Mitchells do fly in IMC

Sorry – just found it https://www.wingsmuseum.co.uk/our-work/aircraft-restoration/b-25-j-beds…

Thanks on both counts!

I wonder what happened to Barry Parkhouse B25 at his yard when based at Booker not so long ago?

Good lead- many thanks

This lovely documentary was released as ‘Flight Of The Mitchells’ on DVD  in 2019 by Richards Publishing – it is in far better quality than the older ‘copied from very old VHS’ versions on youtube.

I see it is now available on Amazon….

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Mitchells-B-25s-fly-IMC/dp/0956370845

This film has been on You Tube before a time or two, but always gets taken down.

It is back again ( who know for how long ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GemaxIvbF9s&ab_channel=frederickjohnmac…

For those who have not seen it, it is one of the very best flying films ever made,  no ‘false jeopardy’ but genuine nail-biting tension on a trans-Atlantic formation ferry trip which was, frankly, bloody dangerous.

Even Hawke admitted that at least 2 of the aircraft were barely airworthy!  

She flew with the RCAF -no operational use by RAF.

Too bad the enthusiasm for the film doesn’t translate into enthusiasm for having an flying Mitchell in the UK

I agree, love the B-25, even more so after I flew in one in the USA.
Really miss ‘Grumpy’ – especially being an ex-RAF machine as well, can’t believe its been gone from these shores for 10 years now :apologetic:

Fill you’re boots

Too bad the enthusiasm for the film doesn’t translate into enthusiasm for having an flying Mitchell in the UK. 🙂

Its there. Just checked.

Search under John Jeff Hawke

I’m pretty sure you can watch it on youtube.

Is the film available on DVD ?
I have a old (very old) VHS copy probably re-recorded from a TV showing.

The abiding impression ( even 40 years on ) is just how bl@@dy hairy the whole enterprise was. Certainly there was some very skilled piloting in play, but it took a large slice of luck to get them all across. I am not sure airmanship is quite the right word, with its implied ethos embracing safety conscious operation, and this ferry flight was far from safe. Hawke faced up to the hazards, and rolled the dice.

1,000 mile ocean crossings in some pretty ratty aeroplanes, DIY fuel system, 3 hours flying at wave-top height, bumbling around in thick cloud………………. but it provided one of the most gripping aviation films ever seen.

As opposed to VMC, get it ?!

Tanks Newforest, its been driving me mad trying to work it out!

A very useful article for those who never saw the film of the ferry flight. Since then there have been some epic ferry flights of vintage and veteran aircraft. Risk is a strange concept, we can get scared about some flights as prospects and yet…take on driving all sorts of vehicles in condition from near new to old heaps and get so used to it that the risks are often ignored. When things go wrong we wonder how the hell we ever agreed to doing that drive…bet many have stories like that.

Instrument Meteorological Conditions (aviation)

This may sound silly but what does the IMC mean in the title?

Interesting to see it in print, but it seems to be pretty much a verbatim transcript of documentary. I suppose I was hoping that Tony Howarth might have contributed more , with other memories or anecdotes which did not make it in to the final edit.

The photos are very atmospheric.

Just to flag up that the first part of my two part feature on the Mitchell ferry flight and the filming of Hanover Street is now available in the July issue of Aeroplane. I never did satisfactorily resolve the issue of an aircraft accompanying B-25 Always Dangerous on the northern route to the UK.