I’m sure you’re right James. There are many alternatives and I guess looking outside the square never hurts.

I particularly like the colour scheme that used to adorn DH89 that I photographed at Rukuhia back in the mid 1980’s, wearing sponsorship from one of New Zealand’s best breweries, Monteiths (then it was a small regional boutique company, now it is internationally known – sponsorship like this did both the aircraft and the brewery a lot of good).

Today the scheme has been repainted, and though I do like the ‘modern’ original scheme it now wears, I miss the Monteiths scheme.

Why not also approach companies owned by the genuine airmen of WWII or their families. Surely a good number of wealthy companies must exist that were started or owned by people who actually flew in the air war.

Also find genuine colour schemes with nose art relating to a product, like the Old Crow Mustang

This is an interesting question. I have done some digging around but cannot find much at all.

Pretty much all islands in the Pacific were considered at risk from invasion. There were certainly Allied airstrips and garrisons at Fiji and Tonga, which both included US and NZ forces. Also one was built at Norfolk Island by the Allies.

As the Cook Islands are a New Zealand protectorate, and have been since 1901, I’m sure the RNZAF must have kept an eye on the islands. Though as yet I have not found hard evidence, I’d wager that they were regularly visited by RNZAF Catalinas and possibly other types such as our Hudsons and Dakotas. Such communications flights were standard for the RNZAF, not only to patrol the waterways for any suspicous shipping etc., but also to take mail and supplies to the military units, coas****chers and civilians on the islands. The Catalinas visited even the tiniest of islands that most people haven’t heard of, to check all was ok and to keep morale up.

I did find this reference from http://wais.stanford.edu/Pacific/pacific_cookislands61801.html

“Rarotonga is 6 miles long and 5 miles wide. People from the United States may recognize the name of Penrhyn because there was a US landing strip on that atoll during the Second World War. “

I guess the strip at the Cooks was probably laid to act as a fall back base should more Allied territory be taken by the Japanese, and to enable protection of the Cooks themselves, as well as allowing communications flights in, etc.

I’m keen to see if anyone else comes up with more info on the Cook Islands at war – and for that matter, also Samoa – were there troops and airmen based there? There must have been I guess. Either in Western Samoa or American Samoa? (Did you know NZ’s first campaign in WWI was invading Samoa and taking it from the Germans!!)

Jean Reno was also superb in The Big Blue (1988) as freediver Enzo Molinari.

I am really looking forward to this film and I appreciate the input on this thread from the filmmaker and people who have been involved. It’s all great to see.

Good one Steve – I hope more will come soon. Fro, my experience of similar pleas for info in the local paper, some people will come out of the woodwork and call you weeks later, so more may come yet.

Excellent stuff, thanks for the rerplies. Any chance of photos of the models in your museum Ben?

Or better still. any photos taken during construction of the big and small replicas, and of them on set? I absolutely loved Wings as a kid and I am fascinated about the behind the scenes stuff. Thanks.

Thanks Blue Max, I was aware of the large scale models (by David Boddington according to an old magazine I found in Dad’s R/C mag collection) and the ground replicas in full scale, but I never knew they’d gone to the lengths of going to the USA for shooting the flying replica. I guess it must have been for dogfight scenes mainly.

Does anyone know if the 1/1 scale non-flying repilcas or the models survived in museums? Or even just the BBC prop department?