The Plane that Brought a Knife to a Gun Fight



In the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany’s advance across Europe seemed unstoppable. As the once mighty France teetered on the edge of defeat after a brutal campaign, Britain braced itself for invasion.
Faced with this dire threat, British High Command made a bold decision: every aircraft capable of flight would be called upon to defend the Commonwealth.

Among these unlikely defenders was the de Havilland Tiger Moth, a simple biplane trainer never designed for combat with a hidden potential for adaptation.

Engineers quickly came up with a series of plans and designs to adapt the Tiger Moth for war. First, they fitted bomb racks capable of carrying up to 240 pounds of explosives. Student pilots, their training barely complete, prepared for the possibility of dive-bombing enemy forces from altitudes as low as 500 feet, armed with only a pistol.

Some crazier planned variants included “paraslashers” – blade-like attachments designed to disable enemy parachutists mid-air. Others underwent tests as chemical dispensers, with the capacity to spread dangerous substances over advancing ground troops.

Despite its lack of armor, the Tiger Moth, a trainer once solely responsible for teaching the basics of flight, now prepared to defend the British shores from full-scale war.

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50 thoughts on “The Plane that Brought a Knife to a Gun Fight”

  1. Your comment on the dubious use of the 25 pound bomb brings to mind the equally ineffective Avro Anson trainer, pressed into service as marine patrol. I don't recall the name of the boat, but one day, an Anson crew spotted a submarine on the surface, determined it was German, and attacked. To their delight, a 25 pounder made a direct hit on the deck, only to be followed by the horrific realization that they had just bombed a British sub. This was followed immense relief as it was realized the bomb had caused the sub no damage whatsoever!

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  2. How many got radio controlled one way trips full of fuel and weapons? My first thought? the Doodlebug was first "I recall,'' not best?
    had one buddy in the 60's with a B 17 he built in his two car garage, another radio controlled bi plane, he built a scale radial, and he did gliders, one paper rout customer had a drone for yard art and a fish pond with frogs one block from Rockwell Downey, all samepaper route. A marine shot 5 times mostly Pacific! His retarded brother shot him in the ass with a 22 as kids, then he blew off a finger shooting modern shotgun shells in a black bowder design wire wrapped, forged barrel shot gun, ALL his Father "Ordered him Not" To DO! this Man gave ME my my "Hunters Safety" class for my BSA merit badge and my Ca hunting lic. LOVED The Dude!

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  3. Tiger Moths and their cousins are distinctly lifty and maneuverable. They are excellent weight carriers. Stalling is a non event. They are very suitable as seaplane conversions. Attacked by a fighter, a Tiger Moth can make a difficult target to draw a bead on.

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  4. I'm done with dark everything. The hyper-fast narration has always been a bit irritating (hihoneyhowwasyourdaythisissomegreatsplitpeasoupcouldyoupassthesaltplease), but at least marginally tolerable. Then came the clickbait – videos that didn't come close to delivering, and now we've got to tolerate the annoying background "music". Maybe I'll revisit your channel in a year or two. But for now, I'll go, um, dark.

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  5. I know this series to be loosey goosey with having the clips match the narration, but c’mon. The aircraft shown at 10:16 is obviously the iconic Spirit of St. Louis., which was already in the Smithsonian by the time you are describing in the video. I like your concept here but feel a bit let down by the lack of attention to detail.

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  6. The music is too upbeat, tempo is fighting with your speaking rhythm and makes it difficult to listen. It either needs to be quieter or something slower. Love most of your work, but i cant with this one.

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  7. The concept has proven very effective. Soviets used biplane trainer Polikarpov Po-2 (U-2) as light bombers gliding in quietly to attack at night in squadrons which the Germans dubbed Night Witches. Extremely effective and legendary.

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  8. What a great video from you again! I can honestly say after years and years of studying WWII, this is definitely one story I’ve never learned about! Thanks for always keeping it interesting! I especially like learning where today’s term ‘Drone’ came from. I had no idea it went back so far.

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