Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Sound of the Aeroplane at War 1939/1945 (1975, Golden Hour GH600 LP)
Kamikaze (TRACK 13)
Some remarkable recordings made on H.M.S. “Formidable” with the British Pacific Fleet south of Okinawa in May 1945. As a massive barrage of fire is sent up from the Pom-Poms of the Aircraft Carrier and the surrounding fleet, an attack is launched by the Japanese Air Force aircraft. The full determination of the Japanese to destroy the Fleet despite the heavy bombardment from below led to Kamikaze suicide attacks and some suicide dives on neighbouring ships can clearly be heard as the Japanese pilots committed their lives to the destruction of their enemy. The “Formidable” was herself struck twice during the action and serious damage resulted on the day this recording was made (May 7th). Clearly heard are some unidentified Japanese light bombers flying overhead and the whine of their bombs whilst the guns of the ships send up a curtain of flak. The empty shell cases can be heard spewing out over the decks of the “Formidable” and the final action of some of the Japanese pilots deliberately destroying themselves by crash-diving their aircraft onto the British Fleet bring a real horror to the watching crews desperately defending their own lives.
No greater decisive part was taken in World War II than that of the fighting warplane. The heroic stories of the airmen from all nations who were in the action will be told for many years hence and many epics will be constructed from the facts that were so real thirty years ago. The facts are now history which can be re-lived through the media of film and the written word.
This record is a rare collection of factual recordings gathered over a period of several years from many sources in Britain, the United States and Europe. The recordings were made on crude field equipment by war correspondents and broadcasters on the battle front reporting for their various networks as well as from some propaganda film soundtracks recorded optically during war.
The record is in two sections. The first presents the sound of aircraft in actual battle as it happened. From the desperate struggle over the fields of Southern England to the horrifying reality of death at the hands of the Kamikaze fanatics at sea towards the end of the war, these recordings show the brutal aspect of air to ground warfare. Many of the sounds will bring back memories for those who took part. As is war, there are hundreds of thousands to whom these sounds meant death or disfigurement, but to every human being alive today, these grim sounds of destruction serve to show the futile horror of war in any form.
The section presenting recordings of individual aircraft will serve to show the intrinsic value of the aircraft as heard in the first section as well as other types of aircraft deployed during the war years. Some of these recordings were made after the war on more modern recording equipment and show the aircraft purely as a flying machine rather than as a machine of war. And some were recorded fairly recently and are from various museums in Britain, Europe and the United States.
A Cinesound International Production.
Produced by David Edwards and Peter Roddis
Executive Producer Dennis E. Rogers
Cover photograph: Spitfire
The Sound of the Aeroplane at War 1939/1945 (1975, Golden Hour GH600 LP)
Kamikaze (TRACK 13)
Some remarkable recordings made on H.M.S. “Formidable” with the British Pacific Fleet south of Okinawa in May 1945. As a massive barrage of fire is sent up from the Pom-Poms of the Aircraft Carrier and the surrounding fleet, an attack is launched by the Japanese Air Force aircraft. The full determination of the Japanese to destroy the Fleet despite the heavy bombardment from below led to Kamikaze suicide attacks and some suicide dives on neighbouring ships can clearly be heard as the Japanese pilots committed their lives to the destruction of their enemy. The “Formidable” was herself struck twice during the action and serious damage resulted on the day this recording was made (May 7th). Clearly heard are some unidentified Japanese light bombers flying overhead and the whine of their bombs whilst the guns of the ships send up a curtain of flak. The empty shell cases can be heard spewing out over the decks of the “Formidable” and the final action of some of the Japanese pilots deliberately destroying themselves by crash-diving their aircraft onto the British Fleet bring a real horror to the watching crews desperately defending their own lives.
No greater decisive part was taken in World War II than that of the fighting warplane. The heroic stories of the airmen from all nations who were in the action will be told for many years hence and many epics will be constructed from the facts that were so real thirty years ago. The facts are now history which can be re-lived through the media of film and the written word.
This record is a rare collection of factual recordings gathered over a period of several years from many sources in Britain, the United States and Europe. The recordings were made on crude field equipment by war correspondents and broadcasters on the battle front reporting for their various networks as well as from some propaganda film soundtracks recorded optically during war.
The record is in two sections. The first presents the sound of aircraft in actual battle as it happened. From the desperate struggle over the fields of Southern England to the horrifying reality of death at the hands of the Kamikaze fanatics at sea towards the end of the war, these recordings show the brutal aspect of air to ground warfare. Many of the sounds will bring back memories for those who took part. As is war, there are hundreds of thousands to whom these sounds meant death or disfigurement, but to every human being alive today, these grim sounds of destruction serve to show the futile horror of war in any form.
The section presenting recordings of individual aircraft will serve to show the intrinsic value of the aircraft as heard in the first section as well as other types of aircraft deployed during the war years. Some of these recordings were made after the war on more modern recording equipment and show the aircraft purely as a flying machine rather than as a machine of war. And some were recorded fairly recently and are from various museums in Britain, Europe and the United States.
A Cinesound International Production.
Produced by David Edwards and Peter Roddis
Executive Producer Dennis E. Rogers
Cover photograph: Spitfire
