# Is it time for a WWI flying film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769 "2011-11-13T04:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/41 "2011-11-14T18:27:11Z")
I happen to have an aquaintance who won a very prestigious screenwriting award based on his (and a partner’s) script on WWI fighter pilots. It was an excellent script, but studios just saw massive dollar signs in all the period fight scenes. Huge insurance premiums, massive casts and difficult to source period planes, costumes, etc. Not to say that someone like Michael Bay couldn’t convince them to sink $800 million into a movie, but the budgets for a movie like this would be enormous and therefore unlikely to see the light of day. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/42 "2011-11-14T21:18:59Z")
What if you gave it a really bankable title: “Meet the Fokkers?” ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/43 "2011-11-14T23:43:01Z")
I would love to see the Will Turner flight logs series by Chris Davey made into films. If no one has read them, books 1 and 2 were fantastic. I started book 3, but didn’t finish it due to things going on. I really need to find it and read it. I remember getting Red Baron for my Dad’s laptop the night before Thanksgiving way back in 1994. The game came with 3 booklets that went into the history of WWI aviation. I remember reading those booklets over and over (and playing that game over and over and over). Then in 1999, my Dad got me a copy of the game Curse You Red Baron! Again, I played it endlessly, then bought Red Baron 3D a few months later and started reading every WWI book I could get my hands on. To this day, WWI fascinates me. I’d love, love, love to see more films made on WWI aviation, and WWI in general. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/44 "2011-11-15T16:20:58Z")
Wrong war, but this movie is coming up soon: [Red Tails - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tails) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/45 "2011-11-15T16:35:21Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > I think WW1 flying movies stopped with the Blue Max, what I would not mind seeing is a period piece set just before WW2, with Torpedo 8 or one of the other squadrons. I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask how you felt about The Great Waldo Pepper. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/46 "2011-11-15T23:30:21Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > No. > > We need a _Zeppelin_ movie. The sum of German Genius.😃 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WLNkHAm4uNk/hqdefault.jpg "Zeppelin (1971) LZ-36 Hangar Reveal") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLNkHAm4uNk) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/47 "2011-11-15T23:50:02Z")
I _know_ it wasn’t WWI, but I sure would like to see a film along the lines of \*The Memphis Belle \* done from a WWI aspect. Corect me if I am wrong, y’all, but IMO, we know so little about the young men in WWI and their training from all sides. If this hasn’t been written before, how did Von Richthofen choose the guys who made up the Circus, and what kind of background did they have? This is assuming that HE chose his flight, of course, and I bow to those of you have more knowledge in this area. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/48 "2011-11-16T00:34:03Z")
Good ideas all. But I’m still waiting for a big budget WWI trench film…the 30 seconds of WWI in _Twelve Monkeys_ whet my appetite for one back in the 90s and I’m still waiting. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/49 "2011-11-16T00:36:18Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Good ideas all. But I’m still waiting for a big budget WWI trench film…the 30 seconds of WWI in _Twelve Monkeys_ whet my appetite for one back in the 90s and I’m still waiting. There are some good trench warfare scenes in some episodes of Young Indiana Jones Brian ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/50 "2011-11-16T01:49:15Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > …we know so little about the young men in WWI and their training from all sides. What training? > **[VN88 - Trang chủ](https://4yearsofww1.info/)** > > VN88 - Nền tảng giải trí quen thuộc với những người đam mê cá cược trực tuyến hiện nay, đang khẳng định vị thế của một tên tuổi lớn trên thị trường giải trí. > [@](#): > > Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilot training was often cursory, especially in the early days of the war. Many recruits had only 2 to 3 hours of flying instruction before being expected to fly solo. Men were often sent to France having logged only 15 hours in the air. 8000 young men died in Britain during flight training, which means that more died from accidents and equipment failures than from enemy action. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/51 "2011-11-16T02:14:34Z")
Point well taken, **dropzone** , but it could _still_ be a major part of the film, yes, the brave yet inexpierenced young men ready to take to the skies? And yes, I know: Who would remember all of the training from a first-hand perspective? Not many, for sure, but with a little research? I’ll stay with what the OP asked, and not just because he’s my friend, but because his idea is a valid one. It’s gonna take a LOT of work, **John** , but if anyone can do it, you can! If I had the bucks to invest, guess where they’d go? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/52 "2011-11-16T03:18:39Z")
Something needs to be made of their youth. Albert Ball was 20 when he died, Manfred von Richthofen was 25, but they are too often portrayed by much older actors. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/53 "2011-11-16T03:29:25Z")
There’s a factoid about WW1 flyboys that would crack me right up on the big screen. In the early period of the war, aeroplanes were not designed or even thought of as combat machines at all, simply observation platforms. As such, they were completely unarmed. Then pilots got the notion that, since they were already up there above enemy trenches and all, why not bring party gifts ? So they’d chuck grenades or drop small artillery shells by hand, from the cockpit down onto the poor shmucks below. While this was extremely clever and fair, it turned out not to be very funny at all when the flyboys from the other side started doing it as well, and so there came to be a need to prevent them from doing that. But remember: unarmed planes. So what did they do ? Brought a rifle along, and took potshots at each other, along the sides of course because they didn’t want to shoot their own props off. Presumably while driving their planes with their knees or something. It’s only later than someone got the brilliant idea of mounting some forward-facing machine guns on the planes and the dogfight was born. Still, the hilariously low-tech early solutions have something surreal about them. Like a 1920s style drive-by. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/54 "2011-11-16T03:47:12Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Good ideas all. But I’m still waiting for a big budget WWI trench film…the 30 seconds of WWI in _Twelve Monkeys_ whet my appetite for one back in the 90s and I’m still waiting. There have been two very good films since then that I’ve seen; much worse than watch [Joyeux Noel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyeux_No%C3%ABl) and [A Very Long Engagement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Long_Engagement). Of course they’re not in English though. For older films in English try [Gallipoli](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_(1981_film)), [Paths of Glory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paths_of_Glory)or either the [1930](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1930_film))or [1979](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1979_film)) versions of All Quiet on the Western Front. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/55 "2011-11-16T04:24:10Z")
Although I haven’t seen the movies, there’s trench warfare shown in both _The Curious Case of Benjamin Button_ and the upcoming _War Horse_. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/56 "2011-11-16T12:35:32Z")
I would love to see a film about the WWI German bombing raids over London. My memory isn’t working at the moment, but I recall a book about it (Fire in the Sky?) that was very, very interesting. The crews used liquid oxygen to breath, flying enormous wood and fabric bi-planes. It was pretty fascinating. I’ll see about finding the title and author. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/57 "2011-11-16T12:57:08Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Wrong war, but this movie is coming up soon: [Red Tails - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tails) Aw, for fuck’s sake, this looks like a parody of “forgotten minority hero” films, it even has Cuba Gooding Jr in it. If what they were looking for is Black Americans fighting during a WW while being discriminated, then the obvious choice is WW1, absolutely not WW2: > **[Eugene Bullard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard)** > > Eugene Jacques Bullard (born Eugene James Bullard; October 9, 1895 – October 12, 1961) was one of the first African-American military pilots, although Bullard flew for France, not the United States. Bullard was one of the few black combat pilots during World War I, along with William Robinson Clarke, a Jamaican who flew for the Royal Flying Corps, Domenico Mondelli \[it\] from Italy, and Ahmet Ali Çelikten of the Ottoman Empire. Also a boxer and a jazz musician, he was called "L'Hirondelle no All... > **[369th Infantry Regiment (United States)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Hellfighters)** > > World War II > The 369th Infantry Regiment, originally formed as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment before it was re-organized as the 369th upon its federalization, and commonly referred to as the Harlem Hellfighters, was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I and World War II. The regiment mainly consisted of African Americans. With the 370th Infantry Regiment, it was known for being one of the first African-American regiments to serve with the Ameri... (Harlem Hellfighters! Take that in the ass “_Red Tails_”) ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/58 "2011-11-16T14:47:27Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I would love to see a film about the WWI German bombing raids over London. > > My memory isn’t working at the moment, but I recall a book about it (Fire in the Sky?) that was very, very interesting. The crews used liquid oxygen to breath, flying enormous wood and fabric bi-planes. > > It was pretty fascinating. I’ll see about finding the title and author. Found it! The Sky on Fire: The First Battle of Britain, 1917-1918 (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight Series) by Raymond H. Fredette Again, great book. I’d love to see those big bombers come to life on the screen! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/59 "2011-11-17T03:15:45Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Aw, for fuck’s sake, this looks like a parody of “forgotten minority hero” films, it even has Cuba Gooding Jr in it. > > If what they were looking for is Black Americans fighting during a WW while being discriminated, then the obvious choice is WW1, absolutely not WW2: > > (Harlem Hellfighters! Take that in the ass “_Red Tails_”) You ain’t from around these parts, are you? The [Tuskegee Airmen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen) had it tough but gave better than they got. ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769/60 "2011-11-17T17:57:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > There’s _Goshawk Squadron_. I didn’t find t book slow-paced. Ah, I’d donate a minor body part to see a good film version of Goshawk Squadron, or either of Derek Robinson’s other WW1 RFC novels for that matter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-for-a-wwi-flying-film/602769.md?page=4)