Red Tails Movie. Looks good, maybe a little Hollywood...

[FlyboyGil]

I'll go see this!

http://www.airventure.org/news/2011/110729_gathering.html

(The link is down the page.)

[ZK Kiwi]

I'm sorry, that movie looks terrible - Pearl Harbor all over again! the CGI is so Cartoon - like I half expected to see Chuck flying! (dont any of the CGI animators ever bother to see how a real Mustang turns!) And honestly "stay with the heavies!" You actually have to engage the incoming fighters - Goering made that mistake in the Battle of Britain. Hollywood strikes again.......

[vldflight]

I'll go see her despite messing up some history...anytime I can see my beloved B-17 in flight you can count me in.

[Oddball]

Yep good story line but too much CGI for me.  Didn't the Tuskegee Airmen fly P-51B's over Italy before using the D version?

[Fabo]

Is this the one that was shot in Czech Republic?

If so, I have been in and about the B17 interior they used there... could not get to the real one though.

(you can see I liked it)

[FlyboyGil]

The animation didn't look to bad. Hard to get all those planes together today. Stay with bombers, have to see the movie if it's the same mistake Goering made, or if he's saying for his fighters not to let the enemy lure them away. Granted they P-51's may be a little over flying, but the Tuskeegee's were really good pilots. Have to see the movie. Looks good.

[Rooster Cruiser]

This one appears disappointing.  Yes, the Red Tails flew either B's or C's.  I don't know when they finally received D's, but it would have been near the end of the war if they even did.  They simply got the hand-me-downs that could be spared from other units.

I'm with ya Kiwi.  The CGI is waaaaaaaayy too cartoonish in this clip, but I was half expecting to see Shrek in a cockpit.  Methinks Chuck would stay the heck away from this turkey.

RC

[Oddball]

I know that the USAAF used P-47's to strafe Luftwaffe airfields not so sure on escort tactics. Think they flew near but not with the bomber stream so they could manoeuvre.

[tundra_flier]

I don't know...could be pretty good despite the sometime over the top looking CGI flight scences.  Also wondering if those aren't preliminary animations before the final clean-up.

Phil

[Lt.Fubar]

It's hollywood history... not your grandfathers 

Remember, in hollywood ice sinks 

Staying with bombers is very bad:
1. bombers are sloooow, fighters would burn a lot of fuel flying well bellow their cruise speed;
2. bombers are always attacked by fighters having energy advantage (speed and height), as escort you also want to have higher energy to engage other fighters;
3. .50 cal are unhealthy, and we are talking hundreds of planes, each having 10+ machine guns spraying rounds EVERYWHERE with poor accuracy, chasing someone through engaged formation of bombers is just asking to be hit by stray bullet.

[tundra_flier]

It's hollywood history... not your grandfathers 

1. bombers are sloooow, fighters would burn a lot of fuel flying well bellow their cruise speed;

Yes, they did.  In fact I was privelage to know one of the engineers/test pilots who solved one of the problems associated with this.  The Allison equiped fighters especially (P-38's most notably) were having a terrible time with engine failures when jumped during escort duty, particulary in Europe.  They had a to cruise at such extreamly low power settings that the lead rich 130 octane fuel wouldn't fully atomize at the cold high altitude temps, even after the turbo.  As a result the plugs fowled badly causing detonation and catastrophic engine failure when pushed to full power.  The solution was a pilot controlled carb heat system coupled with shutters that closed off the turbo intercoolers and training the pilots to switch to manual mixture control during escort cruise and lean beyond peak. Not only did they solve the detonation problem, they managed to double the range of our fighters.  A salute to the late Randy Acord and the rest of the crew at the Ladd Field Cold Weather Research Station.   

Phil

[chuckar101]

Hope they clean up the cgi and dont turn into some love story like Pearl Harbor, but unfortunately thats the way movies are these days.  Plus thats the only way to get close to how the fighting felt for those men. 

[FlyboyGil]

I know this is old, but has anybody seen the movie? It never played here for some reason  I still want to see it.

[UtahHeli_Ken]

Unfortunately I saw it... Probably the worst aviation movie I have ever seen! Terrible acting. And not historical in the least. Maybe I am being too hard on it, but I didn't see much that I liked in it.

[Oddball]

Saw a lot better (and older) version of this a while back can't remember the title now.  Think its been released over here but have not seen it advertised.