Hello All --
You are invited to drop by Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In
This month "At the Matinee," we're featuring the return of a Drive-In Favorite, the aircraft carrier combat classic, "The Fighting Lady," and two debuts, "P-38s: Angels in Overalls" and "Don't Kill Your Friends!"
"Angel in Overalls" This film was developed to show US Lockheed P-38 production line workers the Lightning at war in a wide variety of combat roles. The dramatic framing for the piece involves a straggling B-24 that is saved from certain destruction by the arrival of "Angels in Overalls" -- P-38s. You'll see all aspects of Lightnings in action, including air-to-air gun camera, bombing, rocketing and photo recon. There's a cameo by Air Corps P-38 ace of aces Dick Bong too. This dramatic film is a must see for all P-38 fans!
"Don't Kill Your Friends - 'Don't Be a Dilbert!' Range Safety for Fixed Gun Aircraft." Believe it or not, "Dilbert" cartoons started in World War II, and, no they didn't feature those poor souls stuck in corporate quick sand. The first "Dilbert" cartoons were created by U.S. Navy Lt. Richard Osborn, based on the Navy flier name for operational errors --"dillies." The "Don't be a Dilbert" warning and character were featured on a wide variety of posters promoting safety. As played here by "Dead End Kid" Huntz Hall, Dilbert was a deadly combination of over confidence and bumbling incompetence who rained havoc on Naval personnel and innocent civilians. In this humorous, yet deadly serious US Navy training film, Dilbert fearlessly provides a string of negative examples of what not to do during aerial gunnery practice. A nice feature of this film is a good look inside and outside the Navy F4F/FM2 Hellcat carrier fighters used in training.
"The Fighting Lady" follows the fictional career of an Essex Class aircraft carrier from the Marcus Islands campaign, through Tinian, the air assault on Truk, the "Mariana's Turkey Shoot" and much more. But don't let the term "fictionalized" mislead you. All of the footage shown in this fascinating composite documentary is real -- shot by combat cameramen on board ships and in the air, showing actual Navy and Marine pilots, officers, and crewmen up close and personal. In fact, "The Fighting Lady was the popular nickname for the fighting Yorktowns, CV-5 & CV-10. You'll see dramatic full color action featuring Hellcats, HellDivers, Corsairs on deck and in the air, including exciting dive bombing, anti-aircraft, and gun camera footage and some amazing walk away crash landings. And there's a fascinating tour below decks too. Many of the scenes shown in this film have been excerpted and shown in countless documentaries since the War, but this is the original. Most memorably, you'll see the real officers and enlisted men of the Fighting Lady at work and at rest -- and in some cases, giving their lives. Powerfully narrated by Robert Taylor.
If you haven't stopped by Zeno's Drive-In before, we also feature 1942-45 vintage WWII Army & Navy pilot training films on how to fly the F4U, F6F, P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47, P-51, P-61, TBF/TBM, AT-6, B-17, B-24, B-25, A-20, A-26, B-26, B-29, and more.We just added the SNJ/AT-6 "Harvard" trainer and the Brewster SB2a too. And every month there are new feature length world War 2 aviation documentaries playing "At the Matinee."
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. And all of our flicks are now available at our video store on DVD, including pilot's manuals for almost all aircraft.
Coming soon to the web site and on DVD: "How to Fly the Stearman N2S," narrated by actor Robert Taylor. We've had a lot of requests for this classic biplane trainer!
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