Michael Bentine's TSR.3 circa mid 1960's

A brilliantly creative man as well as very friendly man. And a founder member of the Goons, of course. I came to know him quite well and ended up watching many Square Worlds ( when I should have been elsewhere!!)
Deep in the attic I have all sorts of stuff from the Beeb recordings I saw, so I will have a rummage.

This may be my only post to the entire forum…..but as a very young lad I actually saw the episode of ‘Its a Square World’ where Michael Bentine introduced the ‘revolutionary’ TSR3, and although the memory is a bit shaky I think I can still remember the essential elements of this “groundbreaking aircraft”…..her hum…….wait for it….

Bentine was famous for his animated dioramas (often using imaginary fleas as participants). The TSR 3 appeared in one of these animated dioramas to demonstrate its revolutionary features. It was indeed a jet aircraft…of sorts, quite clearly suspended very close to the ground on a diorama of varied terrain by strings it could slide along. Prominent in its features was a union flag flying from a small flagpole just so everybody knew it was British. Its main characteristics predated stealth technology by many years as Bentine proposed that it would actually fly backwards as this would undoubtedly confuse our enemies. The second characteristic he proposed really took current thinking a real step forward. Flying low had only recently become the new orthodoxy for avoiding missiles, and Bentine proposed to take this new concept to its logical conclusion, so the TSR 3 would not only fly backwards, it would never actually leave the ground as that was as low as it was possible to fly. Simply brilliant thinking I am sure you will agree…..

Having explained its features at some length the diorama duly was set in motion and the TSR 3 duly set off along its piece of string across the diorama with Bentine providing a commentary. There were usually small explosions as the scene unfolded, dropping imaginary bombs as it went I suppose, but I can’t remember if that was the case in this instance. Quite often something didn’t work quite right on the diorama action, but that was all part of the fun.

It was of course a satire on the entire TSR2 venture, and military thinking in particular.

I hope that has filled in a few gaps for peeps. Bentine was a genius of lunacy. My brothers and I loved his work as young kids, starting with “The Bumblies” in the late 1950s

Grassflopper (descrbing my very brief adventures in a Slingsby T38)

There was a copy on ebay for about £45, but I think it was withdrawn.

a long shot i know, does anyone have copies of the BAC. in house magazine ‘Airframe’ circa mid 1960’s or know of any libraries which may hold copies?

i like ‘joeyr’s idea of coming up with our own fun TSR concepts, def could be fun

cheers, joe

Perhaps some of the more inventive forum members should submit some designs in his honour and the winner would be declared by democratic vote! Might be fun.:)

I never saw the design however it would be so typical from the man who was the son of the founder of Faucett airlines in South America.

I felt great sympathy for his family when his son went missing in a Piper Cub over England. He was astonished to find no system of booking VFR flights in and out was followed at civvy airfields in the UK unlike the military system. Hence the delay in reporting the Cub missing and also no info on the planned route.

All of that is true, of course and he was a very generous man and bore little malice towards anyone – including Ken Dodd! He was the original lunatic “goon” and Spike fed off him in that original series. I think he was truly, originally inventive – in conversation his mind always ran about three times as fast as he could express the thoughts, and as with many “funny” people, he was usually very serious.

But he ws also a complex man and, as you know, became heavily involved in the paranormal, and that associated with the deaths of children, changed his open and engaging personality, to some extent. I did not know him in his later years after we had moved house, but will always remember him as an infinitely fascinating man with whom to spend a few hours conversing as well as one whose TV, stage and radio antics more often than not had me helpless with laughter.

You cannot imagine how Green with envy I am at you knowing MB.
He is the one person I wish I could have met.
(On topic, I don’t recall a TSR3 either).
Apart from the comic genious, he (As you know) was one of our Wartime heroes particulary in helping POW’s exit back to UK and the liberation of Belson and the clandestine operations he was involved in before that. He sort of founded the Counter terror branch in the SAS. Also a marksman with a pistol (This takes some doing, believe me!).
A true British hero, with a life so fascinating and interesting I’m surprised we’ve never had a tribute to him.
When Ken Dodd stole the image of “Diddy men” from MB Potty Time, MB asked for credit, not money nor any other reward. Doddy claimed it was all his own work, shame.

You have mentioned one of my comedy heroes, whose breadth of talent was never appreciated as much as it deserved to be. But perhaps I am prejudiced as I knew him well and enjoyed attending recordings of many of his various shows. But a TSR3 sketch I do not recall, although there may well have been one. It is certainly just the sort of thing that would have appealed to him.