Saw RED TAILS last night

[Griff Murphey]

I think you are talking about Lt Little putting on half flaps, pulling a vertical climb, and doing a falling leaf such that he is perfectly on a 109's tail. I have a certain amount of knowledge of flying but I do not know if this is possible.

BTW the cast of Pilots were all taken to Planes of Fame in Chino and given orientation rides in 2 seated Mustangs. There is a movie of this on Air Show Buzz. The real skinny guy kissed the ground when he got out of that plane.

[Guamsst]

I think you are talking about Lt Little putting on half flaps, pulling a vertical climb, and doing a falling leaf such that he is perfectly on a 109's tail. I have a certain amount of knowledge of flying but I do not know if this is possible.

BTW the cast of Pilots were all taken to Planes of Fame in Chino and given orientation rides in 2 seated Mustangs. There is a movie of this on Air Show Buzz. The real skinny guy kissed the ground when he got out of that plane.

Not sure as all I see in the preview is the mustang at the top of a climb looking as if it is stalled but doing a spin and putting all his shots into the 109 which just flys right by like it didn't know he was there.

My friend who saw the movie and has a good knowledge base of the events said he wasn't sure what they were trying to recreate but it didn't match the account he thought they were duplicating. To me, it's about as good as the goofballs in pearl harbor flying head on and breaking at the last second while the foolish squinty eye bucka toof japs just fly head on into each other.

[Griff Murphey]

One of my friends who is a retired USAF Col., pilot, Nam vet, flew everything from the F-86 through all the century series, the A-1, etc., just weighed in and said he saw the movie and the maneuver WAS impossible.

[gremlin]

The ME109's stationed at Abbeyville, France had yellow noses. Read it in Thunderbolt by Johnson. greg

[Griff Murphey]

You are correct about the yellow noses of the Abbeville Boys, in France, earlier in the war. However, yellow tail stripes and yellow underside wingtips were Eastern Front recognition markings. Similarly, white stripes were used for quick recognition in the Mediterranean including North Africa.

The defense of the Reich stripes were multicolored, on the rear of the fuselage, and would have been common on fighters encountered by the 332nd especially among ME-262s.

The markings on the German aircraft in RED TAILS looked OK, but were not typical Luftwaffe practice. But all of this getting way too technical. After all, it's a MOVIE!

THUNDERBOLT is a great book, I grew up reading it and rereading it.

[Garandy]

My son said the crowd was mostly black, and when the 3 white boys [including my son] snickered in the scene where the white pilots told a downed black airmen, he wouldnt be seen at night, the blacks laughed, but the blacks sneered "shut up" at the white boys including my son for snickering

[Guamsst]

My son said the crowd was mostly black, and when the 3 white boys [including my son] snickered in the scene where the white pilots told a downed black airmen, he wouldnt be seen at night, the blacks laughed, but the blacks sneered "shut up" at the white boys including my son for snickering

Nothing surprising there. I always enjoyed the story about the Koreans who saw their first black soldiers and then said that North Korea could never win because America was able to make special soldiers just for night fighting.

[Garandy]

I worked with a black WW2 veteran in the 1970's, [artillery] he was captured at the Bulge..grinning Krauts called him and the other blacks "nightfighters" in German, they were rough on him...when Patton got there, and the roles were reversed, the black G.I.'s were now the captors, and marched their captured German's at the tip of M1 [10 inch] fixed bayonets, jabbing them in their butt cheeks to move them faster...

[jon_norstog]

Art,

You kind of amaze me with your analytic approach, fair-mindedness and attention to the facts. I guess I'll have to go see the movie. Most people let their buttons get pushed.

What was it Ruben Blades sang? "Use your mind or someone will use it for you?"

jn

[Art]

Art,

You kind of amaze me with your analytic approach, fair-mindedness and attention to the facts. I guess I'll have to go see the movie. Most people let their buttons get pushed.

What was it Ruben Blades sang? "Use your mind or someone will use it for you?"

jn

I really appreciate that John. I didn't know the quote before now but Ruben Blades was right on that one!