The Arnhem Report – The Story Behind a Bridge Too Far

A mate that worked at BAE at the time told a story that BAE had offered to make two airworthy Horsa replicas for ten thousand pounds! The film company said that was too expensive.

Steve

Purple Smoke

I’ll have to give this a watch at some point this weekend!

Incidentally does anyone know what aircraft were used to drop the purple smoke to highlight where the artillery were to fire in one of he battles the British tank column fought?

I think it was implied in the film that the Shermans fired purple smoke rounds from their main guns. in 1977 a book was published to tie in with the documentary (‘The Arnhem Report’) by Iain Johnstone and I still have it on my bookshelf.

Few pics of the Horsa’s that might be of interest at the bottom of this thread:

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=126218

We were apparently offer a set of wings from one of the ABTF mock-ups a while ago but with no-where to store them had to decline.

One of the bombs dropped by the “Typhoons” is still around, on the wall of the canteen in Gilze-Rijen. It was a fire extuingisher painted green and fitted with fins at the back.

That film answered a question about the gliders that had been in my mind since I recently saw the film again. At least one glider is shown being towed on the ground so must have been properly built. 10 were built but 8 damaged in a storm. The commentary mentioned some were built for flight? I thought those were maybe models?
mmitch.

They weren’t built for flight but realistic enough to be towed for some shots. If you look at the finished ones the wing sag is terrifying as they under estimated the strength needed in the spar. Apparently one did a “hop” under tow but they were never actually towed airborne.

The gliders you see behind Sean Connery in the “cup of tea, sir?” scene are 2D silhouettes and I believe the carcase of a Mk.II.

I always believed the Horsas were only seen on the ground – the flying POV shot was achieved using some other kind of glider.

That film answered a question about the gliders that had been in my mind since I recently saw the film again. At least one glider is shown being towed on the ground so must have been properly built. 10 were built but 8 damaged in a storm. The commentary mentioned some were built for flight? I thought those were maybe models?
mmitch.

I am not sure if THAT is the doco, I haven’t watched it on youtube…but I remember seeing John Frost interviewed about the bit where Anthony Hopkins races across the street to check on some of the guys, give orders or somesuch. He was a bit miffed about the way it was portrayed because in reality he had walked calmly across because “One had to show the men” or similar…:) Gold!!

Wonder what drawings they were using to make those Horsas…

Fascinating. Rem,eber seeing this when it came out and for me as a young lad was quite shocked even though it wasn’t real I knew it had been back in 1944.

Details on the aircraft used are in this section of IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075784/trivia

According to what was said after the filmed drop, 1 Para broke his back, and 1 was court marshalled for refusing to jump…

regards,
jack…

Thanks Aeronaut2008

I’ll have to give this a watch at some point this weekend!

Incidentally does anyone know what aircraft were used to drop the purple smoke to highlight where the artillery were to fire in one of he battles the British tank column fought?

Harvards painted to look like Tempest 2

Hi All,
The filming of the parachute scenes was almost worth a documentary in itself!
I was told that the film company had carried out trials of Belgian paratroops exiting (on static line) from a C-130 (out of shot, ‘above’ the screen). These would then be filmed from the camera a/c dropping past a C-47. Film ‘trickery’ was to be used to give the impression that the paras were exiting from the C-47. It didn’t work, and the film company then, effectively, ‘hired’ a sizeable chunk of 16 Para Bde.
The paras were to drop from a collection of ‘good’ C-47s (Finland and Denmark) aided by a motley collection of C-47s from around the world (some from Djibouti which were named, inevitably, by the Grunts as the “Jam Buttie Airlines”!!).
But before all this could take place a large number of trials were conducted to see if modern paras (and kit) could safely exit a C-47. Most were held on the Hankley Common DZ and involved Farnborough (a/c and various experts, including a Flt Lt Six-Bolt Stop (I don’t think anybody knew his real name – but he’d done this actual job, for real, many years ago!)) and some PJIs from 1PTS were the Grunts. Support was from 38 Group Medics, MMU (me!), TCW, etc.
The Six-Bolt Stop is a metal clamp fixed to the running wire inside the a/c and secured to it by 6 bolts. Its precise position on that wire determines at what point the static line tightens to pull the parachute cover off and deploy it. I can’t remember which is which, but too short and the parachute may foul the tail-plane. Too long and the static line may wrap itself round the tail-plane. Thick dollops of black printers-ink were painted on the undersides of the tail-plane, with the brush-strokes going sideways. After each drop (with the position of the 6-Bolt Stop varied) the PJIs canopies were closely inspected for black ink, and the a/c was inspected back at Farnborough to see if there had been any ‘flicking’ of either canopy, or static line, on the tail-plane.
It was, I may say, a considerable pleasure to have worked with so many experts in a relatively small field.
HTH
Resmoroh

I’ll have to give this a watch at some point this weekend!

Incidentally does anyone know what aircraft were used to drop the purple smoke to highlight where the artillery were to fire in one of he battles the British tank column fought?

Very good documentary. I’ve always thought this a much underrated film.

I’ll have to give that a look at some point!