This silent compilation of German gun camera footage, shot in June of 1944, shows fighter aircraft including the Fw-190, Bf-110s attacking American B-24 Liberators and Boeing B-18s. At 4:50, footage is seen of a dogfight between a P-51 Mustang and an Fw-190.

Some of the footage is quite spectacular but nothing compares to the last piece of footage, showing a Bf-110 coming in close for the kill on a B-17. Apparently the B-17 tail gunner and possibly the ball turret gunner were both incapacitated by the Bf-110’s initial assault, allowing the fighter to come in close and decimate the airplane.

Gun cameras are cameras used primarily in aircraft to help measure tactical effectiveness. These cameras are triggered by the firing of a weapon, hence the name.

The use of gun cameras first became common for gunnery training in the 1920s though examples were used during World War I by the British Royal Flying Corps. A special version of the standard Lewis Machine gun was manufactured as a Camera Gun. During World War II, gun cameras were commonly used on operational aircraft to record kills of enemy aircraft.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com