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The panels on the bank at Duxford leading up to the concrete woodlouse are, indeed, hugely emotive.

Every visit I always pause in front of the panel for 'my' base group of the moment. 388th - Knettishall, 453rd - Old Buckenham, and now 445th- Tibenham.

Rob P

Rob P wrote:Recent arrival at one-time RAF Abingdon



Film company prop. Masters of the Air

Photo Brightworkphoto via Instagram

Rob P

Back in about 1980, there were about a dozen 'cut outs' exactly like this at Blackbushe and if you saw them as you drove past, you'd think they were real!

Rob P wrote:.., Band of Brothers, despite writing out any British, Canadian or French contribution to war winning .. Not seen The Pacific

..

I reckon the Pacific Naval campaign was the one WW2 theatre where US Forces actually formed a majority of Allied ones, so I'd rather expect it to be even less likely to mention the Allied contributions there (from at least 5 other nations)

Little talked of is the contribution to the Pacific war of the UK carriers Victorious, Illustrious, Formidable, Indefatigable and Indomitable. The first-named actually being loaned to the US when they ran out of home-grown.

In the kamikaze phase of that war the armoured deck British ships proved much more resilient than the unarmoured US equivalents that had sacrificed protection for the ability to host a larger air wing.

Rob P

The Pacific covers mainly the ground experiences of several members of the 1st Marine Division - Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. It touches briefly on Iwo Jima but (like BoB) is meant to convey the experiences of a small number of infantrymen rather than being any form of history of a battle or campaign but while being true to those individual experiences. It's broadly based on two very well written memoirs of individual riflemen and I having read them after watching the TV series I think it does a very good job.

If Masters of the Air does a similarly good job of conveying the experience of bomber crews in like fashion I think it will be a big success. I do worry though that the quality of the CGI will have to be very high indeed and there will also need to be some really good actual flying for it to work well. Certainly a lot better than the very gentle tailchases Dunkirk came up with!

A4 Pacific wrote:If the Hollywood version of events is a little ‘yawn’ for you. I would recommend ‘Night Bombers’ currently available on Amazon Prime. Though many may have seen it years ago.

Filmed in colour during the war.

Thank you for that recommendation. Just watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it. The footage of a fully fuelled and loaded Lancaster taking off from Hemswell feeds quite nicely into the current "overweight aircraft" thread!

Night Bombers seems to be on YouTube

Rob P wrote:The panels on the bank at Duxford leading up to the concrete woodlouse are, indeed, hugely emotive.

Every visit I always pause in front of the panel for 'my' base group of the moment. 388th - Knettishall, 453rd - Old Buckenham, and now 445th- Tibenham.

Rob P

At the risk of banging my well-worn drum, anyone who doesn't get a lump in the throat when viewing the 57,861 individuals (average age - 23) on the Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln must have heart made of stone... Check out the IBCC's website photos and be humbled.

We all acknowledge and are grateful for the sacrifice of RAF Bomber Command.

This thread was about 8th Airforce.

Rob P

Acknowledged. However, the scale of losses overall should be remembered as a whole as the price that had to be paid to preserve civilisation. Out.

Another unofficial production update, with some intriguing images.

If I may return to Rob P's post in April 2021 about the Fleet Air Arm in the Pacific. The escort carriers were there as well. My uncle Les Barber RNVR flew Hellcats from HMS Pursuer in that campaign.

He was the first person ever to take me flying. Auster G-AIZY from Ipswich, summer of (probably) 1973.

In my experience from DoD attachment and working with US military and DoD civilians in several other locations and theatres, US folk know even less about the British Pacific Fleet than about allied involvement in any other WW2 theatre. I blame Hollywood, both drama and documentary! Mind you, the same is true about many otherwise clued up Brits, and the Brits are likely to know little about the other allied navies (Aus NZ Can and Dutch!) there ..