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Hoosier Daddy wrote:

Ameer wrote:It may set a record for cliches in a George Lucas film but the CGI is fantastic.

If you mean fantastic like based on fantasy, that's what I heard from a pilot friend who says they CGI planes violate Scotty's Law. But he also said if you're willing to temporarily suspend disbelief, in physics and history, then it's a fun movie.



Scotty's Law: "Ye cannae change the laws of physics!"

Oh, I'm sure it's a fun movie. I just don't want to pay movie theater prices to see it.

C-dub wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:I have trouble believing that they pumped up for missions by gathering a football huddle and chanting "We Fight! We Fight! WE FIGHT! before climbing into the cockpit. I'd be more willing to bet that many of them spent that time in prayer, reading their Bibles, catching up on sleep, and writing letters to loved ones.

I don't know TAM. Fighter pilots are different animals. Having been in a fighter squadron I've witnessed this type of behavior. It does seem over the top and it probably is, but I can't completely discount it.

Oh, I know they can be different animals, and have a different sense of humor, but if you want to talk to a living legend fighter pilot from WW2, go to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field and sit through Captain Charles Mohrle's lecture about flying a P-47 over Europe: http://kenb1.com/p-47.htm. As part of his presentation, he shows you portraits taken of him in flight school, on first arriving in England, and then about halfway through his combat tour. That last photograph is most decidedly NOT the face of a man who does a football cheer before climbing in the cockpit. It was, just like the face of any ground pounder, the face of a man who had too many cares on his shoulders, had seen too many friends die, and whose endurance had been stretched to the limit. That's the kind of man I was referring to. I'm sure that he was a hot shoe like any other fighter pilot when he was away from near possibility of combat. But during most of his flying career over Europe, he was worried most of the time, scared some of the time, and tired all of the time.....just like most men were who served in or near combat zones.

For more about Captain Mohrle, check out http://www.510fs.org/index.php/squadron ... ii/94.html

I am curious to see the movie, but I'll likely wait until it comes to Netflix. For one thing....the clichés. Can't stand 'em. For another, the previews seem to have added details that I don't think the Red Tails actually did. For instance, once they got into combat, their role was pretty much entirely bomber escort. Nothing wrong with that. It was hard work and took brave and skilled pilots to do it. But the preview shows them shooting up a battleship over open water. So far as I know, the Red Tails never engaged in attacks against shipping. I can't stand that the film makers felt it necessary to pump up the Red Tails to the point where it seems like they won the war single handedly. Give credit where credit is due. The Red Tails richly deserve all of the credit that is due to them. But it diminishes them and tarnishes their image to try and ascribe things to them which did not happen. So in that regard, the film makers actually did them a disservice.

Also, I've met a Red Tail pilot before, as well as a number of other WW2 fighter and bomber pilots. One of the elderly patients I helped to take care of in the hospital where I worked flew Corsairs with Pappy Boyington's Black Sheep Squadron. My old employer flew P47s and P51s over France and Germany. All of these men, the black guy from the Red Tails included, were deadly serious fighter pilots. This wasn't a game for them. This was life and death, every single time they went up. They went up to kill the enemy, and to keep the enemy from killing our guys. I have trouble believing that they pumped up for missions by gathering a football huddle and chanting "We Fight! We Fight! WE FIGHT! before climbing into the cockpit. I'd be more willing to bet that many of them spent that time in prayer, reading their Bibles, catching up on sleep, and writing letters to loved ones.