The War Lover BBC2

I rmember my uncle telling me about a B-17 that he said landed on top of Warners Bridge having not quite made the airfield. This may well be the one you are referring to.

I’ll start another thread, so as to not hijack this one.

Found this from Wiki.

Paul Mantz, Hollywood’s leading stunt pilot, was paid the then-unprecedented sum of $4,500 to crash-land a B-17 bomber for one early scene in the film. Frank Tallman, Mantz’ partner in Tallmantz Aviation, wrote in his autobiography that, while many B-17s had been landed by one pilot, as far as he knew this flight was the first time that a B-17 ever took off with only one pilot and no other crew; nobody was sure that it could be done.“ The footage was used again in the 1962 film The War Lover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_O’Clock_High

The 12 O’ Clock high belly landing was used in a number of B-17 films ( inc 1000 Plane Raid, where it was coloured in ). The B-17 hits two pyramidal tents at touchdown, and friends I’ve discussed this with speculated the tents were to mark the touchdown point beside the cameras to make sure they got a good shot.

Hmm, possibly that’s it ! Thanks. Just knew a distant bell was ringing !:)

Question is, the low flying scenes are amazing, but I’m sure in my addled brain I remember somewhere reading they actually belly landed a B-17 for the crash scene in the film. Can anyone confirm , or deny this ? I have been known to be wrong before on occassion !:confused:

Willie

Not confusing it with Tora, Tora, Tora are you, where a B-17 landed with only one main gear down ?

Ammendment, just done a quick search, and learned it was reused footage from “12 O’Clock High” , but the memory had some truth to it ! Didn’t know that one of the stuntmen was killed parachuting into the channel in the scene at the end. Sad tale.

Hi, long time lurker and infrequent poster that I am ( hate the word lurker, makes me think I should be wearing a dirty old mac!) just wanted to ask a question on this.

I agree Steve McQueen one of the coolest people ever to grace the planet ! Read his biography, and as well as being a private pilot, came across well. Did a lot for wothy causes anonimously, but did like to wind up the studio execs !

Question is, the low flying scenes are amazing, but I’m sure in my addled brain I remember somewhere reading they actually belly landed a B-17 for the crash scene in the film. Can anyone confirm , or deny this ? I have been known to be wrong before on occassion !:confused:

Willie

I remember my uncle telling me about a B-17 that he said landed on top of Warner’s Bridge having not quite made the airfield. This may well be the one you are referring to.

I’ll look up the details later

Coincidentally I have finished the reading of the history of RAF Southend, and there was a reference to a badly
shot up B-17 with two engines out, crash landing there. They were losing height all the way back, and only just
managed to make Southend.

I rmember my uncle telling me about a B-17 that he said landed on top of Warners Bridge having not quite made the airfield. This may well be the one you are referring to.

The ex-Southend Mitchel N9089Z also known as Bedsheet Bomber was allegedly the camera ship for both the War Lover and 633 Squadron before being abandoned at Biggin Hill. I suppose she counts as a survivor from the film although during her days at North Weald she just about hung on by the skin of her teeth (and with the support of her props) before going to Parkhouse Aviation where I believe Barry Parkhouse is slowly working to bring her back to static display condition.

At least they used real aeroplanes!

For anyone put off by 1960’s haircuts and fashions, love affairs etc, there is an abbreviated version of the film on Youtube.

Someone has cut out everything except the flying/combat scenes!

I braced myself to watch what I’ve always considered a fairly dull film and was surprised to realise that McQueen was about to fly into the cliffs after only forty minutes.

Not having seen the film since the 1960’s, it took me a while to realise what the uploader had done!

when so much time and effort was spent ensuring accuracy of a/c etc why were the female fashions so ignored ? it was like a time warp into the early 1960s ! see photograph attached !!!

Yes…not good but quite normal for many feature films unfortunately 🙂

Ah! The days when you could just roll up to an airfield as an enthusiast and be invited to take a look inside the B-17 destined to be used in the Warlover.

An old schoolfriend recently sent me this image taken at Bovingdon.

Mark

the war lover

like many films of its type the flying scenes were acceptable – but the acting was deplorable ! whoever told MICHAEL CRAWFORD his american accent was OK ?
when so much time and effort was spent ensuring accuracy of a/c etc why were the female fashions so ignored ? it was like a time warp into the early 1960s ! see photograph attached !!!

I’ve watched that film a few times now, although I only caught the last 15 minutes this time. I still wait for him to
clear the cliffs.

Coincidentally I have finished the reading of the history of RAF Southend, and there was a reference to a badly
shot up B-17 with two engines out, crash landing there. They were losing height all the way back, and only just
managed to make Southend.

Seeing the ASR launch also reminded me of one of my customers who worked on those during WWII.
They managed to rescue a lot of downed aircrew, but also took a lot of messages from crews who weren’t
going to make it back.

Yes, I’ve read he was solo for that low pass at Bovingdon, with a camera also mounted in the nose…

I really love that photo. John Crewdson, wasn’t it ?

Has to be one of my favourite war movies…

Please credit the image owner where possible – David M. Kay

Nothing like a good buzz job to get the juices flowing,

Really? I could think of something else.:D

Shhhh, but that’s another film I haven’t seen. Read the book, obviously.

PS. Wow!