NKP, let me tell you something. Back in the '80s I was priviledged to work with a man who was a World War Two Navy vet, and he told me when there were shoreside fights between Army guys and Navy guys the Marines would ALWAYS drop what they were doing and rush to the aid of the sailors, and vice versa. There may have been spats between the swabbies and the gyrenes but like members of any family they always stuck together.
In that same job I also met a lot of World War Two vets, but the Navy and Marine guys were special. Forty years after they fact they were still the high-spirited people they always were and seemed ready to go out and do it all over again. NOT that they wanted to, mind you. What an achievement it was for the Navy and Marine Corps to take these kids and turn them into the war-winners they became.
The Japanese never had a chance.
Ah yes, BB-38, the USS Pennsylvania. One of the "Pearl Harbor Ghosts" that got it's revenge later on.
While I have full respect for Marines as sea soldiers while they are still members of the Corps, they have the annoying habit of turning into ex-Marines after they are mustered out. They seem to forget that the rest of the world is not the Corps.
CSSHEGEWISCH While I have full respect for Marines as sea soldiers while they are still members of the Corps, they have the annoying habit of turning into ex-Marines after they are mustered out. They seem to forget that the rest of the world is not the Corps.
You mean it's NOT? Geez, nobody tells me anything...
They say there's no such thing as an ex-Marine. A Marine is always a Marine. Some accept this honorable distinction with justifiable pride and dignity; some are just jerks. I've met both kinds, and I'm happy to say that in my experience, the former outnumber the latter.
Tom
Have to agree with you ACY, just because some one wore the Eagle Globe and Anchor it doesn't mean he (or she) is automatically a saint. But you're right, the good ones more than outnumber the jerks. Every organization is bound to have some "you-know-what's" who manage to slip through the cracks.
Hey, any more bloopers out there?
Oh and NKP, concerning "Casey Jones" with its "glacial pacing and trite storylines" you have to remember it WAS a show aimed at kids and wasn't like "Gunsmoke" which was aimed at an adult audience. Some shows were better than others, but when I watch it on You Tube I remember just what it is I'm watching so I don't get critical. I just sit back and enjoy the nostalgia.
The old "Lone Ranger" shows have the same problem, but that's OK, as far as I'm concerned Clayton Moore is THE Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels is THE Tonto! Everyone else is a cheap imitation.
I've ignored the current versions of Sherlock Holmes for the same reasons. If it ain't Basil Rathbone, it ain't Sherlock Holmes!
Firelock76 {Snip} The old "Lone Ranger" shows have the same problem, but that's OK, as far as I'm concerned Clayton Moore is THE Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels is THE Tonto! Everyone else is a cheap imitation. I've ignored the current versions of Sherlock Holmes for the same reasons. If it ain't Basil Rathbone, it ain't Sherlock Holmes!
{Snip}
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Like that fake searchlight signal (aperently on a hinge) that hangs over the train and swipes Gene Wilder's charchter smooth off the train . Still I watch that movie every time I have the chance.
ACY They say there's no such thing as an ex-Marine. A Marine is always a Marine. Some accept this honorable distinction with justifiable pride and dignity; some are just jerks. I've met both kinds, and I'm happy to say that in my experience, the former outnumber the latter. Tom
It's the "Once a Marine, always a Marine" attitude that makes most ex-Marines so insufferable. Unfortunately, most of the ex-Marines I've met tend to be overbearing and arrogant jerks.
While not actually a blooper, one of the most worrying automobile advertisements I ever saw was (if I recall correctly) the Peugeot 406 Coupe.
The advertisement was set in the Western USA and the car is seen driving alongside a passenger train headed by a silver and grey F7.
They approach a grade crossing and the bells and lights operate and boom gates descend.
However, the boom gates stop the train, allowing the car to cross.
I'd think that that advertisement had the potential to undo much of the work of "Operation Lifesaver".
On the secondary topic, I live in a country that has never had any Marines. It is a bit frustrating to have paratroops on our amphibious ships, and every one being there for the first time every time. We have Royal Marine exchange officers, but they can't do that much to help.
M636C
In a similar vein, I seem to recall a commercial for a large American car several years ago. The car pulls up and stops at a grade crossing where the bells are ringing and the lights are flashing. The gate comes down and the horn is heard. The driver closes the window and all is quiet as the train passes, presumably still blowing the horn.
I guess they were trying to market their cars to people with a death wish. If the bells and horn are warning me to stay off the track, I want to hear the warnings. I guess I'm just funny that way.
Did you ever see the British film, " The Dam Busters?" after the dams are busted, they show flooded railyards and the freight cars are all American, not the round topped, 4 wheel 40/8 type that were used in Europe back then. Even in Europe now, you don't see those too often. They don't show that movie anymore because the main character had a black Labrador named "N-word" if you can believe that. The man who invented the skipping bombs was Barnes Wallis and his house is marked with a plaque in south London.
That's odd, I saw "The Dam Busters" not too long ago, I forget if it was on "The History Channel" or TCM. Anyway, I first saw the film years ago and remember the black lab. He gets run over by a Lancaster, by the way. The last time I saw it the dog wasn't there at all. Some creative editing I suppose.
American type boxcars sure sound strange, especially in a British film. You suppose they got a good deal from Lionel for the model department?
Firelock76 That's odd, I saw "The Dam Busters" not too long ago, I forget if it was on "The History Channel" or TCM. Anyway, I first saw the film years ago and remember the black lab. He gets run over by a Lancaster, by the way. The last time I saw it the dog wasn't there at all. Some creative editing I suppose. American type boxcars sure sound strange, especially in a British film. You suppose they got a good deal from Lionel for the model department?
Quite a lot of editing required I think. The dog's name was the code word for successfully breaching the dams with another word being used for a successful hit by the "bouncing bomb". I think both dams required two successful hits before they failed.
In those sections you might get away with just suppressing the word in the sound track although it might look a bit odd as the dog's name was shouted out by the radio operator in the operations room.
The dog appeared in many scenes, but was killed by a passing car while searching for Wing Commander Gibson who was in a series of secret meetings just before the raid.
There was a model scene where a suitably German train (possibly Maerklin O gauge) was washed off the track by flood waters. There were scenes filmed from an aircraft which I think may have been of a flood in the Pittsburgh area showing flooded steel works. (The Krupp Ruhr steelworks were one of the areas expected to be affected by the dam failure). It was these presumably newsreel outtakes that had distinctive US boxcars visible in the water.
The movie special effects used for the dam failures were very primitive by today's standards.
My favourite scene is when Barnes Wallis asks to borrow a Wellington bomber to drop the sub-scale test bombs. The Air Force officer is appalled and says "Wellingtons are like gold, they won't like that" to which Wallis says "Would it help if I said I designed the Wellington..."
617 squadron was recently disbanded, having been last equipped with Tornado aircraft.
The theme music from the film is regarded as a classic and was offered on a disc of military music advertised on TV tonight.
Aaaand, speaking of Lancasters, you do know that Canada's Lanc is now in Britain doing flying events with the Brits' Lanc? A seat on the trans Atlantic flight was auctioned off for $80,000.00! Yow! They'd better have some fine looking stewardesses on there! I don't recall any German trains in the movie myself but do recall the American ones and yeah, it looks like it could be Pittsburgh.
TWO Lancasters flying together? My God, that must be a sight to see! Throw in some Spitfire and Hurricane escorts and it'd be an event remembered for years.
By the way, and I don't remember just where I read this, but if the US Army Air Force and Boeing couldn't get the "bugs" out of the B-29 the Air Force was giving serious consideration to borrowing a Lancaster from the RAF for the atomic bomb missions. A Lancaster could carry the weight of a "Little Boy" or a "Fat Man" but no other American bomber of the time besides a B-29 could.
Over there they have the Battle of Britain memorial flight which is a Lanc, a Hurricane and a Spitfire. Of course they're all going to fly together! It's one of the things the Brits do right. I sure did not know that about using a Lancaster for the A bombs, that is interesting.
Now, I do recall a show called "The Iron Horse" but don't remember watching it. I did read the Mad magazine satire of it and in one scene in that the head man asks, "Do you know how to build a railroad?" and the guy says, "You bet, I have a set up in my attic." "Good, then you're my construction superintendent."
I remember "Iron Horse", it starred Dale Robertson and aired around 1970 or so. I watched it a few times and found it very disappointing. It was supposed to be a railroad themed western but it was heavy on the western and light on the railroad. Mostly it was "good guys vs. bad guys" or "cowboys and Indians", hardly any train action at all. I think it only lasted one season.
And 54light, as far as the Brits doing things right in one of my aviation books there's a fantastic shot of a Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber (you know, the one that crippled the Bismarck) doing a fly-past with one of the crew rendering the naval salute and holding a Royal Navy white ensign.
Class, pure class.
Firelock, there is or was a Swordfish at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. I saw it a few years ago and it is HUGE! There should be a picture of it on their website, warplane.com. Yeah, I kinda remember that about Iron Horse, not a lot of train action so that's probably why I didn't watch it. Had to settle for the exciting action of "Petticoat Junction," with 3 women swimming in the water tower. No jokes about the water treatment!
Those three young women swimming in the water tower is nothing to joke about, it was one of the best parts of the show! Ah, the imagination ran riot.....
The train was cool too.
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