Von Richthofen & Brown goofs

[Laspalmas]

Just picked up this movie, enjoyed the many flight scenes, was not horrible considering the year it was made but I really had fun finding all the mistakes they made. Here's my list of goof-ups: (if anyone has seen it and has noticed more mistakes, let us know)

1-Richthofen's squadron was comprised of D-VII's, a Pfaltz D-III and a couple of Tiger Moths made to look like german fighters.-Richthofen was already dead before they got the first deliveries of D-VII's.

2-Capt. Roy Brown never met or fought MVR until that fateful day in April 1918.

3-Goering was not in MVR's squadron with Boelcke.

4-MVR was not involved or blamed for Boelcke's accident, nor was Goering, as the movie purports.

5-Goering did not shoot down and kill Lanoe Hawker, MVR did.

6-MVR was not over 6ft tall, as the actor who portrayed him was.

7-MVR did not like the DR1 when he first saw it, as the movie purports.

8-Brown was not the arrogant loner the movie showed and got along with his fellow pilots.

9-The wheels on the SE-5's were not painted with the
british cockade, IIRC.

10-Goering did not shoot down Brown (who survived)

11-MVR was not shot down and wounded by an SE-5 scout but a tail-gunner of a two seater got him from a long distance as MVR, in his own words, did not think he was within range.

12-The British did not destroy MVR's circus on the ground in a raid, as purported.

13-The Germans did not do the same in an act of revenge.

14-Voss did not die flying with MVR and it was not on the same day as MVR was wounded, as the film showed.

15-The DR1 did not have a large open cowling as shown in the film.

16-Goering was not a bastard (during this time) and got along with MVR.

17-Wolff was not shot down in a D-VII and was shot down before Voss, not after. (Wolff was killed 7 days before Voss)

18-Brown did not have any bar brawls with americans (or british)

19-Wrong colours on Berthold's D-VII and he was not shot down and killed. (killed by angry mob during Berlin's riots after the war).

20-Ltn. May did not land his plane when MVR was pursuing him.

21-MVR did not have a dog fight (attack) Brown, he was attacked from the rear by Brown in one pass.

22-MVR's plane did not make a perfect soft landing and australian gunners did not give him a gun salute (in front of an intact DR1 with dead MVR in it.

Any others?

[Willi Von Klugerman]

My gosh,I've never seen so many mistakes in a WW1 flick!Even Flyboys didn't have that much goofs!Most of these goofs that are "based" on those facts shouldn't have been so easy to screw up!BTW,Richthofen actually tested the DVII and praised its maneuverability,but sadly died before he ever used it in combat (problably would have had a hundred kills if he had flown it!)

[Colin A Owers]

Come on guys, it is a MOVIE, and a Roger Corman one at that.

Just enjoy the aircraft, forget the criticism.

Colin A Owers

[Thomas Trauner]

And – the movie does show real planes real flown by real pilots.
The story – well. But I always liked Corman´s movies. Most of them are great fun. And he was director who made flicks from very different topics.
The British Hammer-Productions of the “Edgar-Allen-Poe-Stories”, Western, and this WWI hero flick.

I really don´t know how a real good story in a WWI aviation flick should look like, that it would really work in a movie.

Thomas

[v.Tutschek]

part 11 of the goof-list:

its not sure that a rear-gunner from an re 8 shot the bullet in his head, an other theorie says that it was probably "friendly fire" of Wolff

[Thomas Trauner]

Ok, Ok. Point 19. Berthold was not killed in the "Berlin riots" but during the "Spartacus" uprising in 1920.
IMHO, beside Göring, the most unsympathical of all the German "aces"....

Thomas

[Laspalmas]

Originally Posted by Thomas Trauner

Ok, Ok. Point 19. Berthold was not killed in the "Berlin riots" but during the "Spartacus" uprising in 1920.
IMHO, beside Göring, the most unsympathical of all the German "aces"....

Thomas

Didn't know what it was called, I just know that there were riots and he was killed in one in Berlin.

[Laspalmas]

Originally Posted by Thomas Trauner

And – the movie does show real planes real flown by real pilots.
The story – well. But I always liked Corman´s movies. Most of them are great fun. And he was director who made flicks from very different topics.
The British Hammer-Productions of the “Edgar-Allen-Poe-Stories”, Western, and this WWI hero flick.

I really don´t know how a real good story in a WWI aviation flick should look like, that it would really work in a movie.

Thomas

IMHO, from all the historically accurate stuff I have read, there would be plenty to keep people very entertained, I don't think any movie needs to add/twist or invent anything from this war.

[josquin]

Gentlemen,

Your thoroughness and zeal for historical accuracy is commendable.
Your facts are necessary corrections of Roger Corman's numerous
inventions and fictions. This said, given Corman's large cinematic
output and his method of working, the uneven quality is hardly
surprising. Corman usually completed the shooting of a film in a
few days and his budgets were so minimal as to create an entirely
new dimension for "low-budget" filmmaking. In view of the pace and
the poverty behind the product, I am hardly surprised that Corman
(who wrote the screenplays and directed many of his films) did not
craft impeccably-researched, error-free accounts of past
events and persons. My feeling is that Corman's work added a
great deal to the interest and vitality of American filmmaking during
a time that was more bland and formulaic than it was memorably
creative.
regards, josquin

[Laspalmas]

Originally Posted by josquin

Gentlemen,

Your thoroughness and zeal for historical accuracy is commendable.
Your facts are necessary corrections of Roger Corman's numerous
inventions and fictions. This said, given Corman's large cinematic
output and his method of working, the uneven quality is hardly
surprising. Corman usually completed the shooting of a film in a
few days and his budgets were so minimal as to create an entirely
new dimension for "low-budget" filmmaking. In view of the pace and
the poverty behind the product, I am hardly surprised that Corman
(who wrote the screenplays and directed many of his films) did not
craft impeccably-researched, error-free accounts of past
events and persons. My feeling is that Corman's work added a
great deal to the interest and vitality of American filmmaking during
a time that was more bland and formulaic than it was memorably
creative.
regards, josquin

I think most folks are getting me wrong here, I am not putting down the film or the director, just having fun pointing out the inacuracies, like a game...relax guys!
Considering it was the 70's and the current tv fare, I think it was a worthy piece of work just the same.