this show is on every Sunday...I would watch this seriously as a 'youngster'......I'm surprised at all the actual combat scenes they use do not match reality to the show....the Pacific air war was my most read subject, and I didn't catch on to the 'fake' scenes
I liked the show as a kid but it hasn't aged well. I saw an interview with a VMA-214 veteran and he said that they never misbehaved like the men in the show. He said the way the enlisted men are shown treating the officers was just silly. I agree the the F4Us were very cool and rememeber one show that involved a visiting USAAC P-38
The televison show's portrayal of the Black Sheep as a bunch of drunken bums and fugitives from Courts Martial was the impetus for VMF-214 Intelligence Officer Frank Walton to write his book "Once They Were Eagles". His book offers a more realistic representation of the Black Sheep and should be required reading for anyone interested in VMF-214.
The man I saw on TV was a pilot but he was saying the same thing. I wonder if it was Frank Walton. Were Intelligence Officers pilots too?
Big budget movies have a hard enough time getting historical movies right one can easily imagine that TV shows would do as well. We, here, tend to want them to be roughly correct as to facts but they average TV viewer probably wants to be entertained and knows little about WW2. The Boeing Museum in South Seattle has a Corsair and a P-47 in close proximity. They both have mounted engines but each has a cutaway of their monster radials right in front on display.....Those are "BIG " fighter planes ! A Zero and P-40 are near by for comparison.. the Zero looks tiny by comparison and looking at a P-40 makes you wonder how they got a 1710 cubic inch engine into it. I cannot imagine noy loving the Corsair even in a bad program Gaines.
It was ok when it started but then went down hill especially when they brought in the romance with the nurses. But hey, it's Hollywood
It was the same for me. I watched it a good bit the first year, then ditched it when they brought in the T&A with the 70s hair-doos. That "16 yo" new pilot, also with a 70s hair style sunk it also. I watched the pilot episode on Youtube a year or so ago and was astounded at just how bad it was. I did not remember it being as awful as it was, but I was 13 at the time. However, it was still enjoyable watching those big birds fly. VMF 214 was virtually destroyed in March 1945 when CV-13 USS Franklin was heavily damaged near the Japanese coast.
You took the words right out of my mouth about the seventies hairdos. Operation Petticoat was a great movie but the TV series of it made Black Sheep Squadron look like Lawrence of Arabia, and that's even with Jamie Lee Curtis http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075551/
Hi Gaines. It is on cable in Charter Cable in Atlanta on Sunday nights at 7 PM EST MeTV channel. Might be on around your area too since you aren't too far away.
"Pappy's pants were too tight..." Would agree. Dejaview all over again... Don't mind if my old stuff is used again. Am flattered.
