# Was Wagner's "Ride Of The Valkyries" Played..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954 "2012-03-16T12:43:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/1 "2012-03-16T12:43:09Z")
… over the headsets of WWII Stuka dive-bomber pilots? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/2 "2012-03-16T14:36:07Z")
The Stuka was a single engine, single crewed vehicle. I seriously doubt it came with a means of playing a recorded musical piece on it’s own (either vinyl record or audio tape). It would probably have to be transmitted via radio by a ground station to the aircraft for the pilot to enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/3 "2012-03-16T14:55:09Z")
That’s what I meant, but I always wondered if it were true that they actually bombed cities listening to that music over their headsets or if it’s just an unsubstantiated legend. Wagner was one of Hitler’s favorite composers, I believe. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/4 "2012-03-16T15:01:21Z")
Also, you didn’t _really_ think I thought they had an 8-track on board, didja? 🙂 Not that far gone yet, thank goodness! 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/5 "2012-03-16T15:19:09Z")
Have you heard the quality and fidelity of radio broadcasts over such headphones? My suspicion is that it wouldn’t have the desired effect. And if it did, after listening to it over and over, I’d be sorely tempted to bomb Bayreuth. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/6 "2012-03-16T15:25:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And if it did, after listening to it over and over, I’d be sorely tempted to bomb Bayreuth. Shame on you. Legend has it that the mechanical Fafner for the first Ring was addressed to Beirut. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/7 "2012-03-16T15:48:48Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > The Stuka was a single engine, single crewed vehicle. I seriously doubt it came with a means of playing a recorded musical piece on it’s own (either vinyl record or audio tape). Dual crewed. Tailgunner could have hummed it over the intercom I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/8 "2012-03-16T18:31:50Z")
> [@kombatminipig](#): > > Dual crewed. Tailgunner could have hummed it over the intercom I suppose. Crap. Now I feel stoopid. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/9 "2012-03-16T18:42:03Z")
I suppose they could have made a movable baffle for their dive brakes that played the opening notes. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/10 "2012-03-16T19:03:13Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Crap. Now I feel stoopid. That must suck, looking out the back of the aircraft in a power dive. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/11 "2012-03-16T21:54:47Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I suppose they could have made a movable baffle for their dive brakes that played the opening notes. I think I may have seen that in a movie (The Ride of The Valkyries being played, I mean). I can’t find anything to substantiate that they did this. Q ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/12 "2012-03-16T22:21:11Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I think I may have seen that in a movie (The Ride of The Valkyries being played, I mean). I can’t find anything to substantiate that they did this. > > Q I’ve only seen it in movies were the lone British destroyer goes up against an entire German battle group. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/13 "2012-03-17T00:29:03Z")
I believe you’re thinking of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in the Hueys. Shall we dance? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/14 "2012-03-17T01:06:01Z")
No. Really, I don’t think I was, sorry **11811**. I know about Apocalypse Now, but I don’t think there is where I picked it up. But as I stated before, I could not find anything on the net to substantiate what my OP asked. Thanks very much you guys! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/15 "2012-03-17T01:28:27Z")
I have read Hans Ulrich Rudel’s memoir _Stuka Pilot_, and there was no mention of it. [He was one brave fuckin’ Nazi!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/16 "2012-03-17T01:59:09Z")
The Stuka did have a siren on it, so as to intimidate the people they were bombing, however. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/17 "2012-03-17T10:49:00Z")
I believe they rigged something on the fuselage to create that siren sound when they went into their dive. And yeah, I’d hate to have been the tail gunner on those things. Did the allies have anything comparable at that time, y’all? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/18 "2012-03-17T11:02:08Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I believe they rigged something on the fuselage to create that siren sound when they went into their dive. And yeah, I’d hate to have been the tail gunner on those things. Did the allies have anything comparable at that time, y’all? > > Thanks > > Q I believe the Shturmovik was a similar idea to the Stuka, don’t know if the other allies had something similar though. > **[Ilyushin Il-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2)** > > The Ilyushin Il-2 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-2) is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word shturmovík (Cyrillic: штурмовик), the generic Russian term for a ground-attack aircraft, became a synecdoche for the Il-2 in English sources, where it is commonly rendered Shturmovik, Stormovik and Sturmovik. > To Il-2 pilots, the aircraft was known by the diminutive "Ilyusha". To the soldiers on the ground, it was called the "Hunchback"... ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/19 "2012-03-17T13:26:40Z")
While we’re talking about the Ju 87, one of its coolest features was how much of the procedure which was automated. Initiating a dive caused the aircraft to automatically go into a 180° roll and then into the dive, and after the bomb was manually released the aircraft would perform an automatic recovery. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954/20 "2012-03-17T14:17:53Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I believe the Shturmovik was a similar idea to the Stuka, don’t know if the other allies had something similar though. > > [Ilyushin Il-2 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2) The Stormovik was primarily a ground attack plane, but wasn’t a dive bomber. It was significantly faster and better armed, and _far_ better armored. The Stuka had to be withdrawn from the Battle of Britain and the western Front because it could not survive in the presence of British fighter defenses, yet there are cases when German pilots emptied their guns into Stormoviks and still couldn’t shoot them down. In that sense they were probably more similar to the American P-47 Thunderbolt, which was also famous for being able to absorb damage and keep flying. The Americans had a pretty close analog to the Stuka with the Douglas Sauntless, a dedicated dive bomber known best for sinking all the Japanese carriers in the Battle of Midway. Later came the Curtis Helldiver as a replacement for the Dauntless, but it had all kinds of problems and was never as well accepted. Also, the Grumman Avenger was built as a torpedo bomber, but did a credible job as a dive bomber as well. It couldn’t dive quite as steep, wasn’t quite so accurate, but was also very robust and was good enough. George Bush I was an Avenger pilot and was shot down during a dive bombing mission. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wagners-ride-of-the-valkyries-played/615954.md?page=2)