Customer Reviews

Aerial Gunner

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although dated by today's standards ("Holy Christopher!"), the movie gives an accurate account of aerial gunnery training in WWII. For the first hour (of the 90 minute film), all aspects of gunnery training are portrayed. I fully enjoyed the epic, even though the characters end up in a B-25 Mitchell. (I'm partial to B-24 Liberators!) Well worth the watch!!

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...per the earlier review, but more properly a Lockheed Hudson light bomber (rated an attack plane by the USAAF as either the A-28 or the A-29), which was converted to a combat aircraft from a fast civilian airliner to British specifications before the war. Several hundred of these were taken expediently from Lend-Lease manufacture into USAAF and USN inventory after Pearl Harbor, and the Hudson is listed as having achieved the USAAF's first antisubmarine warfare (ASW) kill in the Atlantic after the formal opening of hostilities.

Interestingly, the bomber in the movie is depicted as having a tail gunner's position (it did not) and as having a single waist gunner (ditto). Hudson aircraft taken into the US inventory commonly had the big British Boulton-Paul dual .303 MG waist turret removed, to be replaced with a simple single-weapon .50 caliber dorsal firing station (like the one depicted in the movie as being manned by the radio operator). The previous reviewer's confusion is therefore somewhat understandable. Hopefully, enemy viewers of the movie also drew false impressions about the Hudson, and didn't as readily seek to exploit the aircraft's posterior and ventral vulnerabilities.

As for the film itself, the most interesting part was the depiction of aerial gunnery training, which definitely did include shooting skeet in order to give the trainees better preparatory conditioning for deflection shooting.
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Chester Morris and Richard Arlen are lifelong rivals(like Archie and Reggie in the comics) who somehow end up in the Air Corps, in the same unit, at the same time, as.... (Drum roll)....Aerial Gunners! When they're not busy training with their .50 caliber machine guns they're busy trying to outmaneuver each other for the attention of the scrumptious Amelita Ward, who looks young enough to be their daughter. (I'm not sure if she was Mrs. Mugs Mahoney at this time. Ha! Imagine Mugs as a bomber's Tailgun Charlie!). Anyways the men carry on like a couple of Tom Sawyers trying to impress Becky Thatcher, which seems out of place since they are both well beyond the age when men typically do that. Of course one guy is the straight arrow and the other is the rat who learns his lesson albeit too late to do him much good. It's kind of funny how that happens in these movies. You'd almost think it would be better to NOT learn your lesson, that way you would at least dramatically increase your life span.

This is a typical WW2 propaganda movie which won't do you any damage but it's not really exciting or interesting either.

A Truly different perspective from many war movies of the time. This movie enocompasses the 8 men that would fight and defend in bomber planes during WWII.

A wonderful movie, and well remastered.

The video was like in the 40s. They should remaster it !
How could you sell movies like that ? You can't watch it !

Very Difficult and rare classic movie on DVD to find! Great price,fast Shipment, good communucation and the product arrived in good condition! What more could you want? Recommend this seller! Thanks!
Kevin

Typical of the war movies of that age. Very much the Americans are all good clean kids who will overcome injustice. I enjoyed looking at an America that was. Would purchase again but this is not a documentary or even a close approximation of real life.