Q&A - Need your Input

Stuka question. The Stuka was slow.. Were there steps ( I'm thinking Eastern Front) to protect them on missions or were they just on their own. ? Battle of Britain .. why didn't they keep attacking radar stations? They did at first. Lastly was Air power worth the effort? New age historians say it didn't knock out anything. I think we need an Air Historian's view here.

O D

People ask questions in youtube comments. Maybe you could use some of those as starters, expand upon them. For instance, I asked how the Stuka compared to the Daichi D3A Type 99, which was similar in having fixed landing gear. You could probably make an entire video on that, or on comparing to all contemorary dive bombers, but maybe you could just take a couple of minutes for a Q&A answers. Seems to me that most youtube questions could be the basis for something similar.

Scarecrow Repair

this is a very good point. If you look at Forgotten Weapons Q&A or The Chieftans Q&A they started out "short" (under 10 questions) but slowly the amount of questions rose to the point where there were more Q than A possible

Alex Ravn

James, thank you so much, appreciate it. No worries about having a hard time coming up with questions, I often have the same. There are two Q&As I occassionally tune into, but I myself would not ask anything either.

Military Aviation History

Hi Chris, like others have said its quite hard to think up questions and they tend be very technical. I find others like drachs go a bit too far into “what if”, which not very useful in my opinion. Tbf I support this channel as you tend to cover unknown areas in a lot of detail and you don’t leave me with a lot of questions. I enjoy the more academic and source lead flow of your videos, and that tends not leave it open to boarder questions. Anyway keep it up and good luck with your PhD! James

Yes, I agree Chris. I'm hoping people will stay civilized and make educated comments. Anyway, I enjoy your channel and am glad to give you support.

I think with some questions probably going that way (like: what is my favorite aircraft), I think there will definitely be an element of personal opinion

Military Aviation History

Hah, roger that!

Military Aviation History

Makes sense. And I agree - with no Q&As, no interest and with no interest, no Q&A. Cycle needs to be broken for this to work :)

Military Aviation History

Thanks for the feedback

Military Aviation History

This has been suggested a few times, and I am starting to like this idea. It looks promising. Thanks!

Military Aviation History

I did a trial run of this on ITC, with the Me 262 - where I answered people's questions on that aircraft. Didn't really seem to work but I also did no announce it right, part of the reason I guess.

Military Aviation History

Thanks, Robert. Yes, different channels, different audience. Quarterly Q&As are an idea worth looking at, that would help with planning and collecting

Military Aviation History

I'll have a think about this - there is a long list of videos I would like to work so putting it up to Patreons is an option!

Military Aviation History

Thanks, John :)

Military Aviation History

Cheers Sean, I will have a think about it. Plenty of good feedback since I posted this!

Military Aviation History

This was an issue in the last round as well, questions were often incredibly specific. Perhaps it is as you say, simply how things are with aviation.

Military Aviation History

Hah, I know how you feel like. I sometimes listen to other channels Q&A when I am working just like a podcast - but I wouldn't know what to ask either

Military Aviation History

Hey John, concerning that, I will be doing a Q&A on the Ju 87 so should you have a question, feel free to post it here: https://youtu.be/TgKfaB6yEmU

Military Aviation History

Hi Chris. I would be interested in participating in a Q&A. One thought I had that might get things a little more interesting: How about a Q&A&O? Questions, answers and opinions. We all have different views on which planes (especially fighters) are the best or worst. Would you consider adding that piece to this? You'd have to make sure it stays civilized, but if we gave our opinions and you addressed them, that might make it a bit more "spicy". Keep up the great work! -Steve

I would definitely support a Q&A format, particularly if it gives an opportunity to explore some non-technical areas of aviation history like personalities, design bureaus, battles, engagements, tactics, etc. Plus we do need to explore the Elbonian Airforces, ;)

Robert Henry Illston

Yep, this sounds like a good idea.

Probably a bit of a chicken and egg situation: if you do more Q&As you'll get more questions but until you have more questions you can't do more Q&As. Maybe start by collecting questions from across your channels (Discord, Patreon, YouTube, Twitter &c.) for your Q&As but prioritise the paid channels and give them more detailed answers. That would give you more questions whilst also giving an incentive to supporters to ask questions and, if all goes well, it might become a supporter only thing because they are providing enough questions.

Dave Saunders

Oh.. i think this may be important.. Evidently you wish us to just ask questions anytime so you can amass enough to make an QA episode.... I just realized this.. this refers back to my original comment.

O D

My question is where there really problems with the bomb release on the Devastators at Midway and did they effect the operation ? Could the TBs get low enough during an attack to shield themselves for at least part of the way. What were the chances you'd get picked up after ditching? Would an attack up the stern be more efficient? Were the crews as well trained as I (we) think? Sorry.. I loved you Midway episode.

O D

Agree with the above posters on adding a specific Q&A post in each video.

Leon Wu

One idea. Give us a few topics to ask questions about...like the Midway operation... or 109 Rollovers.. I think many of us are curious about something but think the question off task. ... so we drop it. example.. you have a video about the Stuka and I wonder why the pilot gets the hero badge and the gunner just gets a "atta boy" certificate.

O D

well.. I've got enough question to fill some hours of Q&A for you, maybe you should do 2 steps and (like drach) pin a Q&A comment under each YT video to support, if necessary, the patreon Q&A. Maybe do it themed to videos or themed to doctrine and so on and collect until amount x and then release it. Or if enough questions are asked, you can do it on a regular base. I really love the rant/rambling about some topic that include additional nice to know things and maybe you could do an kind of "aearial mythbuster" thing were you go about some myths or claims you've read under your comments and bust them or proof them.

Reichsbierminister

I have no idea why boats and ships get such a strong viewer interaction. Don't get me wrong, I love boats and I've even asked questions about boats to both Drach and the Battleship New Jersey. I just have no idea why they get so much more engagement. For Drach it seems almost all his Drydock questions come from the same handful of people. So he has a super-energized and engaged core following. It just seems to come down to people are really excited about boats and ships, just using Drachinifel and the Battleship New Jersey as cherry picked samples. As a patron, I apologize for more or less not really having much in the way of questions. Maybe a good way to get a Q&A rolling would be to have a short segment in a video referencing a question from a previous video, but I suppose that doesn't work with the long lead time you have on production. You can always try Drach's "Comment on the pinned post for questions" technique, I'd be shocked if that actually drives engagement but who knows, it might. Or perhaps instead of monthly do a quarterly Q&A. But also be careful what you wish for, it's all fun and games until you have a 6 hour Q&A to make each month.

Robert Santamaria

Other YTubers I follow do a poll of popular subjects, either selected by them or the Patrons, for a special video each month, or if very popular, each week. Polls seen to attract attention and may be a way to generate sufficient Qs to answer.

Mark Persad

Chris, personally, I cannot think of anything to ask because your videos (and those of Bernard too) are so well researched and so detailed, that any questions I might have asked are already answered by your videos! :) I am not sure how representative I am of your other Patreons; perhaps I'm just unimaginative! :)

Hi Chris, I have to agree with Kristoffer. I enjoy your videos immensely, but questions are a spur of the moment thing for me: I have all kinds of questions come up while I'm watching your videos, but it's kind of another issue for me to just try to pull one out of the air. Having said that, if you decide there is sufficient interest, I will do my best to think of some questions so you can continue past three episodes.

Sean Tyson

Most of the questions I can think of are way too technical or narrow, like how much did the narrow landing gear of the Bf-109 or Spitfire contribute to ground looping compared to wider planes like the FW-109 or P-51? Maybe airplanes don't invite general purpose questions.

Scarecrow Repair

I enjoy watching the Q&A's, but as far as contributing, I tend to have real problems thinking of anything whatsoever to ask.

Veronica Venatrix

I like q&A but with time differences isn’t likely real time for me…might be useful to have a few conversation starter topics derived from the main product..say..how Stuka pilots trained..with much doctrine entrenched in manuals, what aspects were developed in the field..

John aitken