In all honesty, all the narrator does is read what's been written for him to read. Blame the writer, researcher, and film editors, for not getting it right. Your 11 year old son probably knows more about the subject than the narrator.

I would say blame the film editor. It seems that most of the time they pull a film clip out of a hat and that's what goes in. I've seen the same film clip used in the same show several times, with it being called something different each time.

Don't totally blame THC though. On another forum I hung out a poster showed a photo of an heritage flight that cleary showed a P-40 and a A-10, with the caption mentioning it was a P-51 and an A-10. The source for this photo? The United States Air Force!

Frankly I never knew the AVG didn't face Zeros. I knew they normally faced the older Japanese planes, what were they, Claudes? I just thought they would have gone up against the Zero as well once in a while.

What Dave said.
There have been History "documentaries" talking about the Med and showing B-29's taking off.
Then the was R.Lee's gaff about the PB4Y having had the "4" in the designation because it had four engines! By that logic, the Corsair and Wildcat (F4U and F4F) also had 4 engines, the Hellcat had 6 (F6F) the Tigercat seven (F7F and the Couger/Panther nine (F9F) and the Catalina (PBY) was a glider!

OH----Noooooo R. Lee made a boo-boo also.....
Captains Mast in the morning.....
followed by flogging then keel-hauling at noon.

Hermon, I'm with you 100% on this... There is nothing more irritating and sloppy than documentary makers using any pice of archive film to fit into the theme they are covering... I recently saw a German documentary on Stalingrad with the most extraordinary footage which included bombing by 'Luftwaffe' B-17s
- or something. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy...

I'm also alarmed by the number of modellers who see documentaries as some kind of 'irrefutable' source. Worst still, those whose primary reference sources are:

a) Band of Brothers

or

b) Saving Private Ryan

Today's rant...Jim

I frequently annoy SWMBO by pointing this kind of thing out. The result of assembly by muppets out of whatever archive film they can find, with a voiceover by someone who hasn't ever seen the footage.

Spotting inappropriate archive footage spliced into in feature films is another peeve, like the attack by US Corsairs on the Russian Front in 'Cross of Iron', made using film shot on Iwo Jima

Jim,

Most worsestest, people who use "Call of Duty 2" as their primary reference...

Shaun

EDIT for spelling... Need more java...

Shaun, please, my stomach isn't all it used to be. Now there is today's gruesome thought for the day...Jim

I could never understand using a video game as a reference, kind of like using a comic book.....
Unless I'm doing a cartoon character theme.....

I've got to share this with you Hermon. I have a pretty neat job, I "chat" online with people from all over the country, sometimes the world. So one day I get a chat from somebody interested in buying something. To make a long story short when it came time for me to take his credit card info his last name was Chennault. I asked him if he was related to the general and he was his son! He was surprised that I had ever heard of his father. In fact he said the only time he was ever asked that question was from guys who looked like they could be WWII vets.

I'm guilty on the nitpick dept.....

I was watching CSI, and I noticed that the decomposed guy they recovered had an armoy jacket made with twill fabric (instead of rip-stop) with a white nametag. I told them that they guy had to be a Vietnam vet, since all of that was replaced in the latter part of that war. Amazing what one picks up isn't it? :-)


I rant on every war movie/game I see. I annoy the crap out of freinds....

My wife gets all upset when I start nit-picking war flicks ...

Of course, she spends her life nit-picking me ...

Guess we're even ...

John

I personally get the biggest kick out of watching history shows with my wife. She turns her nose up at it at first, then by the end she's as interested as I am.

Where nitpicking really gets me in trouble is when reading the kid's history books from school and correcting them.

moderator comment: warning, comments like this may get you promoted to forum clown. :-)

"Captain's Mast" is where the ships captain, or possibly the exec, hears minor discipline cases of the crew. These are offenses that don't warrant a court martial. I think the term comes from when the captain would hold such a court near the mast.

:-) Site Clown is taken..... :-)

Rodger you are right..... back in the old masted ship days it was indeed held before the mast, and just below a court martial. Depending on what you did, and who wrote you up depended upon where you went, for really minor infractions, and done at the division level, you went to your Department Head Mast. He could restrict you, and give you extra duty, and it didn't go on your record. Depending on how your department head liked you depended on what you got. (I was disciplined with shore-patrol once.... Since Black gang doesn't stand deck watches this was different for me, usually I got to clean the bilges..... :-) and was more of a day off on the beach, instead of standing steaming watches, trying to get the drunken swabbies back to the ship before the Spanish cops got them.... :-) ) I won't tell you what I did to deserve this terrible punishment, but after that I use to beg the Chief Engineer to punish me again with shore patrol........ :-)
Now if those Basta*ds the Ships Master at Arms wrote you up, then it was an XO's mast for sure. He would decide if your terrible infraction deserved the Captain's attention, or not. His usual sentence was a week or two restriction and some extra duty, and you had the choice after sentencing to request a Captain's mast if you felt it was unjust. (Usually only fools did this) Of course the XO could also dismiss the charges. (one ship I was on was "Hang him high to dry" and another was "OH please don't waste my time with this crap"....
:-)
The chosen few and foolish got to see the Captain on the bridge. Depending on the offense, he could make you have a very bad day, and wish you were never born or stepped foot upon his precious carrier. He could restrict you up to 45 days, give you extra duty up to 45 days (these usually came together, I guess it was a package deal), bust you 2 pay grades, give you a nice vacation down in cross bar hotel, with R Lee watching you, hand you the "gourmet menu of 3 days bread and water", or just say I'm tired of seeing you, and you are heading to a court martial. He rarely ever said "Charges Dismissed"..... I think when you make Captain these words are forever removed from your vocabulary.

Now I do not know how they handle things in the NEW Navy, but I can tell you, I never got a good conduct medal..... and yes, I was even court martialed..... but that story is for my memores.... :-) :-)

All XO's and Captains Masts were reported/cover in the POD, if your name appeared enough you became a celebrity among the crew, some became legendary.

Dave, from you description I gather that if this ever DID happen, it didn't happen often, but wasn't Captain's Mast also a place where commendations were handed out? My only experience in this was three years of playing sailor in NJROTC in high school but our instructor, a maverick Lt Cmdr, would hold a mock "captain's mast where he would break people, and also promote people.

As to the good conduct medal my uncle was in the RN in WWII. I'm going off memory here but I think they didn't have an actual medal, but rather their stripes showing how long they had been in were a different color. He claimed his stripes were a sign of 6 years of "undiscovered crime." :-) I guess you just got caught?

Gold Hash Marks..... yes were another sign of goody conduct. They never would have enhanced my uniform.... :-)
Awards, commendations etc were usually preformed on the flight deck, or hanger bay, in front of the ships company, time permitting, and only if they warranted the Captain to do it. "Sailor of the Month" (for the ship) was usually a little ceremony held on the bridge. Never got it or was considered for it, so don't know it it was held before, after or during mast, or a separate ordeal. I was a legendary celebrity.
When the ship got an award, it was usually just announced over the 1MC, and in the POD, and that we could pick them up at either the Personnel office, or ship store. Personal awards were usually given by the Department Head, or Captain depending on there weight. (The Air Wing were a totally different entity, so operated as such, and had their own system)
Shipping over ceremony's were more normally held on the bridge or the flies work space, although the guy shipping over could pick the spot he wanted to do it, we had one BT ship over and have his picture taken in one of the fireboxes of the ships boiler (Was off line for cleaning at the time.... he wanted to have it done in the steam drum, but Photo mate, Captain, and him 1. wouldn't fit at the same time, and 2. The Captain really didn't like the idea of having to slither and squirm into the steam drum on his belly... :-)
Promotions were usually just posted outside the personnel office, with the date you were promoted. If you were lucky, the old-man may announce the posting of the list over the 1MC. The only ceremony I ever saw was making petty officer, and this was an unofficial practice, just for the petty officers. The size of the black and blue mark, showed how much you were like or respected by the other petty officers. Having been made a petty officer twice... Don't ask--- :-) my second pinning was rather light..... :-)

I've got one for you: In my U.S. History book, they showed a diagram/example of a Vietcong Tunnel System. Well, above, they showed our troops running, shooting, etc., and showed British Lancaster bombers bombing! Now, I'm no expert on Vietnam (I actually know slim to nil about it, really.), but I'm willing to bet that we didn't use Lancasters in Vietnam. Thanks for your time.

Captain's Mast in the Navy, is what the Army calls "Non-Judicial Punishment" -- the good ol' Article 15.

I, and my 1SG, much prefered the goon platoon -- you screw up, we work your butt off & avoid all paperwork. We'd put the NCO who had most "goons" in charge, figuring he needed a lesson in training, motivating, disciplining his soldiers.

Anyway, if we had to go to Article 15, it was always done in my office, with each member of soldiers chain of command present -- and each got a say in the punishment. Not to cover me, but to get the right folks involved & help the soldier understand the role of the chain of command.

No soldier ever came into my office for other than punishment, that way every one understood what it meant to be called into my office. All other things, obviously positive, were done publically -- at the duty station, in formation, etc ... where all could see.

John