Oh man, I love Jimmy Stewart. Might have to try to watch that.
Strategic Air Command is not a good movie.
It’s a GREAT movie.
Not to mention June Allyson was in it! She was the spunkiest leading lady of that period ever, and cute as a button.
Anyway, how has there been no mention of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 yet. It was in the service of the wrong side, but it was a good looking plane.
The 1950’s pr0nhub of military airplane movies is Toward the Unknown, which stars (and was produced by) William Holden as a test pilot at Edwards AFB, where most of the film was shot. Main story is a love-triangle yawner, but the flying scenes are awash with just about every shinybird in the USAF’s stable at the time, including some X-planes.
It was written by Beirne Lay - a former USAAF bomber pilot turned screenwriter, who also wrote SAC, as well as Twelve O Clock High and Flying Leathernecks.
This video is impressive, I guess:
Lots of complaints about the plane’s typical passenger experience, however. (Loud, cramped, etc.)
Like this?
I’ve got so many tabs open now because of this awesome thread.
Time to go start reading some of them.
Given my profession, I’ve gotten to see some sweet airplane action, including controlling the Tbirds, Clinton family planes, Trump’s 757, etc.
On the military side (I work civvie most of the time, but sometimes return to do ANG junk) I sometimes get to do some cool TDYs and to see other views. Here is one that I liked. Hope y’all enjoy.
You get a lot of the XB-51, whose engine placement was, to say the least, somewhat odd:
However, although it’s hard to see in this photo, it also included an engine mounted in the tail, which became quite common in commercial tri-jets like the Boeing 727.
D’oh! Someone’s gonna get chewed out.
I think I remember being able to pick up a motorbike was one of the selection criteria for UK police, which was ditched for discriminating against women unfairly. How often do you have to pick up a motorbike?
It quite nicely sums up the frecnh spirit to me: brilliant technicians, who don’t give a damn :)
There’s an old joke about avocations and stereotypically ideal and very non-ideal matchups with European nationalities. Keep in mind this is all in fun:
In Heaven, the policemen are British, the engineers/techs are German, the bureaucrats are Swiss, the cooks are French and the lovers are Italian.
In Hell, the policemen are German, the engineers/techs are French, the bureaucrats are Italian, the cooks are British, and the lovers are Swiss.
j/k j/k j/k :-)
If the historical drama CHiPs is any indication, often, while in mid pursuit.
An old one but it has a grain of truth…
That’s good! I’ve heard the joke told this way:
Heaven is a Chinese chef, an English home, an American salary, and a Japanese wife.
Hell is an English chef, a Japanese home, a Chinese salary, and an American wife.
I travel regularly through the Frankfurt am Main airport, and I couldn’t help but notice that while the security checks are performed by German staff, the passport check for Schengen entry are almost systematically done by French border guards.
That was a stretchy way to try to jump back on topic!
I doubt it.