Showdown: Air Combat

[Dragon]

I agree with Sullie, if they would have said hung tank one more time I was going to turn it off.  But the video of the live firing of the 37mm and 23mm cannons was pretty cool. 

[633DH98]

22, 23mm, whatever it took. 

[Saurdaukar]

Believe me, there's a LOT more original material that they could have used for dogfights. Plenty of German fighter pilots either had books written about them or wrote books that detail combat. I think Rall is still alive.
Heck, the pilot portrayed in the Showdown; Air Combat episode was dead.

I was thinking more about DF - where they had a couple of the younger (at the time) ETO allied sticks who were still alive doing 'play-by-play' during the CGI portions.

Either way, you really think that the average viewer (we're decidedly more nerdy) would sit through 10+ episodes of bomber escort stories?  Details notwithstanding, all the shows would pretty much be the same... then they'd end up recycling CGI footage for cost savings and it would get even worse.  All IMO, of course.

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23mm.  Fantastic cannon from all accounts.  High ROF and big punch. 

What I found most humorous was the mention of the tried and true Soviet practice of technology copying.

USSR: "Yeah, UK... we'll uh... buy some of those RR jet engines from you... but, eh... can we have a sample first to make sure we like it?"

UK:  "Sure!  Here you go; its on the house!  Cant wait for your contract!"

USSR:  (whisper) "Can you reverse engineer and then mass-produce this?"

USSR2:  (whisper)  "Shhh!  Ok!"

UK:  "So how many would you like!?!?"

USSR:  "How many what...?  OH THAT!  We decided against it, sorry! "

[crockett]

I watched the one on Mig Alley.. While it was nice to get a good look at the jets (my second favorite air war after ww2) I was disappointed in the show. It was nothing like they hyped it up to be. The dog fights were animated and it was nothing more than the the real jets doing a little flying.

[SSgtHam]

I was well and truly disappointed by this too, but really, think about it.  You have in your possession a few multimillion dollar, 50 year old military fighter aircraft that are professionally restored to working order.  Would you go about doing ACMs?

All in all not quite what I expected it to be, and with an irritating as hell host that kept showing off how much better his precious F-22 was against those aircraft, it could have been better.

[Motherland]

I was well and truly disappointed by this too, but really, think about it.  You have in your possession a few multimillion dollar, 50 year old military fighter aircraft that are professionally restored to working order.  Would you go about doing ACMs?

All in all not quite what I expected it to be, and with an irritating as hell host that kept showing off how much better his precious F-22 was against those aircraft, it could have been better.

I would rather do realistic ACM than put my multimillion dollar jet 5 feet behind another multimillion dollar jet while he was maneuvering.

I was thinking more about DF - where they had a couple of the younger (at the time) ETO allied sticks who were still alive doing 'play-by-play' during the CGI portions.

Either way, you really think that the average viewer (we're decidedly more nerdy) would sit through 10+ episodes of bomber escort stories?  Details notwithstanding, all the shows would pretty much be the same... then they'd end up recycling CGI footage for cost savings and it would get even worse.  All IMO, of course.

That's not what I was getting at- more like, reading Sakai's(spelling?) or Knoke's or Rudel's book, or interviewing Rall, or maybe one of Marseille's staffel mates, and doing an episode from a non-American perspective.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I was well and truly disappointed by this too, but really, think about it.  You have in your possession a few multimillion dollar, 50 year old military fighter aircraft that are professionally restored to working order.  Would you go about doing ACMs?

All in all not quite what I expected it to be, and with an irritating as hell host that kept showing off how much better his precious F-22 was against those aircraft, it could have been better.

Well, you should see Steve Hinton go out and toss "Glacier Girl" around sometime. Hinton flies that P-38 so hard that it crackles and pops from the heat for 1/2 an hour afterwards. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how much of a workout it and the Planes of Fame P-38 got at those air shows.

[Stratocaster]

I have no respect for anyone working on that show... They fed me and HTC a bunch of crap... promised me credits and pay for working with them and screwed US ALL.

[crockett]

I have no respect for anyone working on that show... They fed me and HTC a bunch of crap... promised me credits and pay for working with them and screwed US ALL.

what did they do?

[Charge]

"Would you go about doing ACMs?"

I think the point is that what they do in that kind of shows is merely fidgety formation flying. They could do more realistic moves without stressing the planes too much but the problem is that the camera plane should be able to follow them too. Also the distances between planes could grow suddenly so large that the picture of the general situation would vanish for the average Joe.

But I'm sure that people who possess a vague interest in combat aircraft appreciate it the way it is done.

Of course it is always a pleasure to see those planes in flight but IMO it gives a rather simplistic and plain wrong picture of what ACM really is about and what kind of huge physical stress it poses to pilots.

-C+