The Great German Aces Killed in Bizarre Ways and Unplanned Accidents - Historic Countdowns

coming up often times when we read and hear about the famed aces of world war ii we think of their kill counts and acts of bravery but one thing that often goes unnoticed in the study of air combat in the 1940s is the high level of risk that these men took on each time they left the ground in their aircraft in this video we will look at seven famous german aces who despite their great skill as pilots and astounding victory counts would meet their demise in bizarre and unplanned accidents welcome to my new series countdowns by tj3 history first a quick shout out to my patreon supporters if you want access to behind the scenes videos and bonus content please check out the patreon link in the description enjoy without further ado let's take a look at seven famous german fighter aces and how their careers would come to an end in bizarre ways and unplanned accidents the first german ace we will go over is wolfgang tana tano was a member of jg53 and was only 19 when he joined the lufloffa in 1937. he saw his first combat in the battle of france and then more action over both the eastern and western fronts as well as a good amount of time in north africa after being shot down immediately following his first victory he would learn and see a great deal of success over enemy fighters after crossing 101 total victories for the war tana was awarded the knights cross of the iron cross with oak leaves the highest award in the german military at the time he would take down 10 il-2s 16 spitfires and scores of other soviet and british aircraft by early 1943 in april of that year however while stationed in tunisia he would score his 122nd and final kill upon returning from that mission he was attempting to celebrate his victory over his home airfield during this celebration however he would lose control over the aircraft and crash his messerschmitt bf-109 he was likely killed instantly next up at number six is jurgen hada hada was a fighter pilot that stood out particularly for his record against the rugged four engine american bombers over the western front in his career he was credited with a total of 64 aerial victories nine of them being four engine bombers harder would fly his last mission in february of 1945 while piloting one of the advanced 109g models he would experience an engine failure that was likely from a piston penetrating the engine block toxic fumes entered the cockpit likely causing him to lose control of the aircraft the 109 model g would go down and crash into the terrain with hada still inside coming in at number five is the brutal death of eigen ludwig zveigat zveigat was a recipient of the knights cross of the iron cross and logged a substantial amount of flying time over both the eastern and western fronts of the war he entered the german air force in 1935 and was flying in the first phases of the second world war just a few years later he logged a total of 69 aerial victories including ten four engine bombers after being moved to the western front of the war zvygot would meet his demise on june 8th of 1944 just two days after the allied invasions at normandy according to combat reports of the day he was shot down in a dogfight over france while flying a focal wolf 190. he was however able to bail out of the fighter but moments later while floating back to earth he was allegedly shot and killed by an allied fighter pilot next up is a tale of superstition in the story of walter novotny novotny was an austrian-born german fighter ace who flew primarily over the eastern front he was the first pilot to achieve 250 victories including 194 in 1943 alone he was well known for always wearing the same pair of lucky trousers whenever he fought with an astounding total of 258 victories he was one of the highest scoring aces in total in world war ii novotny would meet his fate on november 8th of 1944 he was testing and inspecting the newly developed me 262 jet fighter to hopefully bring confidence to other pilots about flying the aircraft while they were there word was received of a large bomber formation headed their way novotny along with a few other german pilots jumped in the jets and headed to intercept during the mission he radioed that he had taken down a b-24 bomber and a p-51 mustang shortly after this however he would send his final radio transmission which was a message that was gargled saying i am on fire it is unclear whether his aircraft had caught fire from engine failure or from taking enemy fire either way it is confirmed that his emmy 262 did catch fire and he was unable to bail he crashed into the earth at a very high speed moments later at number three we have renowned german ace kurt uben uben was one of the older aces in the luffaffa during world war ii at the start of the war in 1939 he was already 28 years old in over 500 combat missions he would rack up a total of over 110 confirmed kills he participated in the battle of crete and was transferred to the eastern front fighting the soviets after seeing success in both of these theaters he was transferred to north africa with 92 victories in early 1943 one year later while flying a focke wolf 190 he engaged in american p-47 thunderbolt during this dogfight uben would be shot down but was able to bail out of his aircraft unfortunately his parachute failed to deploy it is not known why exactly his parachute did not deploy but historians have theorized that this was likely because he either bailed out at too low of an altitude or his harness was improperly fastened at number two is one of the most recognized pilots in german history and another story of engine failure from the 109 model g hans joaquin marseille was one of the most well-known pilots in germany and was certainly a celebrity at the time of his death in just 358 missions he amassed a total of more than 150 aerial victories he was known as the star of africa and the best shot in the luffaffa his death would be particularly tragic because of the circumstances leading up to it for the bulk of his career marseille had flown the 109 model f however his superior officers had repeatedly ordered him to switch over to one of the newer 109 model g's he refused for quite a while however due to its reputation for engine failures finally however on the 30th of september in 1942 while on a stuka escort mission he was forced into making the switch and was flying the new model his worst fears came to pass over egypt as his engine began to sputter and eventually began pouring smoke and fire once toxic fumes began to enter the cockpit he attempted to bail out of the aircraft but he was diving much faster than he realized and was unfortunately thrown back by the slipstream and hit the vertical stabilizer he was likely killed instantly his death would be a severe blow to morale for many of the forces in north africa due to his high status as an ace the final ace that we will cover is werner mulders mulders was one of the earliest stars of the luffaffa the highly decorated pilot was another one of the first celebrity pilots in the second world war he competed with fellow germans like adolf galland for the top scoring spot in the battle of britain his demise is particularly noteworthy because of how high his kill count was this early in the war in late 1941 even before the united states and japan had entered the world war mulders had racked up an incredible 108 kills and was the leader in the scoring race of the german air force one must wonder how many victories he could have had if fate had chosen a different path on the 22nd of november however he was traveling as a passenger in a heinkel he-111 to the funeral of german superior officer ernst dudett the twin engine aircraft would be caught in a bad storm when an engine would fail it would clip a building and go down hard three of the five passengers on board the aircraft were killed in the crash there is some debate as to whether molders would have survived the crash had he been wearing his seatbelt at the time of his death he was the highest scoring pilot in history i hope you enjoyed this historical recreation please make sure to click subscribe and comment if you have any ideas for future videos if you want to support my content and get awesome bonus videos please check out the patreon link in the description of this video thanks for watching and i'll see you next time

Channel: TJ3 History

Views: 690,886

Keywords: IL-2 Sturmovik, IL2, IL2 Crashes, World War II Flight Sim, IL-2 Great Battles, IL2 Game, IL-2 Highlights, IL-2 Flight Sim, Combat Flight Sim, War Thunder, Dogfighting Game, History Channel Dogfights, Historic, Documentary, German Fighter Aces, Top German Aces, WWII Aces, Werner Molders, hans-joachim marseille, kurt ubben, Wolfgang Tonne, Zweigart, Nowotny, Luftwaffe, Bf-109, FW-190, Top Scoring Aces, World War II Plane Crashes, Countdowns, TJ3 Gaming, Mark Felton, Yarnhub

Id: QQ0eqrmbU88

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 05 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/lamont196]

What is an “unplanned accident”?

I have never heard of a “planned accident”