HP Herald in The Avengers

Would a Mosquito with a bomber nose (ie with a bomb aimer’s window) be fitted with machine guns anyway? I would have thought that the breeches would have been in the way of the bombsight? I’m guessing it was done for a film of some sort… Given that apparently 633 Squadron was 1964, and I think the B&W Diana Rigg series was filmed in 1965-6, maybe that’s the likely reason?

Adrian

Neat IMDB link but the Mosquitos guns look fake!

I recall surprisingly clearly from the original broadcast that the nose guns looked as though they were held on by a plywood panel, and my school friends concurred with this opinion the next day. Also I seem to recall that the guns were located above/below the point of the nose when they should have been below/above, if you follow. Now the plot thickens, I seem to recall that a criticism of the Airfix Mosquito, the one that came in a plastic bag, was that the nose guns were in the wrong place. Was there a connection I wonder?

Thanks for the replies, some interesting info on the TV series website

Scotavia,

I have a vague recollection of that UFO filmed from the Herald.

I think the investigation was on Tomorrows World – and they concluded that due to the curvature of the window glass, a small fillet on the tailplane tip came in and out of shot as the camera was moved.

At least that’s how I remember – but it must have been at least 45-50 years ago !!!

Ken

PS – Amazing what you can find on the internet – here it is :- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcntq_ufo-sighting-from-plane-england-19_news

…. and it was in 1966 !!

Yes indeed,just watched it, this was a fine sighting,the Blue Herald would be Autair and they also operated 748s GATMI GATMJ. A passenger on a BIA or BUIA Herald from Blackpool also started a big UFO news item,she cine filmed a UFO from a window looking towards the tail. Really good shots of a UFO mving very fast in and out of view. Several weeks later ateam from the BBC sat in the same seat and re created the sighting which was.. a distorted tip of the horizontal stabiliser appearing to move as the camera was moved .

The Blue Heralds shown in that link to the films aren’t in Autair colours, yes they are blue but not the Autair two tone blue and white scheme.

Neat IMDB link but the Mosquitos guns look fake!

I’m impressed. Some people really do have too much time on their hands!

That Brantly helicopter hit every branch on the way down when it fell out of the ugly tree, didn’t it?

Adrian

The answer is here:
http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=The_Avengers_(TV_Series)

There was also a Herald in a hangar in another old (Diana Rigg-era) episode. Even watching it as a kid I noticed it since Heralds are rare in this part of the world.
Sadly, it’s not listed in the IMPDB listing.

Anyone care to tell us about the mosquito in the episode shown on the website?

Also, note the use of the BoB film “He-111s”.

Assuming it’s not the New Avengers, let me know which series – which sidekick, B&W or colour, and I’ll see if I can dig out my Avengers book and tell you more.

If that’s a free channel I may have to investigate, the Avengers is a classic that defined my youth when it was re-run in the 80s.

Adrian

Yes indeed,just watched it, this was a fine sighting,the Blue Herald would be Autair and they also operated 748s GATMI GATMJ. A passenger on a BIA or BUIA Herald from Blackpool also started a big UFO news item,she cine filmed a UFO from a window looking towards the tail. Really good shots of a UFO mving very fast in and out of view. Several weeks later ateam from the BBC sat in the same seat and re created the sighting which was.. a distorted tip of the horizontal stabiliser appearing to move as the camera was moved .

That would make sense. Autair at Luton had both Herald’s and 748’s I believe that they also leased one or two Heralds from Handley Page, both previously operated by BEA. Autair had a two tone blue livery.