Aviation according to Tolkein

and I just thought it would be cool if a Hurricane, Merlin engine flat out, came zipping across the screen.

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That would be kind'a cool, if a little random; a bit like that scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian when he falls from the top of the tower and that spaceship zooms past and catches him!

"Ee's NOT the New Messaiah! Ee's a very naughty boy!"

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Lord of the Rings was written by Tolkien.

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I was wondering how long before someone was going to do that...

beitou said:

Why didn't the Eagles just drop of Frodo at Mt Doom or drop the bleeding ring into it. They would have had the accuracy to do it with their dive approach, as it was all I can see is a misuse of potentially war winning strategic air power to support ground units, Harris would be spinning in his grave.

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Would have been good, but, unfortunately for Gandalf, there were three main operational problems:

1) The Eagle Squadrons had only just arrived in Middle Earth and hadn't yet gone through M.E.(Db)/O.T.U (Middle Earth (Dive bomber)/Operational.Training.Unit, nor had they gone through fully fledged fighter training.

2) The Eagle's Eagle engines hadn't yet been cleared for operations at full boost, and supplies of 150 octane rabbits weren't yet available - there's no way they could have gone up against the combat experienced Forcke-Wraith 190s of Jagdtrollschwader 2 Richtsauron.

3) Even if they had completed their dive bombing training it would have been impossible to drop the ring into Mt Doom because of the constant heavy smoke screen over the main crater - the only possible approach was a glide-bomb attack against a comparatively small doorway in the side of the cone, which would have meant going through extremely heavy light and medium OrcAAA across several miles. Ditto for trying to transport Frodo to that location.

In short, the only option was a combined Long Range Hobbit Group/Special Elf Service (LRHG/SES) operation, with the help of the Special Operations Dwarf Unit (SODU) and the Rangers.

Of course, the presence of the elite force of 9 ring wraiths on their winged mounts would mean that any attempt to penetrate Mordorian airspace by Middle Earth's Eagle Squadron would have been hotly contested. Sauron had a unique, albeit flawed early warning system to alert him to such aerial attacks: A giant, unblinking, raster-scanning eye perusing the terrain of Mordor. However, it was well known among Middle Earth tactical gurus that a diversionary attack might be sufficient to initially distract the attention of the 9 and force an early, commitment of Sauron's limited forces to a different threat direction, opening the way for the special eagle ring delivery unit to reach mount doom's ring-factory complex.

Why this didn't happen is a mystery, although rumor has it, the eagles were holding out for a larger fraction of the dwarf's horde in Erebor.

Personally, I say leave Frodo there: his incessant whining makes my teeth ache.