Pete TrumanJust a little comment, did any of these Spanish Buchons see any action anywhere or were their guns never fired in anger, I was thinking possibly revolution in Spanish colonies, my knowledge on Spanish colonialism is non existant, any answers?
Pete TrumanC’mon chaps, it’s not worth trashing Ryan because of using Mustangs at the end, more impressive than those camo Harvards in ‘Bridge too Far’.
I always felt that the film ‘Patton’ tends to knock the Brits anyway, I love the film, but there are some embarrasing moments, ie, with reference to Monty, quote, ‘We’re both Prima Donnas, but I’m the only one that knows it.’
Flyboys may be rubbish, it may not, who knows, we can’t judge it till the film is available, lets leave it at that and report back when the DVD is out, sorry, I prefer lying on the settee watching my widescreen TV with surround sound than going to the local Braintree multiplex with it’s noisy, bellicose population.
Pete Truman30 years ago my girlriend/exwife moved down here and, at weekends, we used to go on drives around the area to discover whatever gems were on offer.
One day, we were driving along the A505 when I spotted this gleaming, silver, B-17 next to the road at a tatty old airfield.
Having not seen a B-17 before, I was quite overcome, and stepped over the rusty old fence to have a look and take some pictures, sorry chaps, they are on slides.
I recall a few other airframes about that day, but can’t recall what they were.
Since then, Duxford has become a major museum and with the live side of it always being present, probably one of the best in the world.
Museums are inevitably going to develop and with the IWM not just concentrating on a/c but involving military vehicles etc as well, things were bound to change.
I don’t have any problem with Duxford, it’s just 20 mins up the road from me and I think that it’s stunning, and I feel honoured to be able to drive a few miles to be able to visit, and of course we have the the fantastic airshows.
This place is a living museum, and stuffing it all in a bunch of rotting T2’s wouldn’t work, the place has to develop in order to show our military heritage.
Pete TrumanA moot point. However, the prevailing mood in the British film industry seems to be often more about exploring Britain’s decline as a world power, and finding our new place in the scheme of things. I think it’s telling that ‘Land and Freedom’ was not about a bunch of lads from Liverpool who single-handedly win the Spanish Civil War. If we had more money things might be different.
I’ve not seen ‘Jarhead’ but that looks interesting – the trailer seems to show a ‘Blue on Blue’ and suggests that joining the Marines might not be the best career move.
Ah, British director though.
I feel like I’ve opened a can of worms. However, Dean Devlin’s back catalogue does seem to be filled with the worst kind of flag waving nonsense. Even ‘Godzilla’ replaced the Japanese original’s American A-bomb testing with French.
Yes, but I’m trying to make the point that if we hadn’t declined as a world power, we would be just as bad, possibly worse, and incidentally, we have’nt declined completely away.
Jarhead looks interesting to me as well, I quite fancy seeing that film.
With regard to the French A-bomb testing in Godzilla, wasn’t the film made in the shadow of the contraversial A-bomb testing by the French in the Pacific at the time, which would have influenced the plot, quite rightly to, Jean Reno’s character in the film and the sub plot with the French, is the only thing that makes it watchable.
Anyway, I always thought that a bunch of lads from Liverpool did take over the world.
Pete TrumanXN923.ROFLAO….We are sneaky,being ex criminals and all..:)Pete..give me a movie called “Tigers in the mud” and I would sell my fiance to see the world premier.For a good german epic,watch “Stallingrad”.
Tigers in the Mud? Whats all that about then, please enlighten me, and how much do you want for your fiancee, if she’s an Aussie beach girl, I will sell the house to raise the cash.
Stalingrad I have heard of but never seen, is it based on the book that I have, my son at uni has various ways of downloading films via the uni computer and I will place an order with him.
Problem I have with Stalingrad is that, reading the book, the collapse came via the Hungarian contingent being assaulted, my missus being of Hungarian origin means she won’t watch it.
Pete TrumanDaz
Yes, it’s a film about Americans. How many American cinema-goers would see the film if it was, say, about the French? The British? The Germans?
Errrm, what about The Blue Max?
Only one major American actor too, the rest were British, apart from madam of course.
Stop knocking the Yanks, would’nt we do the same with films if given the same money and power, with traditional British arrogance, they would probably be unbearable.
Pete TrumanI agree with what you say and I was hoping that they would come back over my house to spread the word. According to Ceefax and local radio, it was scrubbed because Becks thought it might offend the Germans, so he no doubt didn’t know at first what a Lancaster represents, but you can’t exactly blame him for that, not everyone is a keen type and historian, how many proffesional footballers go to airshows I wonder. On the other hand, a flypast may have inspired him to put some of his ££££££ per week towards buying and restoring his own Lanc, Posh would make a good candidate for the bouncing bomb.
I don’t know what happened at Duxford today, but I doubt whether the BBMF would have flown in these weather conditions anyway.
Svens new 17 year old Arsenal striker seems a bright, intelligent lad, I gather his girlfriend can’t attend the initial world cup matches because of her A-Level commitments, could be a real dream team to kick the media deservedly up the ass, and perhaps he will eventually buy an Me 262 and fly it at Leg-ends.
I refuse to knock Becks, I think that he is an inherently shy man, a bloody good footballer who lives for the game, which is his life and passion, I just don’t understand why he married her.
Pete TrumanDefinately the Victor for me.
The Valliant always looked a bit out of date and the Vulcan was too gracefull, whereas the Victor really looked some wierd, mean machine, a bit doglike in a way, like a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. I’m gratefull to have been at the end of the runway during the final disbandment ceremony when 3 of the beasts did the take off and flypast at Marham, stunning sight.
Pete TrumanYes,the food was a huge bonus + also at non ripoff UK prices.
Agreed, and didn’t you notice that the sun always shone, it was always the place to get the first suntan of the year, apart from the last event where the weather was pretty grim but it didn’t stop anything from flying, the B-2 taking off in the rain was pretty awesome and the crowd line was empty, everyone was under shelters stuffing themselves with burgers and Bud.
We took a windbreak and groundsheet and were very dry and comfy, apart from having to run over to the barbie to stock up. In fact, in my visits there going back nearly 30 years that was the only time I recall the weather being crap, the hottest day I remember was when the Thunderbirds performed about 10 years ago, a memorable day as it was my missus’s first airshow, she was in raptures at the number of display teams on that day, if I can remember was it not Thunderbirds, Patrouille de France, Frecces, Suisse and the Reds all in one show, this thread has made me want to dig out me videos, but I’ve got to carry on tiling the kitchen.
C’mon American pals, please start it again next year, we all miss it so much, we promise to be vigilant.
Pete TrumanFurther update on the weather down here, it’s appalling, quite windy, persistant rain and low cloud, not good for the airshow up the road, or Becks barbie in the other direction.
Pete TrumanGreat news, knowing how slow the planners usually are, I was going to e-mail the LA this weekend, but it’s been approved already, brilliant, can your planners move down here, please.
Pete TrumanNow THAT picture really sums up what we will be missing next weekend, yes, a wet Polish and a Bud for breakfast, unbeatable.
They made it impossible to sneak the beers off base by always opening every can when you bought them, always a bit of a pain when you were buying a load for your mates, and they were always floating in those big bins full of iced water that got topped up every so often.
I hate burgers and Bud, but it was somehow different there, can’t DX bus down a load of US aircrew with the redundant barbecue gear for Leg-ends.
Incidentally, the picture wasn’t taken at the last airshow, the polish sausage was extremely wet that day.
Pete TrumanVictory may not be a particularly good analogy.
There is a guy up here in Norfolk who has been recycling wood from Victory for some considerable time; he makes a lot of furniture, curios and so on with it. Point is that it was extensively reconstructed in the last century, and one wonders how much of the original now survives! Perhaps not very different from some of todays flying aeroplanes!
Bruce
Good point, I went round Victory last year during the Trafalgar celebrations and it was the first time in my lifetime of visits, that I had seen it complete.
In fact, I was told by one of the staff, that this year they were going to replace the whole starboard side.
Only in the bottom of the hull could you see evidence of original ribs and beams.
But then, it’s still the Flagship of the fleet, so the powers that be will throw any amount of money on it, and quite right too, same as the BBMF, we hope.
Pete TrumanAre the Lakenheath codes on the aircraft genuine, was it ever based there.
I can’t recall seeing an A-10 on the gate at Bentwaters, but the F-5 is still at Alconbury.
Problem with the Lakenheath a/c, apart from the F-100, is that they are not visible from a public area, I’ve only seen them once when I went into the base for an antiques fair and thats unlikely to happen again.
They used to have a Thud parked near the weapons bunkers, what happened to that.
Actually, I’m surprised that Mildenhall has never had a gate guardian, an SR-71 would have been nice.
Pete TrumanNow if it was a toss up between Legends and Dagenham and Redbridge, that would be difficult. However Legends edges it for me.
i do have a cunning plan…..
At the moment curry’s are giving away 7inch lcd tvs with certain packages, and i just happen to want a new 42inch telly. my missus is gonna kick me up the ass when i bring that baby home.
i don’t want a crowd around my deckchair mind…
You ALWAYS get a crowd around your deckchair at Legends, that’s what it’s all about.
I’ve had a small lcd telly for years and would no doubt take it along, actually, during that abandoned September airshow at DX last year, I was quite happily sitting there watching the Test Match while all around went to pot, no-one ever asked the score though.
I once made the mistake of volunteering to help out with cub camp during the World Cup, Arkela banned me from taking a telly, but I ignored her, I took 2, despite the fact she was bigger than me.
I ended up with about 20 cubs looking over my shoulder watching England, I was not popular that day with the proper dib-dib brigade.
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