Monday, May 14, 2007

The Black Swallow of Death?

On the excellent First Posts web site there's a competition to win tickets to the Duxford Airshow. It also features a trailer for the movie Flyboys, which is released in June. Watch it HERE

It seems from the trailer that not only did the Americans win WW2 but now also WW1. Now I may be being a little unfair here because perhaps they are showing American volunteers fighting for the French Air Force, which did happen. It also portrays a black man as being a WW1 fighter pilot, which I assume could be Eugene Jacques Bullard, who having joined the French Foreign Legion then transferred into the French Air Service. He became a highly decorated combat pilot known as the "Black Swallow of Death," Bullard flew over 20 combat missions, but was never allowed to fly for the United States, even after it entered the war

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

No offense taken by this American, Richard. Hollywood does make it seem like America wins all the wars. (How are we going to do that with Iraq, I wonder?) Any historian in the US knows this is rubbish. It seems that at present we are just so incredibly impressed with our power and greatness (which seems to consist of equal parts of humanitarianism and militarism) that we have lost sight of the idea of working together with our Allies, or appreciating the bonds forged in the past.
Please do not think that the Bush version, or Hollywood version, of America is shared by all Americans. I'm hoping for better days ahead.

Richard Havers said...

Glad there was no offence Rob. As we all know, history is written by the winners. I like your comments very much. For us over here it's good to know hat some people over there are still like we think we are over here!

Anonymous said...

I live close to the excellent Duxford Air Museum, they have a hangar for American aircraft and is well worth the trip.

The comment facility does not seem to be working on the previous post I left a message regarding how to add music, but this is the gist of it from Philipa:

Have open in another window the music from youtube that you want.
In your blog editor, make sure you are in 'compose' mode (look at the tabs on the top right of the editor space.
highlight the text or picture in your post that you want to hotlink.
(just clicking once on the picture will highlight it)
then look at the editor toolbar and click on the icon that looks like a planet with a piece of chain on it.
A dialogue box will open.
Go to the youtube window and copy the URL of the music vid you want.
Go back to the blog editor, r-click in the dialogue box and paste in the URL.
OK and save everything and your hotlink will now provide a soundtrack.

Lord Nazh said...

While I take no offense from most anything :)

I'm wondering what 'better days ahead' Mr. Morris is looking for.

Unemployment below 4.4% check
Economy booming check
taxes lowered on workers check
deficit to be cleared by 08 check
no terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11 check (*unless you count the single sniper types as terrorists, but the media doesn't)

I guess what Mr Morris is looking forward to is.... well he'll tell us :)

And what do you mean we didn't win WWII or I?

Richard Havers said...

And what do you mean we didn't win WWII or I?

On your own :)

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

Hello, thanks for dropping by.

I have to say one of the things that annoys me (and there are lots, let me tell you) is America's belief that it won both World Wars. I won't go on, because you don't know me and I will only make myself unpopular ...

Richard Havers said...

M & M

I think my point and Rob's who is American, is that it's Hollywood that have done the "we won the war" thing to death. It's good for box-office in a land where many more people go to the cinema than they do most everywhere else.

Anonymous said...

Don't believe everything the government and Fox news tells you, Mr. Nazh. (As an American, I do not use titles such as Lord, except for the Man upstairs).

I'm glad you think your money is being so frugally spent by our current administration. I'm a fiscal conservative, too, usually vote Republican (depends on the quality of the candidate, not mere knee-jerk) and don't see much of Ronald Reagan in George Bush.

The United States did NOT win World War Two. We helped win it, and our role was vital, but Mr. Havers is refering to the fact that we did not do it alone. England fought for years on its own. 'We' does not mean 'The United States' in this case. It means the United States and our allies, including Russia.

Nowadays, of course, 'we' means the United States, because our Prez likes to go it alone. And our best friend in this conflict, Tony Blair, is on his way out after sacrificing his career to help US out.

Mission accomplished. No further posts from me to 'Lord' Nazh so he can fire at will for all I care.
Semper Fi

Anonymous said...

By the way, 'Flyboys' is an excellent movie. Not always completely realistic, but very exciting and entertaining. As a pilot, I loved it.

Richard Havers said...

Elle, thanks but the music I want probably isn't on Youtube. I'm going to go in search of another method.

Lord Nazh said...

I realize this thread is dead, but I wanted to clarify 2 points


1: Lord in my name is not a title, the name Lord Nazh was the NAME of my 1st character in DnD in 1985 :)

2: The part where I said the US didn't win WWII or I was a joke...