Some interesting footage of air combat sequences achieved with miniatures has been posted on “You Tube”.
If you look for “1941 Scale Model Special Effects” you will find it. It is claimed that this was shot in 1941, but I believe it is actually unused effects footage from “Reach for the Sky” (1956).
My evidence for this is that in the last few seconds of the footage you can glimpse a model Spitfire MkXVI with “low back ” fuselage with the codes “S-ZD”.
“After the Battle” magazine No 35 has an article on the making of the film and in it ,it is stated that the Squadron codes “ZD-S” was one of two codes applied to Spitfire TE341 (film serial VT151).
If my deduction is correct then this effects sequence and models were created by the late John Stears who also worked on the first five Bond films and “Star Wars” amongst others.
Colin
By: DazDaMan - 26th March 2009 at 18:03
I’ve just sat and watched that clip – utterly brilliant! There are some shots in there that you’d be hard-pressed to believe were not models.
And there’s not a visible wire in sight!! 😮
They certainly don’t make ’em like they used to! :rolleyes:
By: DazDaMan - 26th March 2009 at 16:16
Ahh, you might be correct in this respect. Certainly others have contributed in some way to films, but their efforts went unrecognised by most.
I remember reading in Flypast about the ‘109 model (which, if I remember correctly, was flight-capable?).
By: colin.barron - 26th March 2009 at 16:13
Confirming what I have said
If you do a Google search for “John Stears” you will find his obituary from “The Independent” in 1999.
This confirms that he created the model aircraft used in “Reach for the Sky” and many other British films of the late 50s and early 60s.
Colin
By: colin.barron - 26th March 2009 at 16:02
I read somewhere that John Stears made model aircraft for a number of 1950s films but he didn’t receive a credit. Two films that were mentioned in this regard were “The One That Got Away” and “Reach for the Sky”.
The Bf109 model he made for “The One that Got Away” was refurbished by him and sold by him at an auction (for charity I think) a few years before he died.
I believe John’s background was in aeromodelling. Through building miniatures for some 1950s films he eventually became a special effects man. I don’t think he did the special effects for “Reach for the Sky” but I believe he did build the model aircraft for the film.
Please correct me if I am wrong in what I say.
Colin
By: DazDaMan - 26th March 2009 at 15:54
Hmm…
IMDB doesn’t list a “John Stears” under the effects crew at all:
Special Effects by
Bryan Langley …. special effects
Bert Marshall …. special effects
Bill Warrington …. special effects
Visual Effects by
James Bawden …. camera operator: model unit (uncredited)
And Stears’ list of credits on the IMDB does not list Reach for the Sky, either, although his Star Wars and James Bond credits are unquestioned.
(According to his entry, Stears’ first credit is from 1963)
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March 26, 2009 at 3:46 pm