Luftwaffe ace takes a spin in a Spitfire - aged 95 - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE]A fighter pilot has fulfilled a lifelong dream of flying in a Spitfire - at the age of 95. Hugo Broch was among the most celebrated pilots in the Luftwaffe during World War II and is credited with downing 81 enemy planes on the Eastern Front between 1943 and 1945. He racked up his victories at the controls of a German Messerschmitt 109 fighter plane, but always harboured a desire to take a spin in an iconic British Spitfire.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.theweek.co.uk/86134/luftwaffe-ace-takes-a-spin-in-a-spitfire-aged-95[/url] [url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/28/ww2-luftwaffe-fighter-ace-flies-raf-spitfire-first-time/[/url]

95 and still competent enough to [del][B]fly a plane[/B][/del] nvm that's a sound mind

he was just a passenger but still, neato

He looks fucking good for 95 holy shit. I'm 26 and hands down i feel 6 times worse than he looks.

[QUOTE=DiBBs27;52415586]He looks fucking good for 95 holy shit. I'm 26 and hands down i feel 6 times worse than he looks.[/QUOTE] Do you eat de-aging cream? That's not how that works

Holy shit he really does look incredible for his age he looks like he's about 3 decades younger

*does a barrel roll and stalls* "THIS IS WHY WE HAD FUEL INJECTION!" seriously though, this is great but the spitfire was kind of just good enough whereas had the germans kept up aircraft development they would have kept their dominance. kinda funny though that it took all these years for him to get a ride in one

Did this guy find the fountain of youth or something? I'd be thrilled if I looked like that at [b]60[/b]...

Expect a new FW-190 variant with the information gathered from this.

Called good German genes.

Germans don't age. Getting old would mean you could retire and no longer need to work. And that is unacceptable in Germany.

that's incredible. I'd love to fly a spitfire someday I really hope I have the opportunity

I'd love to fly a plane but man... The cost of licensing, fuel and upkeep for a plane however are murder. Fortunately paragliders exist and are almost completely unregulated while also costing less than most cars in upkeep.

[QUOTE=Shirt.;52416689]I'd love to fly a plane but man... The cost of licensing, fuel and upkeep for a plane however are murder. Fortunately paragliders exist and are almost completely unregulated while also costing less than most cars in upkeep.[/QUOTE] While it won't reduce the cost of getting a license - look into nearby flight clubs. They charge around a $100 annual fee and have pretty cheap (compared to ownership) rates/hr to rent a plane.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52415795]*does a barrel roll and stalls* "THIS IS WHY WE HAD FUEL INJECTION!" seriously though, this is great but the spitfire was kind of just good enough whereas had the germans kept up aircraft development they would have kept their dominance. kinda funny though that it took all these years for him to get a ride in one[/QUOTE] Except Germany never really had air dominance, especially after Battle of Britain - That battle practically broke the Luftwaffe's back. Spitfire continued to be developed and pretty much eclipses the Bf109 in the end. which's understandable as the Germans focused on jet at the end.

[QUOTE=O'Neil;52417130]Except Germany never really had air dominance, especially after Battle of Britain - That battle practically broke the Luftwaffe's back. Spitfire continued to be developed and pretty much eclipses the Bf109 in the end. which's understandable as the Germans focused on jet at the end.[/QUOTE] if the germans had focused on the radar and airfields they would have captured and maintained dominance, they had many more planes than the british but the british had the force multiplier of radar that let them bring the right amount of aircraft to the right place. for some reason the germans never attacked the radars, and stopped attacking the airports leaving them to rebuild and reequip. also the germans never really had a solid plan to invade britain since they lacked the knowledge and naval capacity to do so

I love the sound of a spitfire in the air. When I hear one I always remember them as one of the machines which helped defend our country from invasion.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52415795]*does a barrel roll and stalls* "THIS IS WHY WE HAD FUEL INJECTION!" seriously though, this is great but the spitfire was kind of just good enough whereas had the germans kept up aircraft development they would have kept their dominance. kinda funny though that it took all these years for him to get a ride in one[/QUOTE] The dominance of the luftwaffe is one of the biggest memes in history. This is the same retarded airforce that kept pilot aces flying missions until they died rather than using them to train pilots like the US did.

Wasn't the spitfire overglorified and turned into some propaganda piece, while another aircraft (Typhoon? Don't know for sure) actually did most of the work?

[QUOTE=joost1120;52417822]Wasn't the spitfire overglorified and turned into some propaganda piece, while another aircraft (Typhoon? Don't know for sure) actually did most of the work?[/QUOTE] The Hurricane

[QUOTE=Araknid;52417652]The dominance of the luftwaffe is one of the biggest memes in history. This is the same retarded airforce that kept pilot aces flying missions until they died rather than using them to train pilots like the US did.[/QUOTE] Oh? I thought it was the IJAAS who wasted their ace pilots. But then I guess it's feasible that the Luftwaffe made the same error.

[QUOTE=GordonZombie;52417882]Oh? I thought it was the IJAAS who wasted their ace pilots. But then I guess it's feasible that the Luftwaffe made the same error.[/QUOTE] That's why you've got German pilots with hundreds of kills, and so many German aces in general. [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_flying_aces[/url]

wtf he looks like my 50 year old dad

[QUOTE=joost1120;52417822]Wasn't the spitfire overglorified and turned into some propaganda piece, while another aircraft (Typhoon? Don't know for sure) actually did most of the work?[/QUOTE] Yes, kind of. The hurricane is the unsung hero in the Battle of Britain as the spitfire was still rolling off the production lines. However, the spitfire was a superior aircraft in almost every facet. [editline]30th June 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Sableye;52415795]*does a barrel roll and stalls* "THIS IS WHY WE HAD FUEL INJECTION!" seriously though, this is great but the spitfire was kind of just good enough whereas had the germans kept up aircraft development they would have kept their dominance. kinda funny though that it took all these years for him to get a ride in one[/QUOTE] Carbeurators cut out when taking negative G's so that's not really how it worked. Plus by later iterations the spitfire didn't have that issue

[QUOTE=God of Ashes;52417985] Carbeurators cut out when taking negative G's so that's not really how it worked. Plus by later iterations the spitfire didn't have that issue[/QUOTE] This, here's an interesting story; [quote] Oberleutnant Jochen Schypek, 5/JG 54, reiterated Mölders' view of the Spitfires' negative 'g' problems: We were attacked when the bombers had reached the London Docks and I yelled an alarm "Indians at six o'clock!" ...With them, we had developed a standard and often successful procedure - our Daimler Benz engines were fuel injection ones whilst the Spitfires had carburettor engines. This meant once we put our noses down vertically and quick enough, our engines would continue to function without interruption whilst the Spitfires - and Hurricanes - attempting to stick to our tails would slow down long enough for us to put a safer distance between them and ourselves. The slowing down was the consequence of the float in the carburettor getting stuck due the the sudden change in position. I had managed to break away at least a dozen times by means of this manoeuvre but lo and behold, it did not work this time! The 'Indian' was right on my tail in my steep dive and opened fire. I could see bullets hitting my wings and, from the white trails on both sides, I knew he had hit my radiator... My 'Indian' drew alongside and the aircraft appeared strange to me as I had never been so close to a live Spitfire before. I was rather relieved that he recognized I did not have any chance of getting home and that he did not insist he complete his kill. [/quote]

[QUOTE=Araknid;52417652]The dominance of the luftwaffe is one of the biggest memes in history. This is the same retarded airforce that kept pilot aces flying missions until they died rather than using them to train pilots like the US did.[/QUOTE] Yeah, as far as I remember the RAF outstripped them in manpower and production (with production at least it was like 2:1 iirc) during the Battle of Britain.

Battle of Britian was more alot than just Spitfire verses 109, both planes were pretty much equal, spit had a tighter turning circle the 109 could go faster at higher altitudes ect ect. Pilots did not fly to the aircrafts weakness, they flew to their strenghts (and those weaknesses were slowly irradicated as development of the aircraft went on). What tipped the balance towards the Spit (well Hurricaine actually) was the various contributing outside factors such as Every pilot shot down for the Allies could be back in the air half hour later (if they survived). Every German pilot who lived become a POW. The 109 could fly over Britian for 10 mins before it's have to cut off and run for the channel, the spit and hurricain could litterally fly circles for the duration of the dogfight and then shoot the 109 in the tail as they made a break for it. Ground and ship borne AA would also be targetting the 109's. Radar gave the RAF the element of surprise. Another hugely important factor the RAF had in it's locker was Decoys and innefficient German Intelligence, Britian were the litteral kings of subterfuge and the Luftwaffe fell for it hook line and sinker. We built hundreds of fake wooden aircraft, airfields, buildings and hangers so on so forth for the enemy to waste it's time with which they did. The overall importance of this cannot be overstated, our airforce was fucked, dead on it's feet by August 1940 with only around 200 aircraft left, 170 ish of which were airworthy at any 1 moment in time, if germany launched operation sealion the RAF would not have been able to stop it (Sealion being feasable or not is another matter entirely). And yet Germany decided to start bombing Cities instead at the most crucial moment. At that moment in time we had indeed won the battle but we'd also lost the war in the process, the thing is Germany did not know it because it'd fly recon over Britian and see fake airfields filled with planes and they'd be left thinking "where the fuck do they keep getting these planes from", so they gave up and tried to kill the British moral by bombing the people instead, less than a month after that started Britian and Canada had repalced 70% of the planes that'd been lost in the BoB and as a result we had won both the battle and the war. There's alot more too it than that aswell but I could be here for hours typing and it'll just bore everyone to hell so i'll just finish off by saying, while the machines were incredible and the outside factors all tipped the odds. You cannot overstate the importance of the pilots and ground crew, what they had to work with and the results they achieved is nothing short of a miracle.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52417466]if the germans had focused on the radar and airfields they would have captured and maintained dominance, they had many more planes than the british but the british had the force multiplier of radar that let them bring the right amount of aircraft to the right place. for some reason the germans never attacked the radars, and stopped attacking the airports leaving them to rebuild and reequip. also the germans never really had a solid plan to invade britain since they lacked the knowledge and naval capacity to do so[/QUOTE] The Germans did attack the radars, it's a myth of history that the Germans didn't know what radar was so they ignorantly and mistakenly left the Chain Home system alone. The Chain Home system as a whole was brilliant, but the radars themselves were actually pretty antiquated at the point that the system was built and the Germans, when observing it, assumed it to be used for communications and rescue at sea. Fact is that the CH radars were of a compromised and rushed design, and that actually sort of hid what they were. They did actually bomb the radar sites quite heavily during the channel battles phase early on in the battle, but they were very hard to damage due to their construction and the hanging cables between them being dangerous for low flying aircraft. When radars [i]were[/i] knocked out, in a brilliant ruse, fake transmissions would be emitted which would lead the Luftwaffe to believe they weren't getting the results for their efforts and they were wasting their time. As for why they stopped attacking the airfields, one night a German bomber got lost and, for lack of anything better to do, decided to drop its bombs and head back. It happened to be over London at the time. Churchill immediately ordered Berlin to be bombed in retaliation, which it was the following night. Hitler, furious at this, demanded London be razed to the ground. [QUOTE=joost1120;52417822]Wasn't the spitfire overglorified and turned into some propaganda piece, while another aircraft (Typhoon? Don't know for sure) actually did most of the work?[/QUOTE] Not really, it was just that there were twice as many Hurricanes as there were Spitfires in the Battle of Britain so naturally they got more kills. The Spitfire was the superior fighter though, and proved itself the equal of the 109 which had gained an almost invincible reputation until then.

[QUOTE=God of Ashes;52417985]Yes, kind of. The hurricane is the unsung hero in the Battle of Britain as the spitfire was still rolling off the production lines. However, the spitfire was a superior aircraft in almost every facet.[/QUOTE] Kind of, The Hurricane was tougher and was a better gun platform, it was also more suited for the bomber interception as the guns were closed together, meaning the guns synchronised better.