[Soto Cinematics] Air combat stories - cinematic documentary series

[AWC]

This is my series on personal experiences and smaller scale events of the WWII air war. I will upload new videos here to avoid creating unnecessary posts. 

 

Please enjoy. A lot of research, mission making, and editing has gone into these videos, so please share or comment to show your support!

 

Soto

 

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 Uploaded on 6 August 2021

 

On the evening of 26th June, 1943, Robert S. Johnson's damaged aircraft was allegedly escorted by a German Focke Wulf while trying to get back to England. Previously, it was believed that Luftwaffe ace Egon Mayer was the pilot responsible for the chivalrous action, but according to Roger Freeman in 'Wolfpack Warriors' there is no record that he was there or that this event occurred. However, if we take Johnson's word, the act of camaraderie is an iconic moment of the war. Thanks to Mysticpuma for his help in researching this video.

 

Sources:

'Wolfpack Warriors: The Story of World War II’s Most Successful Fighter Outfit'

http://www.century-of-flight.freeola.com/Aviation%20history/WW2/aces/Robert%20S.Johnson.htm

http://www.donhollway.com/wolfpack/

 

Thanks to @SARFlytitus for the US skins! (Sorry for the late mention): https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/63556-p-47-d22-razorbacks-of-the-eto/

 

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Uploaded on 15 August 2021

 

On 19th July 1942, Hans Döbrich and three other pilots of Jagdgeschwader 5 took off from Petsamo airfield in the north of Russia/Finland. During an encounter with Soviet planes Döbrich was shot down near Murmansk, forcing him to avoid capture by navigating 90km of barren tundra. This cinematic video captures his survival journey as an adaptation of his memoir. Thanks to @Tony_Argudo for his help in researching this story and contributing to the skin making.

 

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Uploaded on 20 February 2022

 

On 10^th April 1945, Me 262 pilot Walter Hagenah took off with his wingman to intercept an American bomber formation. En route, the two jets were attacked by US fighters, with Hagenah’s wingman being shot down. After avoiding this attack, Hagenah was able to ambush the same P-51’s, reportedly using his R4M unguided rockets to shoot down two of the fighters, although only one is credited to him on this day. Hagenah then returned to base under the noses of another group of American fighters strafing his airfield.

 

According to US sources, there is little to no evidence that this event ever occurred. Similarly, Hagenah’s victories were not confirmed by JG 7 in the desperate last days of the war. As such, it is difficult to corroborate the event with such conflicting accounts. However, I have endeavoured to create this video as it is an interesting and rare aspect of the WWII air war.

 

Sources:

Forsyth, Robert. Me 262 vs P-51 Mustang (Duel)

Forsyth, Robert. Jagdgeschwader 7 'Novotny' (Aviation Elite Units)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7naFflRAkE&ab_channel=Kelly%27sHistory

 

Thanks to @CCG_Pips for the P-51 skins: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/55058-ccg-pips-skin-download-center/

 

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Uploaded on 24 April 2022

 

Sometime in April 1945, Robert A. ‘Bob’ Hoover escaped from Stalag Luft I in northern Germany. With his compatriot Jerome ‘Jerry’ Ennis and a Canadian named George, the three made their ways to Allied lines. Parting ways with George, Hoover and Ennis undertook an epic journey of evasion, receiving help from friendly locals, encountering Soviet forces up to no good, and eventually finding a German airfield. With Ennis’ help, Hoover was able to steal an Fw 190 and fly to freedom. The renowned ‘Bob’ Hoover is best known for his post-war exploits as an expert test and aerobatic pilot, called by Jimmy Doolittle the ‘greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived’.

 

Sources:

https://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Spitfire-MA883-Hoover-1944.htm

https://www.luftwaffe.cz/lemkes.html 

 

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Uploaded on 22 May 2022

 

On 20^th January 1943, Flight Lieutenant Baron Jean de Sélys-Longchamps led a flight of 2 on a ‘Rhubarb’ sortie into Belgium. Near Ghent, he and his wingman, Flight Sergeant André Blanco, attacked several trains. Ordering Blanco to return to base after shooting up the trains, de Sélys-Longchamps flew towards the capital, Brussels, to make an unauthorised attack on the Belgian Gestapo HQ. Flying low, he strafed the building successfully and proceeded to drop a Union Jack, a Belgian flag and other Belgian flags on the way back to England. On his return to Manston, de Sélys-Longchamps was reprimanded and transferred for his disobedience. He was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions, however.

 

Sources:

https://www.docdroid.net/nHR2R8V/after-the-battle-185-gestapo-headquarters-in-brussels-pdf 
https://www.manstonhistory.org.uk/flt-baron-jean-de-selys-longchamps-attack-gestapo-hq-hectic-day-no-609-sqn-january-20-1943/
https://www.alamy.com/world-war-two-advance-into-belgium-situation-1st-september-1944-1968-old-map-image242587177.html

 

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Uploaded on 18 September 2022

 

On 6th June 1944, Oberstleutnant Josef ‘Pips’ Priller and his wingman Unteroffizier Hienz Wodarcyck of JG 26 flew the most famous Luftwaffe sortie on ‘D-Day’. As some of the only available fighters in Normandy on this day, the pair took off from Lille-Nord at 0800 and headed for the invasion beaches. They soon reached Sword and Juno beaches where they both made a single staffing run under intense Allied fire. Miraculously making it through the flak unscathed, Priller and Wodarcyck returned to base. This event was popularised by the book and film ‘The Longest Day’.

 

Source:
http://don-caldwell.we.bs/jg26/6june44.htm 

 

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Uploaded on 23 October 2022

 

On 14^th January 1944, Dominic Salvatore ‘Don’ Gentile led a flight of the 336^th Fighter Squadron, 4^th Fighter Group from Debden airfield on a fighter sweep over France. On this day he shot down 2 enemy fighters and was involved in a near death dogfight as he duelled two more enemy aircraft famously calling ‘Help I'm being clobbered! If I don't make it back tell them I got two!’ Gentile remains the highest scoring pilot of 4^th Fighter Group USAAF.

 

Sources:

Gentile’s combat report: http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/p-47/er/4-gentile14jan44.jpg

Painting: https://www.starduststudios.com/don-gentile.html

@Taurushttps://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/76384-western-front-skin-packs/

@Raptorattackerhttps://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/42650-raptorattackers-skinhouse/?do=findComment&comment=1221572

 

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Uploaded on 23 October 2022

 

On the evening of 23^rd June 1944, Flying Officer Kenneth Collier destroyed a V-1 flying bomb by physically ‘tipping’ it with his wingtip. This was the first instance of a pilot using his aircraft to contact a V-1 and change its course (the first pilot to destroy a V-1 by disrupting the airflow around the wing was Major Richard E. Turner of 356^th Fighter Squadron on 18^th June 1944). This method was extremely dangerous and was discouraged by Allied air forces; however, there are several examples of this occurring once pilots ran out of ammunition. Collier did not survive the war as he was killed in a dogfight on 5^th December 1944 over Germany.

 

Sources:
https://www.aircrewremembered.com/collier-kenneth-roy.html 
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=51WbCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA19&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/623765
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2705895

 

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Uploaded on 28 March 2023

 

On the night of 4th/5th May 1942, Flight Lieutenant Karel Kuttelwascher flew an intruder mission over France. During this sortie, Kuttelwascher shot down 3 He 111s over Saint-André-de-l'Eure at 0050 hrs in the space of 4 minutes before being spotted. After evading the searchlights and flak, Kuttelwascher returned safely to RAF Tangmere at 0205 hrs.

 

Sources
http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/nighthawk.html
https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/s-ldr-karel-m-kut-kuttelwascher-dfc-bar.1602/
http://armahobbynews.pl/en/blog/2020/10/13/karel-kutterwascher-the-most-effective-hurricane-night-fighter-pilot/
https://fcafa.com/2011/01/01/karel-kuttelwascher/

 

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Uploaded on 4 June 2023

 

On August 16th 1940, Flight Lieutenant James Nicolson led 3 Hurricanes of 249 SQN from Boscombe Down on a patrol of the Poole, Ringwood and Salisbury area. After climbing to 18,000 ft after unsuccessfully chasing some Ju 88s, Nicolson and his wingmen were bounced by a staffel of JG 53 Bf 109s over Corhampton Down. Squadron Leader King was hit and entered a spin but returned to Boscombe Down, Pilot Officer King’s Hurricane burst into flames and he bailed out only to be fatally injured when his canopy collapsed. Nicolson’s Hurricane also burst into flames, but as he attempted to bail out a two-engined aircraft flew into view; he chased it and shot it down before bailing out himself due to extensive burns. Nicolson was awarded the Victoria Cross on November 15th, 1940.

 

Sources 

https://armahobbynews.pl/en/blog/2020/08/13/hurricane-fighter-commands-sole-victoria-cross/ 
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/history-of-war/20190124/281655371250219
https://www.theywerethere.co.uk/the-project/battle-of-britain-vc/
https://www.keymilitary.com/article/fighter-commands-lone-vc
https://aircrewremembered.com/nicolson-james.html
https://www.gandjlawrence.co.uk/GolfClub/pictures/nicholson/hurricane.htm
https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/thurrock-historical-people/wing-commander-james-nicolson-vc-dfc  
https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/81623-skin-request-james-nicolson-vc-hurricane

 

Skins
@Taurus https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/75396-battle-of-britain-skin-packs/

@ICDP https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/32806-bf109-e7-4k-template-released-with-4k-normalmap-and-skins-updated-05052018/

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Lemsip

[IckyATLAS]

Thanks for sharing the work. I enjoyed the three of them. May I ask you what tool do you use to record the videos. I tested Bandicam but the result is very stuttered even if the sim display is perfectly fluid with no stuttering at all.

On the last video about Hans Döbrich is suppose the second part after he bailed out was done with a different sim than IL2. May I ask which one.

 

[AWC]

2 hours ago, IckyATLAS said:

Thanks for sharing the work. I enjoyed the three of them. May I ask you what tool do you use to record the videos. I tested Bandicam but the result is very stuttered even if the sim display is perfectly fluid with no stuttering at all.

On the last video about Hans Döbrich is suppose the second part after he bailed out was done with a different sim than IL2. May I ask which one.

 

 

I record with NVIDIA Shadowplay which comes with NVIDIA graphics cards. And I used ARMA III and mods his time in the Tundra.

[IckyATLAS]

28 minutes ago, Lemsip said:

 

I record with NVIDIA Shadowplay which comes with NVIDIA graphics cards. And I used ARMA III and mods his time in the Tundra.

I have a 3090 Nvidia but never new about that. I will try this as soon as possible. I can imagine that an Nvidia tool will work perfectly with Nvidia hardware.

That would be fantastic if we could have our pilots being able to get out of the plane and move around on the airfield and back in the plane. Maybe one day we may get this.

 

[Mysticpuma]

On 2/17/2022 at 11:10 AM, IckyATLAS said:

I have a 3090 Nvidia but never new about that. I will try this as soon as possible. I can imagine that an Nvidia tool will work perfectly with Nvidia hardware.

That would be fantastic if we could have our pilots being able to get out of the plane and move around on the airfield and back in the plane. Maybe one day we may get this.

 

Shadowplay is part of the GeForce Experience software which you should have installed. 

 

I set mine up to record the last 20 minutes of footage rather than press a button to record. That way if nothing interesting happens I don't save it, rather than start recording and then nothing happens and I have to delete the video after. 

 

It will make sense once you start messing around with Instant Replay feature and settings so you can record 30/60 FPS at 4k or lower. 

 

Shadowplay is excellent for video makers. 

 

 

Sadly one feature not supported is Nvidia Ansel..... This would be AMAZING if they one day included it! Got to live in hope ?

 

 

[JG7_X-Man]

Interesting! I never knew about Flying Officer Baron Jean de Selys Longchamps's attacked the Gestapo HQ in Brussels.

 

Here is the thing though - I am 100% sure he didn't kill/wound only "Nazis", regardless of what the "official war report says". There were prisoners and civilians undoubtedly caught in the barrage of fire. This is why junior officers don't plan missions - they don't have the big picture view of the war.

[AWC]

Added Walter Hagenah's R4M attack

[AWC]

Added Bob Hoover's escape

[AWC]

Added Selys-Longchamps' attack on Gestapo HQ

[AWC]

Added Priller's attack on D-Day

[AWC]

Added Gentile's dogfight 

[AWC]

Added V-1 tipping by Collier

[tribal50]

Great job! How many times or attempts to finally get  the good rush with the V1 changing  his course?

congratulations! You’re also a good pilot!

Edited January 9, 2023 by tribal50

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

Thanks for this amazing work!!!

[AWC]

14 hours ago, tribal50 said:

Great job! How many times or attempts to finally get  the good rush with the V1 changing  his course?

congratulations! You’re also a good pilot!

 

Thanks! It took many attempts to get everything right...

 

14 hours ago, =gRiJ=Roman- said:

Thanks for this amazing work!!!

 

Thanks Roman

[AWC]

Kuttlewascher mission added

[AWC]

James Nicolson's Victoria Cross action added