Zeno’s Warbird Video Drive-In Big August Newsletter
Hello World War 2 & jet aircraft fans –
You are invited to drop by Zeno’s Warbird Video Drive-In http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com to view our August selection of eight exciting aviation films streaming over the Web in broadband, including two films remembering the 73rd anniversary of the Ploesti Bombing Mission and a premiere!
As always, all of the videos showing on our website are for your free viewing pleasure. Please help “spread the word” by liking us on Facebook!
Now showing in August “At the Matinee” at Zeno’s Drive-In Free admission! http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/MATINEE.html
*365th Fighter Group “Hell Hawks.” I put this to documentary together from silent, unedited archival film. Really exciting P-47 Thunderbolt action from the skies over Germany, Spring, 1945. Col. Ray J Stecker leads the men of the 386th, 387th, and 388th Fighter Squadrons into action. Watch extensive color footage of the 365th Thunderbolts in their forward bases in France and Belgium and exciting air-to- air and air-to-ground attacks.
*World War 2 fighter Formations: Attack & Escort” Starring Ronald Reagan An experienced Army Air Force fighter pilot, played with his usual verve by Ronald Reagan, is called back from the front to lead a fighter tactics class in Flight School for rookie pilots. The film starts with the AAF way for forming. deploying and maneuvering fighter formations from two ship elements to 12 plane squadrons & how to take on enemy fighters. Then the focus turns to tactics for escorting friendly bombers and attacking enemy bomber formations, including close escort, top cover, using the sun to blind opponents, employing decoys in the attack - and more.
*98th Bomb Group Liberators Over Africa. An original documentary from Zeno’s Warbird Videos. I produced this documentary on the 98th Bomb Group using silent, unedited, undocumented footage from the US National Archives. I restored the images and added stereo sound effects, music, supplementary graphics and maps. Through research I was able to identify many of the individual aircraft, crewmen and locations shown in the film. This recently discovered footage shows Medal of Honor winner Col. John R. "Killer " Kane and the men of the 98th Bomb Group in the Summer of 1943, shortly before the heroic, costly Ploesti mission, at their desert base in Benghasi/Benina, Libya.
- U.S. Bombing Raids on the Ploesti Oil Fields 1942-43 These two films commemorate the costly missions flown by the US Army Air Force against the Ploesti oil fields in Romania in 1943-44. August 1st marks the 73rd Anniversary of the first mission.
>Medal of Honor: Ploesti August 1, 1943 Specially trained elements of the 8th and 9th Air Forces flying B-24 Liberators based in Benghazi Libya launched a daring low level attack on Ploesti, over 1,200 miles away. They struck and struck hard, but the cost was very high.
>Air Siege Ploesti : March to August 1944 The capture of Foggia in Italy in 1944 provided the 15th Air Force with a base to launch a new series of air attacks on Ploesti. This time, B-17s and B-24s attacked with fighter escort at high altitude.
*Resisting Interrogation for Downed U.S. Airmen. NEW! Produced in 1944 to prepare US airmen if they were shot down & captured. The crew of a “'B-99” bomber is captured in Northern Italy and taken to a Luftwaffe interrogation center. where they’re put in hot boxes, given bogus “red cross” forms to fill out, exposed to fake executions, put in cells with informers, and threatened with harsh punishment. Despite being told that they should only give their name rank and serial number, they often give important information away in casual conversations.
*Interrogation of Enemy Airmen 1943 This fascinating film, from the archives of the Central Intelligence Agency, was produced during World War 2 to train American “AIOs” (Air Intelligence Officers) in techniques for interrogating captured enemy airmen, gathering vital intelligence. You’ll get a look inside an AIO training school, where candidates learn a variety of interrogation methods, the importance of thoroughly familiarizing yourself with existing intelligence about enemy units and weapons, and observe mock interrogations that are critiqued by the class. Then you’ll see a series of re-creations of field interrogations that are conducted by real AIO servicemen in the native languages of captured pilots with English subtitles.
- First Flight of the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing. There was a picture of a Flying Wing on my kite when I was a kid, one of the coolest designs ever! This film was produced by the US Air Force and Northrop to show the first test flights of the YB-49 Flying Wing at Northrop’ s Hawthorne, California facility, introducing it to the American public for the first time. The YB-49 was a redesign of the propeller driven B-35, upgraded with six GE Allison jet engines and various structural design improvements. The revolutionary design and almost other worldly, alien spacecraft-like lines of the jet powered Wing are highlighted in this very clean black and white footage.
- X-15 Flight Test Report 1960.This documentary was produced by North American Aviation to show the early testing and development of the record breaking X-15 rocket plane including the first flight on September 17th, 1959. The legendary test pilot, Scott Crossfield, was at the controls. The test site is Edwards Air Force Base. There is beautiful color footage of X-15 flights here as well as scenes from support, development and construction.
We also show 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-47 & B-58!
Zeno
Zeno’s Warbird Video Drive-In
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Videos: P-47 Hell Hawks, Ploesti, Interrogations, Flying Wing,Fighter Tactics