Landfall Filming Locations ??

I bought a vertical recce photo of thorney island from IWM,cant show here (copyright) but I have marked a GE image to roughly match the photo.

The area outlined in Red is all Grass ,the apron which is there now presumably added in the 1960’s.
The black square with cross inside looks like a blister Hangar on the photo.
The other 2 smaller black squares appear to be square huts,with small aprons in front of them.
Comparing that to the image in the above post…looks very similar ?

Anybody know what the installation is that I have ringed in the photo below ??

Nice pic thanks PS…do you have another taken a little further south ? ie adj to the southern Hanger but still looking across at West Thorney.

thanks baz

A shot of Thorney Island , from Sept 10.

Hi Martin…did you get my PM ?

I took a walk round Thorney Island coastal footpath (sussex border path) yesterday and was even more convinced that Thorney was indeed the Airfield used for the Anson sequences,Hayling Island looked correct for the distance background for the Anson take off scene,I didnt take many pics because it was a little too murky for my little camera.
When I got home I viewed the complete Anson sequence in SlowMo and spotted a view of the C type hangars which I had not noticed before (one tends to fixate on the actors).
The landing on grass may be a bit of a red herring,airfields with runways still have large grass areas eg at Boscombe Down we still use at least 3 grass strips for certain a/c !!
The following screengrabs were a sequence taken using the frame by frame control (inch?) showing at least 3 C type Hangars…Thorney Had 6 x C types !
AFAIK Lee on Solent and Gosport only had 1 x C type hangar each !

The lower (last) shot also shows what appears to be a runway,the distant trees/buildings are in the correct location to be West Thorney (ex village now MQ’s etc for army)

Just been having another look at the airfield shot with the Ansons and it looks like they could be taking off and landing on an all grass field which would possibly rule out Lee and Thorney Island which both had metalised runways, however, Grange Airfield was an all grass strip and would also fit the Fareham/Titchfield road sign mentioned in post#9 I have attached (if it works) maps of Grange Airfield taken from daveg4otu’s website

[ATTACH]191331[/ATTACH]Grange map

[ATTACH]191332[/ATTACH]Grange in the 1920s
The railway at the bottom is the branch line that used to run along the coast to Lee on Solent

[ATTACH]191333[/ATTACH]Grange today.

I have also got an address for the treasurer of the Gosport Aviation Society so I will drop them a line to see if they have any info on the filming locations.

Martin

The trouble is Martin – all 3 airfields have (a) C Type Hangar(s)
My instinct right from the first viewing was Thorney Island for the Anson footage…if the scenes were filmed using the southernmost Hangar at Thorney – looking WSW or W from the south end of the airfield the background would be Hayling Island – across the Emsworth channel,the stretch of water visible looks too big to be a river but might fit in with the water round thorney.
The trouble is with the Hangar shots…they always kept them tightly framed and so it is difficult to place them exactly sometimes and so far I have not found any wartime/postwar aerial pics to help,the position of the open blister hangar would nail it possibly,hopefully you could dig up something locally ??

Thanks for posting those screenshots, I have not seen the film as yet although I have read the book. Looking at the ground shots, it looks like the hangars at HMS Sultan, which would place it as being filmed at HMS Siskin/Grange Airfield.

The airfield shots could have been filmed looking SW across the airfield taking off on the old runway 23 or 26 looking at the map I have, The trees in the distance look like they could be over by the River Alver, Grange Farm and Browndown Training area which is just beyond the estate where I live and is still largely undeveloped.

However the area in the far distance looks like the Isle of Wight which would also rule out Thorney Island as that is too far east so would also help make a case for the defence for Lee or Siskin/Grange

Martin

Thanks Martin…here are some screen grabs in case you have not seen the film…starting with 4 Ansons taking off and ending where Rick returns after attacking the U boat.
Notice how ‘open’ the first scene is..

Yes, the ‘technical site’ of the former HMS Siskin/Gosport Airfield along with the old forts is now part of HMS Sultan. The airfield closed in 1956 when everything moved to L.O.S. Although some aviation activity remained the airfield was sold off for housing in the early ’60s. Most of the housing round here was built in the late sixties. I have, in a book, a diagram of the old airfield which lists (as at 1942) 1 C Type, 4 A Type, 2 Bellman, 1 Bessoneau and 5 Extra Over Blister Hangars.

RAF Thorney Island had Meteors with 222sqn and Fairey Barracudas and Grumman Avengers with 703Sqn FAA at the time of filming. The only Ansons based there were with 48sqn (also with Beauforts) 9/38 – 7/40, 280sqn (also with Warwicks) 12/41-10/42 and 2ANS (with Wellingtons among others) 5/50-1/62 so possibly may not have been there at the time of filming

I will try to get to the local library to see if there is any other info to confirm where the filming locations were.

Martin

Could be Martin,they had a ‘C’ type Hangar there (which I see is still extant on GE),the 3 airfields are all within a few mins flying time from each other (even in an Anson LOL).
The only reason I suspected Thorney Island originally was because it was more away from housing etc.

rgds baz

Still not 100% sure where the Anson scenes were filmed but assuming either L.O.S or Thorney Island

I now have a legal copy of the film as it was released on DVD a few months back…how many other films have Mk1 Ansons and a Wellington close up with engines running ? 😀

It is possible the Anson scenes were shot at RAF Gosport/HMS Siskin, which was down the road from Lee on Solent airfield and there were also Ansons based there with 720Sqn FAA around the time of filming.

Martin

This google camera gives a good view of the 2 Bellmans,you can traverse it to the right to see the other hangar

http://maps.google.com/maps?source=earth&ll=50.81691462,-1.21092649&layer=c&cbll=50.81691462,-1.21092649&cbp=1,360,,0,5

Some slightly larger images from the film …

I have been doing a little more digging and am now convinced that Lee on Solent was used for much of the filming of ‘Landfall’…taking a look around lee on solent on GE and also using the available ‘images’ + oblique viewing.
I think that the Wellington scenes were filmed in the 2 Bellman Hangars (WNW side of airfield),they are the correct distance apart,the major difference being that the rough ground in between them was later levelled for a parking apron !
Still not 100% sure where the Anson scenes were filmed but assuming either L.O.S or Thorney Island

I now have a legal copy of the film as it was released on DVD a few months back…how many other films have Mk1 Ansons and a Wellington close up with engines running ? 😀

Here is one of the 6 models used during filming,held by Warren Knight – from this website…

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectair.com%2Fwoodason.html&ei=lYYOTcv7BcGDhQeD5bG3Dg&usg=AFQjCNEXaGRX3Wq45gWTuwkA2e8Kwit3mA

I still suspect that the wellington screenshots above were filmed at Lee on Solent but here is an interesting Pathe newsreel from LOS including very early hovercraft demo 😀

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=9&sqi=2&ved=0CF0QFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishpathe.com%2Frecord.php%3Fid%3D69172&ei=dn8OTaecOc6HhQeNxKS3Dg&usg=AFQjCNFguIgMh_U1KsaucqmV0yI4CDFVQw

Halton House (officers mess)
And RAF Halton Airfield (grass )

Wait a sec, where is that place in the previous link located? I thought RAF HQ was Northolt?
Please bear in mind I’ve been in the colonies for the past 20 years..

I’ve just looked again at that locations site, it’s changed since I last looked at it, you’ll have a field day with airfield sites.

Rather spiffy:
http://www.locationworks.com/library.php?reference=3891