The Zeno's Drive-in 6th Anniversary Summer Film Festival Double Feature
Stop by Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In (
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com) and catch two awesome World War II aviation flicks. I'm celebrating our 6th anniversary on the 'Net with two of our favorites: the jam packed P-47 feature "Thunderbolt!" and the Eighth Air For epic documentary "Target for Today." As usual, they are for free online viewing, have been newly re-digitized and now, because we have more server space, you can watch them in their entirety, without having to come back to see multiple parts.
Thunderbolt! chronicles the exploits of the P-47 Thunderbolt pilots of the "Fighting Gamenoodles" of the 65th Fighter squadron, 57th Fighter Group. Based on the island of Corsica off the northwest coast of the Italian boot, they flew from behind the enemy's flank. As part of "Operation Strangle," they continuously attacked highways, bridges, ammo dumps, railroads and just about anything that moved to choke off the flow of supplies to the Axis front line. This film not only features one-of-a-kind P-47 combat footage, it also shows day-to-day life on a MTO forward air base, including vintage pilot slang.
This front-line documentary was directed by Lt. Col. William Wyler (Ben-Hur) and Capt. John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape) and is grippingly narrated by Lloyd Bridges and Jose Ferrer, with an introduction by James Stewart. This has to be finest combination of great photography, a hard bitten, realistic script, stirring music, powerful narration and full bore Pratt & Whitney R-2800-59W Double Wasp radial engine roar I have seen or heard in a World War II documentary. Truly memorable and highly recommended.
"Target for Today" is THE classic World War II feature length documentary detailing a "maximum effort" daylight bombing mission deep into Germany. There are no actors in "Target For Today". This film was shot on location under combat conditions and features the officers and men of the 8th Air Force going about their deadly business. All aspects of an actual major raid in mid 1943, from early planning through final touch down and crew debriefings, are covered in this very thorough account. Anklam, Danzig and the FW-190 plant at Marrienburg are the targets hit. Although inflating the bombing campaign's effectiveness, this is no sugar coated propaganda film. Heavy losses and the bomber crew's trepidation at making unescorted deep penetration raids on heavily defended targets are graphically portrayed. Over 1 and 1/2 hours of engrossing World War II footage.
If you haven't stopped by Zeno's Drive-In before, we also feature 1942-45 vintage WWII Army & Navy films on how to fly the F4U, F6F, P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47, P-51, P-61, TBF/TBM, B-17, B-24, B-25, A-20, A-26, B-26, B-29, and more. That's over 12 hours of rockin' props for free viewing over the internet. See detailed charts, diagrams, and interior photos from original WWII pilot's manuals too.
Finally, our "Control Tower" page has the largest collection of World War II Aviation links on the 'net
So drop your flaps & drop in!
That's
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.comCheck Six!
Zeno
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Copyright notice. The films "Thunderbolt!" and "Target for Today" were produced by the US government during World War II for public information purposes and are therefore now in the public domain for the free use of the public. The individual, trademarked RealVideo streaming video digital files reproducing these films created by Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In for public display are copyright 2003 by Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In and may not be copied, redistributed, broadcast, resold or reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.
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