Behind the Scenes in World War 2 Volume 6

With a heavy emphasis on air action, this is one of the best “Behind the Scenes” editions yet!

The Third Air Force Presents H- Hour (1944-40-minutes) Recently Discovered Film! The Third Air Force was the largest of the four U.S. Army Air Forces based in the U.S.A. during World War 2. Headquartered in Tampa FL, it encompassed the South Eastern United States with a network of specialized airfields, tasked with training 10s of thousands of pilots & air crew in operating and maintaining a wide variety of aircraft. They produced “H-Hour” to show trainees what to expect when they joined their combat units overseas, using real life examples with different aircraft performing missions around the world. Very high quality film footage!

Part 1: "Recco Pilot" Photo Reconnaissance pilots received the most in depth training in the Air Force. You'll get a good look at a Lockheed F-5 (recon version of the P-38) inside and out and follow the aircraft and her pilot on a long range mission filming the huge Japanese base at Rabaul. The film is then unloaded and developed at his airfield, analyzed by Intelligence and used for identifying targets for a B-24 bombing mission.

Part 2: A B-17 Crew on Mission over Germany. Meet the crew of B-17 “Knockout Dropper” and follow them on a maximum effort bombing mission to the hit the ball bearing plant at Ekner, West of Berlin, from their early morning briefing to “bombs away” over the target.

Part 3: B-25s "On the Deck" in the South Pacific. In December 1943, B-25s hit Japanese bases and shipping at Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Flying at very low level just above the jungle they bomb & strafe the enemy using machine guns, 75 mm canon and drop “parafrag”parachute bombs. Dramatic footage shot from within the aircraft.

Part 4: P-47s on a long range bomber escort mission to Germany. Thunderbolts take on '109s, '110s, and '190s. Lots of P-47 gun camera film, supplemented with captured German film showing Luftwaffe fighters scrambling to meet them.

Part 5: D-Day, June 6^th. Paratroopers land at night in Normandy while B-26 Marauders and A-20Havocs range across Northern France, attacking troop concentrations, railroads, ammo dumps and fortifications.

Exclusive Bonus! Knockout Dropper Scrapbook Learn more about B-17 Knockout Dropper, featured in "Part 2" of the "The Third Air Force Presents H- Hour", above. She was crowned "The Champ of the ETO," the first 8th Air Force B-17 to fly 50 and then 75 missions. See crew photos, mission maps, 303rd Bomb Group photos & info and pictures from their Airfield at Molesworth, England.

Combat Weekly Digest Highlights 1943-1945 (70 minutes) These films were shot by Army Air Force Combat Camera Units (AAFCCUs) on all fronts and were shown only to Allied Armed Forces personnel. Combat Cameramen road along on missions documenting them as they happened, giving a unique record of aircraft and crews, much of which you won't see anywhere else. Excellent quality footage shot over targets too. Highlights include:

* B-25s make intense low level bombing raids against Rabaul three days in a row. Great shots of crews & aircraft! *B-24s raid Rangoon harbor and Japanese storage depots near the city * B-25s, B-26s and P-40 Dive Bombers attack German positions around Monte Casino *B-24s bomb Wake Island *9^th AF B-26s bomb German heavy guns at Cap de la Hague, Normandy *A-20s strike a key railway bridge at St. Hilaire *B-17s strike a synthetic oil refinery at Ruhlande *B-17s based in Russia do a three step shuttle bombing mission hitting an oil refinery in Poland, land in Italy, bomb railroad yards at Bezier France and then land in England *B-24s strike Japanese island airfields on Watje in the Marshalls and & Wole in the Carolines before the islands are taken * B-25s, P-47 Thunderbolts & Navy TBFs strike Tinian before the island is seized to base more B-29s across the straight from Saipan *B-24s from Watje suffer casualties from attacking Japanese Zeros on the way to bomb Palau, before the island is seized by the Marines *B-17s & B-24s bomb airfields at Bucharest and railroad bridges near Budapest * The harbor and U-Boat pens at Brest are seized and 40,000 Germans surrender after the most intense Allied bombing of any city in France * Rare footage of “Operation Dragoon,” the Allied air and sea invasion of Southern France. Highlights include parachute drops & glider landings, naval bombardment followed by amphibious landings and P-38 Lightning fighter/bomber attacks * B-24s from Guam make the 825 mile trip to Iwo Jima to “soften up” Japanese fortifications before Marines land. Excellent pre-invasion overhead shots of Iwo * B-29 Superfortresses from Saipan conduct long range night raids on Kobe and Nagoya in Japan.

Army Navy Screen Magazine Highlights 1943-1945 (20:00) A Life Magazine style film series shown only to Armed Forces personnel. Excellent quality film footage!

* Around the clock with the RAF. Lancaster bomber crews are briefed and set on their way on to a night mission over Germany. The next day, RAF Boston attack bombers launch from the sames to hit targets on the Continent. Exciting footage crossing the channel on the deck, skimming the beeches ashore and screaming across the French countryside at tree top level and making precision attacks on their targets.

* Back Home in Burbank – Inspiring film showing blind men and women, accompanied by their guide dogs, performing specialized tasks on the P-38 Lightning assembly line in Burbank, California.

* WASPs American women were trained to perform aircraft maintenance & become pilots, freeing up men for combat duties. Besides flying transport planes carrying troops and equipment, their most important task was ferrying aircraft from U.S. factories to front line units around the world, including piloting B-17s and B-24s across the Atlantic to the U.K. Some WASP pilots were proficient in operating more different models of fighters and bombers than many of their male counterparts who flew combat missions.

* Youth Power – Thousands of high school age boys and girls worked in aircraft defense plants after school and during summer vacation. You'll see them performing surprisingly complex tasks assembling bombers and P-38 fighters.