The devastating effect WWII German 20mm Auto Cannons had on US Bombers

As a child, lived in a hot climate, was over at a friend's place early one morning both aged about 10, his father came into the kitchen in just shorts due to the heat and got a drink, when he left I asked my friend about the big welt across his stomach...he said it was from an unexploded 20mm cannon round that grazed his body as he was piloting a spitfire...
I thought he was spinning a yarn...but no, his father was a spitfire pilot and later in the war a squadron leader in Africa... so yes, it was true...he was lucky to survive.

Really interesting and well put together short documentary -thanks

WOW! I had no idea that these 22 mm rounds were so savage! Thanks for the info

I think you cannot blame the pilot since his actions were within the rules of war, whereas allied bombing of civilian houses was even at that time considered a war crime

My mother’s cousin, Major Tom H. Taylor, was a B-17 pilot in WWII. He was killed instantly by a 20mm round piloting his bomber over Germany in early 1943. My mom said he was a wonderful man. I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet him.

The co-pilot of the B-17 that took a 20mm to the windscreen: “ thank god USAAC pants are already Brown”

That was fascinating thanks

Couldn't sound more like a stereotypical nerd

That was a great video, and it was very informative and I learned a lot that I did not know! So, thank you very much for that sir.

The MK108 30 mm was even more lethal and the ME262 Jet had 4 of them in the nose.

HORRIDO
PAUKE PAUKE

That German 20mm was no joke. What's crazy is that the Germans would use it also on infantry and ground targets. Devastating round. Scary to think that 30mm out of a MK108 was even more dangerious.

Interesting

Franky speaking, these B17 were so tough🎉

Poor German People....I mean NAZIS AND HITLER SUPPORTERS......They reaped what THEY sowed. I have zero sympathy for The German People ....or Japanese, that were bombed. Nazis bombed civilian FIRST in Spain...Poland...France...England...Russia...and EVERYWHERE ELSE THE NAZIS INVADED. Dresden, after the fact, was not a necessary target....but it did have transportation and housing relevance to the War Effort. Frankly, EVERY LARGE GERMAN and JAPANESE CITY WAS A LEGIT TARGET....at that time, during that war, under those conditions and history.

immagine what one of those cannon shells would do to a human body

Its not working properly in War Thunder :(

Excellent information brgh. Man, the Rhine mettel 30mm mine round was twice as destructive. Thank you bro I've been searching for information like this to be put in video.😊

THE HELL with the KROUTS. They were just like the USA is today, brainwashed and full of drugs.

Which is why they changed the flak cannons on the submarines from 12mm to 20mm.

This was very informative thanks for posting this

my uncle, while piloting a B17, lost his middle and index fingers on his left hand by either a bullet or shrapnel, he wasn't sure exactly what hit him.

Those German Luftwaffe Pilots that from mid's 1943 had to face on a daily basis huge formations of B-17's and B-24 with 10 50 cal machine guns each waiting for them,were real heroes.
To take down a Fighter is one thing but to take down a Heavy Bomber "you" must be on another level,very talented and gifted with huge Balls and an Excellent Fighter/ Interceptor plane like the FW 190.

And yet the RAF kept using the anemic .303 round in their bombers and fighters until late into the war. I read one account from a Lancaster tail gunner about a FW 190 “ Shaking off my rounds like a terrier going after a rabbit”.

Interesting video

Great analysis !! Well done !! 👏👏👏

The 20mm was used sometimes in ground war though, dont want run in front of an incomin swarm of boom bees😢

Those British planes are Hurricanes...

God D__MN ...poor bastards
Can you imagine being a flight crew member inside the bomber?? F

Very informative! Remember though that German fighters like the Me-109E had a 20MM cannon (shooting thru the propeller hub) starting several years earlier.

Good video. We'll done. Everything presented was relevant and impactful.

Amazing video! Thank you.

Great video and good information. Is there a reason why they were called auto cannon vs just cannon?

this is very accurate

B_17 , bomber 666 in the pacífic

Best to have Hurricanes- lots of canvas.. Interesting video.

A million thanks you are very professional, sincerely Jose Silva from San Diego CA USA thanks.

20mm = .787 inch to whom it may concern

Surviving Luftwaffe gun camera footage is couple tens minutes total. Their central archive for films was in Dresden, and obviously everything was burnt. For example, there arent in film even single firing pass of German fighter firing 30mm MK 108.

The MG-151 was not the answer, it was an evolution of the original MG FF cannon that was mounted on planes, like the Bf 109 E3, since 1936.
The MG FF was upgraded to "/M" which essentially was a HE shell with proximity fuze.
The MG 151 was only adopted and replaced the FF/M from 1941 onwards. MG FF cannons remained in service for night fighters that used it as "Schräge Musik" to fire upwards at 15-30°.
Nevertheless: any 20 or 30 mm cannon can bring down a fighter with 1 hit, a B-17 took between 4 and 20 hits, depending on angle of attack and point of impact.

Bonus round: the 30mm MK 108, used in the Me 262 for example, could down a B-17 with an average of 4 hits.

Germany had the right to defend itself

Those president's of those aircraft manufacturers must have made super bank during those year's.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is the Allies were essentially losing the air war over Germany. And then the P-51 Mustang came into service. Kill ratio: 11 to 1 in favor of the Mustang against enemy aircraft. I also have heard that German war production never declined despite Allied bombing.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
By Randall Jarrell

From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

I take issue with the title of this video: It should be the "The devastating effect that 20mm auto cannons had on ""Allied"" bombers."