew set their chutes as close to them as they could. You go into a flat spin, tumble, gyrate and so on. Certrifical force pins you where you are. Guys went down with the plane, perfectly conscious. On average a 2 minute ride to the ground. Fight the laws of physics, put on your chute and make it to a hatch. If you got out, you had to fall clear of the action for fear of being gunned down. If you got a damp chute from the parachute hanger, you now had a brick on your back that froze in the 40 below temp.
The P-39 Airacobra was a very difficult plane to baillout. It had a port like a car and the airflow close if you want to open.
It was actually easy , just jettison the door ( it will just break off ) and roll on the wing like the P-38
Good video
For bombers, do not forget cold, high altitude (lack of oxygen), and probably at night for the British, without any training. Scary to say the least.
I think that the first combat use of a parachute by a pilot was in the 1911 Italian-Turkish war in Libya - not in WW1. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.
i toured Memphis Belle wearing shorts and tee-shirt , it was claustrophobic , i can't believe anyone wearing flying gear and parachute could move in that thing . especially the tailgunner and the guy in that bottem bubble thing , while the plane is spinning .
Nice video in clearly explaining this lethal situation for defeated pilots in dogfight...enjoyment video thanks for sharing
After you successfully bailed out you have to deal with high-voltage lines, trees, lakes and swamps. The reason why japanese pilot decided to stay in their stricken planes, was not only samurai mentality but the fact that they flew mainly over sea (pacific ocean) full of man eating hawks. bailing out over sea, the desert or wilderness full of woolves, bears and other dagerous animals means a long and awful death.
these videos make my tip creamy
One scary thing is, if your plane went down, you had to rely on the canopy opening
I read the book Flyboys, by James Bradley (I think his name was), and one story was of a pilot who ran out of fuel, and was about to land on a carrier, and then missed it, because they undershot (again no fuel) and their canopy didn't open and they drowned
Edit:if your flying a plane without a canopy or with a canopy the blows off, then you should be fine
I like watching these while my game updates lol
Dont know when explodindg bolts made their debut but they were quite reliable.
Great video