ShmoopTube

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When we study history we're mostly stuck studying the dudes in

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suits and weird white wigs who were in charge of everything but the people most [Wig lands on mans head]

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of us have never heard of are the thousands of early American settlers who

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helped make America what it is just as much as old George did we know Woodrow

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Wilson by name but not the soldiers on the front lines who actually fought the [Woodrow Wilson and soldiers appear]

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war let's take a sec to zoom in on an average guy who gave his all for the war

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meet Raul luff ferry a pilot during World War one

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while war in general is pretty horrifying anyway we slice it love Barry [Man walking and skeleton startles him]

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had a particularly terrifying job because planes were nowhere near as

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advanced during World War one as they are today the planes of love Terry and [Plane crashes through world war one plane]

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his friends were flying were made of wood with canvas wings it's pretty hard

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to imagine a contraption like that lifting off the ground let alone going

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into combat these days kids make paper airplanes that are more stable but none [Man flying in the air on paper plane]

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of that stops Plus Barry he first got involved with planes while he served as

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his friend Marx who pays mechanic when poor pay died in 1914 left Barry decided

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to learn to fly for himself so he joined the Lafayette Escadrille

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a group of fighter pilots in France that eventually combined with the American [Fighter pilots taking photograph]

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air forces when America finally decided to join World War one well the newbie

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American pilots weren't as good as the Lafayette Escadrille pilot since the

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French had been fighting a lot longer than the American soul of fair unit

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cohort became teachers for the new guys the other pilots looked up to la ferry [Raoul teaching boy how to fly]

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he knew what he was talking about and they liked to ask his advice

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one day captain Eddie Rickenbacker and American ace asked love ferry a pretty

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dark question if his plane caught on spire would you jump out of it or land [Plane on fire and man jumps out]

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to try to put out the fire note that they didn't have parachutes back then so

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jumping that's pretty much certain death but on the other hand it would be a

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quicker way to die than burning alive while trying to find somewhere to land [Plane crashes into the ground]

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well in the end left Barry declared that he'd stayed with the plane after all he

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said there was always the possibility of landing unharmed or even putting out the

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flames in the air and then may 19th 1918 at Loch Barry was having a nice chill [Man putting out fire mid-flight]

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day on his Air Force Base when all of a sudden German

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flew overhead on a recon mission one of the American pilots quickly hopped into

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his plane to try to take down the Germans but ran out of ammo before he [US plane firing at german plane]

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could it is target seeing that love fairy spring into action and jump into a

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random plane that was not even hid chasing after the German plane laughter

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sustaining shots with fuel sank his plane burst into flames and despite what [German plane bursts into planes]

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he had told the other pilots left berry jumps it was 200 feet in the air in a

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machine moving at 120 miles an hour there was no way he could have survived

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that fall there are a few things we can take away from left berry story the more

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subtle messages that war is complicated and confusing and even the people in [Raoul flying plane while burning]

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charge don't always know the right thing to do more obvious messages that pilots

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in World War one were crazy courageous and maybe just you know slightly crazy [Man with boxing gloves fighting a bear]

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