Best Naval Aviation movies

[Griz882]

For those of you that like old TV shows, Paramount + streaming is showing 12 O’Clock High (the 1960’s series, not the movie). Like most 1960’s shows it shows the age but is fun to watch. As an aside, if you have never read the novel both the movie and TV series are based on it is week worth your time,

 

[ChuckMK23]

For those of you that like old TV shows, Paramount + streaming is showing 12 O’Clock High (the 1960’s series, not the movie). Like most 1960’s shows it shows the age but is fun to watch. As an aside, if you have never read the novel both the movie and TV series are based on it is week worth your time,
View attachment 38175

The original movie with Gregory Peck is a favorite at the ChuckMK23 HQ - perfect for a cold winter Sunday afternoon. Best with a pot of chili and a six pack of my favorite beer! It is the penultimate story of leadership in my humble opinion. My college senior year Naval Science course was taught by our unit CO, Capt Willis Rich, USN - who loved this movie as a study of combat leadership. We watched as a class and used the case study of a leader meeting the challenge through the eyes of General Savage, and also Lt. Col. Ben Gately, Col. Keith Davenport and maj harvey Stovall - how through their humanity and flaws, we were taught we never achieved on our own but as part of a web of fellow warriors. And ordinary men rose to the occassion when put into extraordinary situations. Capt Rich was a SSBN boomer skipper who had some great stories of getting it done under adverse conditions and instilled in us the seriousness of the path we were about to embark upon as Ensigns.

i know @Griz882 meant to highlilght the series of the same name, but the original movie was instilled in my heart thanks to our CO my senior year. I watch it 2-3 times per year and enjoy every moment.

 

[Gatordev]

My college senior year Naval Science course was taught by our unit CO, Capt Willis Rich, USN - who loved this movie as a study of combat leadership.

It used to be part of the actual CNET ROTC syllabus, which is part of why you watched it as a midshipman. I, too, watched it as a Mid, and at the time, it was taught in concert with the concept of "Cycle of leadership" (that's not the right term and unfortunately I can't remember or find the correct name). Basically the idea of being hands on and direct vs eventually becoming hands off and letting the place run itself.

That leadership idea, along with the memory and lessons taught from the movie, were the single-biggest leadership concepts that I continued to run into and falling back on throughout my career. Be it a completely dysfunctional maintenance detachment that I inherited (without real professional knowledge on how to fix it initially) to taking over a unit where the previous OIC was fired and I was told to go fix the place by my O-6 boss. And many other less dramatic times.

I'm very grateful for that movie and the lessons taught in that senior leadership class.

 

[taxi1]

Speaking of leadership lessons, anybody seen this?

Garcia is just going to have to wait in line behind Barbara Stanwyck. That's my takeaway.

 

[Griz882]

Speaking of leadership lessons, anybody seen this?

Garcia is just going to have to wait in line behind Barbara Stanwyck. That's my takeaway.

View attachment 38177

I had to read the essay back in the day…interesting and a good read for a junior officer but I’m impressed that they managed to make a movie out of 40 pages of text!

 

[wink]

It used to be part of the actual CNET ROTC syllabus, which is part of why you watched it as a midshipman. I, too, watched it as a Mid, and at the time, it was taught in concert with the concept of "Cycle of leadership" (that's not the right term and unfortunately I can't remember or find the correct name). Basically the idea of being hands on and direct vs eventually becoming hands off and letting the place run itself.

That leadership idea, along with the memory and lessons taught from the movie, were the single-biggest leadership concepts that I continued to run into and falling back on throughout my career. Be it a completely dysfunctional maintenance detachment that I inherited (without real professional knowledge on how to fix it initially) to taking over a unit where the previous OIC was fired and I was told to go fix the place by my O-6 boss. And many other less dramatic times.

I'm very grateful for that movie and the lessons taught in that senior leadership class.

Gregory Peck said he was most proud of his Col Savage performance and the film overall, even over his Oscar roll.

 

[ChuckMK23]

This is a new one for me: The Eternal Sea - a 1955 drama film about a pilot who loses a leg in WW2 and his ensuing career. Lots of good unform and gear shots (Aviation Greens, flight gear, etc). Sterling Hayden plays the main character. Of note is actor Dean Jagger who played Maj Harvey Stovall in 12 O'Clock High.



The lead character in this promotional shot sporting the Gentex H-4 helmet that was standard issue across Jets, props and helos at the time



Looks like the full version is uploaded on the Tubes of You:

 

[Griz882]

Not naval aviation, but the new Hanks/Spielberg series is finally set to release. It looks very good.

Spielberg-Hanks WWII series ‘Masters of the Air’ gets premiere date

'Masters of the Air' is the third installment, alongside “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific," of the Spielberg and Hanks-led World War II trilogy.

www.navytimes.com

 

[Uncle Fester]

Not naval aviation, but the new Hanks/Spielberg series is finally set to release. It looks very good.

Spielberg-Hanks WWII series ‘Masters of the Air’ gets premiere date

'Masters of the Air' is the third installment, alongside “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific," of the Spielberg and Hanks-led World War II trilogy.

www.navytimes.com

I’ve never been very clear on why Masters of the Air has been in such development hell for so long. The linked article just said “due to Covid” but lots of big-dollar projects managed to get through production without this much delay. This has been dragging out for years without much news as to why.

 

[Gatordev]

I’ve never been very clear on why Masters of the Air has been in such development hell for so long. The linked article just said “due to Covid” but lots of big-dollar projects managed to get through production without this much delay. This has been dragging out for years without much news as to why.

The article also mentions budget, which then led to HBO dropping the production before COVID. I hope it's good, but I fear when something gets handed around for that long, the material will suffer.

 

[Uncle Fester]

The article also mentions budget, which then led to HBO dropping the production before COVID. I hope it's good, but I fear when something gets handed around for that long, the material will suffer.

I'd heard budget was the reason HBO dropped it, too. That also seemed curious since Band of Brothers and The Pacific were huge successes for the network, and another Spielberg/Hanks WWII miniseries could only generate positive buzz at a time when they don't really have any comparable headline shows in the offing. The streaming networks depend on bringing in new subscribers, and usually you do that by enticing them with new and exclusive material. For example, Disney paid through the nose for the rights to and production for Hamilton, but it also brought in a shitload of new subscribers, so in the end it was a net gain.

Then again, the current Warner Bros leadership seems determined to spike the brand value into the ground ("Max"?) so maybe it was for the best.

No, what I was curious about were all the unexplained delays since AppleTV picked it up. This had to have been a huge investment, even for Apple's deep pockets, so if you're going to drag out release forever, you'd think there would be at least some news as to why. There's been next to nothing in the press though, and Apple's attitude seems to be "eh, we'll get around to it."

 

[Flash]

I'd heard budget was the reason HBO dropped it, too. That also seemed curious since Band of Brothers and The Pacific were huge successes for the network, and another Spielberg/Hanks WWII miniseries could only generate positive buzz at a time when they don't really have any comparable headline shows in the offing...This had to have been a huge investment, even for Apple's deep pockets, so if you're going to drag out release forever, you'd think there would be at least some news as to why. There's been next to nothing in the press though, and Apple's attitude seems to be "eh, we'll get around to it."

I'm hazarding a guess that the cost of the planes and increased usage of CGI added was a bit more expensive than renting some Garands, jeeps and a few Shermans. That, and while The Pacific did well enough it wasn't the huge success that Band of Brothers was and that may have tempered some of the impetus behind the next WWII series.

I am rewatching Band of Brothers right with my youngest, once a week as originally intended, and it is still awesome 20 years later. The only thing that hasn't aged too well yet is the CGI of the C-47's during the D-Day drop, but even that is not all that bad.

 

[number9]

I am rewatching Band of Brothers right with my youngest, once a week as originally intended, and it is still awesome 20 years later. The only thing that hasn't aged too well yet is the CGI of the C-47's during the D-Day drop, but even that is not all that bad.

I didn't think the CGI of the C-47s taking off was that bad, but the CGI of the C-47s doing a supply drop (in the "Bastogne" episode) made me giggle. It was like watching Call of Duty...

 

[Flash]

I didn't think the CGI of the C-47s taking off was that bad, but the CGI of the C-47s doing a supply drop (in the "Bastogne" episode) made me giggle. It was like watching Call of Duty...

Actually much of that was real C-47's taking off, it was the exterior shots of the night flying over Normandy that were obviously old CGI. They were short shots and didn't really detract from the show at all, just notable as one of the very few things that haven't aged well for a series that is twice as old as my kid who is watching it with me.

 

[number9]

Actually much of that was real C-47's taking off, it was the exterior shots of the night flying over Normandy that were obviously old CGI. They were short shots and didn't really detract from the show at all, just notable as one of the very few things that haven't aged well for a series that is twice as old as my kid who is watching it with me.

Ahh gotcha. Well no wonder I thought it looked good.. it was real