I've been watching these documentaries lately, basically the entire history of Russian/Soviet aviation, complete with not so great translation and heavily accented Russian narator!
I'm really enjoying them, the footage especially is hugely interesting for me and hearing the story of Russian aviation from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Some of the commentary is shall we say, rather biased towards Russia (I had a sly grin when they talked about how impressed the Western engineers were when they got their hands on Belenko's MiG-25, and it contradicts itself when the narrator concedes that the F-86 was a better combat fighter than the MiG-15 but then goes on to state the MiG-15 was the world's best fighter, surpsisingly they make mention of the Allied Lend-Lease fighters, as well as how the Soviets used British jet engines to get off the starting blocks... I don't think I've ever seen an American documentary that acknowledged the British contribution to American jet engine development), but then again after watching Discovery and History channel documentaries for years I'm used to watching stuff that's heavily biased towards America and the American version of aviation history.
I became interested in Russian/Soviet aviation after getting heavily into Su-27 Flanker (remember that sim?) back in the day. So far this series is filling in lots of gaps in my knowledge.
I just wish somebody would do a similar series telling the story of British aviation.
Right now I've watched the first four episodes on fighters and skipped ahead to the later episode on Cold War bombers. I'll be watching the rest as I get the time...
<- Before anyone says yes I know it's a British soldier and a Rapier missile system!
Last edited by Rick.50cal; 04/08/1401:39 AM. Reason: thread title renamed
Anyone else thinking of making a sticky thread with all of these cool videos? Maybe even classify them? Or even better, download for "safekeeping" and allowing access?
I found a really good series about Aeroflot on Youtube. I don't want to derail your thread, but if you search for "Airplaneski" it will turn up.
"A week or even a month for someone basically saying "shucks, this is pants" maybe. But their banhammer only has the forever setting. Gotta set phasers to stun for the localization of female undergarments, not kill yo." - Frederf
Anyone else thinking of making a sticky thread with all of these cool videos? Maybe even classify them? Or even better, download for "safekeeping" and allowing access?
We can do this for you...but the thread title should be renamed for more than just Soviet ac...
Pielstick, are you ok with us modifying your thread here? I'd sticky it, but leave it unlocked so we all can add to the thread.
Maybe call it:
"Aircraft vehicles war documentaries video thread: add to it!"
Or maybe just AVWD?
Last edited by Rick.50cal; 04/06/1408:46 PM.
POLITICS, WAR, ECONOMY, CONTROVERSY! and other heated discussions and debates in the PWEC sub-forum at the bottom of this forum main page. See you there!
BBC2 ran a Cold War Season last December and the following were IMHO the best programmes they broadcast:
"The Silent War" - about the submarine war.
Episode 1 - Know Your Enemy
Episode 2 - The Russians Are Coming!
"Cold War Hot Jets" - about the war in the air.
Episode 1
Episode 2
This is the BBC at it's very best, sadly something we see very little of nowadays
Very highly recommended guys, I guarantee you will enjoy these.
- From Pielstick
POLITICS, WAR, ECONOMY, CONTROVERSY! and other heated discussions and debates in the PWEC sub-forum at the bottom of this forum main page. See you there!
Come on guys, keep this thread going, there's loads of interesting stuff on Youtube!
Keeping the British theme going:
The Lightning is my all time favourite aircraft... here's an original 1960's RAF recruitment video. Check out the music!
And here's a really cool TV advert that British Airways ran a couple of years ago:
And for our Canuck friends:
Here's a small series made by Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden's lead singer and airline pilot) about ten years ago covering the evolution of the modern airliner:
<- I lived most of my life pretty close to the airport the trainee 747 pilots are practicing landing at here. I used to see these aircraft tall the time.
Please guys feel free to add whatever you find interesting on Youtube!
Some docus covering the Canadian Army in Afghansitan:
Some Wehrmacht and Panzer stuff:
Some WW2 submarine docu:
Wings of the Luftwaffe Series:
Wings of the Red Star series:
Battleships - over 3 hours long!
Some WW2 Allied fighters:
<- This one looks especially good and covers an often forgotten fighter!
If anyone wants to link some documentaries of Allied bombers or attack aircraft please do so!
Battle of Britain:
Some Falklands Documentaries:
History of the Arab Israeli Wars - looks pretty good:
Soviets in Afghanistan:
Relatively new documentary about the Royal Marines:
Some Tornado stuff:
And some Eurofighter Typhoon stuff:
<- more of a promo video but good footage
Can't seem to find any more modern documentaries on the Jaguar or RAF Harrier/RN Sea Harrier... if anybody knows of any please post them!
I've got a soft spot for the Su-27:
Russian docu on the Sukhoi T-50:
A selection of pretty interesting period American stuff, great footage:
Come on guys, it only takes a couple of minutes to hit Youtube and post here some good videos of interesting stuff... We can turn this thread into a one stop shop for something interesting to watch when you're sick of the rubbish that's on modern TV!
A couple of interviews with Captain Eric Brown RN. This guy had a truy remarkable career... he's flown 487 different types (more than any other pilot in history), has 2,407 carrier traps (more than any other pilot), was the first pilot to land a jet on an aircraft carrier, and if it wasn't for the interference of the politicians quite probably would have beaten Chuck Yeager through the sound barrier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_flown_by_Eric_%22Winkle%22_Brown <- This is a list of all the aircraft he has flown. Amazing.
I highly recommend reading his memoirs "Wings On My Sleeve".
