Product Description

For many in the opening years of the Second World War, the vision of the menacing, gull-winged Stuka dive bomber, plunging vertically earthwards, its sirens wailing like banshees before releasing its bomb load, became the very embodiment of the terror created by the new form of 'Blitzkrieg' warfare unleashed on Europe by the German Wehrmacht in September, 1939.

Designed to assist ground operations, the Stuka was always to be found operating with the leading elements of the army in France, North Africa, and Russia as 'flying artillery'. In this wide-ranging presentation the Stuka is seen in action on all fronts, as well as the Hs-129s and Fw-190 in action in Russia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59191 in DVD
• Brand: RYKODISC
• Released on: 2006-05-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 54 minutes

Features

• For many in the opening years of the Second World War, the vision of the menacing, gull-winged Stuka dive bomber, plunging vertically earthwards, its sirens wailing like banshees before releasing its bomb load, became the very embodiment of the terror created by the new form of 'Blitzkrieg' warfare unleashed on Europe by the German Wehrmacht in September, 1939. Designed to assist ground

Customer Reviews

A siren wails as the Stuka plunges earthward!
This is another good title in an excellent series. This DVD covers not only the Stuka dive-bomber, but also gives a reasonably good account of the origins of the dive-bomber, the influence of Ernst Udet and the Stuka's predecesors.

Coverage of the Stuka is the main theme of this DVD, but it doesn't omit the HS123 biplane used in the ground-attack role, the heavily armed but slow HS129 and the FW190 used in the ground-attack role by Schlachtgruppen.

The video does a good job of showing the vulnerability of ground attack aircraft in absence of fighter cover. It documents the German's moving away from dive-bombing as the war continued and the search for tank-busters. It's amazing to see all the weapons the Luftwaffe could mount on various aircraft to kill tanks on the eastern front. 30mm cannon, 37mm cannon, even 50mm and 75mm cannon!

The DVD also shines light on the most successful Stuke pilot: Hans Ulrich Rudel. This DVD is a very well put-together and informative treatment on the subject of German dive-bombers and ground-attack aircraft.

More on ground attack aircraft than dive bombers...
The video's title implies that it is only on German Dive Bombers but it more a history of German Ground attack aircraft throughout the war. The emphasis (about two-thirds of video footage), however, is on one aircraft - the JU87 Stuka. Film footage of the JU87 Stuka is presented from the Spanish Civil War and to the many fronts of the war, ranging from North Africa to Balkans to Western Europe and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia for all major variants of the Stuka, from the first versions to the "tank buster" models armed with underwing 37mm guns. This footage is quite good in that it shows a variety of attacks (i.e., naval attacks, attacks on facilities, tank busting, infantry attacks, etc.). In addition, these are provided from a variety of angles (i.e., underwing, from cockpit, side views, from rear gunners position, from ground showing steep attack angle and aircraft angle, etc.). Hence the footage gives good idea of how this aircraft actually operated. This is the real strength of the video footage.

In addition, there is some footage on predecessors of the Stuka (primarily biplances), the FW190 F (the ground attack version of the FW190) and the HS 129 ground attack planes. Unfortunately the footage for these aircraft only acount for about a quarter of the total video. A shame as the FW190 F, starting in late 1943, was more a more prominate (in terms of numbers) ground attack aircraft.

On the negative side the video provides very little information on these aircraft that even a novice would not know. Hence, at least for this group of people, the video has limited informative value. For those with little knowledge, on the other hand, it provides a good intro (though for the time one could obtain a better knowledge of these aircraft by skimming some Osprey of Schiffler books on them).

Dive Bombers & Combat Aircraft of WW2
Very good coverage of the Stuka. Some very nice footage of the HS129. However, I wish there had been more on the Schlachtgruppen, especially the tank busters.