Pete TrumanI’m all for the remake to be honest. It’s definatly a classic and we will continue to watch it for that reason, but surely, most of you, if not all, have watched a movie before that you have really enjoyed and later on in life when you see how effects in films get better and better have thought, ‘how good it would be if they re-made such and such with the effects of today’, I know I have!! One film I always wanted to see remade was War of the Worlds and I got my wish. Ok, it may not have been to the book, but it was closer than the first movie in the 50’s and yes I know it was all good old America all the way but the effects were superb!
Tora Tora Tora is another firm favourite of mine and although Pearl Harbour isn’t a remake of it, I was chuffed to death to hear about a movie being made about the attack on Pearl Harbour again. It gives you the opertunity to see and feel how it was really like back then and the flying sequences in the movie are the dogs b*****ks both the real and CGI sequences.
So on that note I will say go ahead, remake the movie, but keep it British!!! While your at it, re-make the Battle of Britain too and 633 Squadron!! :p
I disagree about ‘War of the Worlds’.
I have always wanted to see this film made according to the book, ie: late 19th century Britain, and I gather that the script was originally written as this, however Speilberg decided that it wouldn’t appeal to American audiences and therefore changed it.
I heard that Jeff Lynne was going to finance a film true to the book but I haven’t heard anymore about it, imagine, CGI tripods v Royal Artillery 18 pounders, wow.
Pete TrumanPete, if your son improves and wants to see the museum, we’ll drop him off in Nottingham on our way home to Chesterfield.
Thank you very much for the offer, but I have a feeling he may be down here for a while, his friend was diagnosed with glandular fever before Xmas and had to go home for a few weeks, I have a sneeking suspicion that he may have the same problem.
Apart from that, despite being taken to every airshow and airfield going when he was a kid, he always preferred the snake slide at Mildenhall rather than watching the Red Arrows, I think that his main interest in aviation is the Easy Jet drinks trolley.
Iv’e just reread this and think I’m being a little unfair on the youth.
About 10 years ago, the poor kid had chickenpox and was banned from school for a quarantine period.
He was feeling fine, but not allowed into school and getting bored.
The answer to this was to go to the arrivals day at North Weald, I happened to be drawing up an extension for one of the blokes on the gate and he let us in. We had the entire airfield to ourselves and sat in the grandstand, just the 2 of us. The ensuing practice display by the arriving jets/warbirds was utterley stunning, we were both terrified by the ferocity of the routines, well I was, he was jumping up and down with the excitement of it all, probably some of the best and closest aerobatics that I ever saw, I remember a Dutch F-16 nearly taking our heads off.
Happy days, where did they go.
Pete TrumanThis trip is cursed, I found out last night that my son, who is at Nottingham University, is very ill and wants to come home. We don’t know what is wrong with him despite the fact that he has been to the doctors, his mother is currently on her way up there to bring him back and I forsee having to look after him for a few days. If he improves then I will have to take him back on Sunday. Sorry Ollie your lifts have to be cancelled as I can’t be sure what will happen over the next few days.
Pete TrumanSorry had to terminate my question as my f###### Jack Russell got out the garden and I’ve just spent the last half hour trying to find the little git.
How many of the Buchons used in the BoB film have survived, I know that there is a stash in the US, are the remains of Mark Hanna’s kept somewhere and what happened to the one owned by Robs Lamplough, is this the one at Beighton. I bow to your superior knowledge.
I remember the Lamplough example being painted up in a similar colour scheme to Black 6, but I don’t recall it ever being flown at an airshow.
Pete TrumanJust out of interest, there has been a thread going about airworthy Spitfires, but how many airworthy BF109/ Buchons are there in the world or have I missed this on a previous thread.
I am aware of the Buchon at Beighton and the BF109 at Wattisham, but what else apart from the US examples exist.
I always remember seeing Robs Lamplough attempting to take off for the first time at Duxford in his Buchon about 20 years ago, however I was fortunate to be at North Weald when Black 6 and Walther Eichorns DB engined Buchon flew in with the BBMF flight.
What happened to Eichorns a/c.
Pete TrumanLovely picture. I’m a complete Luddite when it comes to trains generally, although anything old and British, be it train, plane or automobile is fine by me and I don’t live too far from Bressingham steam museum (where I had trips on the footplate of the Flying Scot and Oliver Cromwell in the 60s/70s, I think). Are there any Deltics still running in the UK as museum pieces? Excuse the ignorance.
About half a dozen, though I gather that mechanical breakdown is a problem, most of them are at Barrow Hill near Chesterfield.
Pete TrumanPete,
I think that the bombs on either side of the gate are the largest German bombs, nicknamed “Hermann” for some arcane reason 😀 I cannot remember the size – SC1000, possibly? Having seen an SC50 go off, I would rather NOT be anywhere near a live Hermann, thank you very much.
Unfortunately I cannot help with one just the other side – I’ve probably puzzled about it myself, as well…
Adrian
I take it that the numbers relate to Kilos of explosives, if so, which Luftwaffe a/c was capable of taking one of this size and where did you see an SC50 detonated.
Pete TrumanI personaly do not think that the BBMF will allow their Lancaster to be used for a film, whatever it is. This aircraft is a very precious and treasured object where every minute of flight time has to be accounted for. I also think that it is unlikely that the Canadian example will be risked for a flight across the Atlantic.
The only options that I can see are that Just Jane is restored to flying condition, which will be expensive and probably take a while. You will probably find that ariel scenes would be filmed over Canada and , rather like the Heinkel attack in ‘Piece of Cake’, the landscape below would look a bit alien, or do you think that CGI would sort that out.
I am not to convinced that this film will ever get off the ground, despite Sir Davids good intentions, does anyone know how far into the planning stage it has gone.
Pete TrumanThere’s a very large bomb on display at the gate at Debden, I have to drive past there tomorrow, I’ll try and remember to take my digital and face the armed guards, I’m sure they’ll show some Xmas spirit to a long haired old git.
Will have to go past DX as well, anything likely to be flying?
I’m ressurecting this thread because I’ve just driven past Debden and looked at the bombs on the gate. Unfortunately the gates were shut in connection with some building work and I just used up the digi batteries on an 18th century house.
The bombs either side of the gate look quite old, about 2.4m long with long fins terminating in a circular fin.
The bomb on the other side of the entrance barrier is pretty huge and looks like a Tallboy, the only thing is that the fins look longer and of a different shape than anyhing pictured on here, had the gate been open I would have had a word with the guards, but the sight of their SA80’s put me off waving through the gate.
Pete TrumanI have an article somewhere about the making of “The Longest Day”. I believe the two Nords were sourced in France. They may have been the very same ones which appeared in “633 Squadron”.
Probably the 2 in Von Ryans Express as well.
Pete TrumanJust caught up with this thread and would like to make an observation.
A few years ago at the Mildenhall airshow, there was a formation routine involving 2 P-51’s and an F-15. I can’t remember which P-51’s they were, I’m sure one of them was Stephen Grey’s. Anyway, they were both flown by American pilots, I gather that it was a routine carried out at US airshows and that these pilots had come over to the UK in order to demonstrate this, the usual British pilots not being used to it. The way that these planes were flown together was so close, that my brother and I, after 50 years of airshow experience, thought it was ridiculous and dangerous, it was a bit like the close formation flying by the Blue Angels, but in Mustangs, no way. I’m sure that the pilots had practised this meticulously, but I got no pleasure in watching it, we were convinced that something was going to happen but fortunately Stephen got his plane back intact, anyone else remember this, I’ll have to dig out the video and upset myself.
PS: I was there when Black 6 crashed, I remember seeing the stream of white smoke coming out of the engine and expecting it to hit an artic on the M11, all seemed to go well till we saw the cloud of dust and the plane flip over in the field, we were standing on the Tank Bank at the time, tricky things Bf-109’s.
Pete TrumanYou are right, although I do remember seeing that locomotive during its stay in the Science Museum. Very impressive it was too.
As to what I recommend, I recommend a home spelling course. 😉
Get lost, I’m a grammar school boy, we’re all open to make the occasional mistake.
Incidentally Moggy, the Deltic made only a brief appearance on the WCML as it’s intended job was to work from Kings Cross.
Pete Truman“The Longest Day” isn’t actually all that technically accurate (despite what the critics say). Here are just a few of the technical bloopers in the film –
* Landing Craft used in film are too modern
* Parachute dropping planes/glider tugs are Lancasters (never used in this role)
* During the strafing scene we see a point of view shot (alternated with footage shot from inside the Nord’s cockpit) which is far too slow (about 100mph at most ) giving the game away that it was shot from a slow flying helicopter not a 300mph fighter.
* The Sherman tanks seen in the movie
are post -war French versions with completely different turrets and guns to the 1944 versions.I have noticed that a lot of the information given on the Internet Movie Database about planes etc is often wrong.
Colin
The aircraft seen flying over the fleet are Skyraiders, even IMDB doesn’t have to tell me that.
Pete TrumanWonderful beasts! I worked on the AEW 3 version, until it literally went out with the Ark! Superb piece of British engineering – a nightmare at times, but always very rewarding to get them in the air.
I recall a mad rush of Gannet fever during the Falklands, when we were asked to look at the feasability in getting some of the AEWs flying again, to provide radar cover for the fleet. However, this was cancelled when the Sea King was very rapidly converted to carry suitable radar. Mind, the only carrier that could have carried the Gannet would have been the Hermes and I guess by then, all its steam catapult gear would have been scrapped and the carrier fitted with the “ski jump” for Harrier ops – I dont think a Gannet could quite have managed to leap off the end of that!
Paul
Wasn’t the plan to recomision HMS Bulwark, which was with the reserve fleet at Portsmouth at the time, had the war gone on for longer. I heard at the time from an RAF pilot relative that they were going to use Phantoms and that some had already been crated up and sent to Chile.
That would have been interesting, a traditional carrier with Gannets and Phantoms, apparently the US offered us the loan of one of theirs, but Thatcher wouldn’t accept it.
They also had plans to recommision HMS Lion, which was the last 6 inch gun cruiser and also with the reserve fleet.
I remember being on holiday in south Devon about 20 years ago and seeing a Gannet flying about all the time, I presume it was the Helston example.
Pete Trumanok, we’ll take this slowly….
Deltic was a protoype high speed locomotive built as a privately funded venture by the English Electric Company. It was powered by two Napier Deltic power units. The prototype after carrying out proving trials for BR was withdrawn from service and put on display at the Science Museum later being moved to York and now Shildon.
BR ordered a series of 22 Type 5 diesels from EE which were also known as Deltics because of the power units. BR also bought a number of locos which were later known as the Baby Deltics because they were only fitted with one Deltic power unit. The locos were renumbered as the Class 23 while the twin engined deltics were renumbered as the Class 55.
Napier became part of GEC and the Deltic power units were then produced by the Rushton-Paxman division. The power units which were fitted to the Class 55 locos were 18 cylinder beasts but a 9 cylinder version was fitted to many minesweeper and mine hunter ships largely built by Vosper Thorneycroft.
Incidentally, the New York Fire Brigade had a fire engine which had a Deltic power unit to power the water pump….
Does this make sense now? I’ll be asking quaestions later to make sure you are all awake.
A picture I took at Grantham in 1958, doubt whether you were there Trinny, incidentally, I need a new pair of jeans, what do you reccomend.
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