Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In January 2007 Newsletter

You’re invited to drop by Zeno's Drive-In www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com for this month’s cavalcade of World War 2 plane videos playing live online.

As always, every film on our web site is showing for free.

This month “At the Matinee,” you’ll see “We Flew the Mig,” starring Chuck Yeager testing the first Mig 15 to fall into US hands, “P-47 Combat Operations,” where Jug pilot’s learn to deal with life and death situations, “Black Cat PBY,” the story of the USN’s night bombing ops in the Pacific, and “Target for Today,” the classic feature film documenting all aspects of an 8th Air Force raid into Germany in 1943,

* We Flew the Mig -- In September, 1953, a North Korean defector handed over the first Russian Mig 15 to fall into US hands. This was a momentous occasion because the Mig had proven to be a worthy adversary for the North American F-86 Sabre in the skies over Korea. You'll see Chuck Yeager and other top test pilots putting the Mig through it's paces and hear what they learned, along with a point by point performance comparison with the F-86. Nice footage of the Mig's armaments too. Attentive Russian fans will no doubt pick up on the fact that some of the "faults" listed by the US test pilots - like problems with the heating & defrosting systems -- were malfunctions in this particular aircraft and not endemic to the Mikoyan Bureau's design.

* P-47 Combat Operations This film was shown to fledgling Jug pilots before they shipped out to forward air bases around the world. This engrossing video features a half dozen real pilots flying real missions in a variety of roles in all theater of war, including very rare footage of Thunderbolt napalm attacks against Japanese pill boxes in the Pacific. You'll hear the action described in their own words, including a liberal sprinkling of vintage pilot slang. Another fine narration by Ronald Reagan.

* Black Cat PBY -- What was that mysterious plane swooping down out of the night sky on unsuspecting Japanese ships and bases hundreds of miles from any known American airstrip? The answer was, as you'll see in this good humored, affectionate film, the slow, ungainly, but deadly "Black Cat" PBY. Originally designed as a reconnaissance and antisubmarine amphibious patrol plane, the big twin-engined Catalina's super long range, all weather capability, capacity to lug both bombs and radar, ability to loiter for hours hunting convoys and operate from anywhere in the watery PTO, made it an ideal naval night attack bomber.

* Target for Today -- This is the classic World War II documentary details a "maximum effort" US Eighth Air Force daylight bombing mission deep into Germany. There are no actors.  This film was shot on location under combat conditions and features the officers and men of the 8th Air Force going about their deadly business. All aspects of an actual major raid in 1943, including a strike on the FW 190 plant at Marienburg, are shown, from early planning through final crew debriefings. There is probably no better account of the theory, strategy and tactics of an unescorted US Army Air Force bomber raid in early 1943.

If you haven't stopped by Zeno's Drive-In before, we also feature 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! – Alert! There’s just been an F-86 sighted over Zeno’s Drive-In!

That's over 14 hours of rockin' World War II props for free viewing over the internet!

Zeno
Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In
World War II Aviation Videos Playing Online 24/7
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com
Online Vids: P-47 Combat, Black Cat PBY, Yeager Flies the Mig 15 & more