Watching History Channel's Dog Fight

[ACE]

Ack Ack you seem to know a lot about planes <S>

[Stiglr]

And Remember. You're almost always getting only one side of the story.

I'd love to see them do a few shows featuring German and Jap. pilots.

+1.

[crutch]

you have to take everything you see on history channel with a grain of salt.  their fact checking and film to naration matchups is NOT 100%.

I have seen episodes about a specific AC have every film clip in it about every AC BUT the one the guy is talking about.

even when they match the right plane they dont always match the type.

an episode about P47s had a clip where the guy was talking about the P47Ns entering the PTO and they had a clip of a razorback Jug up.

someone in chargere there just doesnt care as long as the time is filled.

[W7LPNRICK]

That was Old 666, which much to the surprise of the Japanese that day, was the most heavily armed B-17 in the Pacific with no less than 19 .50 cal machine guns, including a pair that was able to be fired by the pilot.  They placed machine guns all over the place, including in spots where they didn't need any coverage.  They also stored replacement machine guns in the plane so if one gun jammed they could dump it and replace it with one of the spares.

On a side note, for those that think that heavy bombers never flew NOE, Old 666 made a bomb run on a Japanese carrier and was only 50ft above the carriers deck when it flew over.  In another raid, this time a day time raid over Rabuel, Old 666 was so low that it came home with branches from the tree tops it skimmed over stuck in various areas on the bomber's belly and the ball turret had one of the glass panes cracked from a tree strike on that mission.  On a night time attack on Wewak, Old 666 dove on and strafed the searchlights the Japanese used to locate the attacking bombers.

Sadly, not even the book that I have about the 5th AF has any pictures of Old 666 and can't seem to locate any at all searching the Intertardnet. 

One another interesting side note, no one wanted to fly with Lt. Col Zeamer, that's why before Old 666, he didn't have an assigned plane or crew and was considered a "pilot at large" but was never actually a pilot.  In fact, he was the most senior non pilot in the bomber group.  He never passed the checks to move from the co-pilot seat to the pilot seat, he failed on each attempt when he was assigned to the 22nd BG flying B-26s.  Pilots hated to have him in the co-pilot seat and was soon transferred out of the 22nd because of this.  When he was transferred to the 43rd BG, he as given odd jobs, when a crew was short he'd fill in but never as pilot.  It wasn't until a friend of his, Captain McCullar, took Zeamer under his wing and allowed him to join his crew sometimes as navigator and co-pilot.  For some reason, flying with McCullar really clicked with Zeamer and studying what McCullar did in the cockpit during some pretty harrowing missions.  After a handful of missions with McCullar's crew, Zeamer was finally ready to get a plane and crew of his own.  It was also McCullar that inspired Zeamer to outfit his bomber with all of those guns and the pilot operated guns also came from McCullan who had his own B-17 outfitted the same way.  After Zeamer got his own plane and crew and after the mission where he was attacked by all of those Zekes, he became widely known as one of the first and very few that would fly their heavy bombers like fighters.


ack-ack

The History channel had a picture of the 666 which they showed on the ground with the crew in front. Maybe check Histroychannel.com? 

[SKJohn]

you have to take everything you see on history channel with a grain of salt.  their fact checking and film to naration matchups is NOT 100%.

I have seen episodes about a specific AC have every film clip in it about every AC BUT the one the guy is talking about.

even when they match the right plane they dont always match the type.

an episode about P47s had a clip where the guy was talking about the P47Ns entering the PTO and they had a clip of a razorback Jug up.

someone in chargere there just doesnt care as long as the time is filled.

I've noticed this especially when they are talking about Zeroes.  It seems like any plane with a meatball on the wing is good enough for filling in time.  I can see someone who doesn't know any better confusing the KI-43 and the A6M, but calling Vals and Kates Zeroes?

[Anaxogoras]

I liked it when they compared the performance of the 109E-4 to the P-51D.

[dedalos]

Ack Ack you seem to know a lot about planes <S>

Bombers only

[Ack-Ack]

Bombers only

THE P-38 IS NOT A BOMBER! /stomp feet


ack-ack

[Stiglr]

Just seems like one when it's filling your gunsight.... 

[Simba]

"THE P-38 IS NOT A BOMBER! /stomp feet"

Some P-38s were flown as bombers. The lead P-38 was fitted with a 'glass' nose, carried a bombardier and a Norden sight, and was known as a 'Droop Snoot'. The P-38s flying formation on him released their bombs when they saw his go, the same 'drop on the lead bomber's signal' procedure as used by the big boys.

The last place I'd look for historical veracity would be the History and Discovery channels; the commentary is all too often uninformed, inaccurate, 'gung-ho' drivel and the film editors haven't a clue.

 


  

[Motherland]

Simba; he was kidding

[W7LPNRICK]

"THE P-38 IS NOT A BOMBER! /stomp feet"

Some P-38s were flown as bombers. The lead P-38 was fitted with a 'glass' nose, carried a bombardier and a Norden sight, and was known as a 'Droop Snoot'. The P-38s flying formation on him released their bombs when they saw his go, the same 'drop on the lead bomber's signal' procedure as used by the big boys.

The last place I'd look for historical veracity would be the History and Discovery channels; the commentary is all too often uninformed, inaccurate, 'gung-ho' drivel and the film editors haven't a clue.

 

I have to agree with you on what I've recently seen on the history channel. If you believed them the best fighters ever built were the F4F, P-47, and later (Viet Nam)the F-8. No doubt they helped the war effort by the shear numbers that were manufactured & the pilots blood spilt flying them. In the mid 70's the F/A-8 was well respected as a light Ftr/Bomber/Attack platform, but no where near the best fighter around. Of course I was a 17 year old airman in S.E.A. with my own view on things.

  

[Becinhu]

I thought the P-38 was a modified A-20 with twinbooms instead of a single tail piece.
 

[Ack-Ack]

I thought the P-38 was a modified A-20 with twinbooms instead of a single tail piece.
 

 

ack-ack