The Flying Leathernecks

Pacific War SAFU by the Allied force’s.

er um Andy 😉 , are they not the one’s that along with Hmas Australia and Canberra had a few problem’s with the Jap’s about the time of this film is set, and came off second best? :confused:

Yep I liked it dave, I will keep another look out for the 47s again when I watch it again.

Yep I now too think they maybe talking about gun camera film from Jug’s in Europe,

There are quiet a few site’s that chat about these sort of film’s, this one inclueded.

You will find info and name’s of these type’s of film’s there Dave 😮 .

My mate Frank(ex pom) alway’s love’s BofB, then Bridge Too Far :rolleyes: .

I cannot remember the Link now, but some how to do with film’s site’s I ended up reading Paul Mantz’s life story 😎 , one busy crazy dude while he lived that one!!! 😮 😮 😮
Cheer’s all 😀 , Tally :dev2: Ho! :dev2: Ho! Phil :diablo: .

No problem whatsoever….love talking Pacific planes….now if someone would just bring up Battleships….!

M

Any battleship in particular?
I like those Yankee cruisers myself–Houston, Indianapolis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, etc etc.

Well, I didn’t find it particularly disjointed really, I thought it was ok. I never noticed any European war footage either. Is there some? Perhaps this was edited for the DVD release??

And I didn’t see any P-47 footage either, unless that was the planes that carried the gun cameras? I did see a few fleeting shots of SB2C Helldivers in the attack scenes but they fitted right in there anyway. You cannot expect just one squadron to be making a large scale raid in the Pacific, they usually mixed in many types in one raid.

In fact I was just reading about the NZ Fighter Wing’s involvement in Allied bomber missions on Rabaul. As we were flying P40’s they had to stay with the bombers in “close cover”, glued to protecting the bombers. Then above would be Hellcats in “low cover”, and above them Corsairs in “medium cover” and then in “top cover” were Corsairs or P38 Lightnings. That’s how they stacked them, so in any attack you can expect a few types to be seen. Don’t forget the P47 did play a role in the Pacific too so if they were there they are not really out of place.

I also thought that while they used T6’s as Japs, they did use them quite cleverly and were usually in long shot. For closer shots of Jap aircraft real footage was used, and I think the director did a very good job.

One thing that struck me about this film is how many films I’ve seen now about a squadron that gets a tough commander that they all distrust, over the second-in-command that the men all love as a brother and feel should be boss. It’s a real classic scenario really, and not very original. I can think of The Flying Leathernecks, Command Decision and Twelve O’Clock High where the tough boss making the men extend themselves plot theme is used. Any more?

Still it’s better than the standard used in all aviation flicks these days, two pilots in love with the same woman…

Big John.

Funny that Davey boy 😀 , I taped Leather Neck’s and 633 off Tv in the last month here 🙂 .

Not bad at all really leather Neck’s dave 😎 .

Were complaint’s about it being a bit disjointed with the footage, Some war scene’s are from the Euro War, and well T-6’s alway’s get that role :rolleyes: .

There is talk of some P-47 Thunderbolt’s in the footage 😮 , Have you seen em Dave.

Cheer’s all 😀 , Tally :dev2: Ho! :dev2: Ho! Phil :diablo: .(and yes Rob, great Corsiar formation 🙂 )

No problem whatsoever….love talking Pacific planes….now if someone would just bring up Battleships….!

M

Thanks chaps, that all answers a fair bit.

Yes, Marines flew F6F’s, just not as well known as the F4U in Marine service (the Marines kinda considered the F4U ‘theirs’ since the Navy was’nt brave enought to fly it yet from carrier decks)…..don’t recall that F4F’s ever flew with rockets from Guadalcanal, but definitely carried them later in the war when flying from carriers and attacking islands closer to Japan…and the first F4U so equipped to carry rockets was the F4U-1D…

Mark

I have a photo on my wall from Breckenridge ’94 where three Wildcats are flying together (Weeks, Pardue’s and Cavanaugh’s ) and the Cavanaugh ‘Cat is carrying rockets, so I would assume they adorned it this way because the Wildcat could carry rockets….only stubs for 3, though….The Corsair first showed up in Feb. 1943 at ‘Cactus’ (Guadalcanal) to start replacing the Wildcats there (or supplement them) and both planes were basically painted the same, light bluish/grey above and almost white below, with variations….then Corsairs started arriving from the factory in the Tri-color paint scheme in late ’43, later progressing (around 1944) to the overall glossy sea blue that it wore while flying from carriers…

Funny….I picked up this movie at the video store and looked it over the other day, there were several of them all clumped together in the same area (Top Gun, Flight of the Intruder, Tora Tora, and Flying Leathernecks), thought about getting it but passed…for now. Do enjoy the flick, like John Wayne, but want to get a few others before I start picking up older flicks from the 40’s and 50’s….never thought much of Flying Tigers, the dialogue was corny (“Ok, whatever you say, Pappy!”) and the flying scenes were crud, as were the made up P-40’s on the ground, but I guess the film served it’s purpose back when…

Mark

But did the F4F-3/4 ever carry rockets?

If they didn’t, then the footage mentioned in the original post was probably from later in the war?

Q: At what point in the war did the USN/USMC start using rockets? Anybody know?

Kukri,

Yes the F4F-3/4 did carry HVAR but when the movie was shot there wher none left for Hollywood to us hence they used F6F-5s from NAS China Lake. In the movie the they talk about Midway so one most conclude that the F6F where playing the part of F4Fs.

As for when the USN?USMC started to using HVAR sometime in late spring of 43 they where first used in the Battle of the Atlantic, all F6F that went to the Pacific had HVAR hard points the first Corsair to have Hard Points where the -3.

Cheers
RER

Being pedantic about rockets

But did the F4F-3/4 ever carry rockets?

If they didn’t, then the footage mentioned in the original post was probably from later in the war?

Q: At what point in the war did the USN/USMC start using rockets? Anybody know?

Dave,

They where playing the part of F4F and yes F6F did fire HVAR in WWII, I have a wreck mount off a -3.

As for the Cat yes the did blow it up, the plane was delerick that was at 29 Palms where some of the filming took place. Has for the wreck F6F these where drones that they got from NAS China Lake.

The interesting thing is the last scene with the massive Corsair fly over this was one of the last time that the USNR had this many Corsair together. If you pause it you can count I beleive 25 Corsairs. The Corsairs came from a Naval Reserve Training Wing.

Cheers
RER

Hellcats at Guadalcanal?

The USMC used Wildcats (F4F-3, F4F-4 if memory serves) at Guadalcanal. I am not sure if they ever carried rockets.

Did the USMC ever fly the Hellcat in combat? I seem to have the impression that they went from Wildcats straight to the Corsair (at the time the Corsair had not been cleared for carrier ops by the USN).

Rory

Dunno about the answers to your questions, Dave, but did you notice the Hellcats masquerading as Zeros?! 😮

The other John Wayne aviation film I like is Flying Tigers, although why there were a couple of shots showing Spitfires when they’re meant to be P-40s, I’ve no idea!