Great air combat show from the 70's...Anyone remember this stuff??! 2 b25s get attacked by zeros, corsairs defend.. go to 38:00
Yeah, all things considered, it was pretty good TV. And don't forget, there are many North American airshows, too, where we can all see this stuff every year For example, these Tora Tora guys put on a great show.
I always watched it just for the flight scenes. However when we were having a Thanksgiving dinner and everyone was waiting for the turkey to bake sitting around the TV: One of the old men in the back walked-up , throwing back yet another glass of Cutty Sark... chuckled when he saw the flight scenes... He said: HA ! I got 2,400 hours in that plane.. (he knew "the old man" personally there in the Pacific...) He just laughed a few time when he saw some of the flight scenes,. fighter scenes, shook his head and walked back to the bottle... later I heard some of his stories... got his 5 victories just before the war ended, but lost too many of his friends.. then did the same in Korea and again lost too many of his friends... and then in 'Nam... and then in flight testing.... every time he needed more and more of the Cutty Sark. I thought... good thing we ran out of air wars before they ran out of Cutty Sark..... There we were, kids wanting to know and hear those "glorious" stories and there he was doing his best to forget.... Ever since that night, I felt kind of embarrassed to watch that show...
I asked my old uncle why people would would buy an old guy drinks and yet not visit his table, at the legion hall. My uncle said, "He doesn't like drinking with this outfit." Okay, fair enough. Later, I was told to buy that old guy a drink. I did so, hell, it was cheap and I was a guest, ya don't want to mess up in a Legion Hall. I found out his name was Ernest Smith. AKA Smokey. VC. I have learned, since, that he wanted to forget too. A hero but didn't want to be. He went into sales later, and made a fortune and he knew why, because of the VC. He knew also, that he could not mess up, not even once, or he would loose that VC. It can be taken away. So when getting a drunk on he didn't like to mix too much, being the True Killer he was... ... I think I told that story before. My young son says I do that all the time. [I have forgotten more than that punk has learned]