Need $$ Just To Look

I can't imagine how much this thing would be worth.

I wouldn't mind having that!

So,I'm watching 12 O'clock high the (TV series) and just after seeing this what do you think was on the screen? A D series ambulance dressed up in Wermacht colors! You can clearly see the Triple Diamond on the nose.
FWIW it was season 3,episode 6 "Practice to deceive". Might find it on YouTube or something(?).

I had a unique appreciation or unappreciation of all WWII airplane TV shows and movies growing up.
My dad was a B-17 pilot. An old airplane fanatic, as well.
Within about 10 seconds of watching one of these shows he'd shake his head and say something like
" It wasn't like that".
The Messerschmidt 109s were often a stock movie clip run over and over. Anything added was often done with AT-6 Texans or some such US plane. Not a German or Japanese fighter plane!
He would tell the story of the BIG Hollywood WWII movie where the plane in question would take off as one airplane, fly as another and land as a third! No continuity at all.
However some movies, like the Battle of Britain were complete delights.
As my dad would say WWII " with the original cast"!

My uncle was a navigator on theB-17's flew out of England. Was on the first daylight bombing run on Berlin. He never would talk much about it, said that every mission they lost a plane and there were never enough parachutes deployed. I understood!

My dad was in England, too. Thank goodness he went in kinda late(1943) or my fat butt wouldn't be here.

The reason there weren't any Japanese planes used is very few exist.There is only one (that I know of) flyable "Zero" in the world and many types there are none at all.Sad to say the same goes for the German planes.A little surprising there aren't more Bf109's since it was the most produced plane in history.

12 o'clock high was notorious for "inaccuracies" Their 918th BG used footage of the 91st BG "triangle A" but in quite a few scenes the 17 has the 94th's "square A" on the tail.
I was in the 17 "Piccadilly Lily II" used in TOH at the Planes of Fame museum at the Chino airport. If you're ever in SoCal it's worth the trip to Chino,there's also the Yank's museum plus the tarmac's usually have a quite few warbird's parked. I touched the Memphis Belle used in the '90 film and 2 MiG 15's that were sitting there.Stuck my head in the open bomb bay of a B-25 and took some pic's.Watched a Corsair land and taxi right up to me,pretty cool,he folded the wings while moving! Also watched a B-25,P-40 and a P-51D take off as a group! (good story behind that) Saw a freshly restored B-26 Marauder doing taxi tests,lot's of Mustangs in the air and on the ground.
Nobody ever bothered me walking around with my camera,musta looked like I belonged there.


Found a clip of that Corsair (FG-1D),not very good and the sound doesn't do justice to the sound of that BIG R-2800.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYwHNfdAZYY

The sweetest sounding engine though is a Merlin V-1650.

I was at an airshow in N.J. and got a helluva a treat... I was on the last cockpit tour of "FiFi" a B-29 and they had just finished working on the # 3 engine and they decided to run it up while we were still inside! I kinda leaned over the flight engineers shoulder to look out his window and snap a few pic's. THAT was really cool! Had somebody shoot a pic of me in the left seat too.

Are you kidding, my sister and I grew up at the Chino and Ontario airports and airshows.1960-1970s.
There is or was a German 262 Jet outside the museum.
Everytime my dad saw it he'd say it was a good thing more of those didn't make it to the war.
He had ONE experience with it during WWII and it wasn't good.
My dad could pick off the Spanish Civil War Messerchmidts from the later ones in the WWII movies.
He'd say something like " good try" or" at least they tried".
We got to see the inaugural flight of a B-29. They had a hell of a time starting it.
Since I had no frame of reference, I always liked the between wars airplanes because of style.
My dad would say " really"? And tell me why that was a terrible airplane!
We never left the house, we " took off" and then "landed" at our destination in a car.
My cousins have my dad's bomber jacket with his B-17s nose art on it. Won't budge. What do you do

I was driving OTR for a company that went to the LA area regularly. I was the new guy but they liked me enough to give me some of those runs. I usually had to layover for a weekend which I didn't mind as they payed for a motel. I'd drop the trailer at the 76 in Ontario and bobtail around a bit,Chino was 10mins away so I'd spend afternoon's there.
That was back in '90-'91 then they folded.
The 262 was inside then and I read they built a new large addition a few years ago. I'd love to get back someday.
I also stopped at the Pima museum once,they have a beautiful 17 inside.

Movies also used HA1112's the Spanish built 109's with Merlin's in them (how's that for ironic!?) easy to spot with the big cowl bulges for the heads to fit. Watch Patton or the Battle of Britain closely, those HE-111's are actually Casa 2.111's,you can see the exhaust stubs sticking out of the upper side of the nacelles. I saw one at an air show in Jersey about 20 years ago,still cool to see the design in reality.

So why don't you have your dad's jacket??? IMO it's rightfully yours!

My dad was the nicest guy, no foolin'.
Soon after he got back from WWII he let somebody wear it and never saw it again!
Decades go by and we find out that our cousins have it, or had it.
Doesn't help they're New England and we're California.
We HAVE a picture of him wearing it with the beautiful art on it.
These things are in the Smithsonian now....
I've got two older bros, so I don't get but a whiff anyway.

I can relate,when my uncle past away my cousins didn't even ask if I wanted any of his railroad or plane books plus I never saw my slide projector again,I'd left with him to look at the slides I took. That 17 in Tulare was in them too!
I eventually bought my own "The Mighty Eighth" by Roger Freeman a great book,found an almost mint copy on fleabay at a good price.
If you like to read another good book is "Fork-Tailed Devil" "der Gabelschwanz Teufel" by Martin Caidin. It tells all about the P-38 for drawing board to action.


Can you post the jacket pic Don?