BEAUTIFUL scenes from Hell's Angels

[Javito1986 14]

I read comments that the music is funky. I watched these muted so I have no idea. The feeling I get watching these scenes is just... surreal. This is my first time seeing this and it's amazing to see those real Fokkers and real SE5s/Camels flying that way. My god man, that is precisely what it must have looked like to be up there in '17/18. Where else can you see anything like this again? No modern CGI film even comes close. These planes had their moment in time, did their thing, and are gone and nobody living has ever seen them like this, flying the way they're meant to. But watching this gave me just a hint of what it must have honest to goodness looked like to be up there and that's got me all emotional right now, had to share :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKBoHlDB0-U

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkQ3isbTjDE&feature=related

[Olham 164]

The scenes were flown by WW1 fighter pilots. I like to see that very quick reassembling of the Fokker-Staffel.

Here is the whole story as far as Wikipedia has it:

 

http://en.wikipedia....gels_%28film%29

Edited March 23, 2011 by Olham

[tranquillo 10]

Excellent. I bought the DVD for the flying scenes. When I watch the bits that are filmed from behind the pilot, I can't stop myself turning my head to check my six. Damn TrackIr has me brainwashed now.

The scenes have to be the best out there. Thanks for posting and reminding me

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

And with all the CGI we had in Flyboys / Red Baron...it puts those films to utter shame...best place for those dvd's is the bin

(listen to the music on the second video...it's pretty cool)

 

The most horrifying thing for me..is the lack of hope for the crews...No Parachutes....makes my skin crawl

Edited March 23, 2011 by UK_Widowmaker

[Olham 164]

The most horrifying thing for me..is the lack of hope for the crews...No Parachutes....makes my skin crawl

Same for me, Widow! Arthur Gould Lee wrote in the introduction to his book "No Parachute!",

that he did not recognise that feller of 20 years, that he was back then - all the dangers and risks he had

taken without thinking much about them - and I understand well enough, what he means.

Edited March 23, 2011 by Olham

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Same for me, Widow! Arthur Gould Lee wrote in the introduction to his book "No Parachute!",

that he did not recognise that feller of 20 years, that he was back then - all the dangers and risks he had

taken without thinking much about them - and I understand well enough, what he means.

 

Indeed!..a more modern way of understanding what he says, is possibly Car Seatbelts!

Before they were made mandatory, hardly anyone worried about the risks of not wearing them...If you ever get in a car nowadays without wearing one..you feel very vulnerable!...goes back to the youthful 'It wont happen to me' way of thinking I guess

[Olham 164]

Yep, or motorbike riding - I used to rush along the country roads in Ostfriesland on my Yamaha,

back in the early 70s (god, makes me feel old to write that!). I was often picking smaller roads

I didn't knwo - that was the adventure. Well, and one day, when I even had my neighbour's sun

behind me on the bike, I tried to impress him, by driving such roads quite fast.

Until that curve came, a turn of more than 90°! Hidden by high wheat, I only realised, when it was

too late. I lay into he turn as far as possible, but got carried out. Beside the concrete road was

sun-dried hard clay with deep tractor tracks. We got into those, and we almost went headover.

So we slithered along on that unpleasant underground and had hole in our jeans (no leather!).

The front fork was slightly bent, the right turn light was ripped off, and the tank had a small dent.

 

In the mid-nineties, I had another bike accident in Berlin. I wasn't driving to fast, but I changed

tracks, cause the guy in the second track in front of me stopped, to let some oncoming car turn

off. Our traffic light showed green, so the turning guy had to let me pass first. But he hadn't seen

me, hit me, and I got a cruciate ligament rapture in my left knee; then I slithered onto the sidewalk.

 

Only then, I had learned, that for a biker, it doesn't count, wether you have the right to pass someone -

what counts is, if he does see you. From then on, I drove more passively and always assumed,

that the others might not see me.

[Javito1986 14]

My favorite is 2:38 in the second video. The way that Fokker kicks its way to the left & dives to escape the SE's gunsight is great flying and looks amazing. The pilot who did that must have really known his aircraft to do that.

 

 

 

Oh by the way, what was the maneuver that Howard Hughes wanted them to do and they all refused because they knew it would kill the pilot? And Hughes did it himself and sure enough he was lucky to survive the crash?

[Flyby PC 23]

All new to me. Must confess I'd never heard of the film.

 

I totally agree with Olham, the speed with which that flight forms up is incredible.

 

Those guys weren't afraid to stick their aircraft into a vertical dive either. I think it's the complete control that impresses me. Made for the movies, but it still must be a valuable document to confirm how these pilots actually flew in combat.

 

Good post Javito1986.

[Javito1986 14]

Yea that form-up when they see the SE5s coming is so great to see. Amazing skill. I also love when the two formations come into contact, that is what a WW1 furball looked like. You just don't have images like that in the jet age, this is a very tight and limited battlespace where collision is a real danger. This stuff right here is the whole reason why the biplane era is the one that's fascinated to me since I was a kid, and it's great to see it captured on film like this. The cameras were right up there in those real Fokker DVIIs and SE5s, the images are all real, so by golly when a Fokker DVII was on your six that's exactly how close he was. Terrifying but fascinating to see.

 

I know several pilots (I believe four) died in accidents while making this film, and Howard Hughes himself was badly injured. But come on, something tells me those pilots were happy to be back in the air, making those planes work the way they were meant. The scene where the SE5 is chasing down the Fokker is, of course, meant to be cinematically dramatic and all that, but, and maybe it's just me, the sense of exuberance and liberty those pilots feel throwing themselves around the clouds is palpable. It must have been a joy to film those sequences, particularly since nobody was really shooting at them that time.

Edited March 23, 2011 by Javito1986

[Lewie 7]

A remarkable lack of situational awareness in the film, not watching their own six or their wingmate's. And Richthofen, sitting serenely above it all, watching the action while his squadron gets pounded. It was a great film, but it missed the actual strategy and interplay of actual WWI combat. My only gripe about it.

[Javito1986 14]

Yes but Howard Hughes was like Michael Bay you know? He didn't want it to make sense, he just wanted it to look pretty and use real planes ;-)

[Lewie 7]

Yes but Howard Hughes was like Michael Bay you know? He didn't want it to make sense, he just wanted it to look pretty and use real planes ;-)

 

Well yes, and to draw an analogy and it's not intended as a criticism, Hellshade's videos will sometimes have largely outclassed aircraft against better ones, fighting it out on the deck. Like the Fokker DVII's against Nieuport 17's w/ Lewis. Pretty, makes for lots of Kabooms, but not historic or accurate, which is one of the aspects of this sim.

[+Polovski 456]

I think Lewie they were very pre occupied making sure they didn't get killed whilst trying to follow the scripted route - in fact I am sure if we were in a dogfight being shot at we'd be lacking in the awareness of some things and focusing too much on others too.

[Lewie 7]

I think Lewie they were very pre occupied making sure they didn't get killed whilst trying to follow the scripted route - in fact I am sure if we were in a dogfight being shot at we'd be lacking in the awareness of some things and focusing too much on others too.

 

True, and OFF makes this fact quite plain. But you think that Howard would be drilling this into these guys, ( some of who were pilots in WWI..) to keep to scanning the skies, at least for the camera. I mean look to shots of the pilots with the camera situated in front, aiming towards the pilot and the rear, it is plainly obvious that these guys aren't watching their six! In one shot there was some guy with 3 Fokkers oscillating in and out of view, each one in a perfect place to put in a killing burst.

 

It's just a film, I should really just enjoy it, but...

[+Polovski 456]

True, and OFF makes this fact quite plain. But you think that Howard would be drilling this into these guys, ( some of who were pilots in WWI..) to keep to scanning the skies, at least for the camera. I mean look to shots of the pilots with the camera situated in front, aiming towards the pilot and the rear, it is plainly obvious that these guys aren't watching their six! In one shot there was some guy with 3 Fokkers oscillating in and out of view, each one in a perfect place to put in a killing burst.

 

It's just a film, I should really just enjoy it, but...

 

Yeah true I guess there is no real threat from behind so all their concentration is not colliding - mind you I think Cecil Lewis said similar, at least in the initial merge you are just avoiding friends and enemies firstly, getting a shot off then climbing away or whatever.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Never will be able to beat that footage in "Hell's Angels" for the realism factor. Still my all-time favorite in that regard.

 

.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I suffer terribly from Target Fixation in OFF...has lead to many untimely deaths for my Pilots...Just gotta get that last shot in...sadly..it's often the last shot!

[Flyby PC 23]

I know it's all relative, but you don't feel the G-forces throwing you about like those guys must have, and while as I say it's all relative, we often dismiss the speed of 90 to 100 mph as being a low speed, but even sticking your head out a car window at 100mph would stretch your concentration. I think those pilots are showing their mastery of their craft. When you see those aircraft spinning, the shadows tell you it really is an aircraft spinning! No CGI.

 

As for the realism of the actions, or all round awareness or lack of it, that's a movie thing and happens all the time I think. Nearly every war film you see will feature mass groups of soldiers all hudled together to be in the camera shot, but if that actually happened on the battlefield, then one grenade, mine, trip wire or even one single machine gun would take out the whole squad. For a while it used to annoy me, but then again, they are actors, not soldiers, and I even wonder whether images of troops actually fighting or even just moving tactically, however mundane it appears, it is technically 'restricted' information. You never know who is watching it. I suspect a movie might be in trouble if it was too accurate or literal in it's content.

 

It isn't just the military movies either, all those CSI programs we see with phorensic evidence has led to more and more people being alert enough to screw up the crime scene and make it harder to learn what happened. I won't name names, but there was a murder a while back, and the man who actually did it knew that if he was witnessed 'finding' the body of his girlfriend, then running up and holding it grief strikken, at a stroke, he invalidated any phorensic transfer of evidence which might otherwise have tied him to the murder scene. The evidence was all void and unuseable, but the witnesses were astute enough to find it fishy that he should near enough make a bee-line straight to the body - he couldn't risk somebody else finding it and preventing him transferring trace evidence.

 

I'm sure that isn't the case with Hell's Angels, but movies are movies, and you're expected to use your imagination.