Aircraft Stories - Discovery Channel

[kevmusic]

Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!! :ugh::ugh:

I'm watching this as I type - the voiceover is describing the Spitfire Mk14, and we are watching a Hellcat, in RAF colours. Now he's moved on to Spit Mk16s and we're watching Kittyhawks!!! Do these programme makers do any research?? :yuk:

I despair.

[Grasscarp]

Makes you want to scream at the tv! I was at Gatwick once and a man was telling his son that a particular aircraft was a type which was totally wrong. I wanted to say something but didnt as it might have made him feel stupid in front of his child.

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Same program, I've seen flying Mig 17's described as 21's, & (think same prog ) a DH Hornet doing a deck landing in a prog that was solely about Mossies


:ugh:

[XV490]

I saw it too - my favourite description was of a Hawker Hunter "17-GA-9".

[18-Wheeler]

And just how many times have we heard on-screen a C-130 Hercules, with a piston-engined sound track?
:(

[Double Zero]

I am so glad this has been mentioned !

My father ( Seafire to Harrier GR5 engineer ) & self ( BAe tech' photographer 14 yrs ) so often watch these programmes and then just look at each other not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The ' Aircraft Stories ' I saw the other day had the narrator describing various marks of Spitfire, Wildcat & Hellcat, meanwhile long minutes passed by on screen of nothing but P-40's !

These programmes ( not just A.S. ) simply seem to have no quality control at all; most mistakes could easily be corrected by just showing the semi-finished product to someone who even reasonably knows the subject.

When taking photographs of kit in or out of aircraft which the engineers concerned were complaining about, I always asked them to put all selections into a realistic setting - partly as it seemed 'professional' if that's not being too up myself - and partly as it was obvious that the person receiving the complaint about their kit would take things less seriously if the settings were for say 100G at Mach 22, 200' underground !

I had a brief meeting with one such video team making some similar film ( probably Harrier or Hawk related but they never deigned to talk to ANYONE on the ' field, just did their thing ) - the emphasis certainly seemed just what a cynic would expect - trendy dudes with outrageous haircuts & clothes, & the odd bimbo.

I don't think it a coincidence that when I tried to contact a firm which had made a Harrier video over copyright reasons ( I wanted to send someone a copy, though that film as well was far from perfect ), they had long since gone bust.

If one looks at it seriously, young people of today can easily detect B.S, and whether it's historical or modern, when they see the same footage described as several different things, or - the classic - Harvard engine soundtrack for anything that's not really obviously a jet, they turn off the whole subject.

Hence lack of aerospace ENGINEERS & DESIGNERS, they p' off to get paid more for programming fantasy computer games...

What we really need is a feedback red button on the Sky controller, " B.S. Detected ! "

If enough of us did this, who knows, someone might even take notice...

[Ian Japp]

Brilliant documentary … one thing the P51D Mustang had a maximum of SiX 50Cal … NOT " eight machine guns .." small things ruin great documentaries .. RAF intel. would have asked the question .. " so old chap how many guns does a Focke Wulf have .. how long was he firing at you .. " etc

[fauteuil volant]

You must remember, old chap, that these programmes are made for those who know nothing about aviation and care even less about it. They are made for those who simply wish to be entertained, not educated, and whose brains are geared to processing ephemera - so that before the programme finishes, they've forgotten what they've seen and heard and moved on to the next thing. The maxim which governs the way the producers of such programmes work is: 'never let the facts get in the way of a good story'. I used to despair of such people. Now I just ignore them and move on.

[SPIT]

I once saw a program that was about the Lancaster and when they showed them they had the sound track of JET ENGINES and this was 1943.???

[Kiltrash]

You must remember these are Discovery channels. Not main stream but only are watched by people with a passing interest in the subject matter, so the producers should take more care of the accuracy.

[chevvron]

Years ago they made a programme about the Canadair Challenger 604 bizjet partly at Farnborough; used my voice recorded when I talked it down on PAR back into Farnborough.
I wasn't asked permission for my voice to be broadcast umpteen times on TV, nor have I ever received any royalties.
Mind you I was pleased to see that, as I did the talkdown to touchdown rather than terminate at decision height, when I said 'radar touchdown NOW' there was a puff of rubber smoke from the mainwheels!Cool

[FlightlessParrot]

Once upon a time, there were US cable tv channels that did interesting things: the History Channel, the Discovery Channel which did science and tech things, and MTV, which did popular music. They've all gone to the pack, producing shoddy lowest-common-denominator schlock. The History Channel, for instance, puts on Ancient Aliens.

[ShyTorque]

Let's not forget the modern, twin turbine engined helicopters with a sound track from a Bell-47 with the engine slowing down to idle as the helicopter approaches the hover.

[chevvron]

Let's not forget the modern, twin turbine engined helicopters with a sound track from a Bell-47 with the engine slowing down to idle as the helicopter approaches the hover.
Probably used a 'stock' sound track from the TV series 'Whirlybirds' c1950s; even a Jetranger sounds the same as a Bell 47 in some tv programmes.

[fauteuil volant]

I thought that all the television helicopter 'soundovers' came from Bell 47 scenes in small screen version of MASH - oh, with the exception of the newreels of the Fairey Rotodyne, which used sound recordings of the first day of the Battle of the Somme!