13 September 2011, 21:18
Bill/OregonThis is fabulous
I used to have this on VHS, but its all there on YouTube now for those who appreciate the P-47 "Thunderbolt":
http://www.airboyd.tv/2010/01/...ic-p-47-documentary/14 September 2011, 03:35
BriceThanks Bill. I watched it all. (Happened the year after I was born.)
14 September 2011, 04:19
Bill/OregonBrice: Glad you enjoyed it. William Wyler also shot the original "Memphis Belle" documentary.
One of my uncles was a P-47 mechanic in WW II and had a deep fondness for those big, tough old warplanes. Another uncle flew B-24s in the South Pacific, one flew small Piper-like aircraft in Burma and another was a B-17 tailgunner. They're all gone now, like most of the birds they flew. God Bless the Greatest Generation.
14 September 2011, 08:52
surestrikeI really like watching the low angle low level strafing clips in that film. The one where he hits the house and it blows up and busting the locomotive are a couple of pieces of incredible footage.
14 September 2011, 19:22
mikethebearI actually saw this movie in a theater when I was a kid.
14 September 2011, 23:38
BriceHi again, Bill.
The small, Piper-like aircraft would very well have been DeHavilland Beavers. Kenmore Air Harbor, at the north end of Lake Washington here in Seattle operates a bunch of these on floats, and re-manufactures them. A friend was once head pilot at Kenmore, and told me that they recovered a crashed Beaver from a Burma jungle, put it in a container and shipped it home for re-build. Kenmore up-dates these with turbos and variable pitch props. I've spent a bit of time in them. They are real workhorses.
I suspect that most float plane enthusiasts, especially on the west coast, are fmailiar with KAH. It's quite an operation, the largest float plane operation in the world.