OT: Masters of the Air

[ZooCougar]

Hollywood would probably destroy it by turning it into some inane love story and making the Swordfish (England’s torpedo bi-plane look like an F-16 performance wise.

I thought the latest Midway movie had some nice points. But it was too Hollywood in the end.

 

[storrsroars]

The Bismarck and Tirpitz were bad enough for the North Atlantic, but good for them that the United States kept the Iowa’s in the Pacific where they were needed. The Iowa’s were much larger and had much more armor and fire power. That being said, even the Iowa’s were outgunned by the big Japanese ships Yamato and Mushashi. The United States Navy not be outdone designed and planned to build the giant Montana class (5 were planned), they were designed specifically to destroy those Japanese ships, however just before the keel of the USS Montana was to be laid down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Battle of Midway demonstrated the importance of aircraft carriers to win the Pacific War, and the Montana’s were cancelled. Actually the keel of the USS Montana became the keel of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier.

My older brother and I were kind of naval geeks, although his interests were wider and broader than mine as I was pretty much just WWII. But I had Revell models of Bismarck, Tirpitz(15 inch guns) , and the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Graf Spee (11 inch guns). Also had a model of Yamato (18 inch guns). Those were fun to build, as were US cruisers, like Helena, and destroyers like the Farragut. Aircraft carriers were kinda boring in comparison!

 

[Ozimoto]

If Spielburg and Hanks want to do a series about the US Navy in WWII they should do one about the naval battles in Solomons in 1942 and 1943. Done properly that would be one heck of a series if you want edge of your seat tense action.

 

[Bomber36]

If Spielburg and Hanks want to do a series about the US Navy in WWII they should do one about the naval battles in Solomons in 1942 and 1943. Done properly that would be one heck of a series if you want edge of your seat tense action.

That would be a pretty good campaign to focus on. Some tough days for the US Navy. The Sullivan Brothers could be a big part of it.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

That would be a pretty good campaign to focus on. Some tough days for the US Navy. The Sullivan Brothers could be a big part of it.

The Juneau was only a part of it. The US Navy lost many destroyers off Guadalcanal with heavy loss of life, the battleship South Dakota was heavily damaged, as was Admiral Daniel Callaghan’s flagship San Francisco. Callaghan and Admiral Norman Scott were both killed in the Guadalcanal naval battles. Japanese Admiral Hiroaki Abe has taken much historical criticism for ordering his ships to leave the area before the US Navy had a chance to regroup. The US Navy ships had radar, the Japanese Ships did not, but held an advantage with far superior night optics and night battle tactics and training. If Hanks and Spielberg wanted to produce a series about the Guadalcanal Naval battles, they could not ignore the attack on Pearl Harbor in the first couple of episodes, or Midway, or even Wake Island.

 

[Bomber36]

The Juneau was only a part of it. The US Navy lost many destroyers off Guadalcanal with heavy loss of life, the battleship South Dakota was heavily damaged, as was Admiral Daniel Callaghan’s flagship San Francisco. Callaghan and Admiral Norman Scott were both killed in the Guadalcanal naval battles. Japanese Admiral Hiroaki Abe has taken much historical criticism for ordering his ships to leave the area before the US Navy had a chance to regroup. The US Navy ships had radar, the Japanese Ships did not, but held an advantage with far superior night optics and night battle tactics and training. If Hanks and Spielberg wanted to produce a series about the Guadalcanal Naval battles, they could not ignore the attack on Pearl Harbor in the first couple of episodes, or Midway, or even Wake Island.

Oh, i know. But the story of the Sullivans still resonates. If I were to produce a series about this part of the war, this event would be the centerpiece. It brought home the cost of war and the huge sacrifice that would be necessary to defeat the Axis powers. By the way, you know your stuff. Props!

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Oh, i know. But the story of the Sullivans still resonates. If I were to produce a series about this part of the war, this event would be the centerpiece. It brought home the cost of war and the huge sacrifice that would be necessary to defeat the Axis powers. By the way, you know your stuff. Props!

Robert Leckie wrote in his diary how he could see the Japanese and American ships duking it out from a hill on Guadalcanal. Hanks and Spielberg did produce “The Pacific” but it was much broader in its scope, though it did focus on Leckie, John Basilone, Sid Phillips, Eugene Sledge, and the death of Andrew Haldane on Peleliu. The fighting on Peleliu was arguably the most intense of the entire war with the 1st Marine Division being almost wiped out and had to be reinforced by the US Army.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Robert Leckie wrote in his diary how he could see the Japanese and American ships duking it out from a hill on Guadalcanal. Hanks and Spielberg did produce “The Pacific” but it was much broader in its scope, though it did focus on Leckie, John Basilone, Sid Phillips, Eugene Sledge, and the death of Andrew Haldane on Peleliu. The fighting on Peleliu was arguably the most intense of the entire war with the 1st Marine Division being almost wiped out and had to be reinforced by the US Army.

The screenplay for The Pacific was a composite of Sledge's 'At Peleiu and Okinawa', Leckie's 'Helmet for My Pillow' and an account of Joe Basilone, who became an early celebrity of war due to heroism and lost his life on Iwo Jima.

I do agree that a series on the Navy is missing but it may be difficult to do this without serious overlap of what was presented in The Pacific, especially as the Marine Corps is a division of the Navy. There is Midway (examined almost to a fault in the remake), Coral Sea, Phillipine Sea and Leyte Gulf that can be presented, almost entirely from the perspectives of the ship crews and submarines, but this may be difficult to present outside of documentary form. The approach they have taken was from multiple personal perspectives.

I am however an enormous fan of all of this.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

The screenplay for The Pacific was a composite of Sledge's 'At Peleiu and Okinawa', Leckie's 'Helmet for My Pillow' and an account of Joe Basilone, who became an early celebrity of war due to heroism and lost his life on Iwo Jima.

I do agree that a series on the Navy is missing but it may be difficult to do this without serious overlap of what was presented in The Pacific, especially as the Marine Corps is a division of the Navy. There is Midway (examined almost to a fault in the remake), Coral Sea, Phillipine Sea and Leyte Gulf that can be presented, almost entirely from the perspectives of the ship crews and submarines, but this may be difficult to present outside of documentary form. The approach they have taken was from multiple personal perspectives.

I am however an enormous fan of all of this.

There’s a Basilone Road on every USMC base in the world.

 

[Ozimoto]

Another large advantage the Japanese had in the Solomons campaign was the “long lance” torpedo that created havoc with its superior range.