The show "Dogfights" a great show, but a bit biased?

mattmanB182 · #1 10-23-2009, 06:48 PM

I got a little upset about the episode I just watched. It made it seem like the P-51 was the superior to the BF-109 in every way, this is simply not the case.

They only show American victories and dont even discuss allied fights. Or give the Germans or Japanese any credit.

Am I being too critical? Or do I have a point?

dazz1971 · #2 10-23-2009, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattmanB182

I got a little upset about the episode I just watched. It made it seem like the P-51 was the superior to the BF-109 in every way, this is simply not the case.

They only show American victories and dont even discuss allied fights. Or give the Germans or Japanese any credit.

Am I being too critical? Or do I have a point?

Dont worry mattman they prob done another episode where they focus on allied and axis fights and aircraft too

FOZ_1983 · #3 10-23-2009, 07:05 PM

Its an american programme isnt it so they like to give them all the credit where they can and make everyone else look really shit at the same time.

I find it a good programme though, but would be better of they showed "dogfights" for everyone, not just the americans.

Rudel, hartmann, bader, sailor malan..... list goes on.

Maybe they just dont like to see american planes shot down? who knows! but i agree is can be very biased at times.

mattd27 · #4 10-23-2009, 07:09 PM

So I'm not the only one! I love the show but I can't help but cringe at the bias they have on there. I thought I was the only one taking notice but I guess not. All the stories are pretty much about heroic americans, rarely do they show allied planes getting shot down or defeated.

Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of US heroes, but still.

Doktorwzzerd · #5 10-23-2009, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattmanB182

I got a little upset about the episode I just watched. It made it seem like the P-51 was the superior to the BF-109 in every way, this is simply not the case.

They only show American victories and dont even discuss allied fights. Or give the Germans or Japanese any credit.

Am I being too critical? Or do I have a point?

No you have a point, its a little boring sometimes for that reason. Wouldn't it be cool if they had interviewed Gunther Rall or some British or Russian pilots? Battle of Britain? Oh well thats the History Channel for you, they probably just didn't want to spring for the airfare involved in going to Europe or Japan!

LostInSpace · #6 10-23-2009, 08:10 PM

Well it is an American TV show so of course it's going to highlight American dogfight victories

I don't think the show ever made the claim that these particular dogfights were the best ever.

If I remember correctly ( I have season 1 on DVD) the show does cite the skill and quality of Japanese/German pilots and aircraft.

Raw Kryptonite · #7 10-23-2009, 08:33 PM

Many times. They pay a lot of respect to the enemy aircraft in all of the conflicts/wars they cover. Excellent show. Same for Battle 360.

DaveE30 · #8 10-23-2009, 09:20 PM

I definitely think it's biased, but I also think it's a lot easier for the producers to interview and take account from 80+ year old Americans than 80+ year old Germans and Japanese pilots.

Soviet Ace · #9 10-23-2009, 09:50 PM

Yeah, they should have shown some Soviet, and Japanese fighter pilots. That would have been sweet. They could have mentioned the amazing dogfight between 24 FW190s along with some 109s against 18 Yak-3s. In the end, the there was a loss of 15 German planes, and only 1 Yak-3!!

On the Japanese end, they could have shown the dogfight between Saburo Sakai, and 6 F6F-5 Hellcats at Iwo Jima! That would be cool to.

#10 10-23-2009, 10:13 PM

Yeah, they should definately relive epic combat from the Axis side. Saburo Sakai and his squadron mates (particularly Nishizawa) were some of the best fighter pilots of all time. They could absolutely take combat descriptions in his book Samauri and renact them.

The one thing i really like about BOP is learning things about the Russian side. Growing up, all the books and stories and movies were about American planes and heroes. Russia was so secrective anyway that there just wasn't much data or history known about the Russian side. Hell, there wasn't even any models of there aircraft. Plastic models. I had a hundred of them all over my room. I loved to build them but had not one russian plane. I'm learning that the Russians had a lot more than just numbers on their side. Their planes , stratagies, courage and skill were top notch.