F15 Fighter Pilots Were A Tightknit Family. This Cold War Backstory Shows How They Prepared For War

They called it THE WING. I am proud of this documentary made on an F15 fighter unit stationed in Bitburg, Germany on the front line of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was a very tense time between the United States and Soviet Union/Russia. These men had to be prepared 24/7 to be in the air within three minutes if a siren blasted a warning that war was about to begin. They practiced every single day.

By contemporary standards, this 1981 documentary moves a bit slowly but if you let it play, you will get a very realistic feeling for what incredible Bitburg, Germany F-15 Air Force Base was like for those in the military who live there with their families - not just the pilots – the best the Air Force had to offer – but all of those thousands who supported The Wing.

When I viewed my film after all these years, I thought that it would be of little meaning to my subscribers. But because my film team went behind the scenes to look at how people in this very tense environment lived and worked – not only the airmen and women but their families – it is as alive today as it was back then. As the film shows that Air Force wing was a beautifully tight knit group – a true extended family.

When I first got there, my team and I had to convince those on the base that we were allies who could be trusted. They let us into their lives and we saw what it was really like to be on a frontline base with 5000 soldiers and airmen and their families. They were overwhelmingly wonderful people. Dedicated. Skilled. Caring for one another. It was a community in fact like few I have ever seen in my life. that extraordinarily close knit feeling was one of the main reasons people liked life in the Air Force – life in the American military.

In its time, this military documentary was seen as experimental. Several other documentary filmmakers had done "real stories with real people but my team and I developed a style that was something between cinéma vérité, just letting the camera roll with the crew not involved, and a more directed documentary where we, and those in front of the camera, worked together to create the feeling we and they wanted to create.

When the film was made, the final test was how the pilots and the support teams and their families would feel about it. With that very tough audience, it succeeded. The film was run on the base over and over again.

When viewed on YouTube today, the film has a bit of a cold war ring to it. But it was made in the early 1980s at the height of the Cold War during a time when the Cold War looked like it might very well turn hot.

Subscribers have asked me whether I have kept up with these folks so that I would know where they are today. Unfortunately, I didn't though I now believe I should have. But I was given the opportunity to fly in the second seat of an F-15. One of the thrills of my life as a filmmaker.

Commentators have asked me for advice on the Air Force, on the F-15, on recruiting. Here are some words and phrases worth searching. Carhartt Air Force 1. dh7568 001. Los Angeles Air Force Base. dd9605 160. United States Air Force recruiting. Air Force USA. Air Force recruiting near me. Become a fighter pilot. Air Force recruiting office.

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