What is that outside the cockpit?

[ovs]

This is a fine thread; thanks, PAARMA and OvS for the infos.
And BULLETHEAD, I think you got it explained in best detail - there'd be many purposes to use flares for. Thank you all.

And CATFISH: so it wasn't in FLYBOYS, but DER ROTE BARON? Ooops.

Yep, Der Rote Baron. But a flare would NEVER be able to do that to a Balloon. Balloons were made of thin canvas, not bed linen. They were inflated until taught, providing little room to conform to an impact. Not like you see in the movie. The impact of a flare would not be able to push in like that. It would either bounce off, or stick to it, then burn through. It looked like he tossed a brick at it.

OvS

 

[Olham54]

Yes, that's what made me wonder, OvS. It couldn't have been so easy to kill a balloon.
Also, in the movie there was an Albatros performing a hell of a dive, full speed. I don't believe, the lower wings would have allowed that.
That's the problem with computer-generated air combat scenes - they are not done with the real thing, and the guys who make them, mostly know too little about flying these crates. And then there may be even the producer telling them, what the people expected for their money.

 

[ovs]

Agree. If the scenes in the movie were real, there'd be a lot of planes falling from the sky without wings.

They fly like F-16's. But that was the complaint with Flyboys as well.

But still, a much higher and more accurate effort on the paints than Flyboys EVER could amount to. The N17's in Flyboys looked like NASCAR's with all the emblems and logos on them.

OvS