WW 1 Top Gun

[Naki]

I think this deserves its own post instead of buried in the Youtube post ....Includes heaps of Vintage Aviator footage....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnwNdMpyLxM

[Ian Warren]

FRIGGEN GREAT FIND ! ... a movie a searched for and now have on my shelf is 'The Red Baron' ... watch this later on

[Adrian Brausch]

what an outstanding find,..just watched it was superb thanks mate

[Charl]

Superb footage.
I wonder what these guys fill in on forms that ask: "What's your employment"??

[IslandBoy77]

Very good - thoroughly enjoyed that: a great find. Also a sober reminder to be grateful to a whole generation of young men who were prepared to risk so much for the freedom we (as a society) take so lightly nowadays...

[Charl]

I'm far more cynical these days about war: wars are all founded on greed, ultimately.
None more so than WWI, where the aristocracy of Europe played, as if in a chess game, with the lives of sixty five million combatants.
Young men poured in to the trenches, and slaughtered in wave upon fruitless wave, on the orders of a largely incompetent leadership.
Amazing that the subterfuge of patriotism could be maintained for those four long years.

It was indeed a Great War:



de Marco and the gang are doing an amazing Live History exercise, I think the experience must be quite sobering to the participants.

[IslandBoy77]

QUOTE (Charl @ Jul 3 2012,9:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm far more cynical these days about war: wars are all founded on greed, ultimately.
None more so than WWI, where the aristocracy of Europe played, as if in a chess game, with the lives of sixty five million combatants.
Young men poured in to the trenches, and slaughtered in wave upon fruitless wave, on the orders of a largely incompetent leadership.
Amazing that the subterfuge of patriotism could be maintained for those four long years.

Agreed - war is a "pointless" endeavour. At the same time, regardless of how wise it might have been, great number of those from WW1 & WW2 did sign up thinking they were doing the right, good thing. Whether they still believed that at the end of the war is another thing, of course. Although we'll never know the answer, if the "canon fodder" had not heeded the call to arms, what would the outcome have been? I suppose we can argue that if the young German soldiers has simply decided they weren't going, nothing would've started in the first place. But once the ball was rolling, what else can one do? Let the "enemy" just roll over one's country and be happy about it? A tricky moral dilemma, that. As I think about it, it sounds very much like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't". And of course, its much easier 50 or 100 year's later to sit comfortably behind our keyboards and debate the finer points...

[Bazza]

Meanwhile, getting back to the point somewhat , thanks for the link Paul. Have added that to my collection
and sent it on to a few non-simming type enthusiasts.

[Charl]

QUOTE

And of course, its much easier 50 or 100 year's later to sit comfortably behind our keyboards and debate the finer points...[/quote]
Quite right... and the politics of the times were quite different, with a different morality.

But I got hooked in to the era, skipping link to link as often happens in the wicked, time-wasting Interwebby thing;
the Ottoman Empire was the closest thing to Evil Incarnate you could think of.
They did stuff to their own people which made later chaps like Stalin look amateur.
And they could get away with it, largely because everyone else was pre-occupied with killing each other!

A far cry from aircraft at Omaka, perhaps good that we should remember these things...

I've also sent this link out to non-flyers, really a good one.

Last edited by Charl on Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Ian Warren]

Finally got to watch it in its entire , WWI the duels .. both engineers and aircrew , the stories - course the rebuilds .. pity these are not showing on regular TV .. people may learn something .