Essay On Flyboys

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In today’s entertainment business movies are used more and more to portray major historical events that have occurred in the worlds history. Even though many of these movies are great representations of many courageous and epic adventures they are never one hundred percent accurate. Some inaccurate historical events make there way into these productions to improve the overall meaning or story. The movie I chose to analyze for my History vs. Hollywood essay was the 2006 Dean Devlin production of Flyboys. Main characters of this movie include James Franco and Jean Reno. Flyboys is based on the 124th air squadron, an assault group lead by the French. The group was composed of five officers of France and thirty-eight americans that had volunteered …show more content…

This was a major advancement in mix of different nations troops. In the past other nations militaries had not necessarily gotten along based on different race and cultures. In accordance to Stephan Sherman,¹ “the pilots exceeded their tangible impact; in twenty months, they downed fifty-seven German planes, a solid, if unspectacular achevement.” These eleven began the drive towards the rest of the thirty-eight joining the fight. The squad was started by Dr. Edmund L. Gros an ex aviator of the American ranks who was flying with the French. Many of the men did not know what was waiting for them in combat and were in shock when they were so quickly put into action. They would be moved throughout the Western front closer and closer to front lines. Stations included: Bar-le-Duc near Verdun, and Luxueil. There were often assigned to escort duty of large supplies or heavy weaponary including bombers. The group had two lions that they named Whiskey and Coke who they designated as their mascots. Of the eleven American men in the 124th three were killed in action and one prisoner of war. The aces of the group were Gervais Lufbery who recorded sixteen enemy downings and David Putnam who recorded thirteen himself. Those that survived the treterous missions would later be stationed with other groups in the …show more content…

In the movie Cassidy, the leader and ace of the group warns Rawlings of the skill and record of the Black Falcon. Although the altercations of Rawlings and the Black Falcon may not have been exactly accurate the Black Falcon was an ace German aviator and was supposedly based off Oswald Boelcke who was thought by many to be the most influential patrol leaders of his time. Throughout his flight career Oswald acheved many metals and honors according to Thorsten Petsch's Air Ace Oswald Boelcke.¹ Some of these include a life-saving badge, and the Blue Max which was the best award that could be earned because of bravery in Prussia. After some forty successful air fights(dogfights) Boelcke parished after he ran into his own mate. He was so highly regarded that his enemys refered to him as their brave and chivalrous opponent upon his death. Boelcke was even said to have inspired and trained well known fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen. As recorded by Ducksters Oswald led a group of elite German fighters that included Manfred who he taught everything he knew about

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