I can confirm the details in Alan Key’s post no.5 above. The official Royal Naval Movements diary shows the following:

‘HMS EAGLE from 6/7 wharfs Devonport to Plymouth Sound and sea – 1050 hours, Tuesday 1 September 1953’.

The diary records that she returned to Plymouth Sound at 0800 hours on Tuesday 1 December 1953 and proceeded up to 5/6 wharfs at Devonport at 1230 hours on the same day.

Sorry if this adds to the confusion.

Regards….Paul

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has not only visited an airfield, I remember sitting in the car (don’t know which version) at Paddington Station, London, some time before or after the film’s initial release. I can’t remember how long she was on display there but she did turn a few heads.

Regards….Paul

I hope you have as good a time as I did during five very happy years at the base, the last one as a married airman living in a standard 2/3 bedroomed RAF married quarter near Vine Lane. It was a good, well maintained property about a ten minute walk from my office in Station Headquarters’, and a very convenient place for my new wife and I to pursue our various interests. All London football clubs, as well as West End Theatreland and the numerous London attractions (including the dreaded Oxford Street shops) were just a tube ride away. Heathrow was a few miles to the south and in the other direction, RAF Northolt was just about within walking distance (We did it once!)

Being on the outer fringes of Greater London the countryside was very close at hand and as a consequence I remember spending numerous very pleasant afternoons in nearby places such as Windsor and Henley-on-Thames. However, I am mindful that this was almost forty years ago when football admission prices (even at Chelsea, where I was a regular) were very cheap and tube and bus fares weren’t even worth thinking about when costing a day out. Not so these days’, I fear!

Historically, apart from the underground ‘war room’, I’ve just remembered that during my ‘single’ barrack block days’, I was told by a very knowledgable and wise old RAF officer (there have been one or two!) that my bed space was once occupied by ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (T E Lawrence) after he left the British Army as a Colonel and joined the RAF at Uxbridge Depot under the name of Aircraftsman Shaw. I felt quite honoured by this and made a special point of seeing the film – unfortunately the bedspace didn’t feature!

Anyway, I very much hope that you enjoy your posting there. Best wishes.

Regards……….Paul

Just a guess, but there’s a good chance that they would have taken off from nearby RAF White Waltham where the Duke learnt to fly in 1953.

During my time there in the 1960’s, RAF Anson, Chipmunk and Pembroke aircraft were resident.

Regards…..Paul

Re; post 249.

Picking up on Lima 1’s comments regarding the SWFTA collection, I can add that they certainly are holding a good assortment of SM material including old ‘Air Day’ footage. This was confimed when I again ran into my ex ‘Westward’ TV friends at yet another Christmas ‘do’ last night. So, with this and the recent comments from Annek at post 251, the future looks bright for SM historians.

During our conversations, I was reminded of a series of programmes called ‘Walking Westward’ which followed the progress of reporter Clive Gunnell, as he walked the North Somerset, Devon and Cornwall coastal path to Lands End. During this marathon, he stopped and filmed at SM. I remembered the day well as I was again leaving on a day’s excursion, courtesy of 42 Sqn, and passed Clive and the film crew near the Nimrod Line. It wasn’t until much later when I watched the programme that I realised that he had filmed our departure. This very good series should also be amongst the SWFTA collection.

Incidentally, some years after leaving the service, I worked with Clive on a documentary on nuclear submarines which turned out to be a substantial revenue earner for the TV company, following huge sales of it around the world. There’ a good chance that one or two copies may still be in the Kremlin! Sadly, Clive passed on a few years ago but thankfully some of his work still remains.

Regards …. Paul

Re: above post.

Yes, you are absolutely right it was still Westward TV in 1976. Mr Caine’s ‘intro’ would therefore have been for ‘Westward Diary’.

I should have known that, as my wife started a long association in television working at Westward TV!. It’s reminded me that she’s a lot older than I thought!!!

Regards…..Paul

Re: post 244 above.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any photos of the filming although I know many were taken at the time. My colleague, the one mentioned in my original post, certainly had some, including him with his ‘mates’ Mr Caine and Mr Sutherland. There would have been a good chance that the event would have featured in a subsequent edition of the station magazine ‘Westwings’ and the local press might also have kept some photographic records.

However, there are some pictures available that I came across on the internet by going to the Wikipedia site ‘The Eagle Has Landed (film)’ and scrolling down to ‘External Links’. I then clicked on The Eagle Has Landed photos’ and up popped several including 16 at SM and even more at Charlestown.

Of those at SM, one shows part of the flimsy looking Control/Watch tower I previously mentioned, whilst another shows a ME 109 aircraft that I’d forgotten to mention. The distinctive SM water tower can be glimpsed in the distance in another. A couple more show the outside and inside of 405 with the Dakota.

Regards……….Paul

As there seems to be some interest in the ‘good old days’ at SM on this thread, I hope it’s OK to jot down a few personal recollections I have of the base during the filming of part of ‘The Eagle has Landed’ during the almost unbearable heatwave in the summer of 1976.

Like many others on the camp, I became aware of the event when we were invited to apply to become ‘extras’ in the film which, of course, starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall amongst others. The daily rate of pay on offer was enough to grab the interest of many of us! Unfortunately for me, on the day the film company ‘recruiters’ arrived on base, I was on a day’s excursion to RAF Turnhouse and by the time I got back it was too late to sign up. Ironically, a colleague had been successful and immediately had leave approved to cover the filming period, leaving me to carry out his duties as well as my own. He got the extra cash and I just got the extra work!

However, when filming started I would take a daily lunchtime stroll over to the film set, towards the Treblezue end of camp, to watch some of the action. As well as all the actors and extras there were numerous production and support staff and all of the equipment one would expect to see at a major film location.

Occasionally, there would be curses from certain members of the film crew as a scene would be disrupted by an incoming or outgoing Canberra or Nimrod, which rather annoyed me. On one such occasion I felt obliged to remind all those within earshot that they were on an operational airfield and playacting wasn’t a top priority. It didn’t go down too well!

With regard to aircraft, they had a couple of their own, a Dakota and a Fieseler Storch which used the old hangar near the set. (405?) One lunchtime whilst eating my sandwiches inside the hangar, I was joined by a strikingly attractive young woman and small child. We chatted until I had to return to work. I was later told that the lady was the wife of Michael Caine. Not far from the hangar the film company had constructed a rather flimsy looking control/watch tower which I’m fairly sure featured in the film.

One particular scene I witnessed involved Donald Sutherland who supposedly had a strange control over vicious barking dogs. From memory, I think he quietened them down by a simple hand or finger movement whilst whistleing. Anyway, it looked very convincing in the finished film, but during the shooting of the scene, Mr Sutherland would do his finger bit whilst just out of camera-shot the dog’s owner/trainer would be bellowing “Shut up, Shut up!” at the poor dog. All very amusing.

Also, another scene, or possibly the same one, attracted some criticism in certain quarters as it had to look wet underfoot. To achieve this the area had to be saturated by water from a large water bowser. This was at a time of national drought when vast numbers of people across the country were experiencing water rationing and had to collect their daily water from roadside standpipes. It did seem very innapropriate.

Anyway, there we are, just a few memories of that period, I hope I haven’t bored too many. I enjoyed the film by the way!

Regards…….. Paul