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This is the story of Luther White, a B-29 Bombardier in World War II upon Superfortress "Road Apple". This is the story of his final mission and the lost letters written to him. This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder
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If you enjoyed reading these letters, I hope you will consider joining my new history project! - Letters From War - Available in physical AND digital delivery. Check them out here: DIGITAL LETTERS FROM WAR: tj3history.ck.page/products/lfw MAILED TO YOU: shorturl.at/cnpBL
Never realized how bad that crash was heard stories
Did you have permission from his family to read this letter? It seems inappropriate to me.
My grandpa served in the 6th armored division. I have his year book and it has numerous letters written between my grandmother and grandfather when they was just dating. They are actually hard to read and all in cursive which you no longer see anymore. lol.
@TJ3 regarding the 6:00 mark; One thing to point out, from one history researcher to another: in the video, the narrator reads the letter as "the fair is 87 cents round trip" but what's actually printed in the text is "the is 87.33 cents round trip". We dont use tenths of cents in common vernacular, so it should have been $87.33 cents, which is a considerable difference. This is further evidenced by the physical way that the numbers are written, with the 87 being larger than the .33, which is exactly how they appear on price signs.
@@joelpiva1541 they sold the letter. So yes.
Such a sad story----I know the feeling of loosing a friend in combat - recently I found out that a good friend of mine who flew F-100's in Viet Nam was lost in 1971 - he finally came home and was buried next to his mother - still makes me sad - We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother - rest in peace Capt. Joe Smith
Wow, thank you for the comment Carl. RIP. Got your story scheduled for late February by the way! So get ready :)
@@TJ3 TJ - if it turns out as half as good as the rest of your video's - it will be a grand slam as far as I am concerned - can't wait! 🙂
God Bless all our lost battle buddies
my family also just got new the my great uncle who was shot down during the ploesti raid in 1943and has been missing since then has been identified and we will be having his funeral soon
@@tylerroach7287 May your great uncle rest in peace! 😞
My father flew as a flight engineer aboard a B-29 with the 20th AAF. The 2200 mile row trip from Titian to Imperial Japan with no chance of being rescued in the event of a ditch was hell .
There were picket boats and submarines along the flight path of the later missions. There is a story of one crew who walked off the wing of a 29 onto a submarine and they didnt even get their feet wet. Note: extra fuel tanks were taken out when it was found that some pilots managed their engines well and returned with sufficient fuel. The conundrum was that extra fuel was extra weight that caused high(er) fuel burn.
My father was an intelligence officer for the 20th AAF photo recon section stationed on Guam 1944-1945. He hopped a flight to Tinian with a buddy to see a friend from back home assigned to B29’s. Walking down the flight line he turned and asked his friend what was up with a certain B29 he noticed that had the bomb bays draped in tarps. His friend said” Need to know, Chris” knowing in the intel business that was that, he stopped asking questions. The next day he was awakened by a sergeant and hastened to a briefing where he was asked to evaluate some recon photos. General LeMay said” What is your take on these” Dad,stunned, said “Sir, these are the most devastating pictures of an incendiary bombing that I personally have ever seen! How many B29’s flew this mission?” LeMay answered”One B29,Chris and it wasn’t an incendiary bombing, it was one bomb.” I suppose you can guess what my father witnessed being loaded behind those tarps on the Enola Gay…
Historical notes - first, a big thank you to HeartFeltZero for helping make this project possible. He located and owns these letters and allowed me to use them for this video - including the previously unopened letter. Secondly, I believe this bomber was lost shortly after midnight. However, videos look very bad when I show them in pitch black setting. So I use evening backdrop so you guys can actually see what is going on. Also, I know this bomber was named "Road Apple", but there were no photos. So we actually made the nose art ourselves to put an identity on the plane. Unfortunately, there were also no available photos of Luther White - or I would have included those as well. Thanks for watching everyone!
Well done to everyone who worked to bring this video to us.
No problem! I’m glad we were able to work together to make this video possible. You’ve done an amazing job bringing Luther’s story to light for all to see. Thanks!
I've got a good b17 story about my dad if your interested
Were any surviving members of this family consulted in any way before their story was appropriated?
This story is pretty sad and shows how war can just separate families. You can hear the desperation in their letters hoping he was alive. Thank you TJ for telling stories like this.
After watching this video it really does make a person feel bad for the family's who lost a loved one during war time. I also have to say this (even though I have said it before) I am still impress and proud of Tj for coming such a long journey. From the days of ILL 2 to a almost tv show type of documentary with historical evidence in his hand.
Thank you!
I briefly worked in a new-build elementary school in rural(ish) Hyogo prefecture, some way north of Osaka. The previous building was almost finished in 1945 when a bomb landed in the playground, peppering the facade and a door with shrapnel. In the new school this old part of the wall and door had been preserved, along with a bunch of historical displays. In the 50's the school was "twinned" with the elementary school in America that some of the crew who dropped the bombs went to.
.. If that last letter didn't touch the deepest part of your soul...you're not human .. I could not hold the tears, my Vietnam experiences rushed back, Luther, you're one of us...I was a B-52 navigator...There were always "hits" on our aircraft, returning to U-Tapao Air Base, Thailand. _How many missions did I cheat Luther's fate_ .. I was 26..._Line Backer ll, 18 Dec - 29 Dec 72_ other than our return to Seymour Johnson...I have never flown again...💜
Thank you for sharing!
TJ3; Thank you for sharing Luther White and his family's story. Yes, his mother's and sister's letters really brought his story to the forefront for me. It was such a tragedy that was repeated many thousands of times over. My Paternal grandparents and family received such a letter from the War Department in 1944 after my uncle was KIA somewhere in France 8 days after D -Day. My hat is off, my heart is broken and, I salute every veteran especially, those that paid the ultimate sacrifice including, the whole crew of Road Apples.
Eight decades later and the B-29 still looks so futuristic! Also adding the voiceover of Luther's mother made this episode even more emotional and immersive. Edit: wasn't able to watch the whole episode when I originally commented but now that I've seen the whole thing the sister's voiceover really pulled at the heartstrings.
The Millenium Falcon was based on the B-29.
@@moodswingy1973As were the spaceships in the 1950's comic Dan Dare. The main artist / writer was near the front and could see the last, desperate uses of V2 rockets at "short range", actually witnessing the launches on the horizon then taking cover because his base was the target. He watched the rocket age born right in front of him (and nearly died from it)
The “low altitude” for this mission- the presenter said it was necessary for clear damage assessment. It was also common for bombers from the 315th Bomb Wing like this one to fly night missions around this altitude.
Powerful, touching, and important personal story. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Personal testimonies just make history that much more present. Excellent work👍👍👍
Thank you very much!
Those finest American boys…who died…for us….Rest I Peace….my‘ol mates…in heaven……..its heartbreaking to hear those letters…to her son….I‘m in tears….hearing this story….😔😞😪😪
🤮
Those letters felt a lot heavier after learning that he didn't make it. I was so desperately hopeful that the chute that went up was his by some miracle and that he'd somehow evade detection, no matter how infeasible it would be.
I felt that too... However : seeing what an evil bastard fate befell the lone survivor, perhaps merciful he WAS killed in the plane. = Germans gave Allied Bomber crews among the worst treatment (Pforzheim & Russelheim as example), but at least you MIGHT have a remote chance of becoming a PoW , whereas against the even more cruel Japanese , bailing out was practically a given death sentence - (Generalising, of course !!)
@@hawnyfox3411Fire bombing of Osaka was 2 months ago in March 1945. 100,000+ civilians burned to death. Half million homeless. What can you expect the Japanese civiliand being less cruel. I am a Chinese so I am impartial.
@@rafaleyu = Given you say it was only 8 weeks earlier, it's almost certain that NONE or indeed very few Japs would've known about it (except local) Wasn't 'shared' for the sake of Japanese morale "at home" lest panic would spread - Also, given Japan's evil treatment of Chinese (1937 on) I'm very surprised that you come over across as "impartial" - you must be young
Sad. Hearing a letter from a family that still has hope.
Very sad! So many individual stories like this! Thanks for sharing. I lost a cousin in Korea. It all but did his mom and dad in
Keep up the amazing work on your stories man! Love em! Wish you could do some WW1 stories would be amazing especially on the red Barron.
I spent two years in and out of Vietnam in the mid 60's and remember receiving letters like these. What the writers don't realize is the virtual lack of useful information they contain. To anyone in a war zone your thoughts focus, almost exclusively, on survival and subjects like how Aunt Martha and Cousin Luke are doing are virtually irrelevant. You really want to know how the home front is doing with the war and especially any possible news of its end. We got very little of that information in Vietnam and the WWII soldiers even less. Civilians back home, especially families, cannot fathom what a war zone is actually like. The dependence on religion presented in these letters also tends to shatter that very same reliance as prayers and religious trinkets never seem to work. I knew way more fellow soldiers who lost and renounced their prewar religious beliefs than adopted new ones. That mental wound is perhaps a lot worse than most physical wounds.
.. I'm right there with you brother...If god existed, why wouldn't he end all wars...
its because of man that wars are fought, he gave us "free will" to live our lives. So all of the wrongs you have done in your life are your fault and not Gods. Its the same with nations and human history. Its easy to blame God but not ourselves.@@ltdees2362
Great video as always tj! I always look forward to these 😁
The quality of these episodes is just amazing. Keep up the good work.
This is a work of art. Excellent work
You know its gonna be a good wednesday when a TJ3 video drops. Appreciate all your hard work GOAT
WOOOO!
Great story. Thank you for posting!
Glad to see his great work about these American Heroes. Hope there are many more of his generation doing it.
Man you always do such an awesome job.
That one brought tears to my eyes.
My father was stationed on Saipan as one of the operators of the Loran station there. This was used for navigation and was critical to aircraft seeking their island airstrips on return from the long flights to Japan before they ran out of fuel. Loran was like a land based GPS system for finding coordinates, but it used radio signals near 1.9 mhz from ground mounted antenna towers rather than satellites to provide signals.
which has nothing at all to do with this video, this isn't all about you or your desire to spread basic knowledge about Loran
Amazing story!!keep up the great work
Stunningly sad and beautiful and emotionally heartbreaking. I think this is one of the best mini docs I've ever seen in my entire 55 years on this Earth. ♥️💯💔❤️🩹♥️💖
A very interesting project. I wish you good luck and many positive opinions.
Another awesome episode, this is my favorite channel on YT.
Thanks :)
It's tragic that the world seems to have forgotten what a terrible evil war is.
Pacifist naivete is infinitely worse, as it allowed both Hitler and the Japanese Empire to build up a powerful arsenal and unleash it upon the world. The same is happening now as RECYCLED evil and sexual perversions are being sold out to us through overwhelming propaganda to keep us naive and progressively more enslaved teaching us to totally hate anyone who dares think by him/herself and thos efighting for real freedom, defective and flawed as they may be. The battle is now in our hearts and minds so we destroy ourselves. Faith in God is the ultimate weapon against this, even when, as this family in the video suffered, casualties occur, of one form or another. If Faith in god was truly useless, it would not be so consistently attacked and demonized so, again, we proceed to demonize ourselves.
It's a bigger shame the world and Americans forget how many people they saved and liberated in aisa and Europe. - A Singaporean
The pacifist, appeasing naivete that so greatly empowers tyrants and all evil is a much, much, much greater evil than fighting evil. World War II defeated evil tyrants. It was not a love for war convention that the USA started.
Believe me, America going to war against Japan and Germany wasn't an act of altruism or to save any Asian lives. America was attacked by Japan and war was declared against her by Germany . @@SCATXXV
The pacifist naivete that empowers all tyrants and all evil so much, the true source of all wars, is infinitely worse.
Very well made video. I'm blown away how well this story was presented. I'm subscribing in hopes that this quality presentation is not a one-off.
Awesome work thank you and your team
Much appreciated!
Damm good video bless you for it👍👍
What an amazing war video with letters.....Thanks my friend.....Shoe🇺🇸
very sad story. RIP young men.
Most of these stories are very sad, but that lets us know. Our Patriots have given so much for our country that we cannot forget their sacrifices😢🇺🇲🫡 thank you for continuing to show our history and how we became such a great country ❣️
Good One. Thank you.
Sad story. Thank you
Very emotional episode,
Wow, that was awesome!
Such a heartbreaking story
It's heartbreaking!
May 9th, 1945; the day my parents got married in London. The day after VE Day, and my father's birthday. My dad was a medic in WWII and during the Korean conflict. My mom was a member of the British ATS, so May 9th, 1945 has a greater meaning for me than it does for most folks.
thank you so much
Well that one yanked on the earth strings.
Sounds like a bad idea to send a single bomber over a previously bombed enemy city to recon photos. But i wasn't there!
I didn't realize how sad this story was until I watched it. Great work bro! o7
Thanks Sparky!
Did I miss the part that I wouldn't believe?
Nope just one dead guy. There were 100,000,000 different instances of this exact scenario in WW2 alone💀
The mission profile made this mission especially dangerous.
My eyes got watery from this, keep up with the great content
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. (Laurence Binyon 1869 - 1943)
My uncle, William J DuRant was killed in December 1943 in italy, my grandparents never got over it. So so sad.
God bless our heroes ..if people would see the sacrifices that our American heroes thru out our history we would be loving our heroes more
It's so difficult to comprehend the people rather than just the numbers. My grandad was a Lanc navigator, didn't get to see combat, but said of his friends he's lucky he didn't cause it was 50/50 whether you'd come home again
In the airwar that raged over Europe there are still several thousand airmen missing. Especialy in the Netherlands with lots of lakes and rivers lots MIA airmen rest in still unknown graves. Even today when an aircraft is found and the crew is identified it is very emotional for the next generations of the strikken families when they are finaly laid to rest. MIA of a family member is often a burden for the family for generations. When that MIA now KIA familymember is finaly identified and laid to rest, it gives the family closure
It is said, mes amis, that sometime after the first B-29 aeroplatform did a low level recon-mission o'er Tokyo, the Empress Nagako (the wife of Emperor Hirohito), wrote in a letter: “Every day from morning to night, B-29's fly freely over the palace making an enormous noise. As I sit at my desk writing and look up at the sky, countless numbers are passing over. Unfortunately... the B-29 is a splendid plane.”
Sounds like it was a Suicide Mission from the start. They should have sent something much faster and smaller. Hindsight is 20/20 after all.
The other side has sad stories like this. Its to bad we can't all as one over come our differences. Power and money for the elite, death and sadness for the rest.
Crushing 😢
It’s possible this night mission involved the recently pioneered night time strobe camera developed by Harold Edgerton. Harold was that guy who became famous for the high speed photo of a rifle bullet passing thru an apple. His early cameras could flash very bright short pulses of light multiple times where before a 500 pound incendiary bomb was used much like a flare from a flare gun. Unfortunately, the brightest flashes that required extra cooling and relays for the strobe weighed 5,400 pounds but were capable of illuminating an area from 20,000 feet. So I think this mission, if it were using an “Edgerton Flash” was doing so with the lighter D-2 type strobe. Edgerton’s most famous WW2 effort was at Normandy several hours before the go ahead was given. A camera brought back evidence of a lack of German troop/ armor movement which helped confirm that German’s hadn’t been tipped off on the planned invasion.
Great video
I enjoyed this video, but I felt like based on the title, something very unique or mysterious happened. I understand the unopened letter, but with the title of your piece I guess I expected something more supernatural. To me the real sad thing was he might have been home soon since the Pacific war was almost over. See you in the next video. Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
I'm 75 and from the South. I noticed that you ended the letter with "Your sister", instead of just saying "Sister." Back in the day, it was customary to give a particular sister the nickname "Sister." For instance, my mother was one of 5 girls and one boy. For some reason, her sister Marion was simply called Sister. We grew up calling her aunt Sister. It would sound odd for us to refer to her as aunt Marion. Cousin Marion, the daughter of my aunt Shirley, was named after aunt Sister. We always called her "Sister Baby." Of course the young man, had he lived and received her letter, would have immediately known it was his sister who wrote it. Yet, to him and the rest of his family, she was simply, Sister. Where this custom came from, I do not know sadly, it is one of those quaint little customs that is gone with the wind.
A fascinating note! Thanks for sharing.
Nice video. For accuracy, is there a way you can remove the turrets from the plane in the video? The 315th's planes were B variants.
My heart hurts ,especially when she is reading the last letter
Good story
How sad. R.I.P Luthur.
There's nothing unbelievable or extra ordinary here: the dude died and your heart will be crushed
Seeing the Chaplin walk to the front door of a serviceman's home is so painful to see knowing the mothers emotions are so real
My God the graphics in this video are incredible!!!! Finally someone got the movements of an aircraft right!!! Not too fast, not to slow. But this facet of the video is offset by the very sad story it tells. I hope the families finally found some solace after the war. My own father was on the base where this B-29 most probably took off, North Field Tinian. He had just turned 17 and was a Navy Seabee who helped build the base. Lied about his age in 1944 when he was 16. Thank you for the story. Keep up the great work.
They're using warthunder (game), it looks nice in cinematic mode
TY-TJ3 Letters of this type will be out there, and in German, Japanese, and any other nation involved in the conflict. We forget the human cost of being human.
This is such a sad story, one I believe shouldn't have happened. Logic tells you that a single plane flying at low altitude is a sitting duck. This was truly unconscionable of those in charge of planning this mission and any other missions of this sort.
This is so sad. :(
Prayers and God, always made and make an excellent job for us civilians, and mainly for the american army, sailors, marines and USAAF
Lest We Forget
Whoever authorized this mission should have been court-martialed. There was absolutely 0 chance this mission would be successful. The standard planes for taking reconnaissance photos in WWII were the Supermarine Spitfire, the Mosquito and the F-4/F-5 photographic reconnaissance variants of the P-38 Lightning. They were used because they were all extemely fast and almost impossible to shoot down with anti-aircraft guns at speed and altitude. Even fighters would have a hard time catching them. This mission makes absolutley no sense, it's almost like someone had it in for the crew or someone in the crew. A single low and slow B-29 into heavy flack (not to mention any fighters that would normally show up) had no chance of coming back with any pictures. What a waste of lives, may they rest in peace.
The distance for this long range mission would have been a lot to ask of single seat recons like the Spit and Lightning. It was a 3,000 mile roundtrip for the B-29s from Tinian. Iwo was closer but Mustang fighters had been operating from there for only a month- not sure if any recon Mustangs were available tho. That leaves the Mosquito. Til then the longest mission had been around 2400 miles/ 8 hours. An up-fueled Mossie was in the works about the time this mission took place. Unfortunately it wasn’t there just yet.
Good points. I still believe this was a suicide mission with nothing to show for it except the loss of a Brave crew only a few months before the end of the war in the Pacific.@@orcstr8d
Nonsense. These missions happened all the time, they just don't make videos about all the successful ones. You sound like a fool condemning this from hindsight and out of ignorance.
Heartbreaking . And we know for a fact that was not the only plane that went down and families lost their loved one because of it
That B-29 didn’t go down from the Japanese AA guns. It was murdered by the officer that gave it the order to fly there alone, inside heavy defended enemy territory. Although the letters to the already dead family person are sad, what was more crushing for me was that an innocent mother and a baby were killed in their home under the B-29 crush..... WAR: NEVER A GOOD IDEA. Can anybody explain why all those people died? Who send them to their demise for his own gains? Food for thought.
Here's some food for thought: What would this world be like if Germany, Japan and Italy won WWII? War isn't a good idea, BUT war is the only way to stop war... 15:05
Nah, the AA got them
@@terrancenorris9992 More food for thought. What if Germans and Italians and Japanese people told their stpd "leaders" to go fk themselves the moment they dragged their nations in a suicidal destructive world war? That way there would be no need for other people get in a war that had millions of innocent victims.
@@Coco3Pirata Nah, stpd orders got them.
@@hariszark7396 Quit being such a drama queen and try learning about what you're talking about, there's reasons, and very good one's at that, why sending reconnaissance aircraft on mission's alone was standard procedure, it wasn't up to the commanding officer of this mission to send them alone, it wasn't his decision that was how all photo reconnaissance mission's were flown both in the Pacific and Europe. If you'd stop and think for a minute instead of just reacting then the thought just might have crossed your mind that sending more of them on a mission that only requires one aircraft would have resulted in even more getting shot down. Also, explain to me how multiple aircraft would have saved this one, how exactly would that have worked? Because they were shot down by ground fire they weren't attacked by fighter's. They weren't sent on their mission for "someone's gain" and I have no clue where you get that nonsense from, the were sent on a photo reconnaissance mission and they were sent on it because in a war information is the most powerful weapon there is, they weren't on a bombing mission, they were on a photo reconnaissance mission and photo reconnaissance mission's were absolutely vital so that the people running the show could determine how much damage was done by a bombing mission so they could determine whether or not further bombing mission's would be needed to take out the target, since you need to have everything else explained to you there was virtually no way of telling whether or not targets were actually destroyed by bombing mission's due to the amount of dirt and debris in the air above the target after the last of the bombers passes over, that's why photo reconnaissance mission's flown afterwards were absolutely necessary, they weren't flown for "one man's benefit" whatever it is that's supposed to mean, how some commander was supposed to have personally enriched himself from a photo reconnaissance mission is something that just eludes me .
God bless and thank you. from a grateful American. They risked all their tomorrows so I could grow up free! I will remember.
Wtf would someone send a single b-29 at a low altitude to a whole city full of fighters and AA that was a suicide mission😢
what is the game it was used to simulate the story?
I was honestly hoping for some kind of miraculous ending where Luther returned home to his family, alive. But then I got confronted with the cold, unyielding reality of war - people die.
Is this made with Unreal Engine? Or Blender?
If I'm not going to believe the story, I guess there is no reason to watch. Thanks for the time I saved.
This was a great story in all, but I am waiting for the park that I am not supposed to believe. I am confused why the title says the story. You won't believe when there are many stories similar to this one
Well, they did start calling b-29's 'steel coffins'
Someone should do a show about the 464th bomb group 779th bomb squadron...no one had wrote about this yet
How could anyone believe that this mission was anything other than a disaster that was sure to happen.
7:15... if they were flying over Osaka just past midnight, how were they going to take pictures in total darkness?
Pencil neck geek. Why do I keep thinking of that song?
Just like all wars, you had lions led by donkeys. That's stupid to send that plane in that mission by itself. Nuts. Stuff like this happened everyday.
In case anyone on here doesn't know; Road apples are what you call horse shit found on the road. Were I from that era I believe that whoever named the aircraft and I could have been friends. A unique sense of humor indeed.
A single B-29 … Taking recon photos @12:23am from 15k ft…? What were they hoping to capture from the blacked out city below…?
MAN-THAT IS SO SAD,---I'M 77 AND I HAVE TEARS IN MY EYES ,--LIKE THE MAN SAID "WAR-IS A PAIN IN THE ASS"--
what's even more sad is people writing in all caps like a 10 year old girl on a tantrum
a sad story, but what is the part "you won't believe"???
Lots of sad stories about that war but this isn't really unbelievable. If you really want to know about an unbelievable story about a B-29, research the Hap Arnold. That truly is an unbelievable story due to how it starts and where it ends.
May they all rest in peace in the arms of Jesus.