Bristol Freighter film

A big thanks to matt and evryone else who
contributed to this thread, I appreciate it
very much.

Just out of interest for anyone else who happens to visit
this thread, the only other Bristol Freighter film that seems
to have been made is the 1988 film The Rrescue.
Really aimed at kids – it does feature Bristol Mk.31 NZ5910
ex-RNZAF plus some great shots of RNZAF aircraft in
action. It has a special place for me as the Korean
prison was built nearby where I lived and I can still remember
the massive lights they used to film night scenes.

Cheers
Simon Beck

Nice shots of a USAF Albatross landing on the water in that film too:rolleyes:

Thanks to all…

A big thanks to matt and evryone else who
contributed to this thread, I appreciate it
very much.

Just out of interest for anyone else who happens to visit
this thread, the only other Bristol Freighter film that seems
to have been made is the 1988 film The Rrescue.
Really aimed at kids – it does feature Bristol Mk.31 NZ5910
ex-RNZAF plus some great shots of RNZAF aircraft in
action. It has a special place for me as the Korean
prison was built nearby where I lived and I can still remember
the massive lights they used to film night scenes.

Cheers
Simon Beck

Helliwells

There is a picture of Jack Hawkins shaking hands with the pilot Charles Helliwell of the crashed B170 G-AIFV on page 66 of the book by Alec Brew “Black Country Transport: Aviation in old photographs”1994 by Alan Sutton publishing. Would Charles Helliwell be something to do with Helliwells of Walsall airfield where they overhauled Bostons during the war and Harvards in the post war years ?

Very impressive M.B., wish all our inquiries were solved this satisfactorily!:)

Can anyone remember the title, who it starred and
if possible the ID’s of the aircraft involved?

Mark 11A G-AIFV – The Film Star
Airframe 12781 was first registered to the Bristol Aeroplane Company on 11 October 1946 but was then sold to Indian airline Dalmia Jain on 4 December 1946 as VT-CID and then sold on to India National Airlines on 27 October 1947. After a return to Filton for upgrading to Mark 21 standard, airframe 12781 finally became G-AIFV of Silver City Airways on 19 June 1953.
In 1956 G-AIFV featured in the Ealing film “The Man In The Sky”. Directed by Charles Crichton and featuring Lionel Jeffries and Donald Pleasance, “The Man In The Sky” – distributed as “Decision against Time” in the USA – starred Jack Hawkins as a test pilot who refused to bail out when one of his aircraft’s engines caught fire. The film called for a landing sequence on one wheel with a dead engine and this was practiced at Lydd Ferryfield. Unfortunately during actual filming at Wolverhampton on 15 May 1956 G-AIFV overshot the runway and ended in a ditch, damaging the nose, undercarriage and wings.
After repairs G-AIFV returned to Silver City service and during 1957 ( along with G-AIFM and G-AIME ) carried the Lancashire Aircraft Corporation badge on its fin. It was named “City of Manchester” in November 1958 but was withdrawn and scrapped at Lydd in May 1962.

From……….
http://glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/JetAgeRMC_Bristol170.htm

Filmed at Wolverhampton Municipal Aerodrome, Pendeford.
See http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/articles/Pendeford/Airport.htm

Could this be the one. The Man In The Sky. 1957.

Courtesy of IMDB Moggy

Yes that is the one that features the Bristol Freighter. It is not available in any format. The premise that a test pilot would make a test flight with passengers (!) and all would have parachutes (!) would only happen in Hollywood, sorry Ealing Studios.:D

Going a bit off topic but only slightly…

Seem to rember a film about a “giant” airplane that lands on a hillside and gets stranded seem to recall that there is a criminal eliment to the flight but the strangest thing of all is I seem to rember the aircraft was a Beverley! possibly set in Canada?

Could this be the one.

Courtesy of IMDB

Plot summary for
The Man in the Sky (1957)

The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell (Jack Hawkins) to make a better life for his wife Mary (Elizabeth Sellars) and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company’s new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers – Ministry official Crabtree (Donald Pleasence) and buyer’s representative Ashmore (Eddie Byrne). Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway (Walter Fitzgerald), that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm’s entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea.

Moggy

The late Jack Hawkins (Hawkings?) played the pilot, and the aircraft had some sort of JATO system as well. Can not remember the name of the film though, not seen it for yonks.

Steve