In 1969, I don’t think anyone cared. To me, it’s a James Bond film in a World War 2 setting.

I think historical accuracy has grown in importance since the 70s – mainly becuase there is a greater body of historical work on WW2 now and more “experts” out there who’ll notice. Having said that, Hollywood never lets accuracy get in the way of the story, with the odd exception, of course.

Some of the early Beagle designs were based on older Austers eg. the Beagle Airedale, Husky and Terrier were all “tarted up” Austers.

In fact, I thought that Miles actually became a division of Handley Page (Handley Page Reading, if my memory serves me correctly). As result, projects such as the Miles Marathon and the Herald ended us with Handley Page designations – HPR-1 Marathon, HPR-7 Herald.

The confusion might arise from the fact that the Beagle 206 Basset brgan life as a Miles project.

Due to government enforced rationalisation in the early 1960s, most of the British manufactureres were forced into two large groups, Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation. There were a few exceptions. Handley Page refused to play ball – and were ostracised by the Government, who refused to place new orders with them. They eventually went into liquidation in 1970. Scottish Aviation and Short Brothers (which was already part of the Short and Harland ship building company) were left outside the mergers for political reasons. Harland and Wolf eventually sold Short Brothers to Bombardier of Canada.

In 1977, the two large groups were nationalised and merged by the Labour government of the day into British Aerospace. BAe was eventually sold off as a PLC by the Conservatives and has since virtually stopped being a major airframe manufacturer and concentrated on general defence and collaborative projects – hence the change of name to BAE Systems. In ten years time, Britain will no longer be a manufacturer of aircraft, ending just over a 100 year history of plane building.

Aerial crop spraying is virtually extinct in this part of the world. Back in the 70s it was not unusual to see AgCats, Thrush and Snow Comanders and Piper Pawness plying their trade in the British Isles. However, agricultural methods have changed so there is not much call for them anymore. You are more likely to see these types of aircraft being used as glider tugs now.

This film is so bad it’s beyond funny. The odd thing is, when it was new, it was looked on as a serious “adventure” film.

Has anyone read the original Alistair McLean novel and is it as proposterous?

Not only were Bell nicking our supersonic aircraft designs, they were secretely selling choppers to the enemy. I think a new conspiracy theory has just been born.

I suppose you would have to distinguish between flying replicas and non-flying replicas. A true non-flying replica is, in effect, a 1 to 1 scale static model – almost a sculpture, in fact. I have no problem with these, as long as those looking at it are informed that it is, indeed, a replica.

Flying replicas are slightly different. For me, the heart of an aeroplane is its engine. It’s no use making a full scale, and maybe 100% accurate replica, which sounds totally wrong because the engine is very different from the original. However, if the engine is in the “spirit” of the original, then maybe that’s not too bad.

A good example of the latter would be the 262 project. They are perfect in every way apart from the original engines. But, how many would be willing to fly an aeroplane which had engines likely to fall apart after 10 hours? What licensing authority would grant such an aircraft a permit to fly?

My conclusion – static replicas, no issue at all as long as they look right and are portrayed as “replicas”.

Flying replicas – as long as they are accurate and their engines are either originals or in the spirit (type and sound) of the originals.

Familiarity does breed complacency. It’s only when a type is completely withdrawn that one realises how much it may be missed. When I was young, Vickers Viscounts were ten a penny – now I really miss the high pitched whine of those Darts.

As for 707/720s – although there may be some military ones floating about – as a civilian aircraft, they are becoming very rare, especially in Europe. Indeed, all the original pure turbojet versions have now gone.

Sounds a bit like the issues raised over the recovery of the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton “Sue” back in the 1990s when a number of different organisations claimed ownership of the fossil. As a result, Sue ended up in storage for a decade whilst the court case was running.