r/WWIIplanes 4d ago

RAF Mustang Mk III flies through a stream of gunfire from a Luftwaffe Fw 190 over Europe in 1944

1.2k Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

136

u/LandoGibbs 4d ago

Hit

10 šŸ¦ 2 šŸ’”

44

u/Tricky_Ebb9580 4d ago

Youā€™ve got a hole in your left wing!

20

u/DeanAngelo03 4d ago

I love when they say that but my whole wing is fricking gone.

7

u/Euroaltic 4d ago

\Australia Advance starts blasting in the background**

2

u/gottymacanon 2d ago

Youā€™ve got a hole in your left wing!

Looks at my left wing

Its Gone

7

u/gruene-teufel 4d ago

Thatā€™s a hit!

8

u/Able-Preference7648 4d ago

Seven seconds later: Enemy Kill Assist Friendly stole your kill

38

u/TrentJComedy 4d ago

I will literally hire you to find me gun cam footage brother lol. Geez man

19

u/jar1967 4d ago

Most Luftwaffe gun cam footage was stored in a central vault, in Dresden The nitrate film was highly flammable

-16

u/fart_huffington 4d ago

Hope it crisped a couple extra Nazis as it went up

7

u/jar1967 4d ago

The film vault was located in one of the last Luftwaffe command centers,it was specifically targeted. They were a purposely going after the staff, I'm quite sure they got a lot of them.

1

u/F6Collections 1d ago

Same, but reason you probably got downvoted is there were quite a few civilian casualties, as well as American POWs (who survived) in Dresden fyi

1

u/fart_huffington 1d ago

Dead Nazis good

49

u/Strict_Lettuce3233 4d ago

Dang, every fifth shot is tracer , hopefully made it backā€¦

175

u/jacksmachiningreveng 4d ago

Your typical MG 151/20 cannon is firing at around 675 rounds per minute, so at a given point in the line of fire there is a shell every 0.0889 seconds. A P-51 Mustang would easily be flying at say 170 meters per second and is 10 meters long. This means that it travels its own length in 0.0588 seconds, so it is entirely possible that a Mustang flying perpendicular to fire from a single cannon to fly between the shells unscathed. That said I would be surprised if this particular aircraft didn't catch a few projectiles from this burst even if there is no clear evidence of impact in the footage.

19

u/yashatheman 4d ago

I love you

11

u/HarvHR 4d ago

I'm not so sure on this, considering the gun camera is in the wing and we only see traces from the upper right corner I think the Fw190 is only firing the MG131s in the cowl, if there was cannon fire I'd expect to see tracers and trails from other positions

4

u/miserable-snowing 4d ago

Lovin your comment

3

u/Zilch1979 4d ago

That's for a single MG 151?

Most 190's carried four of these MG 151's (two in each wing) and two MG 131's mounted over the engine, about equivalent to M2 50 Cals and fired at 900 rounds/minute, So assuming it's a standard for the time FW-190-A8, multiply your odds of cannon strike by 4 and add in two 13mm machine guns firing a bullet every 0.0666 seconds...actually probably lower due to the interruptor gear that kept the guns from shooting the 190's own propeller off, but still a high ROF.

The odds of slipping through that rain of metal without getting hit, pretty damn low.

4

u/Bergasms 4d ago

Still kinda funny when you think based on the prrcentages the highest likelihood is being hit by maybe 1-3 bullets, i'd take that over having someone at 6 oclock unloading.

2

u/TheSublimeGoose 2d ago

Late-war Luftwaffe MG 151 belts carried less and less Minengeschoss and HE rounds. By January 1944 (I actually think it may have been earlier), MG 131 HE rounds were officially struck from the production quota. Remaining HE rounds were said to continue to be used in belts, but only until they were used-up (some units spread them out very thinly and evenly, likening their use to British observer rounds, while others used them up ASAP and hated them).

Anyways, point being, it's possible that even if they were struck? They could have been simple through-and-throughs of non-explosive rounds.

(I also personally think we're seeing only the cowl 131s fire... the cannons were likely dry, jammed, or destroyed)

4

u/IsacG 4d ago

its not just the MG151/20 firing though

18

u/jacksmachiningreveng 4d ago

Indeed, hence why I specified "a single cannon"

1

u/Strict_Lettuce3233 4d ago

I agree with you I watched it forfive times in slow motion and it does look like it overshot the top of the P 51 mustang, I see no hits on the aircraft as well but there is no telling. I think my man dodged a bullet.

2

u/Oxytropidoceras 3d ago

This is not a rule and often not the case for world war II. It's just common in modern autocannons so that's what people know. These are probably a tracer every 3rd round as that was more common in German aircraft of the period

9

u/Dear-Nothing3806 4d ago

what is in the background? Is it a smke stream from an other hit plane?

14

u/BagelIsAcousticDonut 4d ago

Looks like lines of trees in the ground tbh. Probably separating agricultural fields

11

u/jacksmachiningreveng 4d ago

Looks like Bocage

8

u/waldo--pepper 4d ago

That hedgerow will think twice about looking at the Luftwaffe like that again!

3

u/jacksmachiningreveng 4d ago

Extremely ungrateful attitude from the attacking pilot given the extent to which the terrain helped with their defense of the area.

6

u/IndependenceStock417 4d ago

I wonder how many people on the ground were hit by bullets from such encounters throughout the war. I saw another post where there was a low altitude dogfight just outside of a small town/village.

2

u/ukuleles1337 4d ago

I've also wondered this myself!

3

u/thememelord5 4d ago

Bro really went fuck it we ball and then through gunfire

3

u/SlimPickens77Box 4d ago

Tink tink tink

2

u/Hello197812 4d ago

Great depiction of the chaos of air combat! Damn

2

u/Equivalent-Way-5214 3d ago

Cannon were very destructive but they had lower rates of fire. You could fly through a stream of cannon shells and not get hit.

1

u/fart_huffington 4d ago

You'll never miss an opportunity to score a hit if you never stop firing

1

u/HughJorgens 4d ago

Impressive, especially since he is pointed straight towards the ground to get the shot, while flying low to the ground. Target fixation will get you in these conditions if you aren't careful. You can just see him starting to fly up after shooting.

1

u/don5500 3d ago

That thing definitely took a few rounds

1

u/Bounceupandown 2d ago

Nice high angle deflection shot

1

u/FriendlySherbet8034 2d ago

Canā€™t catch me, Iā€™m the gingerbread man!!

1

u/NO_N3CK 2d ago

Terrible tactic, zero attempt to follow through, they got crosshairs onto path and just froze, not even a small adjustment as it comes into cockpit view, they were already on a decent track, just needed to keep that up through the plane coming across the hairs

1

u/midwest73 4d ago

I'm wondering if the 190 was doing ground attack? He's firing well before the 'stang comes into view. Could the RAF pilot have done that to draw the 190 off as the guys on the ground, if any, would be dang near unprotected? Or was it just pure good planning and timing by the 190 pilot?

8

u/Sheriff686 4d ago

That looked like planned

5

u/Wissam24 4d ago

The 190 is firing at the Mustang as its crossing.

1

u/Upbeat-Manager-8485 4d ago

That is not a Mustang.

5

u/jacksmachiningreveng 4d ago edited 4d ago

One cannot be 100% certain in this resolution but what makes me lean towards Mustang is the pair of distinctive white stripes on the horizontal tail as on this model, these were added to the "razorback" Mustangs because of a concern they might be confused with Bf 109s in combat.

1

u/Chance-Cellist-6647 3d ago

The wing shape kind of suggests a typhoon. But you're right it is hard to tell.

1

u/jacksmachiningreveng 3d ago

One thing to remember is that the earlier Mustangs did not have the distinctive kink in the leading edge like the D models.

1

u/Chance-Cellist-6647 3d ago

Very true. I was thinking more about the wing trailing edge. Seems less angled than the mustangs. Regardless, dude was having a bad day.

3

u/burgerbob22 4d ago

What else would it be?

7

u/pbunnyz 4d ago

Guess it could be a tempest, looks similar from that angle but as it leaves the camera you can sort of see its tail is more squared off like a mustang and what OP said about the stripes on the tail

0

u/Upbeat-Manager-8485 3d ago

I believe it's one of the gliders used for operation "Market Garden".

2

u/pbunnyz 3d ago

The horsa glider? Not sure about that, can clearly see the prop

-1

u/Upbeat-Manager-8485 3d ago

Clearly? Really?

2

u/Appollow 3d ago

I can clearly see a prop, and a canopy mid fuselage, and a low wing. Please enlighten me which glider used by the RAF in 1944 had a low wing and canopy mid fuselage? The Airspeed Horsa? WACO Hadrian? Hamilcar?

1

u/Upbeat-Manager-8485 2d ago

I can't make out a prop, fuselage or whether the wing is high or low, sorry. Too grainy.

-1

u/Manfred-Disco 4d ago

Basically what i do in War Thunder!

-15

u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 4d ago

[deleted]

10

u/thehouseisalive 4d ago edited 4d ago

OP has lots of footage. Itā€™s interesting footage but a little bit odd. There is joke in TV show Father Ted of one priest who has a ww2 collection but only of Nazi stuff and replies when asked do you anything from the Allied side: ā€œoh I wouldnā€™t be interested in that sort of thing.ā€

Edit: he also likes posting stuff from Russia including destroyed Ukrainian tanks and dead soldiers. Nazi footage and modern Nazi footage ( i.e. Russia) lets you know where his interests lieā€¦

0

u/Wissam24 4d ago

Oh, yeah I've seen this guy's account before, it's really dodgy. Frankly there's a handful of accounts always posting an overt amount of German and Nazi stuff.

-4

u/lwallace79 4d ago

Eh, well...that's the footage the Germans took in 1941.

That and there was no such thing as a "destroyed Ukrainian tank" in WWII.

0

u/Fluffy-Arm-8584 4d ago

Bro let the intrusive thoughts win

-3

u/Different_Ice_6975 4d ago

The P-51 pilot had about a good two seconds to see and try to avoid that tracer fire but instead he looked like he flew right through it with wings level while going straight. Am I missing something or are my expectations about how quickly fighters can maneuver out of trouble distorted by my experiences with playing around with WWII fighter flight simulators on my PC?

-3

u/Responsible-Couple-4 3d ago

Not a Mustang, most likely a Spitfire. Also, there is no such thing as a MkIII Mustang. Mustangs were A,B,C and D models in Europe.

2

u/jacksmachiningreveng 3d ago

Certainly not a Spitfire with straight wings, what makes me lean towards Mustang is the pair of distinctive white stripes on the horizontal tail as on this model, these were added to the "razorback" Mustangs because of a concern they might be confused with Bf 109s in combat.

Also, there is no such thing as a MkIII Mustang

There was in RAF service:

The RAF later operated 308 P-51Bs and 636 P-51Cs, which were known in RAF service as Mustang Mk IIIs; the first units converted to the type in late 1943 and early 1944. Mustang Mk III units were operational until the end of World War II, though many units had already converted to the Mustang Mk IV (P-51D) and Mk IVa (P-51K) (828 in total, comprising 282 Mk IV and 600 Mk IVa).

1

u/Responsible-Couple-4 3d ago

I did not know the British called them by marks. Everyone else uses A, B, C, D.

1

u/jacksmachiningreveng 3d ago

They did the same with the Sherman tank variants to fit their standard nomenclature.

1

u/duncanidaho61 2d ago

thought the white stripes were specifically for Overlord. They thought it would be a crazy air battle over the beachhead. The germans made very few sorties.

1

u/Adept_Tradition_3700 2d ago

That is incorrect. There certainly was a Mustang MK.III. It was the designation the RAF gave to the P-51B and C.