Books: Fiction
A long running series of novels regarding a Britsh fighter pilot of the First World War, which ran from 1932 until 1999. I have only read a few of these, and they vary greatly in quality. The character of George Macarthur is loosely based on several of Biggles's companions.
2/5
Bulldog Drummond: his four rounds with Carl Peterson.
By Sapper.
Set in the 1920's, these are the first four stories in a series of novels featuring the character of Bulldog Drummond. They are some what dated now, but have a large dose of period escapism. The character of Daniel Mansfield is largely based on Hugh Drummond.
4/5
Enigma
By Robert Harris.
In 'Enigma' the main character is a brilliant, but flawed cryptanalyst at Bletchley Park during the second world war, living in a modern dark ages of black outs (mentally as well as nationally) and rationing.
5/5
King Solomon's Mines
By Sir H. Rider Haggard.
The story of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party. It is the first English adventure novel set in Africa, and is considered to be the genesis of the Lost World literary genre.
3/5
The Lost World
By Arthur Conan Doyle.
Set sometime in the early twentieth century, probably around 1912. This seimanl work began the 'lost world genre' of science fiction and gaming.
4/5
The Thirty-nine Steps
By John Buchan.
Set in 1914. This novel is an iconic spy story/mystery featuring the character of Richard Hannay.
4/5
This Man is Dangerous
By Peter Cheyney.
One of a series of novels about a private detective named Lemmy Caution and his numerous adventures against gangsters and criminals, this book is set in 1936.
2/5
The Cruel Sea
By Nicholas Monserrat
A novel about several characters in the Royal Navy who participate in the Battle of the Atlantic, during the Second World War. This book describes Royal Navy Corvettes and the reality of anti-submarine warfare in the early 1940s.
5/5
The Lunatic at Large, Again
By Joseph Storer Clouston.
Set in the early twentieth century (first published in 1922), this is the second in a series of novels (I haven't read any of the others yet, though the full text of the first novel can be found here) regarding the antics of a man with mental health problems. Very funny.
4/5
Books: Fact
By Tank. D to VE Days.
By Ken Tout.
A day by day account by a British tank gunner from D-Day until VE Day. As an historical document, this book offers an excellent account of the reality of tank warfare. An easy to read book.
5/5
Codename Tricycle
By Russell Miller
The story of one of Britain's best secret agents during World War Two: Duško Popov was a contemporary of Ian Fleming and is said to have served as a template for James Bond. Detailing Popov's amazing success in duping the German intelligence services and the establishment of a network of fake and double agents all across Britain.
3/5
D-Day to Victory: The Diaries of a British Tank Commander
by Sgt Trevor Greenwood.
A good account, in diary form, of the life of a Churchill tank commander, during the Normandy campaign.
4/5
Happy Odyssey
By Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart
There were a few people who seemed to be every where during the Twentieth Century, and one such person was Sir Adrian. His story includes the Second Boer War, the First World War where he served first in the Somaliland Campaign before being posted to the Western Front where he earned the Victoria Cross. After the war he moved to Poland where he live duntil the Nazi invasion where upon he was recalled to the British Army, at age 51 and sent on the Norwegian campaign. After a stint in Northern Ireland, he ended up being taken prisoner in Italy, in 1941. Then in 1943, the Italians released him because they needed some one to contact the British Army about a peace treaty with the UK. As he moved up through the ranks, Carton De Wiart eventually came to be standing along side Churchill at the Cairo Conference.
3/5
Harry's War
By Harry Drinkwater.
A diary of a British soldier who fought in World War One, and who took part in some of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the war, including the Somme and Passchendaele and who survived, more or less intact.
4/5
Mechanised Force: British tanks between the wars.
By David Fletcher
Fletcher is a noted historian, and an expert on armoured warfare. He is the longest serving employee of Bovington Tank Museum. In this book Fletcher lays out the history of British tanks in the mid war period, from between the first and second world wars when tank designs were prone to wild experimentation, not least in the United Kingdom.
4/5 - Review
Panzer Leader
By Heinz Guderian
Field Marshal Guderian's account of the Second World War. Explains the situation in a precise and clear fashion, starting in the late 1930's and continuing right through to the aftermath of the war. The middle of the book suffers slightly as the war on the Eastern Front is a long and tedious read full of place names one has never heard of, being fought over by units one is largely unfamiliar with.
3/5
T-Force; The Forgotten Hero's of 1945.
By Sean Longden
This book is about a British unit that was set up during World War Two originally by James Bond author, Commander Ian Fleming, then of British Naval Intelligence. Its purpose was to locate and secure German military technology, a lot of which was being destroyed and as the battle lines moved over the factories and test grounds of Nazi Germany.
3/5
Tigers in the Mud
By Otto Carius
Carius was one of the most successful tank aces of all time and in this book he details some of the more interesting events of his time in the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion on the Eastern Front and in the 512th Heavy Anti-tank Battalion on the Western Front.
3/5
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.
By Edward J. Ruppelt
Written in the 1950's this is an interesting account by the officer who ran the United States most famous investigation into the UFO phenomenon that rocked America in the late 1940's and early 50's, culminating in an unprecendent series of observations 1953.
4/5
U boat ace: The story of Wolfgang Lüth.
By Jordan Vause.
the story of one of Nazi Germany's most succesful U boat captain's. It details his operational history and paints an honest portrait of a man who was obviously a Nazi as well as a brilliant submariner. I hadn't realized the book would be quite so unflattering. Normally, accounts of German soldiers in the Second World War gloss over their political tendencies, but though he portrays Lüth with some admiration, Vause makes no excuses for his subject.
4/5
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
By E. B. Sledge.
An autobiographical account of the war in the Pacific, by a US marine mortar crewman. Like most accounts of the Second World War, Sledge' account looks at the emtional state of the soldiers as much as the events that took place. A gritty and honest account, this book has no time for romantic illusions.
4/5
Movies
100 RiflesTaking place in Mexico during 1912, this rather underwhelming film is about a Yaqui Indian mutiny against Mexican rule. It features a climactic battle for a military train.
2/5
20,000 leagues under the sea
Set in 1866, this is the tale of Captain Nemo and his infamous submarine, Nautilus. There are several versions and my favourite is the 1954 Disney version. A great story, and despite being set in the wrong time, still excellent inspiration for skirmish wargaming scenarios.
4/5.
55 days at Peking
Set in China in 1900. This is a film about the Boxer rebellion with numerous scenarios suitable for wargaming. Copplestone do numerous figures which seem to be based on this film.
3/5
Across the Pacific
In this 1942 spy thriller, Humphrey Bogart is an American intelligence agent tasked with preventing a Japanese attack against the Panama Canal. The film features various scenes aboard a tramp steamer.
2/5
Atlantis
Set in 1914, this is an animated feature film by Disney which follows a group adventurers seeking the lost city of Atlantis. The film features several excellent idea's for skirmish wargaming in the early twentieth century. The character of Helga was largely based on the charcter of Helga Sinclair featured in this film.
4/5
Australia
Set in Northern Australia in 1939-42. This is a film about a young English noble woman and her struggle to save her dead husbands ranch and build herself a home. The film features the Japanese air attack on Darwin in 1942.
1/5
Beau Geste
An adaptation of PC Wren's novel, this mediocre film is set in the Sahara desert, around 1906. The latter half of the movie features a few Tuareg attacks against a typical Foreign Legionaire's fortress.
2/5
Behind the Mask
The second film of a trilogy (part 1: The Shadow Returns and part 3 The Shadow: The Missing Lady), this 1946 black and white features the old comic book hero, The Shadow who has been framed of the murder of a blackmailing newspaper reporter. The film features plenty of noir ambience and snappy period dialogue.
2/5
Bonnie and Clyde
Set during the Great Depression (early 1930's). The tale of two notorious criminal lovers.
3/5
Boxcar Bertha
Set during the Great Depression. Similar to Bonnie and Clyde, but grittier, with less glamour and more nudity.
3/5
Chinatown
Set in Los Angeles in the 1930's. This detective story features many elements of the classic film-noir genre and offers some good idea's for role playing in the 1930's.
3/5
City Heat
A Police Lieutenant and a Private Detective put aside past differences to solve a murder. Set in the 1930's this movie features numerous gangster style gun fights and plenty of jazzy era ambience.
3/5
City under the Sea
A cheap Vincent Price movie about a dying city under the sea off the coast of Cornwall. Features lots of running around in underground caves and a chicken.
1/5
Dark of the Sun
AKA The Mercenaries. Set in the Congo, this film takes place against the backdrop of the 1964 Simba rebellion when a group of Mercenaries is sent to retrieve $50 millions worth of diamonds. The film features an armed train vs a P51 Mustang and gun fights between mercenary and government forces and Simba rebels.
4/5
Desert Legion
From 1953, this movie is about an officer in the French Foreign Legion who discovers a lost city in the desert.
2/5
Drums of the Desert
From 1940 - this black and white film is the tale of two officers in the French Foreign Legion who fall in love with the same woman. This movie contains the racial stereotypes that were normal in the 1940s.
1/5
Empire of the Sun
The story of a young boys life in Shanghai during the time of the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Seen from the perspective of a wargamer, there isn't much in this film to inspire, but from the role playing perspective, the film delivers a good story and plenty of context for the period.
3/5
Farewell, My Lovely
On behalf of a very large, and mysterious ex convict, Philip Marlow searches for a missing prostitute. Set in the early 1940's, this movie features numerous period characters, cars and a shoot out on an old steam yacht.
3/5
Flat Top
A 1953 propaganda piece about a US carrier squadron during WW2. Unremarkable and predictably jingoistic. Lots of American style machismo and very little actual plot.
2/5
Gunga Din
Set in India in 1880, this black and white film is about the adventurs of three British soldiers and a water bearer (after whom the film is named) during a thugee rebellion. It features, elephants, a thugee temple and a pitched battle.
4/5
Heaven knows Mr Allison
Set on a Pacific island during the Second World War, this film is about a US Marine and a novice nun who are forced to survive together.
1/5
High Road to China
Set in central Asia during the 1920's, this film is about a young woman who hires an ex ace pilot to help her find her father. The film features two biplanes travelling across Asia and a climactic battle with Chinese rebels, but the overall production is pretty cheap.
2/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Set in the Americas in 1957. This film is something of a cgi-fest, but despite the odds manages to retain some of the magic of the older Indiana Jones films.
3/5
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Set in Europe and Arabia in 1938. This film is a sequel to Raiders of the lost arc. It contains a great many inspirational details and idea's.
4/5
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Set in India in 1935, this film is a prequel to Raiders of the lost arc. Not as good as the other Indiana Jones films, it is nonetheless a classic of the genre.
3/5
Khartoum
Set in Egypt and the Sudan, in 1885. This film is about General Charles Gordon and the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdi. There isn't much of interest from the perspective of Rocketman, but the film does have a few interesting details for skirmish wargamers, such as a paddle steamer attempting to run a blokade.
2/5
King Kong
There are several versions of this story, but the best take place during the early 1930's.
3/5
Lawrence of Arabia
Set in Arabia in during the first world war. This film features several desert skirmishes, including an ambushed train. Personally I didn't find much inspiration in it however, and it is very long winded.
2/5
Lion of the Desert
Set in Libya in the late 1920's, this is a film about the Beduin guerilla leader Omar Mukthar and his final battles before being captured by the Italian general Rodolfo Graziani. On the whole a poor film, but it has a few interesting details for a war gaming perspective and is generally historically accurate.
2/5
Lone Wolf: Spy Hunt
A black and white crime comedy from 1939. The film features some noir ambience and snappy period dialogue.
2/5
March or Die
Set in France and Morocco just after the First World War. This is a film about a company of French foreign legionaires assigned to protect a group of archeologists from a Berber rebel leader who is loosely based on Abd-el Krim. It features examples of period weaponry and some nice imagery, but has a tired, predictable story.
2/5
Master of the World
Vincent Price does a cheap Nemo impression as an armed airship captain who seeks to use his flying battleship to force the world's armies to disarm. The airship is mildly interesting, but the rest of the film is a poor offering.
1/5
Mysterious Island
Set in 1868, this is a sequel to '20,000 thousand leagues under the sea'. Not as good as the original, it does however feature an island populated by giant genetically mutated creatures (animated by Harryhausen).
3/5
Mulholland Falls
Set in the early 1950s, this neo noir detective story is about a mysterious murder which has connections to the American atomic weapons program. It features period costumes, cars and dialogue.
3/5
North western frontier
Set in Northern India (now Pakistan) in 1905. This is a film about a group of foreigners, a Hindu boy-prince and a train driver called Gupta, attempting to escape from a Muslim rebellion. Plenty of pro British bias and post Imperial angst, but excellent inspiration for skirmish wargames.
3/5
Passage to Marseille
Set during the Second World War, this 1944 movie is about a French bomber pilot (Bogart) and the various escapades he has gone through in the lead up to the war. The film features a colonial prison break out in French Guyana and some nice scenes on a tramp steamer.
3/5
Play Dirty
Set during the second world war, this film is about a British raid on a German fuel dump using a rag tag band of international criminal types.
2/5
Public Enemies
A story of the gangster John Dillinger. Set in the early to mid 1930's. This film has a few bank heist and typical gangsters vs feds shoot out scenarios.
3/5
Pursuit to Algiers
From 1945. Basil Rathbone plays Sherlock Holmes, escorting a young Crown Prince back to his country where he is to be crowned king. Most of the film takes place aboard a steam ship with several assassins out to kill the young prince.
3/5
Quatermass II
AKA Enemy from Space. When mysterious small projectiles begin to land in the English country side, Professor Quatermass investigates and discovers an insiduous alien invasion has already established a foothold on Earth!
4/5
Quigley Down Under
Set in Australia at an unspecificied date, but presumably some time in the late 1800's. This film features a character with a long range snipers rifle and a conflict with an unscrupulous land owner. 1/5
Raiders of the Lost Arc
Set in 1936. This is the first Indiana Jones film, and almost certainly the best. This film, more than any other is the inspiration for Rocketman and is a must see for any aficionado of the pulp genre.
5/5
Reach for the Sky
From 1956, this British biographical film about Group Captain Douglas Bader features some interesting footage of pre war aircraft, as well as various scenes of WW2 era dog fighting. One interesting aspect of the film from the modellers point of view, is the state of the aircraft, most of which are the geniune article and show a lot of wear and tear.
3/5
Rocketeer
Set in California, 1938, this is film is an homage to the pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s, in particular the original Rocketman, Commander Cody. Of all the characters in movies, Rocketeer is the closest to Rocketman.
5/5
Sahara
It is 1942 and as Monty and Rommel battle it out in North Africa, a lone US M3 tank has gotten itself cut off from the main force. Humphrey Bogart leads a motley band of allies from various parts of the free world in a bid to find water. Things get even hotter when a German mechanized battalion also comes looking for water and isolated from the rest of ther world, the two sides battle it out. A perfect scenario for a skirmish game!
3/5
Secret of the Incas
Harry Steele is an American adventurer who seeks an Inca treasure known as 'the sunburst'. Filmed at Machu Picchu, this movie was a direct source of inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark
3/5
Shanghai
Set in Shanghai in the days prior to and during the attack on Pearl Harbour. This modern noir film is about an American agent who gets involved with a Chinese rebel woman when he investigates the death of his friend.
2/5
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon.
Set during World War Two, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are on a mission to prevent a new type of bomb sighting devce from being stolen by Prof. Moriarty on behalf of the Nazis.
2/5
Shout at the Devil
Set in Zanzibar, 1913. This is a film, which also features scenes with German East Africa Askaris, about two men who take on a German battleship hiding on a river during the First World War.
3/5
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Set in an alternative 1939 this film is an attempt at recreating the pulp genre by using live actors against a computer generated back ground. Made by an amateur who was given a chance, it has both strengths and weaknesses, but is well worth a watch.
3/5
Sky Pirates
(aka Dakota Harris). Set just after the second world war (I think) this is an absolutely appalling 1986 Australian knock-off of multiple successful hit movies of the early 1980s. This monstrosity does however cover multiple memes, clichés and tropes of the pulp genre and perhaps it does have a certain tacky charm for people who enjoy terrible movies. (Available on You Tube)
2/5
Storm over the Nile
An adaptation of The Four Feathers. Set in the Sudan, during the Mahdi rebellion - in the aftermath of the death of Gordon. A conscientious objector leaves his regiment prior to war and is branded a coward, but when his former companions are captured, he ventures into enemy territory to rescue them all.
2/5
Sunset
It is 1929 and Wyatt Earp is in his twilight years. Whilst hired as a consultant for a motion picture Earp finds himself investigating a murder along side the actor who has been hired to portray him. Various points of interest litter this film, not least the period automobiles and a biplane.
3/5
The African Queen
Set in Africa at the beginning of World War One, this classic from 1951 stars Humphrey Bogart and Catherine Hepburn. When German colonial forces militarized the region, two British ex patriots decide to strike a blow for the Empire and destroy the German gun boat which holds dominion over Lake Wittelsbach, (and thus the surrounding country side).
4/5
The Battle of the River Plate
Set in the opening months of Waorld War Two, this is the story of the panzerschiff Graf Spee and its demise. Filmed in 1956, this movie contains a big healthy dose of British patriotism.
2/5
The Big Sleep
Humphrey Bogart plays Philip Marlowe in this detective classic which features plenty of noir ambience, pulp dialogue and period scenarios.
4/5
The Eagle Has Landed
A World War Two movie about a Nazi plot to kidnap Winston Churchill. Lots of nice details and plenty of inspiration for skirmish games.
4/5
The Enemy Below
From 1957 - with no sub plots or love story to divert the attention, this is a contender for best war film ever made - though the ending is overly sentimental. In the south Atlantic during WW2 an American Buckley-class destroyer encounters a German U-boat and a long convoluted duel ensues.
4/5
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
In 1912, Adèle Blanc-Sec is a young lady from Paris who lets nothing get in her way. Through a series of unusual encounters and adventures which involve a ressurected pterodactyl and an Egyptian Pharoah's court, she strives to cure her sister of a mysterious ailment.
4/5.
The First Great Train Robbery
From 1979 this is a victorian era heist film, featuring a gold robbery from a moving train. There isn't much inspiration for a skirmish wargame, except possibly the train itself.
3/5
The Good. The Bad. The Weird.
Set in Manchuria in the 1930's, this film features a train robbery, Manchurian bandits and numerous gun fights with period weapons. There are no set battles however.
3/5
The Great Race
The film which inspired 'Whacky races'. This is a forgettable production with dire comedy characters involved in a trans-national car race. Some points of interest may be derived from the sets and vehicles used.
1/5
The Highwaymen
The story of the two Texas Rangers who tracked down and killed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. This film features a lot of period detail and excellent art direction. Atmospheric and slow paced, the story dwells on the two aging Rangers and is not an action piece, though it does offer some dramatic scenes.
4/5
The Island of Dr Moreau
Set in 2010, this is a modern version of HG Wells classic novel. It features the same over all idea of an island populated by genetic mutants.
2/5
The Island on Top of the World
This one is a rather obscure Disney adventure film, set in 1907, about a British business man who embarks on an arctic quest to find his missing son, and ends up finding a lost Viking civilisation. It features a Jules Verne style airship inventor/adventurer and a has a 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' vibe.
3/5
The Light Horsemen
This is an unremarkable and rather sentimental film that tells the story of an Australian unit of mounted infantry in Palestine in 1917.
3/5
The Maltese Falcon
The classic 1941 adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. A convoluted story with masses of noir atmosphere. Perfect inspiration for detective themed games.
4/5
The Return of Doctor X
From 1939, this science fiction tale tells the story of a dubious doctor and his quest to manufacture artificial blood and reanimate dead tissue. Things go terribly wrong for Humphrey Bogart however when the blood doesn't work as the doc intended.
3/5
The Sand Pebbles
Set in in China in the 1920's. This film is about the crew of an American gun boat trapped on the Yangtze river during a Kuomintang uprising.
4/5
The Shadow Returns
The first film of a trilogy (part 2: Behind the Mask and part 3 The Shadow: The Missing Lady), this 1946 black and white features the old comic book hero, The Shadow who is the alter ego of police detective Lamont Cranston. The film features plenty of noir ambience and snappy period dialogue.
2/5
The Shadow Strikes
Lamont Cranston returns as The Shadow in this 1937 offering, to break up an attempted robbery. The film features plenty of noir ambience and snappy period dialogue.
2/5
The Shadow: The Missing Lady
The third film of a trilogy (part 1: The Shadow Returns, and part 2: Behind the Mask), this 1946 black and white features the old comic book hero, The Shadow who investigates the murder of an art dealer and the theft of a jade statuette. The film features plenty of noir ambience and snappy period dialogue.
2/5
The Southern Star
When, in Africa in 1912, the world's largest diamond is stolen from its owner, a cross country hunt begins to recover it. Betrayal and double cross keep the plot moving with various situations playing out in the African bush.
3/5
The Spider Woman
From 1944. Basil Rathbone plays Sherlock Holmes as he faces a female mastermind of crime. Most of the film takes place in London.
2/5
The Sting
Set in the American north east, during 1936. This film features gangsters, a set up and numerous scenes of America during the depression.
3/5
The Thing
Set in Antarctica in 1982, this is a film about an American research facility whose personnel discover a crash space craft, aboard which is an alien life form. This film has lots of inspirational material for role playing and skirmish war games.
4/5
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
From 1948 this film tells the story of three gold prospectors in Mexico in the early 1920s. The story features bandits, Mexican landscapes and plenty of small details that might spice up any period game. 3/5
The White Countess
This film is set in Shang Hai in the days immediately prior to the Japanese invasion and deals with the relationship between a blind American diplomat turned club owner and his Russian aristocratic hostess. It is a rather sad but beautiful film which has nothing much to offer for potential wargaming, but does provide plenty of context for any one considering a role playing scenario.
3/5
The Wild Bunch
Set in Mexico in 1913, this is a tale about a group of American criminals who get involved in the Mexican revolution. It is gritty and blood thirsty and features several skirmish type battles.
4/5
The wind and the lion
Set in Morocco in 1904, this is a dramatized account of the 'Perdicaris Incident'. It features the usual charismatic-local-leader-against-war-mongering-colonials type plot and has a few interesting details for skirmish wargamers to find inspiration from.
2/5
Two Jakes
Set in Californina in 1948. This is the sequel to Chinatown.
1/5
Villa Rides
Set in Mexico around 1912. This is a curiously sentimental film about Pancho Villas. From the gamers perspective it has much to recommend it, Mexican bandits, a bi-plane vs semi-armoured train battle and a cavalry charge across wetlands and numerous gun fights.
4/5
When Eight Bells Toll
Although this film is set in the James Bond/post war period, it is a spy drama of sorts and has all the elements required for a role playing, or skirmish game. It features numerous small, inshore sea craft and ends with a climactic gun battle.
3/5
Young Winston
Set in late Victorian era in Northern India, England, the Sudan and South Africa, this film deals with the early life of Winston Churchill. It features several battles including one with an armoured train. 4/5
Zulu
Set in South Africa in 1879. This film deals with the battle of Roukes Drift where a small British force defeated a much larger Zulu force. The film has plenty of inspiration for skirmish wargaming. 3/5
Television and serials
Flash Gordon
From 1936, Buster Crabbe plays the eternal hero in his battle against Ming The Merciless. Terrible dialogue, wooden acting and the funniest special effects don't detract from the camp brilliance of this ancient classic.
4/5
Jeeves and Wooster
Set in late 1920s and early 30s, this series of four seasons is a light hearted comedy based on the books by P. G. Wodehouse. Good for inspiration and a chuckle.
4/5
Peaky Blinders
Set in the UK in the period after World War One. Cillian Murphy plays a criminal gang leader who expands his families power and influence. The series features plenty of British gangster dialogue, costumes and sets.
3/5
Poirot
Set mostly in the 1930s this 70 episode serial features murder mystery stories which can provide ample inspiration and entertainment.
4/5
Tales of the Gold Monkey
Set in 1938 and inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark, this single season series features the adventures of pilot Jake Cutter and his companions in the South Pacific. Features a Grumman Goose sea-plane.
3/5
The Rat Patrol
An American production from 1966/8 - this WW2 serial is loosely based on the British and commonwealth Long Range Desert Group's exploits, though with scant regard for historical accuracy, realistic special effects or convincing stories. With 58 episodes however there is some inspiration and a few ideas to be gathered here and there.
2/5
Historical events
Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations
The Great Gold Medal of Exploration and Journeys of Discovery has been awarded since 1829 by the Société de Géographie of France for journeys whose outcomes have enhanced geographical knowledge.
The Battle of Los Angeles
Also known as The Great Los Angeles Air Raid. The incident occurred less than three months after the United States entered World War II as a result of the Japanese Imperial Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one day after the bombardment of Ellwood on February 23. Initially, the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but speaking at a press conference shortly afterward, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox called the incident a "false alarm." Newspapers of the time published a number of reports and speculations of a cover-up.
The Moros Rebellion
(1899–1913) An armed conflict between the Moro people and the United States military during the Philippine-American War.
The Philadelphia Experiment
An an alleged military experiment supposed to have been carried out by the U.S. Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime around October 28, 1943. The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge (DE-173) was claimed to have been rendered invisible (or "cloaked") to enemy devices.
The Tunguska Event
A large and mysterious explosion that occurred near the Stony Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908. The explosion over the sparsely populated Eastern Siberian Taiga flattened 2,000 square kilometres (770 square miles) of forest, yet caused no known human casualties.
Interesting people
Sir Douglas Bader
b. 21 February. 1910. A Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories. In 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940.
Clyde Barrow
b. 24 March. 1909. An American criminal who traveled the central United States with Bonnie Elizabeth Parker, and their gang during the Great Depression, robbing people and killing when cornered or confronted. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "Public Enemy Era," between 1931 and 1935.
Hiram Bingham III
b. 19 November. 1875. Bingam was an American academic, explorer and politician. He made public the existence of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers.
Gertrude Bell
b. 14 July. 1868. An English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence, Bell helped support the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq.
Louise Arnor Boyd
b. 16 September. 1887. An American explorer of Greenland and the Arctic, who wrote extensively of her explorations. In 1926, she chartered the supply ship Hobby for a hunting and filming trip to the Arctic accompanied by the Count & Countess Ribadavia. She gained international notoriety for her exploits and was dubbed by newspapers around the world, as the, “Arctic Diana” and “The Girl Who Tamed the Arctic”.
Eric 'Winkle' Brown
b. 21 January. 1919. A British Royal Navy officer and test pilot who flew 487 types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history. He was also the most-decorated pilot in the history of the Royal Navy.
Sir Frederick Browning
b. 20 December. 1896. A senior officer of the British Army who has been called the "father of the British airborne forces". He was the commander of I Airborne Corps and deputy commander of First Allied Airborne Army during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.
Frederick Russell Burnham
b. 11 May. 1861. An American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell in Rhodesia. Burnham was born on a Dakota Sioux Indian reservation in Minnesota where he learned the ways of American Indians as a boy. Burnham distinguished himself in several battles in Rhodesia and South Africa and became Chief of Scouts. Despite his U.S. citizenship, his military title was British and the King invested him into the Companions of the Distinguished Service Order, giving Burnham the highest military honors earned by any American in the Second Boer War.
Ingrid Christensen
b. 10 October. 1891. A Norwegian early polar explorer. Christensen made four trips to the Antarctic with her husband on the ship Thorshavn in the 1930s, becoming the first woman to see Antarctica, the first to fly over it, and - arguably - the first woman to land on the Antarctic mainland.
Amelia Earhart
b. 24 July. 1897. An American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
Percy Fawcett
b. 18 August 1867. A British geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist and explorer of South America. Fawcett disappeared in 1925 during an expedition to find "Z"—his name for an ancient lost city which he and others believed to exist in the jungles of Brazil.
Rosita Forbes
b. 16 January. 1890. An English travel writer and explorer. In 1920-21 she was the first European woman to visit the Kufra Oasis in Libya (together with the Egyptian explorer Ahmed Hassanein), in a period when this was closed to westerners.
Adolf Galland
b. 19 March. 1912. A German Luftwaffe general and flying ace who served throughout the Second World War in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front and in the Defence of the Reich. On four occasions, he survived being shot down, and he was credited with 104 aerial victories, all of them against the Western Allies.
Robert H. Goddard
b. 5 October. 1882. An American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926. He and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km and speeds as fast as 885 km/h.
Ernest Hemingway
b. 21 July, 1899. An American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Hemingway's economical and understated style—which he termed the Iceberg Theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and his public image brought him admiration from later generations.
T. E. Lawrence
b. 16 August. 1888. A British archaeologist, military officer, diplomat, and writer. He was renowned for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia.
Vladimir Levkov
b. 1895. A Russian Engineer who substantiated the possibility of hovercraft in 1925 in his treatise named The vortex theory of the rotor. In 1934 the L-1 hovercraft boat which is sometimes referred to as the first hovercraft boat in the world was designed and built in his laboratory, with the L-5 fast-attack boat soon to follow.
Charles Lindbergh
b. 4 February. 1902. An American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, explorer, and environmental activist. At age 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize: making a nonstop flight from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, to Paris, France.
Herman Oberth
b. 25 June. 1894. An Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer. He is considered one of the founding fathers of German rocketry.
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker.
b. 1 October. 1910. An American criminal who traveled the central United States with Clyde Barrow and their gang during the Great Depression, robbing people and killing when cornered or confronted. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "Public Enemy Era," between 1931 and 1935.
Duško Popov
b. 10 July. 1912. A Serbian double agent who served as part of the MI6 and Abwehr during World War II, and passed off disinformation to Germany as part of the Double-Cross System.
Alexander H. Rice Jr
b. 29 August. 1875. An American physician, geographer, geologist and explorer especially noted for his expeditions to the Amazon Basin. He was professor of geography at Harvard University from 1929 to 1952, and was the founder and director of the Harvard Institute of Geographical Exploration.
Sidney Reilly
Date of birth, unknown. Commonly known as the "Ace of Spies," Reilly was a Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau, the precursor to the modern British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6/SIS).During his lifetime, he is alleged to have spied for at least four different great powers.
Manfred Von Richthofen
b. 2 May. 1892. Also known as the "Red Baron", Richthofen was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
Otto Skorzeny
b. 12 June 1908. Skorzeny was an Austrian born SS-Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He was involved in a string of operations, including the removal of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy from power and the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny led Operation Greif, in which German soldiers infiltrated enemy lines using their opponents' languages, uniforms, and customs. For this he was charged at the Dachau Military Tribunal with breaching the 1907 Hague Convention, but was acquitted.
Dame Freya Stark
b. 31 January. 1893. An Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays. She was one of the first non-Arabs to travel through the southern Arabian Desert.
Kurt Student
b. 12 May. 1890. A German paratroop general in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He launched the first major airborne operation of the war, the Battle for The Hague in May 1940. The highest-ranking member of Germany's parachute infantry, Student commanded the Fallschirmjäger throughout World War II. In 1947, Student was tried and convicted of war crimes committed while in command on Crete.
Pancho Villa
b. 5 June. 1878.A Mexican Revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution.
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis
b. 26 September. 1887. An English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II. Among his other inventions were his version of the geodetic airframe and the earthquake bomb.
Sir Robert Watson-Watt
b. 13 April. 1892. A Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology. Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for ways to accurately track thunderstorms using the radio signals given off by lightning. This led to the 1920s development of the 'huff-duff' system which allowed operators to determine the location of an enemy radio in seconds. It is estimated that huff-duff was used in about a quarter of all attacks on U-boats. In 1935 Watt was asked to comment on reports of a German death ray based on radio. Watt and his assistant Arnold Frederic Wilkins quickly determined it was not possible, but Wilkins suggested using radio signals to locate aircraft at long distances. This led to the development of RADAR which entered service in 1938 under the code name Chain Home.
