Where's "continuity"?!?

A show on History Channel or Discovery produced, called "Full Throttle: Air Aces" just aired again. The episode about Robin Olds and the 8th T.A.C. Fighter Wing out of Ubon, Thailand. Operation Bolo. The scenes depicting meetings and cockpit shots are totally bogus with regard to the equipment, particularly O2 masks and helmets, some of the flight suits and gun camera footage of MiG 17's interchanged with narration of MiG21 shoot-downs.

You would think they would have tried to be more accurate with the details when attempting to convey history. Some of us who know better are still kickin'! On the up-side, the interviews with the guys actually involved with Operation Bolo is great.

I was late to the game but flew with 8th TFW as "backseat baggage" when then Colonel Francis Humphreys was the commander. I was one of the USAF photojournalists to document the last bombing mission in S.E.A. (15 AUG 73) and he flew lead. And he sported a "Robin Olds" moustache!

Wish I'd known he went on to serve here at MacDill, as I've an image of him in the cockpit, taking a photo of me taking a photo of him prior to the flight. And a few of the "culls" in the coverage done in prep for the mission. Would have laughed if we could have traded images of one another.

There is no continuity...especially air.
How many WWII movies have you seen where a B-17 takes off, a C-47 in flight, and a B-24 landing, with ground shots of crew unloading from an R6D?

How about John Wayne with cast on (leg or arm) shifting from left side to right side as the movie progresses?

The History Channel? I'm so old I remember when history was about things that actually happened!

The last hours of the Titanic, introduced with shadowy figures carrying candles in a dark, dripping cellar - The Secrets of the Dead!

Those cable shows are so desperate for cheap content, they'll take old documentary films and photos, paste them together with interviews with real survivors, but then add scenes of semi-trained "archeologists" or re-enactors in totally wrong uniforms and surroundings. Biggest laugh for me are the WW2 shows all using the same actors for Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Goebbels, etc.. There's never any dialogue, so those scenes can be dubbed or narrated in any language the cable company wants.

Hundreds of stations with thousands of shows, for only $129 a month! What a bargain! (but none are worth watching)

Good grief. History as entertainment.

oy

Mac's hit it. It's entertainment, not scholarly history. And they're trying to do it as cheaply as possible using old product to cut in wherever they can. It's probably too much to ask for 100% authenticity, think what it would cost. If you want a laugh,go to IMDB.com and search for your favorite historical movie and look under "goofs" Here's a link to "Dunkirk": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/goofs/?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf

OK - I'm dense. Who is Mac?

Been almost a year without cable TV now and saved about $1000. Makes me happy and proud.

I guess we're lucky over here. the 5 main Free To Air channels tend to have good quality programming, and we get another 40 or so "internet" channels free now that we only have digital TV. You don't miss what you've never had. I've resisted Sky although most of the sports are going there - fortunately not Rugby Union which is the only sport worth watching now that F1 is 70 glorified parade laps.

Konrod - you are *indeed* lucky to have all that UK programming available. Most of the folks I know here in the USA (including me) only watch local news, and then the British programming we see on PBS. That's real quality - not the sequences of computer graphics, explosions, beautiful people, and car crashes like much of USA programming.

Tom M.