It's usually time for a reminder that you may have missed something.

Another WWII aircraft incident I never even imagined, never mind heard of before, and I read A LOT of WWII avaiation history in my life.

Germany's U-2

Nothing that altered the course of the war, but I imagine it put thoughts into someones head for future reference.

Good to see occaisional good content on YT. Felton has some very good stuff.

Thanks for posting that.

Junkers was well into high altitude research, before they sacked him. Of course research was then continued for the military, from the 'flying U-boat' Ju 49 to the JU EF-61. The experience was then used for the 86 high-altitude version(s).

It is not so well known, the predecessor of the JU 86 bomber was built as a civilian plane in 1934, and also served in the SAAF - where it was almost shot down accidentally, by own forces: https://samilhistory.com/2018/04/15/the-day-the-saaf-nearly-killed-jan-smuts/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT2b1m5YVwE

Regarding the high-altitude reconnaissance version of the 86 being the "U-2" of its time is a bit like saying the HS 129 was the predecessor of the A 10, but apart from the initial idea there was not much left, technically.

Pretty fascinating story there Nixer. If you don't mind turning this thread into an "interesting WW 2 events and trivia" thread then I would like to make this modest contribution:


These two guys worked for Hitler for a while but ended up being on the Allied side eventually. Both of them had lives interesting enough to turn into a Netflix documentary!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Hanfstaengl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stuart-Houston