Warbird Information Exchange

I don't know the whole story; some people were upset and some weren't I suppose, but Frank Walton's book "Once They Were Eagles" took Boyington to task on it pretty thoroughly, and as Walton was the squadron intel officer and a police detective both before the war and after, he was in a position to know most of the story.

I think that the "hard" feeling over the Show has died down. On the "Corsair Experience" they have interviews with both McCrurg and Walton (I think it was him). Both refer to some of the guy’s having hard feelings at the time.

The show did bring WW2 Aviation back to the masses. I can't wait to sit back with a beer and enjoy the a/c and laugh at typical 70s Hollywood. It a lot better the “The Big Bus”.

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www.tailhookstudio.com

Great thread guys!

It interesting all the different view points on this subject.

Chris

It IS interesting to read the responses to this thread, and here's my take on it all....my grandfather used to build Corsairs for Vought, I still have some of his publicity paintings from the Vought art department in my files and I will have the unusual chance to see where he worked when I go back to Connecticut in June to the old Vought factory...during his time there, he painted Greg Boyington for some company brochures on the Corsair, so he got to meet him and talk with him....FF to 1978, and I am a 12 year old kid walking up to this guy who is sitting on the wing of a Wildcat at an airshow in south Denver and I get to shake this guy's hand and he asks me "How ya doin', kid?" in between signing copies of his book for folks...now BOTH my grandfather and I have met Greg Boyington and I vow to never wash my hand again (long since abandoned)...I am an avid fan at that age of the TV show which was at its peak then, even though it is INCREDIBLY inaccurate (Barrett Tillman said in his Corsair book, "There was never really any debate in aviation circles as to who, or more accurately WHAT, where the true stars of the show.") The show did WONDERS for Corsair salvation and a warbird movement that was really gaining momentum at that time and the Corsair began to become, along with the Mustang, one of the most sought after warbirds in the world....FF again to the Corsair gathering 2002 and I have in my collection, among all the shots of Corsair pilots and aces and test pilots, shots of myself with Chance Vought's granddaughter Victoria Vought (nice lady) and a shot that I would love to post here if anyone will do that for me of two of the 'Black Sheep' actors who attended the Gathering (and were well recieved by the Corsair alumni, from what I could tell)....so if anyone wants me to send them that pic so they can post it here, let me know...just send me an e-mail addy and I'll pas it on to you...

Mark

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Mark Morris

I also met Greg Boyington at an airshow when I was a teenager
(he signed my copy of the book). This was at Paine Field (KPAE)
around 1974 or so. At the time, I thought it was "pretty cool..."

Bela P. Havasreti

Hi all:

I also met "Pappy" at Hollister airshow in 1978 or 1980, and he signed a postcard for me with an L-1011 on it. I was 5 yrs old at the time.

I remember looking at his face and eyes, and seeing some kind of mystique there.

I remember watching the show relgiously as a young boy. The show came on when I was in 2nd & 3rd grade. I did know that it was a fictitious show. However, I had the benefit of having a father who was a real history buff, so I got into history at an extremely young age. My father used to like to trot me out in front of his dinner guests and start quizzing me on World War II aircraft. There weren't too many second graders who could tell you the armament and top speed (the two most important statistics to me at the time) of a Spitfire, Mustang, ME-109s, etc.

I watched the show again when the History Channel started running it on Sunday mornings. As an adult, the cheese factor made it very entertaining. In my eyes, the Corsairs were the stars of the show, and no matter how silly or improbably the story line, as long as you got some nice shots of the Corsairs, it was all good. Good or bad, the show definitely brought recognition to a plane that definitely deserved it.

I liked some of the "special guest" planes...like the episode with the B-17s, or the one with the two Lockheed Lightnings...I think there was one where they had a Hellcat on the ground.

BTW - Robert Stack was NOT in 12 O'Clock High. The two C.O.'s were Robert Lansing as General Savage and Paul Burke as Colonel Gallagher (although Burke was on earlier episodes as a Captain and later a Major). Chris Robinson, currently on General Hospital starred as the top turret/engineer "Sandy" Komanski.

I found the Robert Lansing C.O. episodes to be more believable than the Paul Burke C.O. episodes, the best of which being the episode based on the original movie. It seemed the longer the show was on, the more improbably the story lines became, reaching its penultimate ridiculousness when Paul Burke intentionally parachutes into Germany.

Neither of the TV C.O.'s could even come close to Gregory Peck's portrayal in the movie.

Frank Walton died in Nov 1993 in Hawaii so he probably wasn't video interviewed much. I visited him a number of times in Hawaii. He was very bitter toward Boyington till the end. Read Gamble's book and you'll understand why and learn some interesting facts of Pappy B.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Back in the 1960's there was a Saturday dance show that opend with a
bunch of people dancing on a B-17 wing taht was on a beach. Does anybody else remember this and what happened to the B-17?

Cheers,

Lynn

On what station did you see this show - was it local, or network? Was there just a wing lying on the sand or was it a whole B-17?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Chris, I think it was ABC and it was the whole A/C. American Bandstand, maybe. It was the Saturday show where they danced on TV. It was the opening act of the show.

Cheers,

Lynn