Online Videos: WW2 Carrier Catapults, Ploesti Raids Showin..

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In August Newsletter: Four Cool Films for the Dog
Days of August now showing at Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In

You are invited to drop by Zeno's Drive-In www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com and
catch our latest World War II aviation features for free online video
viewing. This month "At the Matinee," we're showing the return of two
Drive-In favorites,"Raids on Ploesti" & "Collecting and Reporting Enemy
Information for Fighter Pilots," and the debut of an exciting new feature,
"Catapulting on a Carrier." All for free online streaming video viewing And
there's a new addition to our "More Neat Stuff" section: excerpts from a
real Douglas A-26 Invader attack bomber pilot's manual. (The downloads we
added recently for Spitfire II and Me-262 pilot's manuals are extremely
popular. Look for a download of a De Havilland Mosquito manual next month.)

* Catapulting on a Carrier World War II aircraft carriers depended on their
catapults. This unique film offers a rare look (in color) at how US Navy
carrier crews were trained to operate a steam catapults to launch aircraft,
even from very short decks. As a bonus, you'll see GM FM-1 "Wildcats" up
close, handled expertly on the tiny deck of a CVE "jeep" escort carrier.
Built on merchant men hulls, the 78 jeeps were pressed into service for a
variety of rolls, including anti submarine war in the Atlantic and covering
amphibious landings in the Pacific, Their greatest moment came on Oct. 35,
1944, in the battle of Samar in the Philippines, when the CVEs of Task Group
77.4 (Task units "Taffy 1, 2, 4" ) launched a furious attack on Adm. Kurita's
overwhelming task force and caused it to retreat. The CVE St Lo was lost and
several others were heavily damaged, but the landing at Leyte was
successfully protected.

Raids on Ploesti Double Feature -- August 1 marks the 62nd anniversary of
the epic low level B-24 raid on the Romanian oil fields
* Medal of Honor: Ploesti. On August 1, 1943 specially trained elements of
the 8th and 9th Air Forces flying B-24 Liberators based in Benghazi Libya
launched a daring low level attack on Ploesti, over 1,200 miles away. They
struck hard, but the cost was high. Unescorted by fighters and coming in
literally at tree top level to surprise the enemy, 54 out of 162 of the
attacking bombers were lost, along with 540 American air crew. Every member
of the attacking force was awarded a medal, including 5 Medals of Honor, the
highest decoration awarded by the U.S. military. Of the Medal of Honor
recipients, only Col. Leon Johnson, 44th Bomb Group, and Col. Jon "Killer"
Kane, 98th Bomb Group, survived the mission.
* Air Siege Ploesti March to August 1944 The capture of the Foggia airfield
in on the Adriatic in Italy in 1944 provided the 15th Air Force with a new
base to launch a new series of Air attacks on Ploesti. This time, B-17s and
B-24s attacked with fighter escort at high altitude. Losses were again
heavy, with over 1,800 air crew lost to FLAK and enemy fighters. Accuracy
suffered when defenders used smoke pots to obscure the target, so P-38s were
used as dive bombers to penetrate the defenses. Soon P-51s helped to achieve
total air superiority over the target. By the end of the Ploesti air
campaign in the fall of 1944, 90% of Romania's oil production was knocked
out, at a cost of 270 bombers and 49 fighters and their crews. Narrated by
Ronald Reagan.

* Collecting and Reporting Enemy Information by Fighter Pilots" is a rare
early war training film featuring Bell P-39 Airacobras of the "181st
Squadron" carrying out a complete bomber escort and ground attack mission,
with an emphasis on briefing sessions, gathering intelligence during a
combat mission, and how to give accurate after action reports. Basic
squadron tactics of the strike are also covered. Some excellent & rare P-39
footage.

If you haven't stopped by Zeno's Drive-In before, we also feature 1940-45
vintage WWII Army & Navy films 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, Stearman N2S and a different WWII documentaries every month "At the
Matinee." That's over 14 hours of rockin' props for free viewing over the
internet,

Finally, we've revised, expanded, and updated our "Control Tower" links
page, which has the largest collection of World War II Aviation links on
the 'net So drop your flaps & drop in! That's
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com

Zeno