Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "Black Monday: The Eighth Air Force's 250th Combat Mission" video.

  1. Interestingly one of his fellow countrymen, also as a child, was so impressed by the sight of all those B-17s and B-24s that after the war he ended up joining the USN and flew attack aircraft over Viet Nam. An A-4 I think. He was shot down over North Viet Nam but managed to successfully escape. Not only that but found his carrier was still on station and was reunited with it. They gave him a room but that night they found that he had gone missing. They found him fast asleep in the cockpit of an A-4, where he felt safe.
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  2. I have seen the footage at 03:17 and again at 07:32 of the German fighter aircraft attacking the B-17. I have seen many times over the years. I watched again a couple of years ago and I noticed something I had forgotten about. Not only was there no return fire from the B-17 but none of the guns are even moving. Waist gunners, tail gunner, ball gunner and dorsal gunner, none are moving. I saw an interview with someone who flew in the Eighth Army Air Force and when he was asked about him completing his tour he corrected the questioner by pointing out that he had survived his tour. Watching that footage you can see why he said that. The RAF's accuracy increased greatly when they started using Mosquitoes in Pathfinder Squadrons to drop marker flares before the bombing attacks went in. Interestingly Doolittle's strategy was the same as Goring's in 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Difference was that Doolittle stuck with it, Goring did not. Interesting about the Goring quote on the P-51 as he said something similar about the Mosquito. Well, he obviously recognised excellent aircraft when he saw them.
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