Where is the aviation on TV gone ?

The missus and I both enjoyed Bruce’s Flying Heavy Metal series. Guess he’s a bit busy at the moment to even consider any more.

As a kid I loved the Airshow programmes on the BBC. Biggin Hill & Farnborough from what I remember. Wasn’t Noel Edmonds a presenter ?

I found this clip on Youtube few months ago which bought back memories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSwYoKwuNz4

Now, as you indicated above, the presenter has to be a “celebrity”. I was amused by The Mighty Oz’s mention of Mildenhall ’84 presented by David Icke and Fern Britton. I think the producer must have been having a joke!

To be fair, the BBC have moved on a bit on this front – and occasionally also strike lucky with a “celebrity” who is clearly passionate about presenting a subject not usually associated with them The (just ended) Michael Portillo series on Great British Railway Journeys using Bradshaw’s Guide springs to mind. Maybe a series giving wel-known people a chance to make a half-hour programme on their particular transport interest would produce a few gems.

Years ago, the BBC seemed to strike out in new direction with actually using “experts” such as Barbara Woodhouse and her series on horse training. Some others have been truly dire, and the ITV companies seemed particularly adept at this approach. Does anyone remember a Granada rival to Top Gear called “The Motor Show” fronted by their local man Eamonn O’Neal? Some of us are still recovering! Some of the others seemed positively inconvenienced by being asked to “present” a particular programme. Witness ITV / Central’s coverage of the Birmingham Superprix F3000 events back in the 1980s, for example. That was Tony Francis, who is still fronting Central’s programmes by the way.

I agree with an earlier post that James May would be good at possibly fronting a re-incarnation of The Air Show.

Very much so and one remembers programmes presented by people who knew what they were talking about, and especially Baxter at Farnborough. I savour the clips on You Tube. Now, as you indicated above, the presenter has to be a “celebrity”. I was amused by The Mighty Oz’s mention of Mildenhall ’84 presented by David Icke and Fern Britton. I think the producer must have been having a joke!

The Time to Remembers series is very good (thanks to Pathe of course). I saw the programme repeated last night on its first airing a few weeks ago. There was also some aviation content in the recent series “Glamour’s Golden Age” (BBC4) on 20th-Century design (also featuring some superb footage of record breaking cars).

I agree with an earlier post about The Air Show from about ten years ago. Superb stuff and, with the possible exception of Hazel Irvine and Kate Humble, generally presented by experts including Julian Tutt and Alain de Cadenet. The items from the late Mark Hanna were superb. Does anyone remember watching live coverage on the BBC of Farnborough and other air shows. Usually fronted by Raymond Baxter. Time has moved on for such treatment nowadays, more’s the pity.

BBC4 tonight. Time To Remember. A 50s documentary about the history of flight.

There is a promising looking series starting on the ‘very Disco’ channel tomorrow filmed during HMS Ark Royals last cruise, should include some nice Harrier stuff (tissues at the ready):(

The beeb were filming ‘somewhere in wiltshire’ last week for inclusion in the new series of ‘Bang goes the theory’.
Usually tightly framed but may have some interesting ground shots.
Minicams mounted in Hawk cockpit for inflight footage.
I do not know the broadcast date

Edit…new series starts next month

Due to the miserable weather this weekend I stayed in and dug through some old VHS tapes of stuff recorded off TV in the eighties, and watched these, most of which I haven’t seen in the over 20 years since they were recorded:

The full series of Test Pilot

Mildenhall ’84 (presented by David Icke and Fern Britton!)

Farnborough ’86 and ’88 (I don’t think some of the new things they were
exhibiting will ever catch on – fly-by-wire airliners, satellite navigation systems that you might one day be able to use in your car!)

Biggin Hill ’88 (I think)

And still to come on another miserable weekend (if the tapes actually contain what’s written on them) are
Holiday Air ’87
Finningley ’87
Army Helicopter School
The Aeroplane Goes To War
The Wright Bros

And these are all from back in the days when there were only 4 channels! With all the channels we have now, there must be some aviation stuff somewhere.

Hint… aviation interested guys… take a look inside a model show, you will see WW2 again in accurate colour, researched down to the last rivet and strap, revetment and vehicle and have access to loads of aviation books as well. It doesnt have to be on a screen to add to your understanding of WW2 etc.

DBenz

But that involves leaving the sofa!:eek:

Hi Andy,

the media are thick, they need ideas as they are unable to think beyond the usual subjects.

was meant to illustrate the fact that they have no understanding of aviation, but rely upon suggestions on topics, as I see it, going by the relatively limited scope seen in the past and the footage not matching the subject at that point in time. There are exceptions, e.g Danger UXB a two part series was great (in fact the series was great but its never been aired again…see the dvd) The Dig1940 series broke new ground (thanks) as did the Time Team looking at aviation, and bomb blast effects, though that prog could have been better…since when did SC50’s explode above ground ? Thick as in it takes an anniversary for them to see potential. I also wish they would not broadcast Battle of Britain progs to just one region. South Coast trail interests us all and I rang to get it broadcast nationally. I find that HTV make progs on the west of England but those in the west cant receive them as we get Central TV !

I hope some of my ideas and others in the new thread may spark off ideas for them.

Glad to hear of some hopefully refreshing new progs, if they use you we have then some interesting progs on the way, Battle of Britain especially 😉

Hint… aviation interested guys… take a look inside a model show, you will see WW2 again in accurate colour, researched down to the last rivet and strap, revetment and vehicle and have access to loads of aviation books as well. It doesnt have to be on a screen to add to your understanding of WW2 etc.

DBenz

DBenz

I can understand your frustrations, old chap, but must take issue with one of your points.

First, I’m not so sure that the media (TV) people are “thick” as you suggest. My view is that they are very savvy when it comes to what matters; viewing figures. They know what gets the numbers, and I’m afraid that programmes are made based upon what the broadcasters know will achieve those figures. That judgement is based, presumably, on figures for programmes of a certain genre. Consequently, they are unlikely to go out on a limb and produce a programme on either knitting or aviation that “might” get those figures. However, what is encouraging is that broadcasters are now aware of the level of interest caused by the recent spate of Battle of Britain/aviation topics with the result that there are more of that similar genre in the definite pipeline and with a number of others under consideration, development or waiting to be ‘pitched’ to broadcasters.

Remember; it generally isn’t the broadcaster or channel that makes the programme (and that includes the BBC these days) but, instead, a production company. Those production companies are constantly pitching ideas to broadcasters for programme ideas. Its how the system works. And I can tell you, right now, that there are any number of programme ideas in the melting pot being pitched by various production companies to various broadcasters that will tick the boxes you want ticked, DBenz. Equally, there are some at pre-production stages having been commissioned and others at pre-production after expressions of interest from broadcasters. Obviously, production companies are not able to commit to making programmes ‘on spec’ in case some broadcaster or other might want to take it. It doesn’t work like that. The good news, however, is that seemingly those programmes last year sparked an interest with the broadcasters when they saw the viewing figures. The result, partly, is that some programmes are now confirmed for the future and others are likely to be following on behind. In some cases, broadcasters have given a steer to production companies, I gather, saying “…this is the kind of thing we are looking for”. I am involved to a greater or lesser degree with several of these ongoing projects, so I can assure you things are going on behind the scenes.

Watch this space….or rather, the ones on your TV screens!

The percentage of those at airshows who would watch aviation on TV is probably a bit more than 10%, but those that watch the aviation progs are not just the airshow attendees, I have friends who never go to airshows , cost or logistics or rest of family dont want to so they never go on their own, whatever the reason, who have an interest in aviation and find such progs a good interesting viewing session better than the mindless dribble thats out there.

The modelling scene has folk who cannot get their interests fed by what still survives today at airshows, a fraction of what actually flew, and its the story behind the aircraft, the missions, the aircrew and more, that makes the TV progs in many ways far more interesting than an airshow.

An airshow is in many ways a supplement to an interest in aviation for those that read books and make models on the subject. I will watch progs on tanks and so on, yet my interest is aviation, but I dont blinker myself, so there are those out there that will watch such even if their main theme of interest lies outside that subject type. I go e.g. for a tank battles prog as its more interesting than all the rubbish and repeats, from Streetwars to American crime dramas and soaps with canned laughter.

Maybe if we were to suggest to TV companies ideas for progs they would make more. We know what we would like to see, they havent a clue, the media are thick, they need ideas as they are unable to think beyond the usual subjects.

Taking Geoffrey Wellum as an idea recently was refreshingly new, last time that was done was Diary of a Bomber Pilot, I have that on betamax, never seen since. Hows about diary of Molders, or a ‘diary of’ series.

I shall start a new thread for TV prog ideas 🙂

DBenz

What about “Ice Pilots”, currently being shown on several Swedish cable channels and I watch avidly every episode several times! Maybe because I’ve been to Red Deer and seen some of their “Buffalo Airways” aircraft.

I think the original point is misconstrued. The fact that aviation is the second most popular spectator sport after soccer is irrelevant. You might as well say that angling is the sport most participated in of all so we should be deluged with angling programmes. I would suggest that about 10% of the 100,000 who attend an airshow would actually watch aviation related programmes on TV. The majority attend airshows as a great day out with the flying as just one component of their day.

Be patient, guys.

There is likely to be some up-coming historic aviation related stuff on two or three channels in the coming ten months or so. 😉

May it be your viewing time?

As i work shifts in the afternoon there’s been programs on Discovery on sky & military History i watch before work.

I do agree lots of American repeats but most of sky is repeats so a good shake up required on all channels.

The other day one of the discovery channels had a whole day of classic british aircraft, I annoyingly only found out rather late in the day, but at least I wasn’t in trouble with the other half.

On virgin media it’s around 212 and if no aviation there is normally some war thing. I’m sure there are listings somewhere but I normally just find it is a matter of luck.

Is that the one with the Anson, Gladiator, Beverley and other nice stuff ? Narrated by yer man who used to shout ” loads of money ” as a comic turn ?

If it was then its a repeat of a repeat of a repeat…Dont worry it will be on again soon ! Well worth a look !

Has anyone watched the “Dogfight” series on various SAT tv channels ? All CGI/PC game type stuff but IMHO well done all the same. Shame that it only concentrates on USA stuff with the occasional Luftwaffe and IDF appearance.

There may be a lack of aviation related programming on TV but in the past year or so a wealth of material has appeared on the internet that can be easily enjoyed, with the likes of Pathe and Movietone allowing us to view their archives on their websites. I’ve seen incredible footage in cut and uncut form that either wouldn’t make it into a programme or be cut to fit into a longer film.
I put ‘Heinkel’ into the search box on Pathe and found gun camera footage of Mistel combination aircraft being destroyed in mid air. I put ‘Heinkel Berlin’ into the same box and found the press debut of the Heinkel 70. One drawback of these sites is that the cataloguing of the material is not done by someone who knows their aircraft…hence finding JU88 Mistel aircraft when I should be seeing Heinkel types. But there is a wealth of stuff we can all view. At the moment.

I’ve never seen more than a couple of minutes of the various type docmentaries on Discovery Wings (now the Military Channel in the US). Most of what I have seen is fairly factual, but the film selected to illustrated the scripts is awful, sometimes in direct contridiction to what’s being said by the narrator.
Beside, they don’t tell me anything I don’t already know.

Wings of the Luftwaffe from years ago was okay, Wings of the Red Star seemed to be written by the Soviet propaganda ministry.

On Discovery Channel there is a new series, Flying Wild, Alaska about ERA Aviation’s Alaskan operations.
It’s not about bush pilots, rather its about the more or less scheduled services to small Alaskan towns. Lot’s of Cessna 207/208 footage, with some Beech 1900. The focus of the series is the COO of the outfit (and his wife and daughter who work for the airline), and he flies a Cessna 180 occasionaly. It’s well produced with lots of air to air shots and cockpit cameras. ERA Alaska is a big operation with a couple of hundred aircraft, and as I said, it’s more like an airline than a typical “bush” operation.

The National Geographic Channel had a series about Alaskan flying and turbine Otters would magically turn into piston Otters and Beavers in mid-air.
Once, they used turbine sounds when a guy started his Husky.