(apologies if the German is butchered)
This was recovered, probably, from the on-board record player of a helicopter in 1936 in German East Asia during the Indochinese Rebellion.
*record starts playing, drums, double bass, and accordion music starts playing*
"Some volk are born, made to wave ze flag.
OoooOOoo zat Black White and Red!"
"And when ze band plays Die Wacht en Rhein
Zey point ze cannone at you, Herr"
"Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein not a Reichstag's soooohn, sohn
Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein ain't no glücklich ooooone"
"Some volk are born, silber spoon in hand
Herr, don't zey help zemselves, ja
But when ze Kaiser's men come to ze door
Ze haus look a like a rummage saaaaale"
"Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein not a AOG sooohn, nein, nein
Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein ain't no glücklich ooooone"
"Ja, some volk inherit eiserne-kreuzen eyes
Ze send you down to war!
And when you ask zem, "how much should we give?"
Zer only answer, 'mehr, mehr, mehr,'"
"Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein not a Deutsches Heer soooohn, sohn
Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein ain't no glücklich ooooone"
"Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein not a Deutsches Heer soooohn, sohn
Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein ain't no glücklich ooooone"
"Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein not a Deutsches Heer soooohn, sohn
Es ist not mich, es ist not miiiIIiiich
Ein ain't no glücklich ooooone"
https://preview.redd.it/dh627lk1hc881.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=429916a669df5fe287a4c012d690afe85fd3adab
Not sure if this is allowed but the story is too good to not share.
One of the most bizarre stories of WWII and certainly a rather hilarious stab at the whole "Luftwaffe best air force in history" myth that Wehraboos love to promote. This is the story of when a German Focke Wulf 190 fighter tried to strafe a British steam passenger train and the train emerged the winner.
On the afternoon of 26 November 1942, German pilot, Heinz Bierwirth, was returning from a raid when he spotted a British passenger train below. The passenger train was being hauled by steam engine no. 2365, a Class D3 tank engine of the Southern Railway. Heinz Bierwirth dived onto the train to attack it. He fired several bursts at the train when one cannon shell hit the boiler of the locomotive.
Safe to say that the young German pilot had no clue how steam engines work and what would actually happen if a steam engine exploded. Basically the one cannon shell he fired caused the boiler to suddenly increase in pressure and thus exploded (in a steam explosion) blowing away the funnel, safety valves and the dome off the locomotive. The explosion was so powerful that part of the funnel was found a quarter of a mile away from the locomotive.
Rather unfortunately for the German pilot, he flew right over the steam locomotive the moment it's boiler exploded. The dome struck the German fighter and damaged it, the plane ultimately lost control (either due to the damage or the pilot panicked) and then crashed into a field some distance away. Unfortunately for the pilot, the train was also travelling through the Romney Marshes, a populated wetland, and the pilot was flung out of his plane only to land in a dyke where he drowned. His body was soon recovered and buried at Hawkinge.
Despite the attack and the boiler explosion, only the fireman suffered injuries, where he was hospitalised with steam scalds, which he recovered from. The driver and the passengers meanwhile, were completely unharmed! D3, no. 2365 (the loco involved), was repaired and then returned to service the following Spring and remained in service after Nationalisation until it was withdrawn in the 1950s and scrapped.
So there you go, a bizarre and strange story of WW2 when a German fighter pilot and a British steam engine crew came face to face and the German was the one who died and the train crew survived to tell the tale.
So next time the Wehraboos tell you how the Luftwaffe was the greatest air force ever to exist in the histo
... keep reading on reddit ➡The Focke-Wulf Fw 203 'Fantasie''s weird and convoluted design history will be covered in a different posts, but in recap, it was designed by the Focke-Wulf team for the 1953 Kampfflugzeugprogramm, concocted after the agreement to life arms restriction on Germany, aimed to deliver 1500 units of new Mach 2+ combat aircraft to the Luftwaffe in the 1960s in the strike and interceptor roles.
The Focke-Wulf offered a Mach 2, delta wing design which first flew in 1955 during the fly-off which saw it see off the (now privatised) DFW design. This however wasn't to be the design that ultimately made it to production, as backroom dealings with Jerusalem, interests from which was demonstrated from the start with the presence of IDF observers at the series of fly-off, made it necessary to change aspects of the design. Indeed, the end result went from a cranked delta design to a straight delta configuration with increased sweep to increase straight line performance. This was also highlighted by the inclusion of a Siemens AF 11 Air Intercept Radar (providing for a 50km bomber target detection capability) within FW marketing for the Fantasie, something outside of Luftwaffe requirements. This also slightly drove up the costs for the Fw 203, which ended up making it ever more so undesireable in the eyes of the Luftwaffe, with their arms having to be twisted to order 160 in the single seat variant and 54 in the twin seat training variant for the initial production batch. That being said, the Fw 203 has all the hallmarks of a successful export design, which is to be seen in the coming years.
Operators
The Fw 203 entered squadron service with the Luftwaffe in 1961.
Its other intended customer, the Israeli Air Force have also ordered 96 units.
Due to an agreement on the Demo 007 Ikaros research and development to procure aircrafts equipped with the 007 Ikaros, the Netherlands have also selected the Fw 203 as its main fighter, with 95 to be ordered and produced under license by Fokker for the RNAF.
The Belgian Air Force have also ordered 80 Fantasies.
Both the Netherlands and Belgian are looking at an additional 200 or so airframes in the Luftwaffe ground attack variant to replace the F-84F both nations operate.
The Argentine Air Force, partners with Germany on the DFW De 201 Dart/I.Ae. 33 Pulqui II would be purchasing 40 units to replace their Pulqui II force.
The Swiss Air Force is also looking to procure 60 units of various variants.
The Spanish Air Force h
... keep reading on reddit ➡
