Zeno’s Warbird Video Drive-In July 2009, 12th Anniversary Newsletter

You are invited to drop by Zeno’s Drive-In www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com and check out this month’s pulse pounding lineup of five World War II aircraft & combat videos playing live on line. This July 15th marks the 12th anniversary of the opening of the Drive-In and we're commemorating it with three Premieres!

Every film at Zeno's Drive-in is showing for free, as they all have since we opened our virtual doors to more than 4 million visitors 12 years ago.

Now playing "At the Matinee"

John Ford's "The Battle of Midway" Academy Award Winner- Premiere! Digitally restored.
Directed by four time Oscar Winner John, this stirring documentary was shot during the intense June 4th Japanese carrier plane attacks on Midway Island and by Navy combat cameramen aboard the USS Yorktown during the epic carrier battle, along with color gun camera film of air to air and air to sea combat.  Highlights include memorable scenes from the Marine base on Midway, B-17s leaving to attack the Japanese fleet, patrolling PBYs, action packed Japanese attacks on the Yorktown and Midway, and up close shots of the Yorktown's squadron VF3 and their F4F Wild Cats, including aces John S. "Jimmy' Thach ("The Thach Weave") and Lt. E. Scott McCluskey.  And it wouldn't be a John Ford movie without some of the most vivid combat cinematography you have ever seen, a touching and dramatic score by nine time Oscar winner Alfred Newman, and some folksy narration by Henry Fonda.

The 362nd Fighter Group: On the Prowl Over Germany Exclusive production
This video contains some of the most exciting color air action sequences to come out of World War II. Select 362nd Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolt fighter/bombers were especially equipped with extra color movie cameras to capture thrilling ground and air attacks as they happened. These squadrons were tasked with striking targets inside Nazi Germany as the war against the Third Reich entered it's final act in Spring, 1945. The result is unique from the cockpit views putting you in the middle of attacks on tanks, airfields, trucks, rail yards, bridges, trains, fighters, and more. You'll even see antiaircraft fire arcing up from the ground, bursting around the big Thunderbolts as they make their low level strikes. You'll see 362nd CO Col. Joe Laughlin and the pilots and crews of the 377th, 378th and 379th Fighter Squadrons and their aircraft in living color. As an added bonus, there's rare color footage of Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine

Mastering the Bazooka Rocket Launcher – Premiere
The Bazooka was a revolutionary and extremely influential weapon that combined a man portable "stove pipe" rocket launcher, pioneered by Dr. Robert Godard, with a shaped charge (HEAT) warhead, originally developed by Swiss immigrant Henry Mohaupt for the US War Department in the 1930s. As you'll see, shaped charges focused a superheated penetrating jet of gas whose effect on armored targets was far out of proportion to it's relatively small size. The Bazooka put this awesome destructive power in the hands of a single soldier with a range of hundreds of yards. When fired from the battery powered M1 launcher, the original M6 Rocket, introduced in 1940, could penetrate 4'' of steel armor, making it useful not only against tanks and armored vehicles, but also against pill boxes, walls, bunkers etc., with a range that far exceeded the capability of contemporary weapons like grenade launchers. You'll learn how to calculate range, fire from different positions, arm the rocket and ready the launcher for firing, set up remotely detonated launches using buried tubes, skip firing, leading the target and more.

58 Hustler: Low Altitude Bombing Capability - Premiere!
See a simulated low level, long range B-58 Hustler attack launched from Carswell AFB in Texas against Edwards AFB in California that demonstrates the Hustler's outstanding ability to slip in under enemy radar at phenomenal speeds. Much of the mission is flown at up to 700 mph at on-the-deck altitudes. Down low, the B-58's delta wing exhibited exceptional handling characteristics. You'll see sensational from-the-cockpit views of the Hustler booming along over mountains and prairie. This film is all the more amazing because the supersonic B-58 is pre "fly by wire" and is operating without the benefit of the ground hugging radar that made its appearance in the next generation of fast bombers.

Clark Gable's "Combat America" -- a Drive-In Classic
This warm hearted documentary was produced, written, directed, and narrated by movie star Clark Gable while he was on assignment with the 8th Air Force, developing a gunnery training film. Though it contains plenty of combat footage and doesn't flinch in showing the high cost of war in the air, in many ways, it's more of a warm home movie than a hard bitten, wartime "information" film. Gable chronicles the experiences of the men of the 351 Bombardment Group from the cool early morning mists of Colorado to the frigid skies over Germany. His affection and admiration for these men comes through loud and clear. This film is like a Kodachrome album out of the past, giving us snapshots of life on a front line air base in 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 been an F-86 sighted over Zeno’s Drive-In!

That’s over 14 hours of rockin’ World War II props & jets 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

PS: If you have any concerns about using the RealNetwork’s RealPlayer to watch our videos, I highly recommend using the free “RealAlternative” player instead. (It's what I use to play all my  'Net videos.) It’s built around the very popular “Media Player Classic” and will play RealVideo files just fine (along with just about every other video format including Quicktime & Windows Media), is independently produced, a very small download and has no annoying advertisements or "music guides." You can download the RealAlternative player here:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/real_Alternative.htm

Online Vids: Midway, P-47s Attack, Bazookas & B-58s On the Deck