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| Scene from The Bridges at Toko-ri Screen Capture (See below) |
While I was deciding whether to just go with that clip, I was inspired to give you a bunch of movies clips to peruse on your Sunday. All of them being aviation related, all of them from some of my favorite war films featuring aircraft in combat.
Mind you, this is not an exhaustive list of my favorite aviation war films (one clip is from a yet-to-be-released HBO mini-series), so don't bother with the "Hey Sarge, you forgot this one..." comments. This bunch of clips isn't an exhaustive bunch as I couldn't find clips from some movies which didn't outright suck, the clips, not the movie. There is a lot of dreck on YouTube which isn't really worth sharing. Bad quality, cheesy effing music, etc.
But these are all pretty good.
First up, a British classic, based on a true story...
A pretty good recent book and film, this being an excellent scene with the rather rare (in movies) B-24 Liberator...
A scene from one of my all time favorites which depicts the P-40s of George Welch and Kenneth Taylor of the 47th Pursuit Squadron pitching into the Japanese at Pearl Harbor...
As an aside, the 47th Pursuit Squadron is now known as the 47th Fighter Squadron and flies the superb A-10.
Another favorite film (though not strictly aviation) depicts my personal favorite fighter, the Spitfire...
How could I talk about aviation films without including this one?
Here's the trailer for The Mighty Eighth from HBO (come on folks, release it already!)...
And here's the film clip which kicked off this whole post. Featuring the Panthers of VF-192 "World Famous Golden Dragons." These days those guys are known as...
Well, I'll let Lex tell you that story, he flew with them dontcha know?
Anyhoo, here's the clip...
Love those Panthers!
And in the fantasy/science fiction category, the famous "Splash the Zeros, I say again, splash the Zeros" scene from another great (though not really aviation) film, The Final Countdown...
Feel free to regale me with your favorites in the comments, as I know you will. Remember I didn't miss or forget... Check that, I might have, I am, after all, getting old(er).
* The SJC doesn't really apply here. The turn of phrase came naturally...
I remember seeing Dambusters when it first came out.
ReplyDeleteMissed seeing Bridges at Tokyo-Ri, but remember a story in Life Magazine.
Both are good films.
Delete"Where Do We Find Such Men?".....
DeleteOne of the greatest movie quotes EVAH!
Indeed.
DeleteWonderful, weeding out all the useless plot and giving us only the best flying scenes! That's a little tongue in cheek, but fighter attack IS the reason this blog exists to some extent. By the way, the Golden Dragons had extra qualifier out in CVW-5. The had plaques and patches that stated they were the SSHWFGDs, with "Super" starting that off. Fighter guys don't suffer from too much modesty!
ReplyDeleteYup, if you chase that link to Lex's post, he did mention the "Super" bit. As he would. ;)
DeleteAhh, didn't notice the hyperlink whilst reading it on my phone. How's vacation? Remember in school when the teacher would show a film? She must have been tired or had relatives in town too!
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteWell, it was a pleasant nine days away from work. Tomorrow it's back to the salt mines I go. LUSH is in town for another couple of weeks though, so fun will still be had.
As to the teacher thing, where do you think I learned that? ;)
Some history about the Merlin engine found over at OLDNFO's place---
ReplyDeletehttps://oldnfo.org/2018/07/08/an-interesting-bit-of-history/#comment-90885
Dam busting---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik9vCg-xRr4
Interesting.
DeleteI may have mentioned before my fondness for "Tora, Tora, Tora" as I consider it to be pretty much the benchmark of what 'docu-drama' type war movies should be. So, yeah, love the flying scenes in that movie. 'Love' the whole movie, if one can really say that about such a horrid day. The miniature work with the Japanese carriers is also a special level that I don't think CGI will better any time soon. But... One of my favorite scenes is where the Japanese are practicing shallow torpedo launching in Japan. Everything about that scene was... perfect.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen "Toko-Ri" in a long while, and not without commercials. Will have to go down that rabbit hole.
"The Battle of Britain" is also one of my top flying movies. Definitely shows how close the Germans got to air superiority. Good thing they didn't continue concentrating on airfields and airplane factories. Love watching that movie.
"Strategic Air Command" can't be beat for post-war bomber porn. Doesn't hurt at all that they got an actual bomber pilot to play the lead (one of my favorite actors, too.) Watching the transition from one beautiful plane to another, though the B-36 really was kinda an ugly-assed plane, all bug-eyed and underpowered (until they added the 4 burning.) (And I am glad Boeing went away from the bubble/bug-eye look to the more streamlined cockpit.)
"Hell's Angels" is hard to beat, with it's real planes and stuff.
Oh, I just like flying movies. As long as they are realistic.
Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart (a real life bomber pilot, as you know) is a classic!
DeleteNon military. Movie "Always". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upPHSDqj5x0
ReplyDeleteNow that scene is simply brilliant!
DeleteHave to toss in the MITO scene from 'A Gathering of Eagles'.
ReplyDeleteI tracked that down and watched it, awesome!
Delete"So There I Was".....I had a book by an aviation cartoonist (Bob Stevens?) with that title.
ReplyDeleteLost the book in the divorce, damn it......
I have two books by him. Still available on Amazon.
DeleteThat sequence from the Final Countdown is one of my favorites. I think one of the most realistic movies I'd seen for aerial sequences was the remake of the Memphis Belle.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkOjASE-TPo
Man! How did I miss that scene from Memphis Belle? Thanks for sharing, William!
Deletehttps://youtu.be/cfJtN0GMCCM
ReplyDeletejust putting the Westeros version of the A-10 here for fantasy fans
Hahaha!
DeleteNice GoT reference!
Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteI spent an hour or so a week ago with an ex Lancaster gunner - 31 missions over Europe from Lincolshire and Grimsby. My lady colleague said "Oh, what was the average number then?" He replied flatly "Five". The point went flying over her head so high it was lost in the clouds.
Later he said "I preferred to be the tail gunner" "Why?" I asked, "Because if the plane went down you could open the door behind and you might get out, the mid turret couldn't get out...".
Thirty-one! Damn, that's a lot of missions.
DeleteDidn't know that about the Lanc, the mid turret that is, rather sheds a new light on that aircraft. AND the men who flew them!
Sarge - From an historical perspective, the 1930's movie (snippets on Youtube) entitled, "Here Comes the Navy" has some great scenes of the USS Arizona and one of the aircraft carrying dirigibles (USS Macon or USS Akron). It stars James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. "Flight of the Intruder" has some great Vietnam era carrier and A-6 scenes (as well as the SPAD). Bill U
ReplyDeleteI have not seen those '30s perspective films, sounds like I need to!
DeleteI checked out the Flight of the Intruder clips, didn't find one that I really liked. While I thought the film was okay, the book was so much better that the film really didn't do it justice.
Totally agree the book was better. I have a fondness for the Intruder - all weather heavy attack. Had them on three of my deployments. There is another early 40's movie you should look for - "Flight Command" - had carrier flight ops from USS Enterprise. Bill
ReplyDeleteWow! I just watched the trailer for that film, Grumman F3Fs and Red Skelton, USS ENterprise and VF-6, what's not to love?
DeleteI need to track that one down. Thanks for the tip Bill!