Curt Biddick - The Masters of The Air Scene Too Tragic To Be Shown To Audiences

**I know I made a mistake with the year 1934**

Curtis Biddick was killed in Episode 3 of Master of The Air but his final moments were a lot worse than what was shown.

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[jimbokilo]

When I asked my grandfather why he became a Marine, rather than RAF. "Because if we got hit, I know I can swim, but I can't fly".

[commonsenseisntcommon]

As a Missourian, thank you for your service and Ultimate sacrifice for America, we will never forget you! God Bless you all.

[tileux]

It was actually worse than your video suggests. Snyder was the infamous "man on the burning wing". He climbed out of the cockpit window directly onto the burning wing, where he stood - in the flames - for an unknown length of time before those who survived and witnessed the incident lost sight of him. From memory, one person - I cant remember if it was US aircrew or a german pilot - reported that Snyder did activate his parachute from the wing but it got caught on the tailplane. There has been a lot of debate about the accuracy of that report which is why when Snyder is mentioned theres always the debate about "did he or didnt he?". Thats also why no-one can definitively say whether he used his parachute.

The incident was so horrific that even some german pilots reported it in their after action reports and he became, in the german reports, "the man on the burning wing". None of the german pilots knew Snyder's name so they all referred to him as "the man on the burning wing' in their after action reports. At least one german pilot would state after the war that he was so disturbed by witnessing Snyder standing on the B17s wing in the flames that he broke off his attacks on the B17 formation.

There has been some debate over the years about whether the man on the burning wing was actually Biddick but thats considered highly unlikely for various reasons.

Details of this incident are related in various books about the schweingfurt regensberg raid - which was an extraordinary mission (and a complete failure), although the tv series doesnt give any of that detail. You can find details of the man on the burning wing in most of those books, but - one reference: The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid by the historian Martin Middlebrook.

It was a 'false surrender" incident on the same raid that made the crews of the 100th bomb group believe for the rest of the war that german pilots were deliberately targeting them as revenge for that incident. However, that belief was never correct. The germans were angry about the false surrender incident (which resulted in 2 or 3 german fighters being shot down) but they did accept it was an accident (the comms between the cockpit and the rear gunners had been severed so the waist and tail gunners didnt know their B17 had lowered its wheels in surrender), and, as german survivors pointed out to historians, they never had time to look for the insignia on bombers. They just shot at whatever was in front of them. The 100th's reputation as the "Bloody 100th" - the US bomb group with the heaviest casualties of the war - was pure bad luck.

[warrenchambers]

Subscribed Thank you for telling these brave mens story. I knew many of them having joined the 8th AAF Historical society back in 1991. I am proud to see my friends will not be forgotten. All the men I personally knew are all gone now but because of people like you their not going to be forgotten.

[josephbuckley]

@1:29min the narrator mistakenly say '1934'. He clearly means '1944".

[spenserclarke]

So many daring tales of brave men and women of that time. When being 25 was considered being an 'old man', it was certainly a different time. I always enjoyed reading the old British 'Commando' comics, which I still think they issue to this day. I have kept all mine from. the early 80's, and even as recent as the late 90's, as I do with all books, comics...and almost everything to be honest. I have not read any for some years, perhaps time to open the box again. Read my old Phantom comics as well.

Who is old enough to remember going to see Memphis Belle at the cinema's? I also recall as 'amazing tales' kind of program, which had Kevin Kostner as the pilot of B52, which had its belly gunner stuck, but they also had no landing gear, so to save the crew, they also had to sacrifice the belly gunner! I won't spoil the ending in case anyone looks it up.

[markpaul-ymwg]

Love your videos, because you use FACTS, and not heresay.

[skipsmoyer]

Recently finished the book Guns at Last Light, by Rick Atkinson, he mentions hardly any other country had the wherewithal to ship remains of servicemen like the United States did.

[gregstreuber]

There was a ton left out of this series. It had such promise but instead it drove off the plot cliff.

[brettprince]

I did notice that the narrator said the raid was on August 17th 1934 not 1945 😳maybe that’s why Hitler was pissed. The 100th bomb group was doing raids 5 years before the war started

[chrisbeauchamp]

The one they missed that’s in the book, I believe they should have shown as more than anything else it demonstrates the horror.
A B-17 returned with damage the landing gear would not extend and the belly turret was jammed in a position that the gunner could not extract.
Everyone knew what was going to happen the base watched, the crew knew including the victim.
The landing was horrific I think they should have shown that in the series.
Another tragedy in war the only way to honour is to show the truth.

[brucemacallan]

1:10. It wasn’t Dyce Aberdeen, it was at Cairnbulg beside Fraserburgh NE Scotland. You can still see that old WW2 aerodrome on google maps.

[bengreen]

As a Brit born into a relatively peaceful Europe I can only say that all of us nations allied in Europe against the axis owe a debt to the rest of the world that we recognise can never be repaid, in particular to the men and women of both the US and Canada who could have turned their backs on us in our time of desperate need but steadfastly came to our aid at such a high cost.
My never ending gratitude means nothing against such a cost borne by an entire generation, especially so soon after the war to end all wars.
My life lived in peace is thanks to that generation of heroes and I include those on the home front as well as this was total war, the likes of which I pray is never seen again.

[lawrencefields]

Love your channel brother. You give sobering and grounded information on the heroic deeds without glorifying the horror that these people faced. We will NEVER be able to say thank you enough to this generation of warriors. Warriors not only from the US, but Canada, Australia, UK, Russia, Poland, France and yes even Germany, Italy, and Japan and countless other nations. It was a true age of heroes whether they were men, women, or children. You really do them all justice. Thank you VERY MUCH for your channel.

[oledahammer]

All gave some...some gave all. May they rest in eternal peace and their sacrifices never be forgotten.

[jbear]

I’ve seen the series twice now, and it’s been obvious to me both times that he died in that plane crash depicted in the show. I didn’t realize others hadn’t thought that.

[Nigelg]

thank you for sharing such a real story

[Booze_Rooster]

August 17, 1934 huh? Did it sound weird to say that, or was that a typo that the AI narrator read?

[marcoosvald]

You couldn't tell from that crash that he was dead? Duh.

[skowog]

The creators choosing not to depict his death isn't censoring. Someone can censor someone else's work, you can't censor your own work, unless you filmed what happened and played it, then bleeped out the dialogue and blacked out the scene.