movies
 

I love the tiggiephalz! Came out great! But why the yellow nose? Is that how they painted them? Can't remember, need to watch the movie again.

SO, on the subject of movies, I have the Blue Max, Flyboys (fake as it is, I still like it!), and Those Magnificent Men in their flying Machines.

What other movies should guys like us absolutely have in our collection?

Sounds like Waldo Pepper is one, heh?

Not aircraft related but, the original B&W version of "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a must see for the WWI enthusiast. The remake is IMHO to Hollywood.

saw that for sale yesterday at the local walmart, almost picked it up...

good luck finding it, most copies are going for $60 +

Magnificent men and their flying machines is one I still need to get

All Quiet... is out of copyright. I found it somewhere on the net as a free DIVX download.

There's a movie with Tom Seleck with a bi-plane in it. I think it's "Out of Africa". There's also an "Indiana Jones" movie where Dean Connery plays Indiana's Dad. They fly off in an old bi-plane and they're being chased by another plane (probably a Jenny). Sean Connery, sitting in the back seat with a mounted machine gun is shooting at the other plane and he shoots the tail off of their own plane.

High Road to China!!!

Thanks for the reminder. I had caught a portion of this on tv a while back, but for some reason was unable to watch the whole thing. I never did get a title for it, but with a little searching, I found it.

The Indiana Jones with Sean Connery, is the "Last Crusade"

So, list of must have aviation movies, so far, is...

Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines

The Great Waldo Pepper

The High Road to China

The Blue Max

Flyboys

The Red Baron (Recent German movie, I don't think has been released in the US yet)

And a mention for Indiana Jones and the Last Crucade

Cookie, the movie with Tom Seleck was The High Road to China. I believe the one bi-plane was a Tigermoth, but I can't remember what the other bi-plane was. I remember the movie with the bi-plane in Indiana Jones, but its been so long since I watched it that I can't say for sure what kind it was, maybe another Tigermoth. Regardless, still good movies.

cropduster

Building the WW1 bipes is like studying history. There are very few color photos of the original airplanes since color film probably wasn't even available at the time. So we have to rely on restored WW1 planes and hope that they're restored correctly.

The History channel runs a series called WW1. There are 10 segments in the series. It has old flim shots of WW1 planes. I think there was even a twin engine plane. Course all the old flim is B/W.

Black and white to colour is possible now with processes that can determine colours in old photos.

Here are a few Turkish photos that have been coloured. Interestingly enough a good few WW1 aviation historians say that a lot of Albatros's were a reddy brown stain and here you have it. Check out the gunnery position on the Albatros C-type.

Steve

Very cool colored b&w's. Now if only they could get balanced a little. The green grass in that first shot is screaming at my eyes. :) Although maybe I'm just use to looking through the haze of pollution.

Movies
 

Don't forget "Hells Angels" from Howard Hughes. :ws:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell's_Angels_(film)

Uli

I've always wondered about that - did those rear gun planes have any kind of interupter or anything that would prohibit the gun from firing directly aft? Seems VERY easy to shoot the tail when in the heat of battle.

I thought it was odd, that last pic shows 2 risers for the radiator. I've never noticed another plane having 2.

Some of the planes had a ring mounted machine gun for the rear gunner. I think you had to swing the barrel upward to go from one side to the other. This blocked the gun from shooting off the tail. In the Indiana Jones movie, I'm sure they did it for comic effect.

Take a look at the picture of the plane with the gun mounted above the wing. There is nothing to stop the gunner from shooting downward and into the tail of the plane. The WW2 guns had stops or interrupters so the gunner could not shoot thier own plane, probably a problem learned from WW1.

What we have to remember is that the photo of the two-seater was probably taken in 1915 (judging by the plane) when the airwar was in its infancy, this was one step above a rifle or revolver in the cockpit.

The two radiator risers aren't too common. Maybe fitted here because this theatre of the war was a warm one? Only guessing.

Also it would appear that the pilots may be German and the ground crew Turkish.

Steve

In August 1915 the Fokker E.I became operational — this was the first type of aircraft to enter service with a "synchronization gear" (often referred to mistakenly as an "interrupter gear"), which enabled a machine gun to fire through the arc of the propeller without striking its blades.

Here's a screen shot from Howard Hughes' "Hell's Angels"

Been trying to find Hell's Angels on line without luck. It is out of copyright so it is legal to download or copy... if you find it

Huh?
I see it on Best Buy's web page for $9.99!

The EI may have appeared in 1915 but it was ahead of its time, crude offensive and defensive armament continued for a good year after it's arrival. Think of anything besides forward firing MG's and chances are it was probably tried in this period.

Steve

Lets get some opinions, which kit would be better to build as an EP RC. The large Guillows Camel or the Comet Supperstars Camel?

Well . . from a quick search about a comet camel, I was only really able to find out that they are out of production and apparently a very nice kit. I understand the comet has a wingspan of 32" and I'd imagine the large guillows is around 30".

If you have the Comet, I say go for it and give us some pics of the build too please, degreen.