# What is the war movie (historical) you'd like to see made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 15, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152 "2021-05-15T11:42:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/181 "2021-06-17T02:22:14Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > The East Africa campaign in World War I Not a movie, but it’s covered in surprising involvement in _The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles_, of all places. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/182 "2021-06-17T02:37:43Z")
Don’t know if this is mentioned in the video (haven’t had time to watch it yet), but heavily armed and armored B-17s were experimented with in Europe as bomber escorts. The idea was, they couldn’t be readily identified, and it was hoped Luftwaffe pilots would attack them the same way they went after ordinary bombers. The only trouble was, they were too heavy and slow to keep up with the bomber formations, especially after the other aircraft had dropped their bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/183 "2021-06-17T05:20:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Don’t know if this is mentioned in the video (haven’t had time to watch it yet), but heavily armed and armored B-17s were experimented with in Europe as bomber escorts. Heh. A literal flying fortress. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/184 "2021-06-17T05:29:20Z")
Somewhere between 16-19 .50 cals, two MoH and a bunch of DFC. wow. > [@terentii](#): > > Don’t know if this is mentioned in the video (haven’t had time to watch it yet), but heavily armed and armored B-17s were experimented with in Europe as bomber escorts. The idea was, they couldn’t be readily identified, and it was hoped Luftwaffe pilots would attack them the same way they went after ordinary bombers. # Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress > **[Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_YB-40_Flying_Fortress)** > > The Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress was a modification for operational testing purposes of the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber aircraft, converted to act as a heavily armed gunship to support other bombers during World War II. At the time of its development, long-range fighter aircraft such as the North American P-51 Mustang were just entering quantity production, and thus were not yet available to accompany bombers all the way from England to Germany and back. > Work on the prototype, Project V-139, ... Most had 16 .50 but other had even more. But it was also the extra armor and the extra ammo that weighed them down along with two extra turrets. They are heavy. There are reports of 30 guns including cannon. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/185 "2021-06-17T06:57:30Z")
That name originally meant just that. They were intended to defend the United States from seaborne attack, essentially as extensions of American coastal defenses. This was demonstrated to foreign powers by intercepting the Italian passenger liner _Rex_ at sea in 1938. > **[Interception of the Rex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interception_of_the_Rex)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > > The interception of the Rex was a training exercise and military aviation achievement of the United States Army Air Corps prior to World War II. The tracking and location of an ocean-going vessel (the Italian liner SS Rex) by B-17 Flying Fortresses on 12 May 1938 was a major event in the development of a doctrine that led to a United States Air Force independent of the Army. The mission was ostensibly a training exercise for coastal defense of... British historian John Keegan devotes an entire chapter (“Flying Fortresses”) to the development of American air power in his book _ **Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America.** _ ---
**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:** [June 17, 2021, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/186 "2021-06-17T10:08:37Z")
[Black and White in Color](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074972/), from France ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/187 "2021-06-17T15:51:54Z")
Martin Caidin relates a story about a YB-40 gunship in Italy in his book “Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38.” Seems a P-38 made a forced landing and was captured intact by the Axis. After wringing all they could from the plane, they used it as a stalker, picking off lone, straggling bombers who relaxed when they saw a “Little Friend.” The counter to this was a YB-40. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/188 "2021-10-21T02:19:32Z")
[This book](https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Castle-Itter-Strangest-Skirmish-ebook/dp/B09JS6FMHR/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=strangest+battle&qid=1634782332&qsid=133-8807766-8387239&sr=8-1&sres=B09JS6FMHR%2CB09JRFSRTJ%2C078647307X%2CB0947C4XMT%2C1548711977%2CB0884TPCMF%2CB004CFA9Q4%2CB07FRYR51Q%2CB07VQ84RY8%2C0679602372%2C0241376572%2C1717905102%2CB0036S4D74%2C0812981650%2C0815628412%2CB07DS7444Y) is free on Kindle for amazon Prime. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/189 "2021-10-21T15:12:18Z")
I’d like an even handed telling of the life of Richard III. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/190 "2022-07-28T18:20:12Z")
The [Rochambelles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rochambelles) (Pardon the thread-necromancy. I just got back online after over a year off.) ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/191 "2022-07-29T04:48:25Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Personally, I’m tired of sanitized war movies that turn real heroes into fake Americans. Fair enough but I have a feeling this means we won’t be seeing a good Pavlov’s House movie anytime soon. Did you see the TV show The Endgame? It had hilariously bad timing. The show featured Russian “good guys” (they did evil things but for good reasons and they tried not to hurt civilians) versus Ukrainian bad guys. And then the show was released in the first week after Russia invaded Ukraine. By the end of the series (only ten episodes and it did not get a second season) the main character had changed from being Russian to being Brazilian and the bad guys were only ever referred to by their family name and not their nationality. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/192 "2022-07-29T17:03:40Z")
My husband reminded me of the “war”–I think we originally heard about that in Cracked–the other day when I told him about how an emu helped stop a hit and run driver who was fleeing on foot when he came to a wildlife sanctuary and decided he could “fight emus” (he attempted a “kung fu kick”) and could get past one protecting its chicks: > **[Emu and chef help stop driver fleeing crash site](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/27/uk-emu-fleeing-driver-chef-hotel/)** > > "I can fight emus," the fleeing driver said, ignoring chef Dean Wade's advice not to go in the emu pen in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. In case that’s behind a paywall, try this link: [Driver fleeing crash scene thwarted by 'emu attack' in Wiltshire field | ITV News West Country](https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2022-07-26/driver-fleeing-crash-scene-thwarted-by-emu-attack) ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/193 "2022-07-30T04:53:58Z")
Assuming I havent already said this upthread…I want to see _Tigers in the Mud_ A novel about a German tanker who held Americans in contempt for their shitty tactics, was terrified of the Soviets and in the end after the war, while being briefly held in the barbaric open-air internment camps…he just changes into some civilian clothes snuck in and basically walks out and goes home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152.md?page=9)