wonder how long its been since anyone looked at the clips they choose when putting together one of the many military shows on the History Channel to see if they were remotely accurate, etc.
Getting a bit tired of seeing those B-17's bomb the hell out of that orchard again, and a 3 hour show they had last week on D-Day to Berlin showed something I never knew about - there were T-34's at Normandy!
Amazing things you learn on cable tv.
Craig
The old 'Victory at Sea' show (WWII) had some lovely film of the Austrian dreadnought Szent Istvan capsizing (WWI).
Mark Schynert
Or all those Spitfires and Hurricanes that ended up on P-51 and P-47 gun cameras?
And how many times have they re-cycled that clip of H.M.S. Barham blowing up as it rolled over after that U-Boat torpedoed it??
Bill Shuey
My favourite was a sequence of German STUGs "advancing", left to right across the screen, then later exactly the same sequence shown in reverse, "retreating", right to left across the screen.
JH
what about those texans bombing pearl?
11,643 this week.
Producer: "I wanna new production on December 7, 1941".
Old Footage Archivist: "I've got some great footage of SBD'd going into a dive. The public is too stupid to realize they're US planes and I'm too lazy to dig deeper for authentic footage. Hey, it's worked before..."
Producer: "Print it".
Frank Kranick
No one has mentioned the Hellcat losing its tail and hitting the bridge of the carrier. And how about in movies?The F-14 crashing in Hunt For Red October that turns into an F9F
Aaahhh, Yes! The indestructible Ensign Black. He walked away, the deck crew man seen scrambling to get out of the way in the left at the beginning of the clip was not so lucky. I believe I have read that the deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most dangerous workplaces on earth.
Bill shuey
Actually those are usually SBDs.
Just trying the keep the innacuracies accurate. :-)
Tom
Tom answered:
With:
Those SBD pilots were good, same ones bombed Midway and the Japanese fleet several times (at the same time).
Rick
Reminds me of Catch 22 and the contract to defend and attack the same bridge. Wasn't that Milo Minderbinder?
Tom
yes, i know those, but i have seen texans, too.
Hi Guys: You picked the best historical inaccuracies but here are some of my favorites from documentary TV:
Not really a Hollywood inaccuracy, but a military neccessity:
Training film (IIRC) with accurately painted Japanese Bettys played very nicely done B-26 Marauders.
Tom
bridge...not the tail breaking one...this one caught some poor swabbie between the con and the leading edge, the original is available but you have to show your driver license and social security number before you can view it. Poor kid didn't have a chance, but that's war folks? Mike IPMS
On a related note which Hollywood movie had swept wing F-84F's masquarading as MiG-15'S? Didn't Fighter Squadron with Robert Stack use P-51's as Me-109's?
Gene DiGennaro Baltimore, Md.
The F-84 swap was in Jet Pilot wasn't it?
That was "The Hunters" with Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, etc. Now finally available on CD.
Yes, it did. Cornball movie though, with lots of Edmund O'Brien overacting.
Bill Shuey
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