boebert@SCTC.COM (Earl Boebert) (07/24/90)
From: boebert@SCTC.COM (Earl Boebert) The long exchange on the Gigant gliders reminded me that there is a terrific three-tape set called "The Secret War" about the technological struggle in WWI. One of the tapes has a long sequence on the Gigant, including some truly amazing takeoff footage (pedal to the metal on the 110's, light the rockets, and awaaaaaay we trundle ...) and interviews with Hanna Reisch, Hitler's favorite lady test pilot. Hanna, like most observers, was uncomplimentary about the beasts; however, the script properly notes that had they been available for Sea Lion the Germans would have landed light armor and motorized infantry into sections of England defended by overage civilians carrying sporting rifles and shotguns. There are six one-hour shows in the set: the Battle of the Beams, the Enigma/Ultra affair, Radar, magnetic mines, V-weapons, and assorted military madness. The producers must have spent half a lifetime digging through the archives in the Imperial War Museum, and dug up some incredible stuff: home movies taken by a Wehrmacht soldier of an Enigma in operational use, time-lapse photography of the radar returns tracking a 1000-bomber raid over Berlin, and on and on. Interviews with participants, including R.V. Jones, the grandest Wizard of them all. Pricey but highly recommended, and as far as I know never shown on US television. I got mine from British Regalia Imports, PO Box 50473, Nashville TN 37205. (I forget the price, but I remember it was a bit steep.) The boxes also list the phone number of BBC Home Vision as 800 262 8600; 617 879 1720 in Mass. The stock numbers are 37249-002x-3 where x runs from 0 to 2.
wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (08/17/90)
From: David Lesher <wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>
Henry Spencer recently mentioned the R.V. Jones book "Wizard_War" in a
discussion. I'd like to mention another book on WWII and technology:
The_Secret_War, Brian Johnson, 1978 {Britain BBC, U.S. Methuen Inc}
ISBN 0-458-93340-6
It covers the contributions of the 'boffins' in six general chapters:
Battle of the Beams {navaids}
Radar
Terror Weapons {V1, V2}
Battle of the Atlantic {ASDIC, Metox, H2S, Stumf}
Misfortunes of War {fubars}
Enigma
The book evolved from the BBC series of the same title. It discusses in
detail many things only alluded to elsewhere: HuffDuff, The Leigh
Light, magnetic mines, and the infamous Panjandrum, to list a few.
I recommend it. Does anyone know if the series was ever shown on U.S.
TV, or where it is available?
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