I remember seeing the Torrey Canyon air attacks live on BBC – TV in 1967. I clearly remember seeing some Hunters firing rockets into the oil spillage.

Colin

I’ve just found a link that I was looking for in my first post.

http://www.mickcharlesmodels.co.uk/history/history.html

There are some interesting shots of the models there.

However, the Rudhall books stated that the models were NOT fitted with retractable landing gear on the grounds of simplicity and weight-saving, and were instead launched from dollies that simply dropped clear once the flying speed was attained (rather like an Me163 Komet). The Hurricane near the top of the page obviously has these and is considerably larger than the models in the film.

I believe that in the early stages of planning the film some models were made including a Hurricane,Stuka and Bf110 and these were different from the models which were actually used in the film which obviously did not include a Bf110.

Colin

I missed it though I did see it in TV a long time ago. The film is also known as “The Red Beret” and was produced by Warwick films which was Cubby Broccoli’s company before he got involved in Bond films.

I think the silver Wellington which appears in the film is the same one which appeared in “The Dambusters” i.e. MF628 which is now in the RAF museum.

I believe that in reality the Wellington was rejected as a para dropping aircraft because they couldn’t cut a hole in the belly for a para dropping hatch because of the geodetic structure.

Another inaccuracy is the use of a bazooka by British airborne forces. During WW2 they only ever used the PIAT.

Colin

Not Harvards in “Kelly’s Heroes”

Pretty sure it’s a Harvard that strafes Clint and the boys in Kelly’s Heroes.

…..It’s a mother beautiful bridge … and it’s gonna be there !!! :D:D

It wasn’t actually a Harvard. It was a Yugoslavian -made aircraft . I think it was a called a Soko Anyone like to correct me? The type was featured in detail in the old “Warbirds Worldwide” magazine

Colin

KB976 is the Ex-Strathallan Lanc right?

It appears to have a lengthened nose as was the case with some Canadian post -war Lancs.

Colin

More Information on “Pathfinders”

I know quite a lot about the making of this series. It was filmed in the Summer of 1971 at West Malling. Hamish Mahaddie was the technical advisor.

Although the DD Video cover states that “real Lancasters were used in the filming” this claim is stretching things a bit.

Some footage of PA474 was taken for the series but most scenes were effected using large radio – controlled Lancaster models ,rather unconvincing full scale mocks – ups of sections of Lancasters and a lot of stock footage.

In some later episodes the large radio controlled Lancs were used for some rather unconvincing shots of Lancs sitting on the ground ,taxying etc.

In one episode there is a taxying scene filmed from inside the cockpit of a Lanc mockup. If you look carefully you can see Hamish Mahaddie’s Mosquito RS712 sitting on the tarmac , visible through the cockpit windows.

In a way this series was a great missed opportunity. The scripts were poor and the production values very low. Furthermore at the time the series was made Lancaster NX611 was sitting at Blackpool having made its last flight only one year before. It would have been in taxiable condition at least and could probably have been made airworthy for the series.

If they had used NX611 instead of these awful models and mock ups and had better and more realistic scripts it could have been a classic aviation series.

Colin