I love the Iroquois, they sound awesome, look awesome, and are really awesome to fly in (and be winched out of!). I used to like watching Tour of Duty when I was a teen, so when I joined the RNZAF I loved every time I saw or heard one fly over. I used to know all the crews well at Wigram too and they were a great, wild bunch of guys.

At Hobsonville they used to hover over our barracks in the dead of night, never worked out why, but it was really eerie to awake to “Whomph, whomph. whomph…” right above you. Like Apocolypse Now! In our Air Force the name Huey isn’t really used, we called them “wocka-wockas”. I don’t know if other countries use that colloquial nickname. The RNZAF had a nickname for almost all its types – Squawks (A4K), Blunty (Strikemaster), Leftover (Andover), Friendly (Friendship), Vomet Comet (727), Onion (Orion)….

Most of our RNZAF-operated Iroquois turn 40 years old this year – the big Four-Zero!
Also turning 40 are three of our Hercules and at least five of our Orions (not sure how old the ex-RAAF one is), plus many of our Souix too (one of them was built from parts by RNZAF engineers!). All these 40-year olds are still going strong. The P3’s are getting new wings so they’ll be around for their 50th I’d say. Amazing eh?

The Iroquois and Souix fleets are to be replaced very soon I hear (heard directly from a mate who the officer who was in charge of deciding their replacement). So Gnome, although there are civil operated twin engine Hueys in NZ, make the most of seeing the UH-1H’s of the RNZAF while you can.

Refferring to the 1944 version…
In fact more than one camera man or film crew members were lost on this project in varying aircraft, and a lot of the footage used wasn’t actually from inside the Belle. Some of it was from other aitrcraft also being followed. And they went on several raids with each potential subject to get enough good shots.

Also a great amount of the footage shot on raids was somehow lost on its way back to the USA – I’m unsure if it was due to enemy action. But they then had to fly again with the Belle and crew and refilm a number of scenes within the USA.

So, like all documentaries, it is as constructed and fabricated as the feature film. They tell you what they want you to see, when you’re seeing something different – the magic of filmmaking. It made a wonderful story in 1944, but don’t take it as gospel truth, remember it was propaganda.

And the 1989 version…
All the answers are on that awesome recent thread that Daz has linked to, except for the Tomato Soup and Dog’s name. Not sure about the dog myself, but that ground mechanic with the bike was the Captain in Red Dwarf!

I have seen that excellent nose art of ‘Marge’ before. I wondered then how the artwork was applied, because it looks like a photo rather than a painting. Is it a genuine wartime artwork that has been recreated, painted by hand? Or is it a modern day interpretation using perhaps a decal from a real photo?

Black Knight, in case you’re not aware, be careful who you use to paint a helmet. Only certain specific paint types can be used on helmets, if you use the wrong type it can apparently harm the integrity of the structure and cause a weakness. I’m not joking, daft as it sounds, I learned this in the RNZAF when I serviced flying helmets. Same goes for painting motorcycle helmets too apparently.

Hence the ‘huge casualty cost’. It was a hard fight, but eventually the Nazis played dirty, and attacked at tea time on Sunday.

“That’s a typical Nazi trick!” – Captain George Mainwaring, 1940

That James Bond gyrocopter was great, it really fitted into five or six suitcases when dismantled I read. Sadly I have a piece of video of it smshing into smitherines at an air display. The pilot was apparently ok. Was it ever rebuilt? Where did it crash?

It seems from IMDb he was actually an aerial cameraman, not a pilot. I doubt he did both at once did he (although **** Smith did)

He always got Murdoch to fly in the A Team.