BBC series, WINGS

I’ve got an article about it somewhere but it was years ago.

There were a lot of large models, built and flown by David Boddington. I think I’m right in saying all the flying shots were done with models. The trouble with models is they don’t fly at scale speed, they’re too fast. Somebody came up with the idea of running the camera at higher speed and playing it back at normal speed. I think this was the first production it was done on.

Does anyone know which aeroplanes / replicas were used for filming this, and what happened to them. I can remember a Be2 and an Fokker EIII but other than that it’s a bit blurred!!

Willow

Wasn’t it Tim Woodward in the lead role? I remember an episode where he goes down behind the lines, pinches an Eindecker and flys back to base, nearly getting shot down by his own CO in the process.

follow up.

It was indeed the 70’s production. The main character was Alan Farmer played by Christopher Timothy and the series was more a depiction of the early years of the Royal Flying Corps rather than training the pilots.

The basic story-line ran thus:
The Father of the young Alan Farmer was a pioneer flyer who lost his life on take off because he turned back. (therefore stalling). The family buisness was a forge where the young Alan was apprenticed to his wounded uncle. Alan volunteered for the RFC pilot training as he lied and said he flew his fathers aeroplane. We then follow Alan through training and on to squadron life on the Western Front.

The series ended around the 1916 dateline and last I heard a second series was being considered. As far as I know it was never made.

Was that the 1970s BBC production, which had a mixture of real and model WWI aircraft?

I seem to remember it being a depiction of life in training and on the Front, with plenty of pilots ‘buying it’, sweethearts looking wistfully into the air, and lots of fluffy clouds.

Actually, some quite good aerial sequences I seem to recall….