Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Grendel on November 09, 2001, 02:33:00 AM
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Now, this should be major riot to you fellow aviation freaks.
I am processing old war time news reels to MPEG-format and thought to share this immediately with you. It is a Finnish Armed Forces newsreel, titled
"Defence Forces present: our air force in action".
It is a fantastic clip of newsclips - war filmographers operating in airfields, filming crews and maintenance people - and taking part in the combat flights. The films supposedly tells about the Finnish Air Force operations of one day - from the moment pilots and mechanics start preparing the planes, through the combat flight and until the landing and pilots stepping out of the planes. Pure orgasm all through!
There is no year and date for the operations, but logically it dates to the major battles of July/August 1944, since there are Gefechtverband Kuhlmey's Focke Wulfs and Stukas shown also (II./JG54 "Grünhertz", Stukas: I./SG 3 and of I./SG 5). More information about those events can be read for example from EMC 29 "Finland'44" site: http://www3.ient.com/emc/29/index.html (http://www3.ient.com/emc/29/index.html)
And what makes it even better for all you foreigners - there is not a word spoken in Finnish ;-) It is all just engine noise and black/white film.
The clip will be available for limited time only. Grab and save it to your HDs. I'm also not publishing this outside the virtual pilots newsgroups (Aces High, WarBirds and Finnish virtual pilot's message groups), so it is very specially for you only.
http://www.byterapers.com/~grendel/scan/aviation/puolustusvoimat_esittaa-lentojoukkojemme_toimintaa.mpg (http://www.byterapers.com/~grendel/scan/aviation/puolustusvoimat_esittaa-lentojoukkojemme_toimintaa.mpg)
Video-CD compatible MPEG, 85 MB.
Planes types shown:
SB-2 submarine hunters
Blenheim bombers
Ju-88 bombers
Messerchmitt 109s
Stukas
Focke Wulfs
Betcha you have never seen so many plane types from such many nations operating in one side ;-)
Special notice:
1:42
And who is that blonde fella?
Yes! The double fighter knight, receiver of highest FInnish military award - twice!
Ilmari Juutilainen
Finland's Ace of Aces, 96 confirmed victories
Enjoy, Grendel
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Thanks, as allways, Grendel.
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tried 2 times over T1 here at work ; first download stopped at 48%, second at 72% ...
:(
Goner
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Originally posted by Goner:
tried 2 times over T1 here at work ; first download stopped at 48%, second at 72% ...
:(
Goner
Use a download manager, like Getright or Flashget.
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What a wonderful morning :) I've already been in the world of jello and the orgastic :D
Thanks Grendel!! Trying to download now.
Westy
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thx Grendel.
Do you know what that piece of paper that is passed from the co-pilot(?) to the radio-operator(?) is.
The daily code, maybe?
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Ltn. Snefens
RO, Lentolaivue 34 (http://www.muodos.fi/LLv34)
My AH homepage (http://home14.inet.tele.dk/snefens)
(http://home14.inet.tele.dk/snefens/209.gif)
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That film is a gem :eek:
Thanks Grendel !
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Thanks as always!
Frodo
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Very, very clear. Thanks!
I could shoot the person who had the time counter on though :)
BTW, what was the twin engined bomber? It had inline engines, a rounded nose with what looked likt two small calibre MG's sticking out the front and an open upper turret?
Westy
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very nice video! thanks!
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Damn Grendel, don't you ever make any meaningless, whining, squeaking threads? :)
Great stuff as always, keep it coming!!!
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Ok can someone state cd burn that film and snail mail it to me? damn dialup connections!
S!
Rocket
:)
Grendel check you private msgs please :)
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Sure Rocket- send me an email: weissdr1@yahoo.com
I won't be able to ship it out until Monday.
-SW
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Originally posted by O'Westy:
BTW, what was the twin engined bomber? It had inline engines, a rounded nose with what looked likt two small calibre MG's sticking out the front and an open upper turret?
Westy
Appearing at what time in the newsreel? x:xx in playing time please :-) Sounds like SB-2 but better to confirm it.
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Westy that one was SB-2, Russian bomber finns captured.
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http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v1/v1n2/sb.html (http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v1/v1n2/sb.html) http://www.sci.fi/~ambush/faf/bombers.html (http://www.sci.fi/~ambush/faf/bombers.html)
[ 11-09-2001: Message edited by: Staga ]
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schweet!
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Originally posted by O'Westy:
BTW, what was the twin engined bomber? It had inline engines, a rounded nose with what looked likt two small calibre MG's sticking out the front and an open upper turret?
Westy
Ok SB-2 it is. Finns used bombers equipped with depth charges actively for submarine hunting as the first nation in the world. Even the British prime minister Churchill demanded expnalation why Brits are not hunting German subs with aircraft like the Finns are doing, and showed numbers how many times Finns attacked and sunk Soviet subs in Gulf of Finland.
As you can see in the end of the film they were successful in the role.
A little first hand experience here in one of our veteran interviews:
http://www.compart.fi/icebreakers/WW2History-OuluVeteransEnglish.html (http://www.compart.fi/icebreakers/WW2History-OuluVeteransEnglish.html)
Elo Tapani, sub hunter
Elo Tapani reads Aero-magazine from 1927.
The very lively Mr Tapani Elo was a gunner/radio operator during the war in a SB-2 bomber, that hunted Soviet submarines. Mr Elo spoke briefly of his experiences and answered some questions.
Tapani recalled how enlisted very young, he was 17-18 years of age when he joined the ranks of the Air Force.
I asked about flying the SB-2 and the reliability of the plane, there are many stories of the Russian bomber that do little to bolster your confidence. The answer came quick, though: "No, it was very reliable. More so than the Blenheim." And Tapani told of how they did four-hour search flights over the sea. It went all fine and no accidents happened, though "some planes were shot down from the squadron in the north."
It was cold travel, though. The SB-2 had no electric heating of any kind, the crew had to wear thick clothes. In addition, the Russian bomber had twin machine guns in the nose, though the actual weapons were usually removed. But the holes were there, "it was like two icicles thrusting inside the plane."
How were the depth charges set in the plane?
We carried two charges. One was set to go off in five meters (17'), the other in fifteen (50').
You never had an "incident" with enemy planes, but did you see others in the air?
We never saw Russians, but Germans flew there.
Fighters, recon planes?
Recon.
The SB had a gunner position in the back, that's where Tapani sat. His armament was a Russian machine gun. The gunner was well attached to the turret, and he could control the turning speed with a pedal. According to Tapani, the turret turned very quickly if you wanted, so you could follow even fast targets. Strapped into a well controllable turret, shooting back would have been very easy, especially as the gun was belt-fed, unlike that of the Blenheim. But in forceful movements the gunner would have been pressed into whatever direction, hanging in his harness, which would have made firing more difficult.
Tapani talked about his machine guns. Five different kinds of rounds were loaded into the belt, but he could not remember the exact ratio any more. The SB machine gun had a habit of going "wild", the weapon occasionally didn't stop firing when the trigger was released. Tapani's solution to these cases was gripping the ammo belt and snapping it in two with a sharp tug.
When speaking of the powerful movements and the gunner getting thrown about by G forces, Tapani is reminded of one unusual incident. The writer's memory claims Tapani was in a Blenheim. The pilot decided to pull a loop. But the speed wasn't enough - and the plane remained standing upright. "It felt awful, hanging in the restraints and wondering which way we'd go next. Fortunately it fell to side over the wing and levelled."
At this point Eino Estama burst into laughter and told how he once pulled a Blenheim into a loop. But he managed to do it.
As Eino laughed, your writer began to feel that this wasn't the whole story, and asked: "May I guess, you didn't warn the gunner at all?" "No, we didn't. We just decided it with the bombardier, and then did it."
Tapani commented, "That's how it was, they never told anything to us in the back."
[/i]
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Thanks guys!! I really am enjoying learning more about theatres of the war I'd not read much, if anything, on before.
<S>
Westy
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Thanks Grendel,
Even at 56K this is well worth the download, Those SB-2's really are sweet.
TTFN
snafu
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Thanks!
Charon
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link not working?
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Originally posted by Zigrat:
link not working?
Yup. As stated "The clip will be available for limited time only."
Gone now, replaced with another one. See information about it in this board.
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Zig how big files can you take by email ?
I can cut that file to pieces and send 'em one by one.
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wow thanks staga. actually i am not sure how big of a file i can take via email. do you have icq or yahoo IM? mabye that would be an easy way to do it.