Web Videos: P-51s, WW2 Carriers, Bazookas, Thuds, Thunderbolts & more

Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In Big December 2010 Newsletter

Hello World War 2 & jet aircraft fans --

You are invited to drop by Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/
This month we're showing six of my personal favorites for the Holiday
season. As always, all of the videos showing on our web site are for
your free viewing pleasure.

Now showing At the Matinee at Zeno's Drive-In

"The 354th Fighter Group "Mustang Pioneers Color Scrapbook." Exclusive
Documentary from Military Arts Pictures. Rare color film of the
legendary 354 Fighter Group, with over 700 Kills, the highest scoring
American unit in Europe. You'll see great aces like G.T.Eagleston and
B. W. Carr at work and at play in their newly captured base in Germany
in Spring, 1945, only a few months before war's end. Nice scenes with
the group's well known P-51Ds too, including "Margie Maru" and
"Angel's Playmate." This was the first group to fly P-51s in the ETO,
so they were known as the "Mustang Pioneers." Amazing color gun camera
film!

"The Fighting Lady" A new color corrected color print from the
National Archives really brings this film to life! "The Fighting Lady"
follows the fictional career of an Essex Class aircraft carrier from
the Marcus Islands campaign, through Tinian, Truk, the "Mariana's
Turkey Shoot" and much more. But don't let the term "fictionalized"
miss lead you. All of the footage shown in this fascinating composite
documentary is real -- shot by combat cameramen on board ship and in
the air, showing actual Navy and Marine pilots and crewmen up close
and personal. ("The Fighting Lady was actually the nickname given to
the Yorktowns, CV-5 & CV-10.) You'll see dramatic action showing
Hellcats, Hell Divers, Corsairs on deck and in the air, including
exciting dive bombing, anti-aircraft, and gun camera footage and some
amazing walkaway crash landings. And there's a fascinating tour below
decks too.

"Operation Titanic: Shuttle Bombing Missions to Russia" The problem:
Axis strategic assets were located so deep in Eastern Europe that they
either could not be reached by Allied bombers or involved a lengthy
round trip that exposed aircraft to heavy German attacks. The solution
was Operation Titanic, aka "Operation Frantic Joe," one of the most
audacious and least known strategic operations of the war. U.S. 15 Air
Force bombers and fighters based in Italy bombed targets in the East,
landed in Russia, refueled & rearmed, and then hit another target on
the way back. 8th Air Force bombers based in the UK did the same. The
Soviets provided three bases in the Ukraine; heavy bombers at Poltava
and Mirgorod and the fighters at Piryatin. The US provided material to
substantially upgrade them. This film tells that story.

"Uncrating and Field Assembly of the P-47 Thunderbolt" This truly
remarkable step-by-step training film shows how a ground support crew
of fifty men could assemble a P-47 in a field using nothing more than
muscle, unpowered hand tools, and pieces of the shipping crate it came
in. We're talking nothing more than hammers, wrenches and bicycle
pumps! You'll also get a unique look at the inner workings of the big
Jug as it is literally bolted together by field personnel. A must see
for P-47 fans and shade tree mechanics alike!

"Mastering the Bazooka Rocket Launcher" The Bazooka was a
revolutionary weapon that combined a man portable "stove pipe" rocket
launcher, pioneered by Dr. Robert Godard, with a shaped charge (HEAT)
warhead. As you'll see, shaped charges focused a superheated
penetrating jet of gas whose effect on armored targets was far out of
proportion to it's relatively small size. The Bazooka put this awesome
destructive power in the hands of a single soldier with a range of
hundreds of yards. When fired from the battery powered M1 launcher,
the original M6 Rocket, introduced in 1940, could penetrate 4'' of
steel armor, making it useful not only against tanks and armored
vehicles, but also against pill boxes, walls, bunkers etc. You'll
learn how to calculate range, fire from different positions, arm the
rocket and ready the launcher for firing, set up remotely detonated
launches using buried tubes, skip firing, leading the target, and
more.

"The Twenty Five Hour Day: A Story of Air Force F-105s" (Color) New
revised edition with restored print This film offers a unique look
inside F-105 "Thunderchief" ("The Thud!") fighter-bomber operations
when the air campaign against North Vietnamese supply lines was
ramping up into to high gear. Secretary of State Robert McNamara gives
the broad outline of the Thud's primary mission in a series of
strategic briefings: to strangle the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the strategic
supply line from North to South Vietnam, through Cambodia and Laos.
You'll see exciting color footage of F-105s, F-4s, F-100s and other
aircraft hitting bridges, supply depots convoys and other key targets
along the Trail, and carrying out tactical operations in the South in
conjunction with air mobile units. You'll see F -105 mission
briefings, base operations, midair refueling, maintenance, and up
close scenes of everyday pilot life on an extremely active forward
base, working "Twenty-Five Hour Days." A true window on the past.

If you haven't stopped by Zeno's Drive-In before, we also feature
1940-45 vintage WWII Army & Navy films and pilot's manuals on how to
fly the F4U, F6F, P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47, P-51, P-61, TBF/TBM, AT-6/
SNJ, B-17, B-24, B-25, A-20, A-26, B-26, B-29, and Stearman N2S.
Alert! - don't miss the F-86 & B-58!

Keep Em Flying!

Zeno

Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In
World War II Aviation Videos Playing Online 24/7
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/

Web Videos: P-51s, WW2 Carriers, Bazookas, Thuds, Thunderbolts & more