I’m building a model of a Spitfire used in the film Reach for the Sky, and I’ve tried to find references on here to an aircraft that was used for the cockpit shots, but I’m having no joy.
Spitfire Survivors Vol.2 shows Kenneth More sitting in the cockpit of Mk.XVI TE288 – but doesn’t state as to whether this was the aircraft used by the studio to film actors in the cockpit.
Can anyone confirm?
By: DazDaMan - 21st January 2015 at 18:56
Thanks for the confirmation. I had thought it might have been TE288 in the close-ups!
By: scotavia - 21st January 2015 at 09:40
A few pics in an old thread of 863 in the garden http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?105887-Back-Garden-Spitfire
By: Mark12 - 21st January 2015 at 09:37
Kenneth Moore isn’t actually flying that low back Spitfire in company with two high back variants. 🙂
The flying Spitfires on set were all low back XVIs – RW352, TE358 and survivors SL574 and TE456.
Survivor TE288 was erected on set at Kenley and also used for the studio shots with Kenneth Moore for the publicity and back drop filming against period footage as post#7.
TE288 was confirmed as the ‘studio’ Spitfire, as suspected, when I was able to compare a distorted stiffener visible in the still with TE288 in NZ.
Some static high back Mk XVIs were used on set…and also a Mk 22 that did not make the final cut.
There are still identity mysteries to be resolved with aircraft used in this film…and new images from private collections are always welcome.
Mark
By: DazDaMan - 20th January 2015 at 23:30
I did wonder if it might have been TE288 that was used, given that More appears in a publicity shot in the same aircraft’s cockpit (Spitfire Survivors Vol.2), but the book only states ‘288 was used as a static airframe.
By: Zac Yates - 20th January 2015 at 23:19
Low back = I’d suggest TE288?
By: DazDaMan - 19th January 2015 at 22:52
Low-back used for close-ups?
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By: Mark12 - 19th January 2015 at 18:49
Here is the last time I saw it…Wanaka, NZ, 2006. It is now based at Temora in Australia.
Mark
By: PanzerJohn - 19th January 2015 at 18:25
Nice one Peter, do you know,(silly question really), it’s id and subsequent history?.
By: Mark12 - 19th January 2015 at 14:14
There is strong circumstantial evidence that it was TB863
During the preparation of aircraft for the BoB film at RAF Henlow in 1968, a rough Mk XVI turned up from a film property company, ‘Trading Post’ I believe. It was thought to have come from the lot at Elstree Studios. Several parties had their eye on it for ownership post filming and ‘gen’ was thin on the ground. 🙂
The upper cockpit structure had been removed and it was thought this was to allow camera shot access to the ‘jambed leg in the rudder bar bail out’ sequence in Reach for the Sky.
Mark
By: DazDaMan - 19th January 2015 at 10:40
I’ll maybe give that a bash. Ta.
By: oldgit158 - 19th January 2015 at 09:54
Hello,
After the battle magazine did a fantastic article on the making of this film, you can still get a copy direct from them.
https://www.afterthebattle.com/store/index.php
Contact them and they will be able to advise you which edition it was in.
Regards
Jason
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January 19, 2015 at 12:40 am