quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:
China Fleet Sailor, is this some of your handy work?

quote:

Originally posted by maki:
Why would any of that have been classified for 65 years?

Dean

quote:

Originally posted by PSmith:
Very interesting film.

That makes me think of a question though.

What was the actual military reason for gun cameras? I mean I understand why the films could be used to keep track of enemy planes destroyed for reasons such as force estimates and threat assessments. Of course the film was used for purposes of individual pilots ace status. And we've all read that the pilots and aircrews tended to overestimate enemy losses.

But is the film important enough to have required the equipment and maintenance? And I guess you could carry less ammo or fuel if the plane had cameras. Just wondering what the reason is other than it's cool to have.

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:

quote:

Originally posted by maki:
Why would any of that have been classified for 65 years?

Dean

Lots of reasons. None of which would have to do with any paranoid obsession with protecting secrets.

For instance, during WWII lots of things were classified for valid reasons at the time. Given that no one knew a date certain when the war would end, they wouldn't have had a declassification date assigned. So they'd probably have words to the effect that a determination by some designated authority would be required in order to declassify it.

A lot of those designated authorities simply went away during the post-war demobilization and drawdown.

So nobody was responsible for declassifying the material. It just gathered dust.

quote:

Originally posted by maki:

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:

quote:

Originally posted by maki:
Why would any of that have been classified for 65 years?

Dean

Lots of reasons. None of which would have to do with any paranoid obsession with protecting secrets.

For instance, during WWII lots of things were classified for valid reasons at the time. Given that no one knew a date certain when the war would end, they wouldn't have had a declassification date assigned. So they'd probably have words to the effect that a determination by some designated authority would be required in order to declassify it.

A lot of those designated authorities simply went away during the post-war demobilization and drawdown.

So nobody was responsible for declassifying the material. It just gathered dust.

That makes sense. Too much of the stuff to care about. Interesting to watch now though.

Dean