I was watching Wings of Great Britain on the Wings history channel last night and they had some really great footage on the P-40’s in North Africa. Too bad the narration was on the Martlet. I know footage about certain aircraft is rare but to do an entire segment on the wrong aircraft is inexcusable. This was the “History Channel” for goodness sake. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen inaccurate information on the Wings Channel but it was the longest segment I’ve seen and I just have to vent. Does this bother anybody else or is it just me?
That’s a common problem in almost every documentary, even in ones where you’d think they’d know better. Gotta fill in that time!
I just sit back and enjoy what I’m seeing while listening to what they are talking about.
Keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure.
The obvious downside is that less knowledgeable viewers of that particular documentary will now mistakenly identify P-40s as Martlets!
Just got to looking and to my dismay it was the Discovery channel. I guess we all make identification errors. [#oops]
LOL
I’ve seen the same mistakes in “Jane’s” books. All those editors and researchers and slips still get through.
I too have noticed a few slips…guess no ones perfect except some of the rivet counting judges at some contests Ive been too!
Oliver North’s War Stories on Fox Sunday night (30 Nov) was about the 1st Air Commando, and had bits about the Flying Tigers; but the planes they showed while Ollie was talking weren’t P-40’s either. Then there’s the History Channel’s “D-Day: The Total Story,” where Patton, not Bradley, gets credit for Operation Cobra
Did Bradley want credit for Cobra? Didn’t we bomb ourselves in that one, and even the breakthrough was accomplished it wasn’t as good as expected because the bomb damage slowed the advance.
Just wondering.
Not me! [;)][:p]
Seriously, it’s a peeve of mine, too, and it is a common ‘problem’. I guess in some cases it’s not so much that footage is hard to find, but that it’s sometimes hard to get permission to use what you find. And, sadly, often times the folks making these things just plain don’t know a B-1 from a B-17. (Thank goodness that’s not always the case!)
One of my favorite variations of this same ‘problem’ is that of the morphing airplanes in movies. I forget which flick it was, but airplanes of one squadron were shown starting up, taxiing out, taking off, flying to the AO, engaging the enemy, flying home, landing, taxiing in and shutting down. I swear there was a different aircraft type used for almost every sequence, and it was a mix that made you scratch your head. I can understand some folks trying to match footage of Wildcats, Hellcats, Avengers and even Dauntlesses. But they had Panthers and Banshees in there too. (no, it wasn’t a Korean war flick) It was hilarious, but the footage was good stuff; even if it was mis-matched, so I was willing to let it slide… NOT!!! [:p]
Oh well, I guess life would be boring otherwise…
Fade to Black…
Not aircraft per se, but I saw footage of a T-34 in a HC program on the Ardennes. Those Russians!
I love it when you see one plane starting out with certain marking then in the air it’s the same type of plane but different markings. Or scenes where on the ground flaps are either up or down then in the next shot it is the opposite of the previous scene with nobody in the plane. My mind is foggy or I would have examples of what I am talking about.
Demankat
Ever watch the movie “Midway” somewhere in the aircombat scenes the aircracft switch from Hellcats to P-51’s to a P-47. I thought I even saw a C-130 in that movie I know air to air footage is hard to come by but it the thought that the editor didn’t think anyone would notice the differences that gets me