This is a subject that has always fascinated me, the bombing of Britain during the first world war. It is difficult for us to conceive how shocking it must have been for people, just a decade after the Wright brothers' flight, to have flying machines the size of a battleship come across the sea with near impunity, carrying the bomb payload of a WWII bomber, at heights the airplanes of the day struggled to reach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MAWFYtiMWQ
It must have been like being invaded from outer space! It took quite a while before they could defend against them.
Thanks for posting that. I watched it from start to finish. Most interesting My Dad had an hobby of building model war planes. One of the models he built was the Gotha bomber.
The Germans were also shelling Paris from occupied Belgium using this thing: The French were convinced they were being bombed by high flying airplanes and it took many months before their intelligence learned that it was actually a super-long range gun. The shells left the atmosphere and travelled in space before they re-entered the atmosphere. The lack of air friction is what gave this gun such a range.
Glad you liked it. If you do a search on youtube for "Timewatch" you will find many dozens of equally good documentaries on all kinds of historical matters. Search for one titled "The Germans we kept". It always gets me.
My grandfather flew in the second Blitz as a flight engineer on a Heinkel He 111. He said the longest climb he ever did was from the cockpit area to the central ventral area while the plane was nose down and crashing after being shot to pieces. I have his "thank-you for your service" award for the campaign (which consisted of a stock, factory picture of the prototype and was signed by the Geschwaderkommodore) and his Iron Cross hanging here in my office. It serves as a reminder that the war was real and the world wasn't all in black and white.
Spain built Junkers 52s, Heinkel 111 and Me 109s after the war. The movie "The Battle of Britain" was shot using Spanish planes. There is a scene in which a He 111 goes down in flames near a British coastal town, which is right next to where I was born in Spain My Dad swears that while taxiing on a plane at a Spanish airport many years ago (I think it was Barcelona) he saw a few Me 109s with German markings. It must have been at the time the movie was made. Same thing with "The Battle of the Bulge". The town of Bastogne in that movie had a distinct Spanish style... The tanks were all US made Spanish Army tanks.
An interesting episode on the close collaboration between the US and Ho Chi Minh during and shortly after WWII. It is interesting that when Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's indepence in 1945, he did so reading from the American declaration of independence. The Vietnamese were not pleased when the US allowed the return of the French... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q02w70lJwUQ
Howard Hughes's Hells Angels is one of my favorite movies. Zeppelins, biplanes and school friends that end up on the opposite sides of the war. And in color (some of it, anyway) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEyxdRFxcXI for some reason the movie starts at 45min in on this link. But, you can push the bar back to 0:00 to see it from the begining <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oEyxdRFxcXI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
I've seen a view of the Timewatch series. I'll look for that one. Thanks Edit: I've watched. Thanks for recommending that!
REALLY cool documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXzQHY5jZC4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL0vP18UWaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkY8DaodOTo
Darn it. Those links were working yesterday. Here is a related documentary, which I haven't seen yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez81N-YFGtM
Thanks for posting the link. Anne & I find myself watching more & more programmes on youtube, since commerical TV is getting worse & worse. We've enjoyed so great documentaries, and this one promises to be another.
Usually found alongside the remains of Zeppelins, right next to the telephone booth over at the corner. Once considered family style entertainment, television networks now curry to the lowest common denominator in society with what's commonly referred to as "reality TV", which is a misnomer for "heavily scripted public shaming or embarrassment".
I cancelled my cable six months ago. I wasn't watching TV. I pay $8 a month for Netflix and I get my news/radio from the internet. I can't imagine having to wait for a show that airs at 7:35 on Tuesdays, or putting up with commercials. And I think very soon most people will too. Regular television is going to go the way of the dinosaurs.
