Pete TrumanI’m not one for this sort of stuff, personally it gives me the creeps seeing all this weaponary displayed in triumph, but I can’t talk, I have de-activated weapons of my own, us humans tread a fine line of what is acceptable or not in that respect, we are basically hunters after all, thats how the human race has survived.
Quite frankly, we have a problem with drug dealers down here, I would be quite happy to shoot one of these scumbags through the head with one of those weapons, I had a meeting with the police yesterday and they are p###ing in the wind, they are keen and trying their best, I have the greatest respect for their efforts, but the legal system makes it hard for them to deal with it, I suggested that a few rounds would sort the problem out, they agreed with me, but……….they you go, it’s not going to happen is it.
Pete TrumanExcuse my ignorance, but is the photograph labelled Boulton and Paul of ‘149’ then.
Where is this being restored and what will be it’s status when finished, a static presumably, but where is it planned to display it, there seems to be a lot more of the airframe than I expected.
I always used to specify their windows till they were taken over by Jeldwen, I know that the aircraft division was removed from the company at Norwich pre-war, but I always used to think of Defiants and smile when writing out specifications, well, spec writing is so boring, how many recipients of these interminable lists knew of the relationship of the company with such ‘infamous’ ? aircraft, I used to mention it at site meetings and get raised eyebrows.
Apart from the complete Defiant at Hendon, the Balliols at Cosford and wherever, 2 Balliol cockpit sections and the remains of a Defiant recovered from the Peak District, thats the sum total of survivors of the company is it, though lets not forget the various gun turrets about, it would be interesting to know how many of their products survive intact, must be lots of windows about though.
Pete TrumanFilm 4 do show the wonderful Amelie. Not a war movie but sheer, sheer delight.
If you haven’t watched it already – do so
Moggy
Fair comment Moggy, but it’s presumably shoved in between the constantly repeated Alien v Predator, etc etc, you know what I mean.
The other night Madam and I were discussing so many classic films, of whichever genre they were, that are never shown, whether it’s copyright issues, I don’t know, for a start, I’d love to see the ‘Go Between’ or, when was the last time that some of the classic British films of the 60’s such as Sillitoe classics as ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’, or ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ last shown.
Sorry, not aviation issues, but it has a repercussion amongst what the powers that be think we ought to watch, it seems to be mainly youth crap, WW2 doesn’t come in to this very much, a bit of repeated acceptable stuff to keep everyone happy and thats it, usually the same films repeated constantly.
What really winds me up is how much the channels take advantage of the Fred Dibnah legend and NEVER mention the nastiness and destruction that has happened over this great man’s estate and possesions, they constantly repeat his programmes as if nothing has happened, it reduces me to tears, I can’t watch them any more, watching Fred presenting repeated programmes in his destroyed workshop is too much to take in.
Ok, he hated flying!!!
Pete TrumanHmmm, does that mean that they already made such a serie?
If so, it has not been shown around here, or i must have missed it, which is very possible as i really don’t watch mush telly.
Was it any good?
Where do you live!!!!
Look on search and you will probably find it’s one of the most talked about TV programmes on here, read the book and try and buy it on Amazon, you won’t be dissapointed, especially with the last episode, I have to watch it every few weeks to keep myself sane.
I’m intrigued about this so called follow up to ‘Band of Brothers’ set in the Pacific. I loved the original series, I have the ‘Special all singing and dancing’ boxed set.
I think it was a not to be repeated one off, it had all the right ingredients.
Directed by the experienced and respectful ‘Ryan’ Tom Hanks with a bit of help from Mr Speilburg, loads of Hollywood dosh, yet utilising the British film industry with all it’s subtle ways, filmed over here and not being afraid to use British actors in major roles as Yanks, ( I can’t watch Hotel Babylon for obvious reasons).
I would be interested to know whether such a huge budget production made any money, I was always under the impression that it was a bit of a love affair production by Hanks and Speilburg, yes they are no doubt rich beyond our wildest dreams, but would they do this for nowt, who knows.
With all the infinite number of TV channels available to us, and the constantly repeated cr## that we get ie:- how many particular naff films are repeated over and over again which drives me mental, sometimes, I could throw a brick at the TV, when was the last time that Band of Brothers was last shown as a series on TV, I can’t remember, or do they assume that any one with half a brain has got them all on DVD anyway and leave it at that.
Remember when Film 4 was a pay for view channel, that didn’t last long did it, not surprising, I can’t recall the last time I wanted to watch any of their constantly repeated totally uninteresting films.
Pete TrumanGnat in Red Arrows colours went sedately whistling over Layer Marney Towers near Colchester at about 14:00 yesterday while we were having a picnic on the nicest day of the year so far. It was heading West, presumably back to North Weald, is this a transit zone as we were’nt far from Stanway where the JP had the unfortunate incident with it’s ejector seat a few years ago.
Pete TrumanFunnily enough, I’ve just been talking on the phone to my brother in Derbyshire about this, wer’e arranging to go and see the BBMF flypast over the Derwent Dam the week after. Yes we did discuss going to DX, and yes we did say, same old thing, lets not bother. Thats the problem isn’t it, we are so spoiled for content here, after reading comments, standing back and thinking about it, we are so lucky, particularly in my case, in having such wonderful aircraft close by, but we take it for granted, and I’m as guilty as the rest in thinking this.
As someone said, SG and Sally B won’t be around for ever, we are are lucky to be in a period when so much stuff is about. My airshow experiences go back too many years to think about, when we were lucky enough to see a Spitfire, the thought of going to an airshow and seeing all these wondorous beasts was unthinkable, a Hellcat for Gods sake, I would have laughed my socks off if someone had suggested that I could have ever seen one of those at an airshow in the future. Lets take it all in while we can.
Another thing, lets enjoy the Typhoon while it’s a bit of a new kid on the block, it’s displays are very impressive, but we will no doubt get tired of them when it takes over the RAF, lets just enjoy the moment of everything that is going for us.
Pete TrumanOn the bbc look east report today, they interviewed the man in charge of the operation, i laughed, he had a unshaped beret and had a little round head like an orange, he looked like zippy or bod. I call him Admiral Zippy
He also had a squeaky voice, looked like ice cream salesman
Don’t be rotten, just think how many times he’s put his life on the line to save others, I think that you have to be bordering on insanity to do that job anyway. I loved his little diagram showing the method of dragging chains between the 2 inflatables, I bet he wasn’t going to be on board any of them.
The Anglia reporter summed it up very well on last nights news, shot of two inflatables, pan back, ‘I wish them well, but as you can see, 2 very small boats in a very big sea’.
I noticed he was wearing para badges, had he been called in from Colchester to teach the Navy a thing or two!!! I’m just waiting for a convoy from Carver Barracks to come hammering along the A120 so they can put their two penneth in as well.
As I started writing this, there was another report from the Anglian Newsdesk, unfortunately, it was treated with great mirth as usual by the newsreader, perhaps they should put the slimey little git in one of the inflatables and see how he copes with the threat of possibly being vapourised at any moment.
Leave em’ alone, theyre trying their best under difficult circumstances, dealing with ordnance can’t be amusing.
Pete TrumanI notied how many of the greatest war movies of all time have been slammed. Apocolypse Now and Platoon were both panned at the time (since then being aclaimed as masterpieces, when they made lots of money) BOB was a commercial failure, the brilliant “A bridge too far” gets 2 star reviews and is called pretencious, “The eagle has landed” has been called kids stuff, and the Daily Mail claimed that Noel Coward was totally unconvincing in “In which we serve” (Well my Dad and my best freind are ex Navy so I am more than used to being with maritime folk and I wouldnt even use the DM as toilet paper)
The superb “enemy at the gates” only got good write ups in the arty papers, “Enigma” didnt do very well.
Any others?
I don’t recall Apocalypse being panned at the time, I remember going to see it at the Odeon at Colchester when it came out and it recieved a round of applause, it was one of those films where everyone sat dazed at the end and watched the credits till the lights came on.
I went to the premier of BoB in Nottingham and it seemed to be extremely well recieved.
A Bridge Too Far unfortunately got critised by British vets for being too focused on the American contribution and being manipulated to suit their audience. Well my old man was in the forefront of all the real action in the actual battle, including being involved with the Yanks as well at the time and thought it was a bloody brilliant film, he couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about, watching it with him was a revelation, ‘Oh yeah, I remember that bit, I was standing over there next General Horrocks when he delivered that speech’, ‘Bloody hell, I was ranging the guns from the church tower when the Yanks crossed the river in boats, bravest thing I ever saw’, etc etc.
‘The Eagle has Landed’ was really kids stuff, lets face it, it cracks me up every time I watch it, the critics are right there.
Noel Coward was a genius, but a real po faced actor, he could only play himself, but then I presume the person he was supposed to represent, the late great Lord Mountbatten was equally cool, if thats the right way of putting it.
Enemy at the Gates I always highly rated, but it never seemed to have received the acclaim it deserved, one of my favourite films I must admit.
As for Enigma, it was manipulated as a love story and it didn’t do anything for me, a very dissapointing film.
Platoon was hardly enjoyment was it.
Pete TrumanI recall reading about the making of Hells Angels many years ago which listed all the aircraft types featured in the film and where they came from. I’ve tried Googling and drawn a blank, I do recall that actual German twin engined bombers were used that had been brought over to the States for evaluation, which I presume most of the German types had been, I wonder what happened to them all.
I also discovered that all the original coloured versions were lost until one was found in 1989 in John Waynes vault of all places, it’s the only piece of film footage of Jean Harlow in colour apparently.
According to Amazon, the colour version is available on DVD but currently out of stock. Pity they weren’t given away with the Daily Mail.
Pete TrumanAccording to Anglia News this morning, they still haven’t found it and the search is underway again today, as of 8:00 am.At least the weather forecast is pretty good for the next few days with offshore winds.
I’m waiting to go and get all those herrings for my freezer.
Incidentally, what does the designation ‘SC type’ mean
Pete Truman[QUOTE=JDK;1241870]Very seaworthy. Look up ‘Osa’s Ark’. I want one too. And a S-39.
I did, I love it, especially the stripey paint job, I’m just going up the road to do an armed robbery on Barclays so I can buy it, will Cate Blanchett deliver it then give me a lesson!
Funny, my lookalike ex-girlfriend was an aircraft enthusiast, I took her to Legends once and I virtually ignored the flying because of her attraction and eccentricity, to make up for the obvious distraction, she bought us 2 tickets for RIAT a few weeks after, but we did manage to get into the spirit of the thing and actually watch it, well sort of.
I thought that the FX-11 was a great looking aircraft, did the American aircraft industry actually produce successful contra rotating props on their engines and what aircraft were ‘armed’ with these.
I’m not a great expert on this subject, but the RR Griffons spring to mind as being proven on the Shack and other beasts, and we have the double Mamba on the Gannet, how efficient were these engines service and performance wise.
Pete TrumanSorry, Sikorsky S-38.
There are a couple airworthy, while Hughes’ S-43 isn’t flying at the moment.
I have to say that I thought it was an extremely attractive amphibian, I want one, It’d look rather nice parked up at Andrewsfield, Stisted Golf Course or moored on Gosfield Lake, couldn’t imagine it coping with a choppy sea though.
Do a fair number of Hughes’ aircraft survive, I was particularly thinking of the round the world Lockheed.
Sadsack
Look up Mr Hughes on Wikky, that will answer a lot of your questions.
Pete TrumanIn my new guise as film reviewer (!), I thing Di Caprio played his part extremely well, but none of the females did.
Bri 😉
Are you familiar with the character of the real Katherine Hepburn, I doubt it otherwise you would realise why Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for the role and deservedly so. Unfortunately in the film she had an extremely uncanny resemblance to an ex-girlfriend of mine, freckles, hair colour, figure, face, the lot and she was eccentric too, it was a bit wierd!!
Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner, no chance.
It was the first time I had seen the film, my missus, having watched the trailers, refused to watch it with me as she reckoned I would spend the whole time moaning about the CGI, well, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, to be honest, some of it was pretty good, especially ‘Hercules’ taking off the water. I haven’t seen ‘Hells Angels’ for some years, but I do recall a/c coming at the screen at all angles and speeds. My favourite little scene was out on the ramp with all those TWA Connies, wrong type because they had wing tanks, but who cares, it looked impressive.
It’s worth looking up Hughes and the film on IMDB and Wikapedia and following some of the leads, it surprised me as to how accurate some of the moments in the film were, I tended to dismiss the crash of the XF-11 somewhat but there’s some interesting footage out there of the actual incident, it just happened to be the wrong country club, why? I also noticed that it was in fact an off duty serviceman who rescued Hughes, who wanted to reward him with a pay out afterwards, but the soldier refused to take it on the grounds that it was every ones duty to rescue people and that money shouldn’t be an incentive, honourable, but foolish attitude in his case when dealing with someone like Hughes.
All in all, quite an enjoyable film, I was expecting to sit there and cringe, but I didn’t, and that’s what counts, trouble is, it over ran the last episode of ‘Gavin and Stacey’, shock horror.
Pete TrumanNice memorial, I’ll take a look the next time I go to Colchester.
I normally hate that type and colour of brickwork, but in this case they really help to pick out the black memorial stones, nice one, who designs these things by the way, did it need planning permission or are the LA sympathetic for once.
I once heard that Boxted was chosen for for post-war expansion rather than my local base at Wethersfield, I gather it was due to it’s close proximity to major road and rail links as well as a major town, Colchester.
The latter was it’s undoing, they thought that a large US base with possible overflights over a major, expanding East Anglian town would not be a good idea, so Wethersfield was selected instead, thus began 40 years of noise over Finchingfield, arguably Britains prettiest village. Not that I was complaining when I lived there, I thought it was quite exciting, I missed out on the F-100 years but having several thousand US personell nearby, and having to duck when the inevitable Jaguar, F-111 or whatever exercises came hurtling over the house was good fun, much better than living under the Stansted flightpath, which is what they have to complain about now.
Pete TrumanAh… Tomcats…., anybody here witness the completely unofficial display at Dunkeswell airday circa 1992 or 1993 (?)….?
I recall a carrier was visiting Portsmouth that summer, and this F-14 (from VF-84 ?) gave a truly memorable performance over mid-Devon, some of which was very low and very fast 😮
Scuttlebutt afterwards was the guy was reprimanded after complaints. Still have it on VHS somewhere, perhaps someone could transfer it to YouTube ?
.
There were a couple of Tomcats at Mildenhall in 92, 2 at Fairford in 93, most likely scenario could be when the JFK took part in the D-Day anniversary in 1994.
I was lucky enough to be on the beach at Arromanches and could see the JFK launching it’s a/c just off the coast, they then assembled an epic flypast for the benefit of Bill Clinton at Omaha, which came sweeping along the coast over Arromanches consisting of F-14×4, A-6×4, F-18×4, B1, C117, impressive.
Prior to that we had seen B-17 Pink Lady with 2 P-51’s literally skimming the waves.
Our flypast at Arromanches for the benefit of HMQ consisted of an unusually untidy BBMF flypast, The Reds, of course, and Tornados, followed by a 21 gun salute offshore by what looked like half the Royal Navy.
Great Day!!!! Was any one else there that day with a vet and found themselves in the middle of all that trouble with the vets and Historic Vehicle Societies threatening to drive their Shermans over the French police on the beach at Arromanches.
I have some really good video of all this but my new camera won’t play it, has anyone got an old video 8 camera that they don’t want.
Sorry to hijack the thread, I got carried away, thats all.
Aside from all that, both museums are truly amazing, I just find the FAA Museum a bit less clinical and having more of an ability to interest both the GP and the enthusiast, the ‘Carrier Experience’ is very well done, I once took a 5 year old who really believed that he had flown out to an aircraft carrier by helicopter, if you have young kids, FAA every time.
Sign In
