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Video from the Past Series


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Posted (edited)
After I started working on "Audio from the Past", I decided to see if I could do anything similar with videos. I found enough footage that is both rare and extremely interesting from a historical standpoint. So here it is: a brand new youtube series featuring historical figures like fighter aces Douglas Bader and Johnnie Johnson, Supermarine test pilots Alex Henshaw and Jeffrey Quill, aircraft & engine engineers like Cyril Lovesey and Sir Stanley Hooker and family members of the original Spitfire designer Reginald J. Mitchell. I hope you folks enjoy it! 

 

Playlist: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKdzkcZMiPY&index=1&list=PLMZJbpYtQsUaVHNxPJLazkKGPkV4XYzM9 '>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKdzkcZMiPY&index=1&list=PLMZJbpYtQsUaVHNxPJLazkKGPkV4XYzM9 


 

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Video from the Past [01] Spitfire! Part 1 - Two Seconds to Kill (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKdzkcZMiPY

 

Raymond Baxter, a former fighter pilot himself, talks to some of the men who built and flew the plane that played a key part in preventing the invasion of Britain in 1940. We learn how the Spitfire narrowly escaped being called the Shrew and find out about the significance of the elliptical wings. Douglas Bader explains the flying tactics Spitfire pilots used against Messerschmitts and Gordon Mitchell recalls his father Reginald, who designed the plane but died before it went into full-scale production. Called up in 1941, Raymond Baxter flew his first Spitfire when he joined No 65 Squadron in August 1942. He was mentioned in dispatches for his dive-bombing of V2 sites in 1944. After the war, in 1949, he joined the BBC and went on to have an illustrious career as a reporter, covering events such as the funeral of King George VI (1952) and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (1953). He was also a presenter on major science series including 'Eye on Research' and 'Tomorrow's World'.

 

Among the contributors are:

 

Raymond Baxter (presenter)

Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader

Alan Clifton

Len Gooch

Sir Stanley Hooker

John Isaccs

Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson

Cyril Lovesey

Gordon Mitchell

Harry Pearson

Jeffrey Quill

Harold Smith

Wing Commander Robert Roland Stanford-Tuck

Raymond Mitchell

 

Video from the Past [02] Spitfire! Part 2 - Forty Years On (1976) 


 

In the second of two documentaries looking at the development of the Spitfire and its role in World War II, the programme talks to Battle of Britain pilots and the men and women who built the aircraft and kept them airworthy throughout the war. It includes an extraordinary story from a female member of the ground crew who one day found herself unexpectedly airborne, clinging to the outside of a plane.

 

Among the contributors are:

 

Raymond Baxter (presenter)

Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader

Len Gooch, Margaret Horton

Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson

Jeffrey Quill

Stanley Woodley

John Frost (producer)

Edited by 71st_AH_Chuck
  • Upvote 3
Posted (edited)
Video from the Past [03] - Man Alive -The Few (1969) 


 

At a reunion of No. 501 Squadron at RAF Kenley, surviving Battle of Britain pilots gather to swap stories and recall the events of 1940. The 'Man Alive' team also visit some of the squadron members at their current homes and places of work to find out whether being part of such an elite band of men has had a lasting effect on their lives.

 

Among the contributors are:

 

Gillian Strickland (Presenter)

Wing Commander Eustace Holden

Wilfred Holroyd

James "Ginger" Lacey

Kenneth Lee

Bruno Malinowski

Storry Walton (Director)

Bill Morton (Series Editor)

Desmond Wilcox (Series Editor)

Edited by 71st_AH_Chuck
Posted (edited)

Great videos !!!!!!!!!!! The most beautiful plane ever buit.

Edited by indiaciki
Posted

Thanks Chuck for taking the time to do this. Very nice.

Posted
Video from the Past [04] - Douglas Bader on This is your Life (1982) 


 

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged. Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. 

 

He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments. In August 1941, Bader bailed out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and befriended Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace.

 

Bader died in 1982, a few weeks after this episode of This is your Life.

SCG_Space_Ghost
Posted

Hopefully you'll have some future content for us LW guys.

 

NEED more Galland interviews.

Posted (edited)

I have an interview with Gunther Rall, one with Hanna Reitsch, and one with Fritz Boost (which already existed on youtube but was split up in many parts and had quality issues... so I kinda "fixed" some of them). I haven't had the chance to find an interview with Galland yet that was longer than 5 minues. If anyone finds one, feel free to send me a link or something.

Edited by 71st_AH_Chuck
SCG_Space_Ghost
Posted

I have an interview with Gunther Rall, one with Hanna Reitsch, and one with Fritz Boost (which already existed on youtube but was split up in many parts and had quality issues... so I kinda "fixed" some of them). I haven't had the chance to find an interview with Galland yet that was longer than 5 minues. If anyone finds one, feel free to send me a link or something.

 

Rall would be interesting as well. I have seen snippets but never an at-length interview.

 

S!

Posted
Video from the Past [05] - Inside Story - The Spitfire (1987)


 

Castle Bromwich was the site of the largest single source of Spitfire production during the war. This programme revisits the plant and talks to some of the men and women responsible for this remarkable output. We hear from a record-breaking test pilot, several women who found themselves doing jobs they never dreamt of and pioneering engineers who had to learn quickly how to adapt this new design of aircraft for combat duty. Between them, they were responsible for more than half of the total number of Spitfires built during the war.

 

Among contributors are: 

 

Brian Conway (Narrator)

Alf Burton

Edna Crickton

Alex Henshaw

Eric Holden

Katie Wright (Director & Producer)

Posted (edited)
Video from the Past [06] - Churchill's Few - Battle Of Britain Pilots Documentary (1985)


 

 

Video from the Past [07] - Sir Stanley Hooker, Rolls-Royce & Bristol Engineer


 

 

Video from the Past [08] - Hanna Reitsch Interview (1976)


 

 

Video from the Past [09] - Interview with Fritz Boost, a Luftwaffe Pilot


 

 

Video from the Past [10] - Late Night with Douglas Bader


 

 

Video from the Past [11] - Günther Rall - Luftwaffe Ace Interview


 

 

Video from the Past [12] - James "Jimmy" Doolittle


 

 

Video from the Past [13] - No. 75 Squadron's Defence of Port Moresby


 

 

Video from the Past [14] - Eric "Winkle" Brown


 

 

Video from the Past [15] - The Lancaster - Night Bombers (1943)


 

 

Video from the Past [16] - Thomas Sopwith Documentary (1984)


Edited by 71st_AH_Chuck
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)
Video from the Past [17] - Russian Ace Aleksandr Pokryshkin (English) (1985)


 

Video from the Past [18] - Willy Messerschmitt (English)


 

Video from the Past [19] - Airscrew Manufacturing (1940)


 

Video from the Past [20] - Piston Aero Engine Overhaul (1945)


 

Video from the Past [21] - The B-17 in Color - Memphis Belle (1944)


 

Video from the Past [22] - B-17 Turbo-Supercharger Operation (1943)


 

Video from the Past [23] - The Dambusters with Martin Shaw


 

Video from the Past [24] - Rolls-Royce Merlin Engine - Contribution to Victory


 

Video from the Past [25] - Packard Merlin Engine - Men Bet Their Lives on It


 

Video from the Past [26] - USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier - The Fighting Lady - (1945)


 

Video from the Past [27] - Normandie-Niemen - Jacques de St-Phalle (French)


 

Video from the Past [28] - Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Squadron (1945)


Edited by 71st_AH_Chuck
unreasonable
Posted

So much good stuff on here that it will take weeks to catch up: I think I need to catch flu or something. Another terrific contribution to the knowledge base Chuck, thank you.

 

This thread (at least the videos + introductory comments) deserves to be a sticky in the resources section.

Posted (edited)

Video from the Past [29] - F-86 Sabre - The Fighting 51st with Gabby Gabreski (1953) 
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Video from the Past [30] - Rolls Royce - How To Build A Jumbo Jet Engine 
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Video from the Past [31] - Building a Bomber (1941) 
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Video from the Past [32] - WW2 Aircraft Instruments (1943) 
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Video from the Past [33] - Bob Hoover - American Test Pilot 
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Video from the Past [34] - Bud Anderson - American Ace 
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Video from the Past [35] - David Lee Tex Hill - A Flying Tiger 
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Video from the Past [36] - Robert "Shorty" Rankin - Ace in a Day 
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Video from the Past [37] - Robin Olds 
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Video from the Past [38] - Bombers over North Africa (1942) 
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Video from the Past [39] - CF-105 Avro Arrow Documentary 
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[/media] Edited by 71st_AH_Chuck
Feathered_IV
Posted

Great stuff.  I'd never seen the one on Australian P-40's.  Enjoyed it very much.

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