What Is Your Favorite WW II Airwar Movie?

[Devildog73]

Just curious as to what everyone's favorite WW II airwar movie is?

I like Midway.

[Toastmaker]

"Memphis Belle"

Really liked the music, cinematography and casting - regardless that it wasn't exactly historically accurate. . .

:running:

[Quixoticish]

Battle of Britain, without a doubt.

Tora! Tora! Tora! Comes in second place.

[txnetcop]

Battle of Britain-done so extremely well!
Ted

[TARPSBird]

My favorite is Fighter Squadron starring Robert Stack and Edmund O'Brien. Runner-up is Battle of Britain.

[PRB]

Dive Bomber! Ok, not precisely WW-II, but close (1941). Features some great color footage of Vindicator dive bombers and other planes of the era. And a good story too, about the medical science of high G associated with recovery from dive bombing runs. Good stuff.

[Curtis P40]

12 O'clock High

[GT182]

Battle of Britain

12 O'clock High

The War Lover

And last but not least... Kelly's Heros

[Rami]

Midway and Tora, Tora, Tora goes for me, though I like parts of Memphis Belle as well.

The Battle of Britain "Repeat, please" is also one of my favorites.

Sorry, I can't just pick one. :redface:

For a "complete BS" vote...what about Final Countdown?

[PRB]

Midway and Tora, Tora, Tora goes for me, though I like parts of Memphis Belle as well.

The Battle of Britain "Repeat, please" is also one of my favorites.

Sorry, I can't just pick one. :redface:

For a "complete BS" vote...what about Final Countdown?

For some reason, I loved The Final Countdown. It was a fun "Sci-Fi" type movie. I thought of it as a Star Trek eppisode, more or less. :d

[demorier]

I liked "Memphis Belle" when I first saw it....it's still my favorite.

[Pips]

Battle Of Britain hands down. :) War Lover a close second (I just fast forward those soppy bits)

[Eoraptor1]

I'll watch pretty much anything with actual aerial footage as opposed to CGI. Now, I know the day is coming when we'll be hard pressed to tell CGI animation from real flying aircraft, but we're not there yet.

JAMES

[robert41]

How bout these.

Airforce
30 seconds over toyko
wing and a prayer
12 oclock high
battle of britain
tora tora tora
murphy's war
midway

[norab]

633 Squadron, love the mossies

[olderndirt]

How about 'The Dam Busters' - Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC.

[Gdavis101]

Memphis Belle for me. :jump::jump:

[pilottj]

Tora Tora Tora would be my favorite.

Long ago there was a great Masterpiece Theatre series on PBS called Piece of Cake that was quite good.

I thought the little BOB bombing raid sequence in the beginning of Narnia Lion Witch and Wardobe was quite well done.

Cheers
TJ

[crashaz]

Tora! Tora! Tora! (go figure)
12 O Clock High
The War Lover
Men of the Fighting Lady
Flying Tigers
BoB

[stuartcox]

Battle of Britain
633 Squadron

Every time I watch Battle of Britain, I need to point out several landmark buildings in my hometown (Eastbourne), that hadn't been built until 1962!
Great shots over Beachy Head though!

[Sascha66]

The best:


Dark Blue World


followed by:

Toa! Tora Tora!

and

Battle of Britain


and

Black Sheep which should have been a movie too!

[Bushpounder]

12 O'clock High, Memphis Belle

Don

[stiz]

Dive Bomber! Ok, not precisely WW-II, but close (1941).

which would place it 3 yrs into ww2 then :monkies::icon_lol:

mine in no paticular order:-

Dark Blue World
Dambusters
BOB
Aces High
Tora Tora Tora
and the glider+c47 bits in a bridge to far :)

[hewman100]

I think I'm in agreement with what's come up so far.

Dark Blue World
Battle of Britain
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Dambusters
and Angels One Five.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Unfortunately there are not many good airwar movies around --

Favorite: Dark Blue World and Memphis Belle, and the french "Le Chevalier du Ciel" for the best flying scenes ever filmed, hands down.
I can't stand much in the Battle of Britain movie, I know I know, sorry to disagree.

For CGI, I am a strong advocate. I believe it would (will) show much better what the real scope and violence of some engagements was about -- instead of flying around in three Spit's and one and half Bf109 (with the wrong engine).

Looking forward to the new The Dambusters and Tuskegee airman film.

[hurricane3]

Hands down ,without a doubt Battle of Britian IS the all time best airwar movie ever ,ever ever, made. Close follow ups are (although not really an airwar movie )is A Bridge too Far ,also Tora Tora Tora,and the old Airforce, I could go on but that tops the list.
Did I mention The Battle Of Britian?

[hurricane3]

I forgot The Dambusters,and 633 Squadron, sombody shut me up!.

[hubbabubba]

The Dam Busters with Richard Todd as Guy Gibson. In The Longest Day, Todd played the role of Major John Howard, the officer responsible for holding the Pegasus bridges until reinforcement arrived. In real life, he was a Captain in the British 6th Airborne Division and was part of the reinforcement!

A good place to sift through is HERE (http://www.coastcomp.com/av/fltline2/avmovie.htm)
, lots of warbirds movies mentioned.

And, yeah, by 1941, many people were up to their eyeballs in WWII...:kilroy:

[ibl19108]

For me, Battle of Britain.
Then Tora, Tora, Tora, Dunkirk (b/w), The Cruel Sea (b/w), The Battle of the River Plate (Graf Spee), The Malta Story (Spitfires), Dam Busters - Peter Jackson is doing a remake.:salute:

[TeaSea]

"Catch-22", bar none for flying sequences alone....

Eat this CGI Boys!!!

2jYoeqUs2KI&feature

Unfortunately, you couldn't film it today....even if you could scare up the airplanes, the insurance costs alone would be prohibitive.

Joseph Heller, who was a Bombardier on a B-25 in WWII stated repeatedly that this was not an anti-war movie, but rather a comment using dark humor regarding the rise of management bureaucracy and it's impact on the individual. It's not a necessarily a dystopia like "Brave New World" or "1984", but closely follows those themes in that the individual is marginalized to feed the greater good of the state. A natural enough tendency in wartime, and Heller uses that to make his point.

However, because "Catch-22" was released in 1970 it could not help but be associated with the anti-war moment. The movie was also released at the same time "MASH" was, and although critically acclaimed, died at the box office that summer in competition with "MASH", which was an anti-war movie. The book Catch-22 was written in the 1950's and published in 1961, long before U.S. involvement in Viet Nam went beyond just a few advisers.

[Haining]

I know that it's not Second World War but "Hell's Angels", Ben Lyon and Jean Harlow. Directed by Howard Hughes in 1930. 80 years old but still well worth watching.

[Bjoern]

"Catch-22", bar none for flying sequences alone....

Hahahaha! Nice! :d
Need to get my hands on that movie.


Dark Blue World (Tmavomodrý svět) hands down.

Impressive from second one. It just feels so...authetic and human.

[Craig Taylor]

So many good movies mentioned already (jots down a list of things to find on cable).

I'll throw in "Flying Leathernecks" for the Corsair alone (just not featured enough in movies, in my opinion), plus you can't go wrong with the Duke as a Marine. I thought the movie had a really good side plot with John Wayne and Robert Ryan and the issues of command and leadership. I've also enjoyed "1941" for the entertainment value alone. Wild Bill Kelso rocks!

[jbtate]

A mention of "Empire of the Sun". Prepare for tears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv9rirLk2kA
jbtate

[UncleTgt]

Not really airwar, but my vote goes a story about the airwar in the ETO ...

Way to the Stars ( The story of Halfpenny Field, England ...)

very GB 1950's stiff upper lip & all that, but a powerful story nonetheless

Some more ...

Visually impressive concept - A Matter of Life & Death (1945)

"Septic calling ..." Angels One Five

The Dambusters (1953)

& of course Battle of Britain, though more for the Luftwaffe March scene than the air scenes ...

[WarHorse47]

'Reach for the Sky" with Kenneth More and "Thirty Seconds over Tokoyo."

:ernae:

--WH

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Dark Blue World all the way

(plane scenes after first minute)

nkHTQKWrdj0

[TARPSBird]

Dark Blue World is one of the few airplane flicks my wife enjoys watching, because of the love triangle story. It's an essential part of the movie's plot but doesn't detract from the combat stuff. Unlike Pearl Harbor where about 1/4th of the way through the flick you're already sick of the love scenes and just waiting for the attack to start.