The original “Tuskegee Airman” film was quite good but suffered from a lack of spectacle. Only a few aircraft were used in the making of the film and there were numerous inaccuracies due to the low budget e.g. the unit’s use of P-40s and P-39s was not shown. As I recall we saw them flying P-51Ds in North Africa!

Hopefully a new film would correct these inaccuracies and would show large numbers of planes thanks to CG!.

Colin

Dakota was ex-Glasgow Airport

I can give you a bit more detail about the Dakota crash sequence. The Dakota which ended up on the roof of the farmhouse was a wreck which was obtained from the Fire Dept at Glasgow Airport. It was used for training firemen.

The tail was missing so a cardboard mock up was created for the sequence which also used a large model Dakota on wires and a model farmhouse.

Colin

That news report says that there are 18 airworthy Hurricanes in the world. I thought the number was nearer 10. Would anyone like to clarify this for me?

Colin

My understanding is that the Dams Lancs were not fitted with the ventral turret as such. Instead they had a single 0.303 Vickers K gun fitted in the ventral position, firing through an aperture in the floor. Kneeling pads on the floor were provided for the gunner. This feature was included in Tamiya’s 1976 1/48 scale model of the Dambuster Lanc (not now available).

Revell’s first 1/72 scale Dambusters Lanc (early Sixties) featured a ventral turret with two Brownings but I believe this was an error.

Colin

Also some daft spy film about a nuclear powered DC3, which was shot at Biggin Hill in the early to mid 1960s. Can’t remember the name of it, but I remember that the now East Kirby based Lanc is seen in some shots, still in its French scheme, so that should help with the date.

All the best,

Steve

This was “Where the Bullets Fly” (1965 or 1966) filmed at Biggin Hill. Director John Gilling . Starring Tom Adams and Dawn Adams. See IMDB for more details.

Colin

What a good idea!

Here are two I have noticed-

“Where The Bullets Fly” (1965 or 1966. UK , Director John Gilling)

Early in the film there are some sequences shot at Biggin Hill .
Lancaster NX611 can be seen clearly in the background.

“Crossplot” (1969). Roger Moore spy film.

There is one short sequence where a Mosquito nose/cockpit section (used in “633 Squadron”/”Mosquito Squadron”) can be seen ,painted to look like the nose of a civil aircraft.

BTW I don’t think either film is available on video /DVD. I only saw the first film once when it was shown on STV in the Spring of 1973. “Crossplot” turns up on the satellite movie channels from time to time.

Best Wishes,

Colin

There was certainly some dispute with British Airports Authority using the characters (and actors) without permission in a TV advert, a court case which BAA then won, IMHO, in a rather dubious decision. I wasn’t aware of any other litigation, but I’d be interested to hear more. I’d assumed the series two collapsed due to lack of income / interest, the usual problem.

Thanks for the photos, Hornchurch.

Cheers

Not long after “Airline ” was screened in the Spring of 1982 an article appeared inthe “Sunday Express” ( I think) which revealed that Wilfrid Greatorex was very displeased at changes that were made to his scripts. This lead to Greatorex asking for his name to be removed from some scripts and for 4 planned episodes of the first series to be scrapped.

Around this time “Flypast” reported that a Constellation and a Bristol Freighter had been sourced for the second series. Then another newspaper article appeared which claimed that Yorkshire TV had scrapped the second series. I don’t remember any reason being given but I would guess that Greatorex’s difficult relationship with them was part of the problem.

Wilfrid Greatorex died some years ago but it is possible that his estate is blocking release of “Airline” on DVD. It has been said that Graham Williams’ estate is similarly blocking the release of “Target” (BBC TV 1977-78.

Colin

I’ve heard a good rumor that Tom Cruise won’t be making a BoB film or a Flying Tigers movie, but rather one involving the war in the desert of N. Africa, with Spitfires, Panzers, and ? And that Robs Lamplough’s Spitfire will be used.

Could this be “The War Magician” ,the proposed film about camouflage/deception expert Jasper Maskeylene which was announced a few years ago as a Tom Cruise project but has still not appeared?

Colin