Strafing the German air field and base was like Star Wars

World War I war movies are so scarce that I automatically give a decent score to any that turn up. I actually liked, VON RICHTHOFEN AND BROWN (1971). I'm not sure that this movie should be compared to the BLUE MAX. My perception is that the war is the same but both movies seem to be from different categories. Yet the underlying theme is there, the destruction of the old world class order and the chaotic introduction of the new social order, the rise of the working and middle classes into the positions of national power formerly reserved for the nobility, the aristocracy, the landed classes.

Okay, I digressed. Here's the fun part. When Canadian lieutenant Brown (his character and personality seem more frontier American) leads his colleague pilots (they previously despised him but have begun to buy into his 'total' warfare mentality) on a destructive strafing run on the German airfield and installations, the results are spectacular. Too spectacular.

The British SE.5s are excellent, state-of-the-art fighter bi-planes, but are only armed apiece with two, .303 caliber machine guns. None of those attacking SE.5s are dropping bombs or deploying air-to-surface rockets. In fact as far as I know, the SE.5 was never equipped for dropping bombs. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Yet in the movie when the SE.5s strafe the German airfield, everything spectacularly blows up as if these were STAR WARS X-wing fighters shooting out pulse lasers. Even .50 caliber machine guns would not have caused all those explosions. I could believe it if the SE.5s were armed with 20mm cannon but that is World War II. I have to accept that director Roger Corman staged the spectacular explosions for the sake of the film screen.