THE WAR by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

[merrylander]

A few V-1s landed back where they came from, the Spitfire and Hurricae pilots would hook a wingtip under the V-1's wing and flip it around. I watched it the first time - from 1939 to 1945.

[wajobu]

Originally Posted by Mark W.

This show should gain another Academy award for Mr. Burns and his partners

Ahem....Yes, I'd like to thank The Academy...

But seriously, a great start last night.

[piece-it pete]

Originally Posted by merrylander

A few V-1s landed back where they came from, the Spitfire and Hurricae pilots would hook a wingtip under the V-1's wing and flip it around. I watched it the first time - from 1939 to 1945.

That's amazing.

Pete

[ferninando]

Well I like the burns films and he did aonther war film before I seem to recall, but this one didn't show or tell anything new from all the other WW2 films I've watched. Seemed just more of the same to me, but I watch Victory at Sea every time it runs and probably will . I'm a War baby, born 1942 Aug 14. Lotta WW2 events were on or near Aug 14 or 15 of other yrs.
Good film but no Academy award. Seen it all before.

[ARguy]

AMEN to that!

Originally Posted by Mark W.

Well let me give the first mini review.

This show should gain another Academy award for Mr. Burns and his partners I thought the first episode was awesome. I love how he tells the whole story including the home front from various points of view. His use of archival film and stills is as always amazing.

It is also a no holds look at our actions in battle. Something people need to know. War is messy.

Can't wait for the next installment

[whsh93a]

A nice job. Burns should be commended for bringing this generation a reality check on that war. As I've said before - the more I learn about it the bigger it gets. No matter how big you think it is - it was much bigger.

Although he uses almost all stock footage (that I've seen many times before} I still am amazed at some of it. A couple stand out:
1- A scene that shows some GIs sneaking past a wall. Suddenly, the front guys start sprinting across an open area in front. At the same time, an explosion from a German defensive shot goes off on the front of the wall. The guy just about to pass the wall is killed instantly - you can see it happen by the way he collapses.
2- A scene (in color, no less) showing a group of GIs and a JEEP. Suddenly they hear an artillery shell coming in and scatter in all directions. The shell explodes off camera and to the left - right where one guy was seen running - and a moment later you can just catch a glimpse of what is apparently that guys leg with his boot still on it tumbling by.

It's all very sobering. These scenes should all be required viewing by anyone running for office.

DH

[merrylander]

I was born in 1930 so when I said I saw the first verzion I meant that I saw all the newsreels during the war. The period in '39 when the RAF along with the other Commonwealth AFs kept Hitler from invading England. There was a report that when Goering visited some of his airbases and asked his pilots if there was anything they wanted, one of them replied "Ja, Spitfires". Despite the peacetime attitude the British Supermarine company developed the Spitfire ostensibly as a pontooned racing plane but they knew it was to be a fighter. And Hawker also developed the Hurricane, that did not get the same press as the Spitfire but you did not want to be caught on the business end of one. The Hawker Fury, a biplane, had a 20MM canon firing through the prop hub.

[Yamaha B-2]

Originally Posted by Mark W.

This show should gain another Academy award for Mr. Burns and his partners.

The latinos who fought in WWII certainly don't agree with you. They are most unhappy about their treatment (or lack thereof) in the documentary. However, what I'm most unhappy about is our crummy local PBS station only ran the intro. Not the program. Welcome to Philadelphia PBS, which spends all its time begging rather than running programs. They are terrible.

[whsh93a]

Unless I'm mistaken, the P-51 was deisgned using the British Spitfire as a model. One of the first examples of coorperation between two countries.

DH

Originally Posted by merrylander

I was born in 1930 so when I said I saw the first verzion I meant that I saw all the newsreels during the war. The period in '39 when the RAF along with the other Commonwealth AFs kept Hitler from invading England. There was a report that when Goering visited some of his airbases and asked his pilots if there was anything they wanted, one of them replied "Ja, Spitfires". Despite the peacetime attitude the British Supermarine company developed the Spitfire ostensibly as a pontooned racing plane but they knew it was to be a fighter. And Hawker also developed the Hurricane, that did not get the same press as the Spitfire but you did not want to be caught on the business end of one. The Hawker Fury, a biplane, had a 20MM canon firing through the prop hub.

[Yamaha B-2]

In late 1939, with the likelihood of full scale war in Europe a major concern, the British Royal Air Force was looking seriously at methods of quickly increasing its fighter strength. In April 1940, the British Air Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation with the intent of having them build P-40's for the RAF. Since the P-40 design went back to 1933, James H. "Dutch" Kendelberger, the president of North American offered to build an entirely new advanced fighter using the same Allison V-1710-39 engine, used on the P-40. It was said that "Dutch" got his inspiration for the P-51 after a 1938 tour of aircraft industries in Great Britain and Germany.1 North American's only previous fighter experience was with the NA-50A, but Dutch collaborated with J.L. "Lee" Atwood 2 to formulate an outline for the project. The British agreed on the new type, NA-73X, only on the stipulation that a prototype be on hand within 120 days. North American designers Raymond Rice and Edgar Schmued, the latter had worked for Fokker and Messerschmitt in 1925,3 immediately set about meeting the requirements. A prototype was finished in 117 days minus the engine. Wheels also had to be borrowed from an AT-6 trainer. Six weeks later, and after several modifications, the aircraft took to the air October 26, 1940.4

With Vance Breese at the controls, who was one of the most famous test pilots in his day, the XP-51 reached 382 mph, exceeding the P-40's top speed by 25 mph.5 The P-51 was an immediate success and it even outperformed the Spitfire.6 Unique to the P-51 was the laminar flow wing design which was developed by the US National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Contemporary aircraft wings featured a wing cross-section with maximum thickness about a fifth of the way across the wing from the leading edge, with most of the camber on the top of the wing. The laminar flow wing, in contrast, has its maximum thickness well aft from the leading edge, and has almost as much camber on top as on the bottom. This feature reduced turbulent flow across the wing, thereby, reducing drag and increasing speed and range. Drag was also reduced by positioning a ventral radiator underneath the rear of the fuselage, to present the smallest possible fuselage cross section. The British Purchasing Commission was enthusiastic about the plane, and confirmed a production order for 320 Mustang Is. This was later increased by 300 for NA-83s, which differed only in minor details; the British designation was Mustang IA.7 Powered by the 1,100 hp Allison V-1710-39 (F3R) engine, the airplanes performance was only impressive up to 15,000 ft. However, performance would be dramatically improved once the airframe was matched with the Rolls Royce Merlin engine. This is not to say that the Allison wasn't a good engine as it performed very well on the Lockheed P-38. The problem with the Allison had more to do with the USAAF's heavy reliance on turbosupercharging. This requirement was impossible to meet for all aircraft, due to a shortage of metal alloys, such as tungsten. There was some experimentation with turbosupercharged P-40s by designer Donaldson R. Berlin and these planes outperformed the Spitfire and Messerschmitt Bf 109.8

A further improvement to the Mustang was introduced when a graceful teardrop canopy was installed to eliminate the dangerous blind area created by the faired cockpit. First tested on two P-51Bs, they became standard on the P-51D and all later models. 280 P-51Ds were given the RAF designation Mustang IV. The P-51D became the version produced in the greatest quantities, 7,954 being completed. The P-51D model carried six .50 cal. machine guns instead of the four mounted in the P-51Bs. Other refinements, such as moving the wing forward slightly and providing for rocket launchers, were included. The first P-51Ds types were delivered without dorsal fins, but this feature was added to compensate for keel-loss when the bubble canopy was adopted.

Later developments to the P-51 series included the final production type, the P-51H with several changes which made it the fastest production variant with a maximum speed of 487 mph at 25,000 feet. Five hundred fifty-five P-51H's were delivered before VJ Day out of an original order for 1,445 machines.13

[whsh93a]

A few V-1s landed back where they came from, the Spitfire and Hurricae pilots would hook a wingtip under the V-1's wing and flip it around.

Like this?





DH

[soundweasel]

Our PBS station is running it five nights in a row -- more than I'm willing to give it -- or any other program. I'd prefer if they ran it every Sunday for five weeks. That said, I will get it on DVD as I think it will be a "must have" presenation! Too many people don't remember the incredible sacrifices made to defeat the Axis powers.

[godzilla]

It makes me wonder how much WWII footage is there out there? I've been watching WWII Documentaries since I watched the "World at War" when I was a kid. It seems endless the amount they have.

[Mark W.]

Ken Burns did make one glaring mistake when he referred to the Springfield rifle (when he said a rifle designed in 1903 it was the Springfield rifle model 03-A3 by the time WWI rolled around) as a Single Shot Bolt action. It is in fact a bolt action rifle which cocks on close but is not a single shot but is a repeater with an internal 5 rd. Magazine feed by a stripper clip allowing a very quick reload in trained hands.

[Tapehead47]

Yamaha B-2: that was a tremendous post concerning the P-51! Very absorbing and well-written. Kudos to you!

Contributions like that are another reason AK has so much 'depth'. There's no way to predict what niche an AKer resides in.

I'm too involved in football right now, but I'll probably spring the $$$ for the DVD set. Maybe a Christmas gift?