Discussion
Speaking of good colour film, this site was posted on another site. Has some long colour film of of the USAAF in East Anglia, and lots of other stuff with the RAF etc.
If you search obvious tags like 'aircraft' or 'USAAF' or the names of bases, there is some good stuff.
http://www.eafa.org.uk
Here the link to the 44 min ( no sound ) colour film of the 100th Bomb Group
http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/226537
If you search obvious tags like 'aircraft' or 'USAAF' or the names of bases, there is some good stuff.
http://www.eafa.org.uk
Here the link to the 44 min ( no sound ) colour film of the 100th Bomb Group
http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/226537
Yep, awesome, love colour footage from WW2. Was waiting for someone to post a thread about this. Imagine flying through those flack fields 
My G/Uncle flew in Bombercommand and survived 2 tours (inc one with 617), how he survived I dunno!
Has anyone ever watched Flight of the Thunderbolt? very similar
My G/Uncle flew in Bombercommand and survived 2 tours (inc one with 617), how he survived I dunno!Has anyone ever watched Flight of the Thunderbolt? very similar
disco1 said:
Yep, awesome, love colour footage from WW2. Was waiting for someone to post a thread about this. Imagine flying through those flack fields My G/Uncle flew in Bombercommand and survived 2 tours (inc one with 617), how he survived I dunno!
Has anyone ever watched Flight of the Thunderbolt? very similar
My father flew several sorties with the Eighth in B17s and B26s he had some tales to tell My G/Uncle flew in Bombercommand and survived 2 tours (inc one with 617), how he survived I dunno!Has anyone ever watched Flight of the Thunderbolt? very similar
There is some very good real colour footage of P-47 Thunderbolts in action. From memory, I think most of it was shot in Italy.
Another great source of genuine colour footage is the film shot by the famous Hollywood director, George Stevens. He was an official army film maker and followed the Allied advance from Normandy to Berlin. Although most of the official footage was standard black and white, at his own expense he kitted out a second unit with colour stock. The film was rediscovered after he died in 1975 and was cleaned up and edited into an excellent TV documentary called "D-Day to Berlin". BBC showed it in 1985 - narrated by Robert Harris (now a famous novel writer).
Another great source of genuine colour footage is the film shot by the famous Hollywood director, George Stevens. He was an official army film maker and followed the Allied advance from Normandy to Berlin. Although most of the official footage was standard black and white, at his own expense he kitted out a second unit with colour stock. The film was rediscovered after he died in 1975 and was cleaned up and edited into an excellent TV documentary called "D-Day to Berlin". BBC showed it in 1985 - narrated by Robert Harris (now a famous novel writer).
Eric Mc said:
Another great source of genuine colour footage is the film shot by the famous Hollywood director, George Stevens. He was an official army film maker and followed the Allied advance from Normandy to Berlin. Although most of the official footage was standard black and white, at his own expense he kitted out a second unit with colour stock. The film was rediscovered after he died in 1975 and was cleaned up and edited into an excellent TV documentary called "D-Day to Berlin". BBC showed it in 1985 - narrated by Robert Harris (now a famous novel writer).
Just flicking through Sky and saw that I'd just missed D-Day to Berlin as it was on tonight. It's being repeated around 02:00 this morning on 'Yesterday' if I remember correctly - head not functioning as it should.muppetdave said:
Just flicking through Sky and saw that I'd just missed D-Day to Berlin as it was on tonight. It's being repeated around 02:00 this morning on 'Yesterday' if I remember correctly - head not functioning as it should.
The programme that was on last night is nothing to do with the programme of the same name shown in 1985.The modern one is some sort of dramatised documentary (always less than satisfactory to my mind).
Heres a small exerpt from the 1985 documentary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfyKGmjOh7Y
disco1 said:
Not sure if it was reformatted B&W but very good quality. Scenes showing the Thunderbolt gun cameras on ground attack was awesome.
Some of it was colourised, but plenty of it was original colour, great footage. Loads of the P-47 footage is on youtube I didn't like the 'back home family shots' which had 1950's cars in the background
A good program, but typically USA made, the USAAF bombed Europe with a bit of help from the RAF.
Later in the war, were the bombers used as 'just' bait to get the German fighters up, there targets of no importance, thats what was said wasn't it ?
Total loss said:
Some of it was colourised, but plenty of it was original colour, great footage. Loads of the P-47 footage is on youtube
I didn't like the 'back home family shots' which had 1950's cars in the background
A good program, but typically USA made, the USAAF bombed Europe with a bit of help from the RAF.
Later in the war, were the bombers used as 'just' bait to get the German fighters up, there targets of no importance, thats what was said wasn't it ?
There were a few ocasions when teh bombers were used to draw up the fighters. "Big Week" was one such operation which was an all out effort to destroy aircarft production by bombing the factories and the Luftwaffe by drawing up the fighters.I didn't like the 'back home family shots' which had 1950's cars in the background
A good program, but typically USA made, the USAAF bombed Europe with a bit of help from the RAF.
Later in the war, were the bombers used as 'just' bait to get the German fighters up, there targets of no importance, thats what was said wasn't it ?
Eric Mc said:
Total loss said:
Some of it was colourised, but plenty of it was original colour, great footage. Loads of the P-47 footage is on youtube
I didn't like the 'back home family shots' which had 1950's cars in the background
A good program, but typically USA made, the USAAF bombed Europe with a bit of help from the RAF.
Later in the war, were the bombers used as 'just' bait to get the German fighters up, there targets of no importance, thats what was said wasn't it ?
There were a few ocasions when teh bombers were used to draw up the fighters. "Big Week" was one such operation which was an all out effort to destroy aircarft production by bombing the factories and the Luftwaffe by drawing up the fighters.I didn't like the 'back home family shots' which had 1950's cars in the background
A good program, but typically USA made, the USAAF bombed Europe with a bit of help from the RAF.
Later in the war, were the bombers used as 'just' bait to get the German fighters up, there targets of no importance, thats what was said wasn't it ?
I'm pretty sure that would be an incorrect interpretation of events. If they were just using highly trained bomber crews and very expensive bomber aircarft as fighter bait, that would be border-line criminal.
The RAF also used such tactics as well. In 1941 and 1942, "Circus" daylight raids were carried out using Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters with Spitfire and Hurricanes as escort - both to bomb targets in Northern France and to entice German fighters into the air.
The RAF also used such tactics as well. In 1941 and 1942, "Circus" daylight raids were carried out using Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters with Spitfire and Hurricanes as escort - both to bomb targets in Northern France and to entice German fighters into the air.
Just finished reading "Night Flyer (Fighter pilots) by L. Brandon (Paperback).
I spent my childhood obsessing over WW2 aircraft, and still occasionally dabble in books. This one is well written and covers the use of airbourne radar, first in Beaufighters and then Mosquitos. The author was a navigator, and it's a very informative story. They were up there most nights with the bombers, but 'invisible' to them. They were also tasked with harrassing Luftwaffe airfields, and shooting down fighters which were taking off or landing. There are other night fighter books on Amazon, and I really must find a bit more time to read more of them.
Those colour films from WW2 are fantastic.
I spent my childhood obsessing over WW2 aircraft, and still occasionally dabble in books. This one is well written and covers the use of airbourne radar, first in Beaufighters and then Mosquitos. The author was a navigator, and it's a very informative story. They were up there most nights with the bombers, but 'invisible' to them. They were also tasked with harrassing Luftwaffe airfields, and shooting down fighters which were taking off or landing. There are other night fighter books on Amazon, and I really must find a bit more time to read more of them.
Those colour films from WW2 are fantastic.
One of my favourite books as a child was Night Fighter by John "Bob" Braham who was one of the RAF's top scoring night fighter aces. I re-read it recently and it was still a good read.
Airborne radar was actually first installed in Blenheim Is, although they had real trouble on occasions catching up with some of the faster German bombers.
Airborne radar was actually first installed in Blenheim Is, although they had real trouble on occasions catching up with some of the faster German bombers.
RedMorgan said:
Just finished reading "Night Flyer (Fighter pilots) by L. Brandon (Paperback).
I spent my childhood obsessing over WW2 aircraft, and still occasionally dabble in books. This one is well written and covers the use of airbourne radar, first in Beaufighters and then Mosquitos.
A good companion to that is 'Night Fighter' by Rawnsley & Wright. Jimmy Rawnsley was John (Cats' Eyes) Cunningham's navigator, and because they operated over England they could use the latest AI.I spent my childhood obsessing over WW2 aircraft, and still occasionally dabble in books. This one is well written and covers the use of airbourne radar, first in Beaufighters and then Mosquitos.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Fighter-pilots-C-F-R...
IIRC this is the one describing a thrilling chase with a He-111 in cloud - the He pilot gets it wrong and flies into the ground.
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