Dambusters on ITV 4

Thanks for that…

Actually, I noticed that the aircraft representing Guy Gibson’s Lancaster (AJ-G) has its “real” serial NX673 clearly visible in some shots, but at some point during the making of the film, someone must have realised this was an error…because the shot of Gibson’s crew getting out of their Lancaster after the raid (near the end of the film), you can clearly see that “NX673” had been painted out, the “ED932” painted over it (there’s an obvious black stripe of fresh paint behind the serial…).

The Wellington used was rather too obviously a T.10: it has a metal nose cone instead of a nose turret…

Oh, and did you know? Patrick McGoohan (later of Danger Man and The Prisoner) appears uncredited in a minor part as an RAF Guard. This was McGoohan’s feature film debut, playing a guard posted outside a briefing room where the crews are being told of their mission. His only lines are spoken to Gibson’s dog.

But, best of all – and well done to ITV 4 – the broadcaster did not succumb to “political correctness”: Guy Gibson’s dog was clearly addressed by his real name throughout. It is a measure of how things have changed since 1955 that to state the name of the dog on this forum would be censored or even get me banned!

Lastly, this link http://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_movietv.htm suggests that at least two other Lancasters (TW862 and TW883) were also used for air-to-air and “flypast” shots. Another website (http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/afilms.html#Dam) stated “A fifth Lancaster that took part was Boscombe Down’s NX739. This was used as a back-up and for some aerial filming (most of the aerial shooting was done from a borrowed RAF Vickers Varsity).” That’s a total of seven in all…