Apart from the pretty excellent wartime film “One of Our Aircraft Is Missng”, are there any other feature films or perhaps TV series about Allied airmen who were shot down over Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific or wherever, who evaded capture and make the run to reach safety?
And if yes, are there any actual true stories depicted?
By: Arabella-Cox - 20th March 2010 at 15:46
Desperate Journey… A bit of a stretch, but funny, very modest (no real romance in the story :eek:), and some interesting Hudson footage.
Ryan
By: DazDaMan - 20th March 2010 at 07:47
I’m amazed no-one has mentioned “Von Ryan’s Express”.:eek: With Frank Sinatra in the starring role & footage of a P-38 to boot.
Don’t forget some rocket-firing Taifun porn…. :diablo:
By: Dave Homewood - 20th March 2010 at 04:12
Evaders was the main aim but let’s do escapers too.
Von Ryan’s Express is a great Christmas Night film but hardly a realistic story. I’d like to know if real escape stories have been told on film. I know of The Great Escape which is of course fiction and fact intertwined. I’d like to see a remake with the real story of that amazing event done, without all the Hollywood bullshine.
By: Creaking Door - 19th March 2010 at 16:37
I thought we were only doing ‘evaders’ as opposed to ‘escapers’…
…there are loads of POW escape films!
By: Radpoe Meteor - 19th March 2010 at 15:39
I’m amazed no-one has mentioned “Von Ryan’s Express”.:eek: With Frank Sinatra in the starring role & footage of a P-38 to boot.
By the way, I think this one was fictional.
By: BSG-75 - 19th March 2010 at 14:43
manhunt
does anybody remember this?
Amazon “fed” it to me having looked at secret army, Robert Hardy starred, RAF pilot lost in France, joins the local resistance etc etc, I’d not ever heard of it.
By: topgun regect - 18th March 2010 at 13:53
Is Secret Army out on DVD?
Its available here for those in NZ
Series 2 and 3 also available frrom the same site
Martin
By: topgun regect - 18th March 2010 at 13:11
Thats just what I said ! – its on DVD, region 2 as a box set, 1977 it started….I must be getting old !
It was also repeated not long ago on the UKTV network.
Martin
By: topgun regect - 18th March 2010 at 13:09
John D Collins who played one of the ‘escapees’ in Allo Allo aslo starred in its insipration Secret Army as Inspector Paul Delon, the character parodied as Crabtree in Allo Allo!
Hilary Minster had a regular part in both series too, both as German officers. General Klinkerhoffen (Allo Allo!) and Hauptmann Muller (Secret Army) Richard Marner who played Von Strohm in Allo Allo! also guest starred in Secret Army too.
Martin
By: groundhugger - 18th March 2010 at 12:06
‘Allo Allo’ springs to mind as having a couple of RAF types living in the attic , also “The Great escape” an epic tale shown every Christmas
By: BSG-75 - 18th March 2010 at 11:56
Dont know if this counts, but the tv series Secret Army is very good 🙂
Thats just what I said ! – its on DVD, region 2 as a box set, 1977 it started….I must be getting old !
By: cometguymk1 - 18th March 2010 at 09:48
It is in the UK as i got it for my dad 🙂
By: Dave Homewood - 18th March 2010 at 09:45
Is Secret Army out on DVD?
By: topgun regect - 17th March 2010 at 21:40
Dont know if this counts, but the tv series Secret Army is very good 🙂
It certainly does count. Gerard Glaister was an ex RAF Pilot and a veteran of over 100 missions. The character of John Curtis was based on the series technical consultant, Group Capt William S Randall and all the scripts were based on real events and researched. In fact some were rejected for being too accurate for fear of upsetting the audience. IIRC the Kessler character was loosely based on Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie.
Secret Army was later parodied in Allo Allo!
Martin
By: Jack Deth - 17th March 2010 at 21:20
“Brady’s Escape” (1984)
A downed B-17 pilot is sheltered by Hungarian villagers and then makes his way to freedom on horseback. Technically I suppose it should have been called “Brady’s Evade.”
By: BlueNoser352 - 17th March 2010 at 20:50
A great two hour history channel story !
I will try and find the title for you on the US History Channel Page .. they had a great story about a young Lt flying a B-17, shot down over France and hidden by the Reisitance. Given up by someone in the Resistance he is captured and sent to off all places a concentration camp . He and his fellow US flyers deal with the ordeal of being held in horrible conditions until the end of the war . Will see if I can find out the title for you…..very moving story for sure. A local history professor wrote a book about his experiences. It has run several times here in the USA on The History Channel & History International as well !
BlueNoser352!
By: cometguymk1 - 17th March 2010 at 17:54
Dont know if this counts, but the tv series Secret Army is very good 🙂
By: PeterVerney - 17th March 2010 at 14:49
I took part in one proper one and two “games”, there were never any groundcrew involved in any of those.
First “game” was from the nav school at Hullavington. We were dropped off about 10pm in pairs from a lorry near Stonehenge and were briefed to get to a house in Calne?, by about 5 pm next day. It started raining at about midnight and kept up a continuous heavy rain until about 4am. Wearing an overall over battledress meant soaked to the skin, it rubbed the hair off the outside of my legs. Met up with several others and phoned to be rescued about 9am. Wimps, but never wanting to claim a medal.
Second game was from the Air electronics school at Swanton Morley. Dopey organiser set us down 2pm, near the south side of the Stanford Battle Area in Norfolk. Instructions were to get to a pub on the north side, about 7 miles away, by 6pm. There were only 6 NCO aircrew and we arranged to be dropped off consecutively so we could meet up. Needless to say none of us were at all enthusiastic. Instead of walking in to the battle area we looked about for a bus stop, but luckily came upon an army lorry, the driver was persuaded to drive us to the pub.
WingCo Flying was a very unhappy bunny on finding us all ensconced on our second pint before they drifted in.
The real deal was 40 miles across Cyprus with the army after us and the civilian population warned. One of our pilots was shot by a nervous Turk returning from market. Our man spent a couple of days having shotgun pellets winkled out of his backside. My pilot and I made it to within about 3 miles, and could see the house we had to reach, before capture. We finished up with about four others, dressed only in our underpants, handcuffed together in the back of an open truck, being driven some 35 miles to Nicosia. They told us that is how the Russians would treat us.
Sorry gone on a bit, but there are several funny? stories out of Exercise Short Stroll.
By: davecurnock - 17th March 2010 at 14:22
I don’t think any films were made of RAF escape and evasion exercises in the 1950s-60s – good fun though, ground crew versus aircrew. Anybody have any memories?
By: BSG-75 - 17th March 2010 at 13:52
‘Rescue Dawn’ shows Dieter Dengler’s escape from a North Vietnamese POW camp and seems to be fairly close to the truth. Not quite as good as the documentary he took part in for the BBC, ‘Little Dieter needs to fly’ I think it was. Incredible story.
John
Rescue Dawn is a good film, I enjoyed it (CGI a tad dodgy) but the money was spent on a good cast and script !
Not a movie, but the old BBC “secret army” series focused around “lifeline” an underground group created to smuggle airmen back to the UK, it showed a while ago on Uk Gold I think, and while it has dated a little in terms of wobbly sets etc, I think it stands up well depsite its age (over 30 years now?)
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March 17, 2010 at 11:24 am