Authenticity of footage?

Willi Von Klugerman · 16 May 2009, 09:26 PM

If you had watched the show Four Years of Thunder and it shows what appears to be actual air footage of an Albatros C.III in operation.In one bit it shows the rear gunner firing at what appears to be a Nieuport 17.But is it genuine footage?Though it did show the C.III taking off and it had a camera mounted on the right strut.

Epee · 18 May 2009, 12:02 PM

Last word that I heard was that the film is now believed authentic.

I'm trying to remember but I thought the attacking fighter was a DH2???

Willi Von Klugerman · 18 May 2009, 12:53 PM

Yeah,I think it was a D.H.2,my bad

Its been a while since I seen the documentary.If it is authentic,then its one heck of a good piece of footage!It seemed that the tommy dove on them from above to their left.The only footage of a dogfight was that one and a German fighter preying on a Coudron and the footage was taken from another a/c (possibly from a 2-seater) at a distance.I think the footage should be further anylized.

karrart · 19 May 2009, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epee

Last word that I heard was that the film is now believed authentic.

I'm trying to remember but I thought the attacking fighter was a DH2???

It sure looks like a DH-2 when watched a frame at a time. The part of that footage showing the rear seat guy dropping bombs and taking photos must be in every WW I aviation docummentary ever made.
Has anyone ever identified these guys? Considering the amount of TV airtime they've had over several decades should've made them famous!
Robert Karr
semi-recent mind bubbles at:
RK’s Pfalzhood - Pfalz, Halberstadt, Nieuport, CAMEL!!!

Maxim08 · 19 May 2009, 01:20 PM

Willi,
I'm sure that the attacking aircraft is a DH2 but I thought that the defending aircraft was a BII?
This film clip originated with the Imperial War Museum. The whole film can be watched at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in New Zealand and it runs in a big screen format as part of their Albatross BII display. There are shots of the camera mounted to the aircrafts' wing struts prior to flight. No idea how they powered the camera as I thought that most motion picture cameras of that era were hand cranked.
Regards,
John

buzz1941 · 19 May 2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxim08

There are shots of the camera mounted to the aircrafts' wing struts prior to flight. No idea how they powered the camera as I thought that most motion picture cameras of that era were hand cranked.

Another opportunity for the aftermarket modelers.

Epee · 19 May 2009, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxim08

Willi,
I'm sure that the attacking aircraft is a DH2 but I thought that the defending aircraft was a BII?
This film clip originated with the Imperial War Museum. The whole film can be watched at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in New Zealand and it runs in a big screen format as part of their Albatross BII display. There are shots of the camera mounted to the aircrafts' wing struts prior to flight. No idea how they powered the camera as I thought that most motion picture cameras of that era were hand cranked.
Regards,
John

Later in the war the Germans used clockwork-driven reconnaissence cameras so perhaps this cine camera was spring driven also? If so, and indeed however the camera was driven, one wonders why hand-driven remained the standard for so many years; perhaps a matter of reliability? Maybe this film was the only one of many attempts to work or maybe it is actually many short clips of different missions spliced together; I bet that's it!