Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombing pilot's perspective

Seen in the clip is the pilot's perspective as a Luftwaffe Ju 87 Stuka dives on a railway marshaling yard in Poland in 1939

The diving procedure was as follows:

Flying at 4,600 m (15,100 ft), the pilot located his target through a bombsight window in the cockpit floor. The pilot moved the dive lever to the rear, limiting the "throw" of the control column. The dive brakes were activated automatically, the pilot set the trim tabs, reduced his throttle and closed the coolant flaps. The aircraft then rolled 180°, automatically nosing the aircraft into a dive. Red tabs protruded from the upper surfaces of the wing as a visual indicator to the pilot that, in case of a g-induced black-out, the automatic dive recovery system would be activated. The Stuka dived at a 60–90° angle, holding a constant speed of 500–600 km/h (350–370 mph) due to dive-brake deployment, which increased the accuracy of the Ju 87's aim.

When the aircraft was reasonably close to the target, a light on the contact altimeter (an altimeter equipped with an electrical contact which triggers at a preset altitude) came on to indicate the bomb-release point, usually at a minimum height of 450 m (1,480 ft). The pilot released the bomb and initiated the automatic pull-out mechanism by depressing a knob on the control column. An elongated U-shaped crutch located under the fuselage swung the bomb out of the way of the propeller, and the aircraft automatically began a 6g pullout. Once the nose was above the horizon, dive brakes were retracted, the throttle was opened, and the propeller was set to climb. The pilot regained control and resumed normal flight. The coolant flaps had to be reopened quickly to prevent overheating.

[TomikoPL]

This shows bombing of a train station in Inowrocław. My grandmother witnessed that from a distance of a few kilometers.

[jetaddicted]

That was one of the aircrafts my grandpa flew during WWII, in fact, his last combat mission (July 11th 1943, Licata bay, Sicily), was in a Ju-87D.

[garyolivi]

I’ve been flying for years. Have done light aerobatics often and heavy stuff on occasion. I’ve always imagined what a Stuka run would be like, but seeing it in this video literally say “Holy S*#t!

[ericscottstevens]

Grandfather was a rear gunner on the JU87 with 3./St.G.77: "Small Fries" part of I. Gruppe:. Basically on the start of the program as he entered in 1935 Wehrmacht and transferred over to the Luftwaffe by 1936. I. Gruppe really tore things up in Poland with 4 missions, and became famous for their moniker no job too big or no job too small.
This footage is most likely the I./St.G.77 as this campaign was theirs to create as much havoc as possible: attack on September 4th, rail yards in conjunction with KG 4, KG 55, KG 76 and KG 77 were used to support of the 4th Army's advance.
The G forces the rear gunners position were pretty extreme, if you had the vantage point of this same footage from the rear gunner seat it would be nothing but sky. There was no escape from the aircraft if it was hit or ready to crash. My Grandfather had inner ear pressure problems for the rest of his life until his death in 1984.

[zernek]

A city on this footage is Hohensalza (Inowroclaw now), this part of the city was very important target to Luftwaffe because there was a big railway yard, gasworks and a barracks of 59th infantry regiment.
Bombing run took place on September 4, on September 8 a 337 German infantry regiment entered the city and took control over the city.

[jamesdunn]

A later version of the Stuka was armed with cannon and as such was a very effective tank buster. To be most lethal in this role, it had to be flown level with and very close to the ground and sideways on to the tank. This required exceptional flying skill as well as a great deal of courage. Hauptmann Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the epitome of such a pilot.

[reubensandwich]

That's amazing seeing that other plane pulling up with the ground shadow at 1:00.

[caturlifelive]

although this is silent video, but i still can hear this plane sirens

[fromontario]

Imagine air raid sirens in the background and Jericho sirens in the foreground. With explosions going on everywhere, that must have been scary as hell.

[ericscottstevens]

Another note: the actions of a Stuka crossing over left to right at 1:01 across the flight path was probably prohibited. Could have been a strafing instance or an aircraft from StG1 or StG 2, perhaps? According to my Grandfather after Poland St.G.77 transferred west to Cologne-Butzweilerhof for intensive re-training for 2 months with strict secrecy. Apparently there were too many errors in the dive runs and not enough structure in the fight paths after bomb release. I guess they rewrote a lot of dive bombing tactics in 2 months preparing and leading up to the Eban Emael mission which proved to be quite a compact target to aim for.
Stuka at 0:52 could be adhering to tactical route norm.

[KorporalNoobs]

Being on the ground there must have been horrific. The amount of planes up there. For every leaving engine you would hear another approaching.

[stefanwesterberg]

Those Jericho sirens! 😱 Psychological warefare on top of all the fysical warfare. My father saw these dive bombers in action when he was a boy he told me. And his father was forced to join the Finnish army during WWII (winterwar and the continuation war) He came back as one out of eight survivals out of a Finnish regiment.. Fysically intact - but a different story with the nerves..

[emansnas]

When aiming a bomb was half science half art and 100% balls

[dntlss]

The guys that flew these planes had balls of steel, maybe titanium, the wear and tear on your body was out of this world and the G forces were monstrous, how Rudel did it day in and out was a miracle, i guess all that mountain climbing and milk drinking helped him stay in shape, they guy was definitely a fitness freak back when being one was not something you normally saw like you see today.

[notme]

Excellent piece of Aviation History and it always gets me how you can't make out his target till the last half of the dive.
Thanks for posting this

[hb]

These pilots were something different. Goodness.

[paulmicelli]

You could not miss on that shot! No anti-aircraft fire1

[Theogenerang]

When that dot in the sky above your head doesn't move but just gets bigger and louder.

[tommytuckerable]

Very interesting. I think if you are going to drop bombs on the rail yard, this is probably the proper way of going about it. The allies did not have dive bombers so when (for example) they wanted to bomb the U-Boat bases they flew over en masse and carpet bombed the neighbourhood. Due to the inherent inaccuracy of that type of bombing the net result was that the whole town got flattened along with everyone who lived in it. Very inefficient and very hard on the non combatants. If you have ever been to Lorient (for example) its all new built 1950's style houses. Little of the old town remains. A bit like Plymouth. A great shame.

[andradejurk]

Amazing! The pilots dive completely in vertical position!!