Roger, be assured that I'm so very glad to see you here again, while being mindful of your very recent and devastating loss. A day has not gone by without my thoughts going out to you.

Like Dux, I will do my best to provide you with a bit of distraction, and a friendship that will last at least until pub hours, if not longer.

Silly me, I managed to overlook the very detail on that Lanc that was so intriguing in the first place, apart from it apparently is airborne with only one engine running, the uprights and the cross-piece.

The uprights might be merely fastening points, for the cross-piece which would be the antenna, cut to a wave-length or a fraction of a wave-length to receive or send radio transmissions transmitted at a certain frequency.

My best inspiration currently, is that it might be either a receiver for determining to greater accuracy the aircraft's location in relation to where it was meant to be going, or an early ECM device, perhaps a refinement of "ABC: Airborne Cigar", to jam or interfere with German night fighters and their communications with ground controllers.

From Wiki it certainly seems that the creativity in terms of ECM was not lacking.

If PV1 should walk in right now, he'd likely go; "I know what this is..."

Folks,

This link was sent to me by our Canadian pal and seldom seen member C51.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/31202906?autoplay=1

I enjoyed the aerial battle scenes and the surprise ending offered food for thought. I hope that you also enjoy it and return here to leave a comment.

Interesting sequence JRT and well put together. He obviously meant to get his man and pranged his Spit in the process!

This should be after the Battle of Britain in a MkVb with pale blue ID fuselage band. Looks like green and sea-grey Spit camo but hard to tell which would make it around early '42. The oxygen mask has the chamois leather cover on the switch part which is extremely hard to get nowadays but correct for the Battle of Britain. Just the switch and cover alone runs at around $1000 and much more when attached to the mask.

He would have only encountered mass German bomber formations like that over Malta after the BoB.

Lots of CGI but that's the way it is going to be in historical re-enactment.

Folks,

Dux:

Do you know of any historical evidence of anyone following a man down and then actually taking him prisoner? I would expect something akin to that in WW1 but not WW2.

For some odd reason I often forget that Ireland considered herself a "neutral" during WW2. This could not have been unexpected given the long history of strife between Ireland and England.

I thought the video was well made. It shows us what is possible with CGI today and for me it whets my appetite for a full-length movie with good actors and a reasonable historical plot. I do not think the recent "Redtails" has had enough success at the box office to bring on a surge of air war movies.

I watched a half hour of the BoB movie again yesterday. I have lost count as to how many times I have seen that film. Had it been made today it would have been a very different film in many ways I suppose. There is much to be said for seeing the "real" thing in action even if the Spanish 109s had been considerably altered in their appearance.

Gents,

JRT,

I don't know of any example in either war which emulates the scene shown in C51's clip. My regards to him.

I certainly agree with your comment about realism. With large numbers of aircraft being required for the most part, it is no longer possible to bring together enough 'veterans' to represent a convincing force as in Angels One Five, Reach for the Sky and The Dam Busters etc.
With improvements in CGI the time must surely come when it is virtually impossible to tell the difference and the aircraft portrayed - and the special effects - will seem like the real thing and far less like clips from a current computer sim.

I just can't get it into my feeble little head, how a Spit and a Messyschmidt could possibly have the range to fly to Ireland, and the premise reminds me of a movie called The Brylcreme Boys, about a British bomber being shot down by a German two-seater night-fighter, again, over Ireland.

I think that the technical capabilities of CGI are probably beyond what we are actually being shown; because I have the feeling that suspension of disbelief, for those of us who know a bit about, or think we know about, how the aircraft of the time moved and manoeuvred, suffers from our study of the subject, and the sad fact that just about every and any director will be more driven toward "story", than towards even a modicum of realism.

Thus crucial details are being overlooked: To my knowledge the term Brylcreme Boys refers to british fighter pilots, not bomber crew, and what exactly is the motivation for the fighters in that clip we just saw, to fly to Ireland, and why was it necessary to crash the Spit in the process? And why did both pilots survive high speed low-level crashes without as much as a scratch?

Because of the "story" which by now is so preposterous that it retroactively ruins the fine scenes and the technical marvel of the air-battle.

Thanks to C51 tho' as it is always nice to have a good little rant!

There are indeed times when you wonder about the credentials of the so-called historical and military advisers.

But I can live with that. What irks me more is modern usage and cloying mannerisms in some period epics.

UTHER: "You gotta be jokin' me! Gimme five or I'll bust yo' ass - muvva."

OCTA: "Get sorted dirtbag. You crossed the benchmark big style at this moment in time."

EOSA: " No problem dog-breath - you're history".

Etc.

Yes Dux, such prose, as well as loud action scenes strung together in an incoherent tale sadly seems to be more the norm than the exception these days.

Another small thing I noticed Gents, about the clip called The German; the gunshots didn't sound real. Too much Oompfh, like all sounds in modern movies; shut a door and it sounds like an explosion.

Now, in conclusion, I would like to relate a very stunning example of clever use of CGI:

I recently watched a film about the Dambusters, and I lost my lower jaw, which hit the floor with that kind of Oompfh just described, when the well known, black-and-white photograph of Guy Gibson and his crew preparing to climb into their aircraft, suddenly turned into colour and started into a small movie clip of Gibson actually turning away from the camera and climbing the last step of the ladder on his way into the fuselage.

Such a movie clip from the real event of course never existed and consequently it must have been generated artificially in a computer, but as I noted, it really caused my jaw to drop. Very spooky indeed.

Folks,

You're just saying all that simply because....it's true Jens.

If only Hollywood could concentrate on selling popcorn, forget film profits, and make expensive, historically accurate movies for the sheer enjoyment of military aircraft aficionados like you and me. If only they would provide excellent entertainment at cost just as the software companies do. What? You say they cater to the masses and have a huge profit motive as well? Then what are we to do?

If only there were enough of us military aviation buffs to guarantee planting countless hundreds of thousands of hot bottoms into cold, empty theater seats to watch historically accurate films. If there were then those films would be made. Bring your kids and grand kids into the flight sim fold gentlemen. Apostolize to the un-enlightened heathens about you and spread the word to one and all.

Hess made it to Scotland in a 110 I believe. Perhaps he had other secret missions?

A little Twilight Zone music maestro, if you please....

Perhaps the 109 managed to get to Ireland using one of them thar giant icyberg carriers the US was considering building at one time? Maybe Hess snuck into Washington and stole the plans then his boss had one made? Of course if this were so we'd have seen a historically accurate Indiana Jones film with one in it by now. "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Axis Aircraft Carrier".

That could be coming soon to a theater near you.

Chaps,

Another fine photo of a Lancaster. This time a BII with radial engines which were heavy on juice but she climbed well. Only about 300 were built.
This is the next candidate for my desktop. The bomb-doors appear to be partially open.