Sad lot, I have a cunning plan, go and be a freeloader, miss the traffic jams and be home in time to see England’s famous victory over Germany, not.
I hear that Rooney will be performing an aerobatic solo in an Me262 instead.

Hmm, I was also under the impression it was Hoof.

Apart from the fatal over-acting of that snotty little ******* Bale, Malkovich grating and the ridiculously weird store of furniture in the desert it is fantastic. I bought and watched it again last year after Steve died – remembering him scream ‘P51 Cadillac of the Skies!’ on the tank bank – and cried. I always found that bit emotional, but even more so now. Perhaps it was knowing that the pilot who waves is actually no longer with us. VERY powerful bit of cinema.

JG Ballard did Crash as well – and didn’t the Daily Mail go ape**** over that! And the Govt wanted it banned etc. I’d seen it a few months before in France and instead of finding it shocking I found it incredibly dull. I should watch it again now to see if I can understand it any better! (Clockwork Orange didn’t disturb me either – main reaction being how incredibly beautiful the lighting and filming was! Perhaps i’m psychotic?). Ballard also rejected an MBE or OBE or something too. Pretentious twatt.

Have you read the book, it’s bloody good, I think it’s unfortunate that Speilberg chose to omit the sinking of the gunboat in the attack on Shanghai, it formed a good founding to the story. Also, the furniture in the stadium was supposed to have have been the stuff looted by the Japanese from the western enclave, how much of this is J G Ballards memories or imagination, we will probably never know.

Interestingly enough, last night, I had a discussion with my film buff, 12 year old, going on 21, stepson, about important films he hadn’t seen, I put Dr Strangelove at the top of the list, followed by Rainman, ok it’s got Tom Cruise in it, Clockwork Orange was mentioned, but madam won’t allow that film in the house, however, George and I exchanged glances, we will see, I also have the book, should I start with that.

Just seen Dasd’s post, wow, definately Ray, what a cinematic scene chaps, I can taste the cordite in my mouth.

Pete, re stearman, I would have thought that it was possible to injure yourself more than KST just climbing into one!! there wasn’t even a speck of blood ,and she had a white dress on! I think the Pheonix was built to look flimsy but did have an FAA certificate; I certainly wouldn’t want to be in the front cockpit of one (stearman) when it was put down like that! (I half expected the pilot to spring out of the rear cockpit shouting woof! woof!, Treat your womam like yer kite etc etc. Good to hear your son’s ok Re mis diagnosis,if you want a second opinion don’t ask another doctor, and no we don’t “do” medical dramas I don’t need reminding how fragile life is , or her constant criticism ,of something I have no specialist knowledge in -actually thats almost everything really!!

Nice one, ok, I except that KST could at least have had a nose bleed, but it would have spoilt that dress.

Incidentally, it was the 5th doctor that finally worked it out, and he was Addenbrookes registrar, top man, he was the business, the lumbar puncture he performed to prove his point was not pleasant to watch, and they thought that he himself had come down with the disease the week after, fortunately for us mortals it was flu, we can’t afford to lose people like him.

There were rules laid down by the air ministry and the admiralty. The general rules can be found here.

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/gustin_military/brdes.html

The Cat names of the 1960’s were all Anglo-French projects (Jaguar was suggested by the French as it went with SEPECAT and was spelt and pronounced the same in both English and French (BAC had to get the OK from the Car Company first). The case for the Helicopters was the same. Tornado was a similar case in that the spelling was the same in all three languages. The current Typhoon was a follow on from Tornado (and there was a fight to get the aircraft called that name thanks to the PC brigade).

Something to do with the Germans wasn’t it, so what are the Luftwaffe going to call it, something else? You can’t blame them for not wanting to name an a/c after something that killed a lot of German troops, particularly in the Falaise pocket. No offence meant to our German pals, I had a wonderful time in Bavaria last year, but please don’t feel so guilty chaps, it was very noticeable and very sad, WW2 was nothing to do with the people that I associated with, but they were very reticent about even approaching the subject, it took a few wheat beers to get one to admit that his grandfather had been in U-Boats, brave man, I had no problem with it, he obviously did.

Watched the end of The Belle.

What tosh. 🙁

The story was dramatic enough without all the Hollywood bollox of the last minute cranking of the u/c and the guy nearly falling out of the bomb bay. 😡

Moggy

So did I and I agree, I could never get my head round the Belle, watching the actual filming all those years ago was very exciting, but the end product was not very good, it was lacking in all sorts of ways.
Another film that was on last night and not mentioned, ‘The English Patient’.
Unlike Pearl Harbor, this was a romantic story set AGAINST the background of a war, and in my opinion, very well done too, but then it wasn’t Hollywood was it, apart from funding, and the token American presence, Daniel Defoe, was superb.
The crash of the Stearman still makes me hide behind the settee.
All in all, I think it’s a great film, well shot, directed and acted, my sort of film really, the character of the Sikh bomb disposal officer is a gem, my favourite scene is when he lifts up the nurse on ropes, armed with a flare in order to see the frescos in the church, and then the bit where he’s trying to diffuse the bomb next to the viaduct with the Shermans attempting to cross, nice film.

The plane they leave on at the end of the film was meant to be constructed from one of the booms from the C-82. For some reason the stunt of “taking off” was considered too dangerous by the film makers, so a stunt pilot “Paul Mantz” was tasked with coming in low, running his landing gear along the ground and then climbing away to simulate a take-off.

On his second run in and the second take Mantz was killed when he unfortunately crashed the aircraft. However by this time all the main footage had already been canned, so another aircraft from a museum was substituted for the remaining close-ups.

Another great Jimmy Stewart film was Strategic Air Command made in 1955. Fantastic shots of B36’s in the air, and no CGI !!!!

Just had a look at the final scene, there was a tribute to Paul Mantz in the credits, anyway, back to the cup final, best I’ve seen for years, that last goal from Gerard was awesome, second period of extra time, must go.

How about a wheel spat from a JU-87?

Oh dear, police and ambulances hurtling through the village, probably another vintage biker hit a tree, be warned.