Tag: Aviation

25 May Updates – Attack Hitler’s Bunker!

This Week’s Excerpt
This week’s excerpt is from Attack Hitler’s Bunker! which is due to be published on 29 June.

Attack Hitler’s Bunker

(Unedited excerpt)

Hugo Knopfl and Klaas Zapruder stepped onto the pavement. They had to move briskly to let the convoy of Wehrmacht vehicles pass. Half-tracks carrying troops and pulling 88 mm guns rumbled, creaking, over the cobbled stones. One of the camouflaged SS troops waved at them. Above, a cloud passed in front of the sun, casting the town square into dusk instantly. Sonnerberg was one of those pretty German towns, nestled in the fold of verdant hills, populated by slate-roofed houses with walls painted many colours. Ironically it was the home both of toy-making and the Dutch Waffen SS.
Klaas waved back at the soldier leaving.
Hugo threw the butt of his cigarette on the ground. “Don’t do that,” he said in quiet Dutch. “Why pretend when we don’t have to anymore?”
“You’re right. We won’t be coming back.”
“That’s not what I meant. Come on.” Continue reading “25 May Updates – Attack Hitler’s Bunker!” →

Review of George Lucas’ Red Tails

What a wasted opportunity for George Lucas. Here we have the story of the first black (is that the correct term now?) fighter pilots in WWII and their struggle to be allowed to fight for their country, up against entrenched and endemic Racism. Not only did they succeed, but they won a combined award for their outstanding bravery and performance. Their job was to protect American Bombers raiding Germay, and they were the only Squadron who managed to lose not one single Bomber during their missions. So you have: politics, heroism, great action, technology in abundance, lots of potential personal stories and history all in one story. You also have the guy who made Star Wars at the helm. It should have been great; it was barely better than pap.

In fact I resigned myself to watching it purely for how bad it was – before the title credits. It opens with a really dire CGI bit of action with American P40 Kittyhawks(?) fighting Me109s. The German pilots are portayed as ice-cold manifestations of the devil who speak like Cybermen. Somebody has been reading too many Eagle comics. The stereotypes were just way too much to take. The dialogue was pretty bad too. Continue reading “Review of George Lucas’ Red Tails” →

Mysteries and the Lockheed A-12 ‘Oxcart’

Just noticed this – if you look at the Wikipedia entry for the A-12 Oxcart – predecessor to the SR-17 Blackbird you will see that it says the original test pilot was Bissell and the test pilot of the first SR-71 was a Gilliland in 1964. Now if you are as familiar with the 1964 film 633 Squadron as I am (see my Questionnaire for Cliff Robertson – Cliff’s Response blog for 24 November 2010) you will know very well that Roy Grant’s navigator for one mission is a Bissell and that another pilot is called Gillibrand. Could this be coincidence? It seems even less likely when you realise that the director Walter Grauman was a combat crewman in a B-25 during WWII and mad-keen on aircraft. I wonder if he knew all about the Oxcart programme even then?

I am continuing with the final edit and spell-check of Too Bright the Sun so that I can publish in July.

Wikipedia entry for A-12 Oxcart includes this: Continue reading “Mysteries and the Lockheed A-12 ‘Oxcart’” →