791 Heavy Bombers Slipped Through Germany's Deadliest Defenses Undetected

Описание: On July 24, 1943, 791 RAF bombers blinded German radar using simple aluminum foil called Window (chaff). Invented by Joan Curran, this $2 weapon changed WWII and saved hundreds of crews.

Within minutes, every German radar screen between Denmark and France goes blind.

This is the story of Window — the simplest, cheapest, and most effective electronic countermeasure of World War II. Invented by a Welsh physicist named Joan Curran who tested her first prototype with kitchen scissors and household foil.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📌 IN THIS VIDEO:

• The Kammhuber Line — Germany's deadly radar defense network
• Himmelbett boxes — how German ground controllers guided night fighters to kill bombers
• Joan Curran — the woman who invented Window (chaff) at the age of 25
• Operation Biting — the commando raid that stole a German Würzburg radar
• The 18-month delay — why Britain was afraid to use its own weapon
• Both sides had chaff. Neither side dared use it first.
• Operation Gomorrah — Hamburg, July 1943. 791 bombers, only 12 lost (1.5% vs normal 5%)
• The Hamburg firestorm — 37,000 dead, 1 million evacuated
• Wild Boar and Tame Boar — Germany's desperate response
• Operation Taxable — how Window created ghost invasion fleets on D-Day
• Joan Curran's extraordinary post-war life and legacy

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📊 KEY FACTS:

• 1942 — Joan Curran invents Window (chaff) at the Telecommunications Research Establishment
• Feb 1942 — Operation Biting: 120 paratroopers steal Würzburg radar from France
• 18 months — The delay before Window was approved for use
• July 24, 1943 — First operational use during Operation Gomorrah
• 791 bombers — flew to Hamburg on the first Window raid
• 12 bombers lost — 1.5% loss rate (vs normal 4-5%)
• 37,000 killed — in the Hamburg firestorm raids
• $2 — approximate cost of the chaff dropped per bomber per raid
• 55,573 — total Bomber Command aircrew killed during the war (44% casualty rate)
• June 5-6, 1944 — Window used to create ghost invasion fleets on D-Day

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📚 SOURCES:

• R.V. Jones — "Most Secret War" (1978)
• Martin Middlebrook — "The Battle of Hamburg" (1980)
• National Archives — RAF Bomber Command Records
• Wikipedia — Chaff (countermeasure), Kammhuber Line, Operation Biting
• Smithsonian Magazine — "The Woman Whose Invention Helped Win a War" (2018)
• Air & Space Forces Magazine — "Operation Gomorrah" (2007)
• Joan Curran biography — Malvern Radar History Society

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⚠️ DISCLAIMER:

This documentary uses AI-generated narration and imagery for educational visualization of historical events. All facts presented are based on documented historical sources, archives, and academic research. Some scenes are artistic recreations intended to illustrate historical narratives.

This content is created for educational purposes to preserve and share the history of World War 2.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🔔 Subscribe for more hidden stories of World War 2!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#WW2 #BomberCommand #RadarCountermeasures #JoanCurran #Window #Chaff #OperationGomorrah #Hamburg #KammhuberLine #SecretWeapon #HiddenHistory #Documentary #WWII #DDay #RAF

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

© All archival photographs are in the public domain or used under fair use for educational purposes. This video is intended for historical education.