Another Clarkson show tomorrow night

[Ephexis]

The Dambusters is also a tremendous story of simply amazing courage and ability.

It was another audacious plan, and was pulled off by the pilots. The simple fact they flew at up to around 150 feet for the entire duration of the pitch black night flight from England to the dams in Germany with no radar or any other technical aids is godlike. If you consider how cumbersome and hard to manouvre a lancaster bomber was, travelling at such speed in total darkness at a ridiculously low altitude without crashing...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

Can read about it here, although it's Wikipedia it's better than nothing

[Plissken]

That was a fascinating programme. When Clarkson was describing the mistake the Campbelltown made, he sounded so passionate about the whole thing.

The story of the German captain recommending a VC for the bloke who was still firing after being shot sixteen times was gutwrenching.

An insane plan, but obviously fortune favours the utterly crazy.

[PuntoGT!]

It was really interesting, Clarkson has a great way of telling these kind of storys as it really keeps the viewer hooked, wanting to know what happens next.

[BTS]

There will be a "making of" documentary with behind the scenes clips of Jeremy presenting this programme and an insight into how they made the reconstructions of the raid that will be shown on BBC2 at 19:30 on Monday 26th March.

Top Gear producer Andy Wilman features in it too.

[cmotd]

Great doco, dunno about the need for a making-of doco though, how many times do ppl need to see geeks working on CGI workstations and walls painted green?

[ahpadt]

Originally Posted by PuntoGT!

It was really interesting, Clarkson has a great way of telling these kind of storys as it really keeps the viewer hooked, wanting to know what happens next.

Couldnt agree more. Just watched it and it was very good indeed. Im usually not too fond of war movies, but this one was nice.

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by ahpadt

Couldnt agree more. Just watched it and it was very good indeed. Im usually not too fond of war movies, but this one was nice.

he is very good at these i think..... it really helps that he's massively enthusiastic about the subjects.

engineering especially, he loves it and its great to see someone in such a position being passionate about engineering.

i think he's quite interested in WWII as well, he must enjoy talking about all the dare devel heroics, acts of sheer bravery, all the stuff we brits invented and built at the time, and that plucky british trait of being able to make do with whatever we have.

really i think JC wishes he was alive back then, back in the industrial revolution when britains engineering was at its most prolific

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by Ephexis

The Dambusters is also a tremendous story of simply amazing courage and ability.

It was another audacious plan, and was pulled off by the pilots. The simple fact they flew at up to around 150 feet for the entire duration of the pitch black night flight from England to the dams in Germany with no radar or any other technical aids is godlike. If you consider how cumbersome and hard to manouvre a lancaster bomber was, travelling at such speed in total darkness at a ridiculously low altitude without crashing...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

Can read about it here, although it's Wikipedia it's better than nothing

have you seen the dambusters film? its pretty good, its B&W but worth the watch

[cmotd]

hate to disagree but dambusters is trite, cheesy rubbish. If you want to see a gritty, realistic British war film try 'Ice Cold In Alex' or 'The Hill' or 'The Cruel Sea'

[nomix]

I'd still perfer Das Boot if I wanted to see the best depiction of a sailor/soldier's day in WW2. It's just perfect.

"I am not in a condition to FUCK!"

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Ephexis

The Dambusters is also a tremendous story of simply amazing courage and ability.

It was another audacious plan, and was pulled off by the pilots. The simple fact they flew at up to around 150 feet for the entire duration of the pitch black night flight from England to the dams in Germany with no radar or any other technical aids is godlike. If you consider how cumbersome and hard to manouvre a lancaster bomber was, travelling at such speed in total darkness at a ridiculously low altitude without crashing...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

Can read about it here, although it's Wikipedia it's better than nothing

Although I haven't watched this particular doco, I did study the dam busters in extension history...and TRUST ME what your british media will tell you is a completely skewed view of what actually happened. The movie was just ridiculous based loosely on historical fact...it was basically used a morale booster for the public.

Sorry to shit on you parade, I don't want to sound like an asshole...but I'm all about the facts

[Peter3hg]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Sorry to shit on you parade, I don't want to sound like an asshole...but I'm all about the facts

Enlighten us.

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Although I haven't watched this particular doco, I did study the dam busters in extension history...and TRUST ME what your british media will tell you is a completely skewed view of what actually happened. The movie was just ridiculous based loosely on historical fact...it was basically used a morale booster for the public.

Sorry to shit on you parade, I don't want to sound like an asshole...but I'm all about the facts

whatever happened, it doesnt make the men who participated any less heroic or less respectable. as long as you're not implying that, then fine. but its a bit of an insult to those guys if you are

[epp_b]

Although I haven't watched this particular doco, I did study the dam busters in extension history...and TRUST ME what your british media will tell you is a completely skewed view of what actually happened. The movie was just ridiculous based loosely on historical fact...it was basically used a morale booster for the public.

And such was mentioned the film.

[BTS]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/listings..._4224_11177_30

The Making of...Jeremy Clarkson:...

Mon 26 Mar, 7:30 pm - 8:00 pm 30mins

...Greatest Raid of All Time

An exclusive behind the scenes look at Jeremy Clarkson's latest historical documentary.

To recreate the daring Second World War Commando raid on the port at St Nazaire, the BBC enlisted the help of Cinesite, the highly regarded model makers and special effects company whose most recent work has appeared in feature films such as Harry Potter, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and V for Vendetta.

The programme follows the team every step of the way, from constructing a giant 24 foot long exact replica of the Commando's boat the Campbeltown (working from little more than a few contemporary photographs), to the filming of the boat in action and its spectacular explosive finale.

Andy Wilman, Clarkson's long time Top Gear collaborator, is the producer of the main documentary and reveals how he convinced the BBC to sign up to this unprecedented project. [S]

[Brother Michael]

Gonna have to watch that show tomorrow, I so excited. WW2 is such an interesting topic, I could rave on about it for weeks.

Anyone interested in these kind of herotales of hard men doing what has to be done, I suggest looking up The Winter War between Finland and The Soviet Union from 1939. Is such an amazing thing how the great big Soviet Union could not invade the tiny little scandinavian country. Some people claime that it was due to the fact that the soviets used their "B-men" when the best soldiers were fighting in central Europe.

The hard facts are these:

250.000 men vs. 1.000.000 men
30 tanks vs. 3000 tanks
130 aircrafts vs. 3800 aircrafts

The end result:

26.000 dead vs. 126.000 dead
40.000 wounded vs. 265.000 wounded

And Helsinki was the only capitol in the whole of Europe that wasn't invaded by enemy soldiers apart from London and I think Prague.

I know that Jeremy has a bit of romantic view of Britain's warhistory, but so do I from Finland's. I have gotten the picture that british and finnish people are not that different actually. Both very proud nations with extremely difficult pasts, the whole nation owing their independency to the veterans etc. Or at least it used to be like that, before the mentalists of Green Peace and Amnesty International and EU.

Sorry for the off topic there, these kind of themes just get me all worked up.

[jayhawk]

That was an excellent program. I only scarcely knew about it until now.

Brother Michael, I fully believe that Norway and Denmark were just too polite and civilized to fight. And they were raided in somewhat peaceful terms. But...

If the Germans had ever attacked Scandinavia, I think they would very have regretted it. Sure, Scandinavians may come across as polite and civilized, but back them into a corner and they probably would have booted Germany off the coast. Or, what remained of them.

[nomix]

Why can't we just agree, that we get Top Gear, when we don't get it, either Jeremy or James HAS to make shows about history and big machines?

[Ziggy Shadow-Dust]

My mothers best friends brother was the writer of the book 'Saint-Nazaire: Operation Chariot - 1942: Battleground French Coast' one of the consultants of the show, James Dorrian.

Another excellent documentry by Clarkson, and soon another excellent documentry onto UKTV History. I hope to see the docu of the Victoria Cross and the Inventions That Changed The World progs again soon.

[Brother Michael]

Just finished watching it.

Wow. Just.....wow. What an amazing story. Now this is the kind of thing that yrges me to be a fighter pilot or a commando or somekind of special forces soldier when in the military.

And what a wonderful storyteling by Clarkson, you can see that he is truly amazed by the feats of courage and mental strenght by the british commandos. He truly has respect for these sorts of things, just like I do and apparently many of the people here in FG.

Wow. That's gonna be one to watch again. Gotta comment some more when I get my act together.