As more details of the incident are now in the public domain, it seems to be reasonable to mention that that Alan Walker was flying the T-33.

Alan needs no introduction to many members here, and indeed is a contributor himself.

I willingly withold any judgement until I see the finished article.

With the combined input of our (forum) top men, I expect it will be in a class of its own!

For myself, I am off to get a life, as instructed!

This will be, I think, another of those clips of film which look artificial and fake, yet until you think about it it is not obvious why.

This cameo is LR flying his BE2, stalking and downing SL-11, It is meant to be an aerial shot, but the budget does not run to this. Fair enough.

But it would be more realistic to film it in the manner of an aerial shot, ie with a camera mounted in the aeroplane, shooting backward, as in Hells Angels and most subsequent flying films. If the tail of the aeroplane was cocked in the air, no background would be visible, and you could blow some smoke around for movement.

The other way an aerial sequence could be shot is air-to-air, from a formating aeroplane, which will introduce some movement and realism-again this could be replicated on the ground. If you were creative enough to mount the camera on a boom you could introduce some realistic ‘rise and fall’ which formating aeroplanes demonstrate.

The one angle you will NOT get in a ‘flying shot’ is a rock-steady portrait of the pilot taken from three feet away, aft of the wing, but ,hey , that is exactly what they have done.

I, for one, am uncomfortable with being told what I will or will not think, or the manner in which I choose to express my thoughts.

There seems to be a self-rightous instinct amongst some parties to be the first to condemn ‘speculation’ even before any has occured, because of some ‘received wisdom’ that it is very ‘correct’ to do so. Furthermore, we would be deluding ourselves to believe that anybody gives a tinker’s cuss what opinions are expressed here.

I will guarantee that the chatter at Duxford today will be dominated by today’s incident, and the possible causes thereof….ie speculation. It is human instinct, you cannot stifle it, and it is in appropriate to do so in such a heavy-handed and confrontational style.

It is better by far to give contributors enough credit to make up their own minds how they will respond to this, or other events, especially as this mishap has had, at least in human terms, a fortunate outcome.

It is only a rumour, but I did hear there was a snake on the plane.

I wonder if the front cockpit is moved forward (48 inches – one/one scale) on the models. My own conversion involved the Airfix MkV, a hacksaw, and a spare canopy crammed on the back. No mess, no fuss, no accuracy!

Hi Flying OKo,

Welcome aboard- You will find a wealth of Spitfire info here, and if you fancy a never-ending, circular discussion, you need only mention Vulcans! Any historic news/photos is always well received.

On the subject of diecasts, my favourite Corgi is still the MATS Lockheed Constellation- just beautiful.