Thursday, January 29, 2015

Air Force

Although using wartime combat footage sparingly, the eventual missions portrayed in the Coral Sea sequences mirror real-life events.[1]


Air Force is a 1943 American black-and-white war film from Warner Bros., produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack Warner, directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John GarfieldJohn RidgelyHarry Carey, and Gig Young.
The story revolves around an actual incident that occurred on December 7, 1941. A bomber aircrew, flying an unarmed Boeing B-17 Flying Fortressnamed the Mary-Ann, is ferrying the heavy bomber across the Pacific to theUnited States Army Air Corps base at Hickam Field, when the bomber flies right into the middle of the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II.
An uncredited William Faulkner wrote the emotional deathbed scene for actor John Ridgely, the pilot of the Mary-Ann. Made in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attackAir Force was one of the first of the patriotic films of World War II, often characterized as a propaganda film.[Note 1]
On December 6, 1941, at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, a United States Army Air Corps B-17D bomber Mary-Ann and its crew are being readied for a flight across the Pacific.
Master Sergeant Robbie White (Harry Carey), Mary-Ann '​s crew chief, is a long-time veteran in the Army Air Corps, whose son, Danny White is a West Point graduate, an officer, and a pilot. The navigator, Lt. Monk Hauser Jr. (Charles Drake), is the son of a famed World War I aviation hero of the Lafayette Escadrille. The pilot is Michael Aloysius "Irish" Quincannon Sr. (John Ridgely), the co-pilot is Bill Williams (Gig Young) and the bombardier, Tom McMartin (Arthur Kennedy).
The crew also includes a disaffected gunner, Sergeant Joe Winocki (John Garfield), who, as an aviation cadet in 1938, washed out of flight school at Randolph Field, Texas when he was involved in a mid-air collision in which another cadet was killed. Quincannon was the flight instructor who requested the board of inquiry dismiss Winocki; later on, in the Philippines, Major Mallory recalls training Quincannon at Kelly Field, Texas. Both the navigator and bombardier also washed out of pilot training.
With the United States at peace, Mary-Ann and the rest of its bomber squadron are ordered to fly without ammunition to Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. Before the bombers depart, Quincannon's wife arrives to give him a "good luck" gift, a toy pilot from their infant son, Michael Aloysius Quincannon, Jr. Young Private Chester also asks Captain Quincannon to meet his worried mother and tell her it is a standard flight to Hawaii.
As it happens, Mary-Ann flies into the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.[Note 3] In its aftermath the beleaguered B-17 crew is taxed to the limit, as they are ordered on, with little rest, first to Wake Island, and then to Clark Field; both locations have also come under Japanese attack. While en route to the Philippines, the crew listens to PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt ask Congress for a declaration of war. They have taken along fighter pilot Lt. Thomas "Tex" Rader (James Brown) and a small dog from the Marines on Wake Island named "Trippoli." [Note 4]
When they land at Clark Field, White receives the news that his son was killed on the first day trying to lead his squadron into the air against an attack. Quincannon has to give Robbie his son's personal effects. Soon after, Quincannon volunteers his bomber for a one-aircraft mission against a Japanese invasion fleet, but the Mary-Ann is attacked by enemy fighters and forced to abort. The badly wounded Quincannon orders his men to bail-out of the stricken bomber, and then he blacks out. Winocki checks on him, sees he is passed out from his injuries, and decides to now guide in the shot-up bomber for a belly landing. Later on at Clark Field, having told a dying Quincannon that Mary-Ann is ready to fly, the crew works feverishly through the night repairing the bomber as the Japanese Army closes in. Private Chester volunteers to fly as gunner in a two-seat fighter aircraft defending Clark Field. In aerial combat the pilot is killed, and Chester is forced to bail-out; he is machine-gunned by a Japanese fighter pilot while suspended, helpless, in his parachute. On the ground, Winocki and White team up and shoot down that Japanese aircraft after it strafes Chester's lifeless body. As the side-armed enemy pilot stumbles from his burning aircraft, an angry Winocki machine-guns the enemy pilot for killing the defenseless Chester. The aircrew barely manages to finish their repairs as the airfield comes under attack. With the help of U. S. Marines and U. S. Army soldiers, they refuel the bomber shortly before the B-17s position is overrun by Japanese soldiers; her engines now powered up and the bomber's .50 caliber machine guns returning fire, Mary-Ann barrels down Clark Field's runway and flies again.
As the B-17 heads for the safety of Australia, with Rader as a now reluctant bomber pilot and the wounded Williams as co-pilot, they spot a large Japanese naval invasion task force below. The crew radios the enemy position to all nearby U. S. airbases and aircraft carriers, and the bomber circles until those reinforcements arrive in force; Mary-Ann then leads the aerial bombing attack that destroys the Japanese fleet.[Note 5]
Much later, the first bombing mission against Tokyo is announced to a roomful of expectant bomber crews; among them now are several familiar faces from the Mary-Ann. As their aircraft take off, a stirring speech by President Roosevelt is heard invoice-over as waves of bombers join up and head toward the rising sun, and victory.

Historical accuracy[edit]

The basic premise of Air Force, that a flight of B-17s flying to reinforce the defense of the Philippines flies into the attack on Pearl Harbor, reflects actual events. From that point on, however, all of the incidents are fictitious. No B-17 reinforcements reached the Philippines; the survivors of those already based there retreated to Australia less than two weeks after the war began. The major bombing mission depicted at the film's climax most closely resembles the Battle of the Coral Sea five months later. Miniature shooting for its battle scenes was filmed in May and June 1942, concurrent but probably coincidental with Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.
Anti-Japanese propaganda in the film included scenes in which the crew is forced to land on Maui Island and is shot at by "local Japanese," and the assertion by the Hickam Field commander that vegetable trucks knocked off the tails of parked P-40 fighters as the attack began. As detailed in Walter Lord's book, Day of Infamy, later investigations proved no Japanese-American was involved in any sabotage during the Pearl Harbor attack.
There are several scenes in Air Force showing a tail gun position on the Mary-Ann. The bomber is a Boeing B-17D, and all early B-17s, series A to D, were not fitted with a machine gun position in their tails. Tail machine guns were not added to the B-17 until Boeing rolled out their redesigned B-17E model. However, in the film, the crew of the Mary-Ann are shown making a field modification to their bomber's rear fuselage to allow for the installation of a single, improvised, machine gun position, "a stinger in our tail" as one crewman calls it.

Reception[edit]

Critical acclaim followed the film's premiere as Air Force echoed some of the emotional issues that underlay the American public psyche at the time, including fears of Japanese Americans. In naming it one of the "Ten Best Films of 1943," Bosley Crowther of The New York Times characterized the film as "... continuously fascinating, frequently thrilling and occasionally exalting..."[11] When seen in a modern perspective, the emotional aspects of the film seem out-of-proportion and although it has been wrongly dismissed as a piece of wartime propaganda, it still represents a classic war film that can be considered a historical document.[12] When initially released, Air Force was one of the top three films in commercial revenue in 1943.
Later reviews of Air Force noted that this was a prime example of Howard Hawk's abilities; "Air Force is a model of fresh, energetic, studio-era filmmaking."[13]
Air Force placed third (behind The Ox-Bow Incident and Watch on the Rhine) as the best film of 1943 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Air Force

Directed byHoward Hawks
Produced byHal B. Wallis
Jack Warner (executive producer)
Written byDudley Nichols
StarringJohn Garfield
John Ridgely
Gig Young
Harry Carey
Music byLeo F. Forbstein
CinematographyJames Wong Howe
Elmer Dyer
Charles A. Marshall
Edited byGeorge Amy
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • February 3, 1943
Running time
124 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3,000,000 (1942)[1]

Friday, January 23, 2015

Anoushka Shankar - Lasya




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aWIuJGZHGU

Anoushka Shankar - Lasya

My day doesn't end without listening to this composition. One word, world-class sitar performance. Anoushka Shankar has outdone herself with Traces of You. Beyond flawless and an out of the world experience. Blessed to be here to enjoy such master pieces. As your name means, please grace the world with your music Anoushka ji!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcBhXlku7zI

Ravi Shankar 1979 in Dubrovnik

 · 

  Thank you for sharing a very beautiful and rare concert from  Pt. Ravi Shankar"s younger days filled with passion. The location, and the recording are very beautiful, we get to see  a close up of  all the musicians, including the thamboora player Kamala   in a meditative mood at the end of the Rga Jogeshwari, wiping her tears around 30.00 minutes. I wish you had not edited the Raga at 30 minutes. Do you the beginning of the concert before the Tabla solo?


Ayub Aulia

2 months ago
Amazing Jhaptaal by Ustad Alla Rakha and hypnotic Jogeshwari by Pandit Ravi Shankar full of pathos and serenity. Great performance by legendary artist Pandit ji. Depicting mighty sorrows of Raviji!
Yogeshwari (especially the alap) by the late Ravi Shankar is a great musical experience. And being able to appreciate it is an equal gift. Most people, in my experience, don't "get it" at all. they are looking for a melodic line, or a "beat," or harmony. This is pure "note," constantly explored, with many subtle "warps," near approaches and slides. Western music doesn't have anything quite like it. Nonetheless, the main notes here are the tonic and dominant of the major (western) scale.



I am listening for his sitar plying for almost 50 years and each time I listen to his sitar playing it appears to me all new. He was really a total genius. Devoting his whole life on sitar playing and
making it so popular through out the world. 


  Thank you for sharing a very beautiful and rare concert from  Pt. Ravi Shankar"s younger days filled with passion. The location, and the recording are very beautiful, we get to see  a close up of  all the musicians, including the thamboora player Kamala   in a meditative mood at the end of the Rga Jogeshwari, wiping her tears around 30.00 minutes. I wish you had not edited the Raga at 30 minutes. Do you the beginning of the concert before the Tabla solo?
Reply
 · 


Monday, January 19, 2015

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES WHAT THY TEACH US

http://www.guideposts.org/free-ebooks/messages-hereafter-5-inspiring-stories-offering-proof-afterlife?int_source=free-ebooks&int_medium=RN&int_campaign=MessagesfromtheHereafter_Title




Near Death Experiences
Mysterious Ways  Oct No 2014 issue
1.       A JOURNEY TO HEAVEN   EBEN ALEXANDER  III  PROOF OF HEAVEN THE MAP OF HEAVEN   Note these two books and what he learned while comatose for a week from bacterial meningitis.
2.       Gateway of Light ,valley of great beauty     NDE’s of others attempts    to revisit the realm
3.       Spiritual odyssey   brain not capable of dreaming  review of medical records
4.       Back to normal better than what author had been before
5.       Light shining in me son advised journaling before reading about NDE’s
6.       What author learned from NDE
7.       “Unconditional Love goes far beyond the words
8.       Mystical religious traditions consistent with NDE’s
9.       Spiritually Transformative experiences
10.   NDE’s common denominators
a. often seen light beings, soaring beings
b. beautiful trails
c. a spiritual being –encounter-extreme power and essence
d. encounter souls of loved ones
e. information passed comes with imprimatur, stamp of validation, sometimes  as  clue to a deeper mystery   revelations can be quite shocking
f. happens at a time when brain non functional such as coma
11.  Nature of ultra reality-consciousness freed up to a much higher level when it’s released from  the shackles of the brain—we can limit the functions of our neocortex in other ways.
a.       Deep meditation
b.      Prayer
c.       Sacred acoustics
d.      Sound enhanced meditation
e.      Effort persistence, true yearning to know

112     What is this life for?

Loving all beings unconditionally such love has dynamic infinite healing power-dynamic process of learning and growing- shedding the fear of death.   Giving for the greater good. Here to love one another.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

THE KILLING OF YAMAMOTO NOT AN ACCIDENT BUT PROVIDENTIAL

Background[edit]

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, scheduled an inspection tour of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. He planned to inspect Japanese air units participating in the I-Gooperation that had begun April 7, 1943, and to boost Japanese morale following the disastrous evacuation of Guadalcanal. On April 14, the U.S. naval intelligence effort code-named "Magic" intercepted and decrypted orders alerting affected Japanese units of the tour.

The original message, NTF131755, addressed to the commanders of Base Unit No. 1, the 11th Air Flotilla, and the 26th Air Flotilla, was encoded in the Japanese Naval Cipher JN-25D (Naval Operations Code Book of the third version of RO), and was picked up by three stations of the "Magic" apparatus, including Fleet Radio Unit Pacific Fleet. The message was then deciphered by Navy cryptographers (among them future Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens[1]); it contained time and location details of Yamamoto's itinerary, as well as the number and types of planes that would transport and accompany him on the journey.
Yamamoto, the decryption revealed, would be flying from Rabaul to Balalae Airfield, on an island near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, on April 18. He and his staff would be flying in two medium bombers (Mitsubishi G4M Bettys of the 205th KōkūtaiNaval Air Unit), escorted by six navy fighters (Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters of the 204th Kōkūtai NAU), to depart Rabaul at 06:00 and arrive at Ballale at 08:00, Tokyo time.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to "get Yamamoto." Knox instructed AdmiralChester W. Nimitz of Roosevelt's wishes. Nimitz first consulted Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander, South Pacific, and then authorized the mission on April 17.

Interception[edit]



To avoid detection by radar and Japanese personnel stationed in the Solomon Islands along a straight-line distance of about 400 miles (640 km) between U.S. forces and Bougainville, the mission entailed an over-water flight south and west of the Solomons. This roundabout approach flight was plotted and measured to be about 600 miles (970 km). The fighters would therefore travel 600 miles out to the target and 400 miles back. The 1,000-mile flight, with extra fuel allotted for combat, was beyond the range of the F4F Wildcat and F4U Corsairfighters then available to Navy and Marine squadrons based onGuadalcanal. The mission was instead assigned to the 339th Fighter Squadron347th Fighter Group, whose P-38G aircraft, equipped withdrop tanks, had the range to intercept and engage.
n preparation for the mission, Marine Corps Lt. Col. Luther S. Moore had the P-38s fitted with a Navy ship's compass to aid in navigation at the request of Major John W. Mitchell, commanding the 339th. The fighters each mounted a standard armament of a 20 mmcannon and four 50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, and were equipped to carry two 165-US-gallon (620 L) drop tanks under their wings. A limited supply of 330-US-gallon (1,200 L) tanks were flown up from New Guinea, sufficient to provide each Lightning with one large tank to replace one of the small tanks. Despite the difference in size, the tanks were located close enough to the aircraft's center of gravity to avoid any performance problems.
Eighteen P-38s were tasked for the mission. One flight of four was designated as the "killer" flight while the remainder, which included two spares, would climb to 18,000 feet (5,500 m) to act as "top cover" for the expected reaction by Japanese fighters based at Kahili. A flight plan was prepared by the Command Operations Officer, Marine Major John Condon, but was discarded for one prepared by Mitchell. He calculated an intercept time of 09:35, based on the itinerary, to catch the bombers descending over Bougainville, ten minutes before landing at Balalae. He worked backwards from that time and drew four precisely-calculated legs, with a fifth leg added if Yamamoto did not take the most direct route. In addition to heading out over the Coral Sea, the 339th would "wave-hop" all the way to Bougainville at altitudes no greater than 50 feet (15 m), maintaining radio silence en route.
Although the 339th Fighter Squadron officially carried out the mission, ten of the eighteen pilots were drawn from the other two squadrons of the 347th Group. The Commander AirSols, Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, selected four pilots to be designated as the "killer" flight:
The remaining pilots would act as reserves and provide air cover against any retaliatory attacks by local Japanese fighters:
  • Maj. John Mitchell
  • Lt. William Smith
  • Lt. Gordon Whittiker
  • Lt. Roger Ames
  • Capt. Louis Kittel
  • Lt. Lawrence Graebner
  • Lt. Doug Canning
  • Lt. Delton Goerke
  • Lt. Julius Jacobson
  • Lt. Eldon Stratton
  • Lt. Albert Long
  • Lt. Everett Anglin
  • Lt. Besby F. Holmes (replaced McLanahan)
  • Lt. Raymond K. Hine (replaced Moore)













A thorough, detailed briefing included a cover story for the source of the intelligence stating that a coastwatcher had spotted an important high-ranking officer boarding an aircraft at Rabaul, but the pilots were not specifically briefed that their target was Admiral Yamamoto.


The specially-fitted P-38s took off from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal beginning at 07:25. The date, April 18, was the first anniversary of theDoolittle Raid. Two of the Lightnings assigned to the killer flight dropped out of the mission at the start, one with a tire flattened during takeoff (McLanahan) and the second when its drop tanks 

would not feed fuel to the engines (Moore).
In Rabaul, despite urgings by local commanders to cancel the trip for fear of ambush, Yamamoto's airplanes took off as scheduled for the trip of 315 miles (507 km). They climbed to 6,500 feet (2,000 m), with their fighter escort at their 4 o'clock position and 1,500 feet (460 m) higher, split into two V-formations of three planes.
Mitchell's flight of four led the squadron at low altitude, with the killer flight, now consisting of Lanphier, Barber, and spares 1st Lt. Besby F. Holmes and 1st Lt. Raymond K. Hine, immediately behind. Mitchell, fighting off drowsiness, navigated by flight plan and dead reckoning. This proved to be the longest fighter-intercept mission of the war and was so skillfully executed by Mitchell that his force arrived at the intercept point one minute early, at 09:34, just as Yamamoto's aircraft descended into view in a light haze. The P-38s jettisoned the auxiliary tanks, turned to the right to parallel the bombers, and began a full power climb to intercept them.
The tanks on Holmes's P-38 did not detach and his element turned back toward the sea. Mitchell radioed Lanphier and Barber to engage, and they climbed toward the eight aircraft. The nearest escort fighters dropped their own tanks and dived toward the pair of P-38s. Lanphier, in a sound tactical move, immediately turned head-on and climbed towards the escorts while Barber chased the diving bomber transports. Barber banked steeply to turn in behind the bombers and momentarily lost sight of them, but when he regained contact, he was immediately behind one and began firing into its right engine, rearfuselage, and empennage. When Barber hit its left engine, the bomber began to trail heavy black smoke. The Betty rolled violently to the left and Barber narrowly avoided a mid-air collision. Looking back, he saw a column of black smoke and assumed the Betty had crashed into the jungle. Barber headed towards the coast at treetop level, searching for the second bomber, not knowing which one carried the targeted high-ranking officer.
.

arber spotted the second bomber, carrying Chief of Staff Vice AdmiralMatome Ugaki and part of Yamamoto's staff, low over the water off Moila Point, trying to evade an attack by Holmes, whose wing tanks had finally come off. Holmes damaged the right engine of the Betty, which emitted a white vapor trail, but his closure speed carried him and his wingman Hine past the damaged bomber. Barber attacked the crippled bomber and his bullet strikes caused it to shed metal debris that damaged his own aircraft. The bomber descended and crash-landed in the water. Ugaki and two others survived the crash and were later rescued. Barber, Holmes and Hine were attacked by Zeros, Barber's P-38 receiving 104 hits.[2] Holmes and Barber each claimed a Zero shot down during this melee, although Japanese records show that no Zeros were lost. The top cover briefly engaged reacting Zeros without making any kills. Mitchell observed the column of smoke from Yamamoto's crashed bomber. Hine's P-38 had disappeared by this point, presumably crashed into the water. Running close to minimum fuel levels for return to base, the P-38s broke off contact, with Holmes so short of fuel that he was forced to land in the Russell Islands. Hine was the only pilot who did not return. Lanphier's actions during the battle are unclear as his account was later disputed by other participants, including the Japanese fighter pilots.
As he approached Henderson Field, Lanphier radioed the fighter director on Guadalcanal that "That son of a bitch will not be dictating any peace terms in the White House", breaching security. Immediately on landing (his plane was so short on fuel that one engine quit during landing rollout) he put in a claim for shooting down Yamamoto.











































Japanese-American involvement[edit]

The MIS (Military Intelligence Service), was made of mostly Nisei (Japanese-Americans). They were trained in interpreting, interrogation, and translation with materials ranging from standard textbooks to captured documents, in the war against Japan.[3]
A major MIS contribution in the Solomons campaign was the ambush of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. MIS soldier Harold Fudenna intercepted a radio message indicating the whereabouts of Admiral Yamamoto. Although this message was first met with disbelief, other MIS linguists in Alaska and Hawaii had also intercepted the same message, confirming its accuracy. American forces learned of Yamamoto’s planned flight to Bougainville and on April 18, 1943, Yamamoto’s plane was successfully shot down above Bougainville. There were no survivors. General Douglas MacArthur referred to this incident as “one of the singularly most significant actions of the Pacific War.”[4]

Who shot down Yamamoto?[edit]

Although Operation Vengeance was one of the most expertly-executed missions in American air force history, the whole episode has subsequently been overshadowed by controversy over who actually shot down the admiral's aircraft. The issue began immediately after the mission when the US military quickly credited Thomas Lanphier with the kill. The captain claimed in his report back at Guadalcanal that after turning to engage the escort Zeroes and shooting the wings off one, he had flipped upside down as he circled back towards the two bombers. On seeing the lead bomber turning in a circle below him, he came out of his turn at a right angle to the circling bomber and fired blowing off its right wing. The plane then crashed into the jungle. Lanphier also reported that he witnessed Lt. Rex Barber shoot down another bomber which also crashed into the jungle.