Great story. What Facebook page was that on?

This murder is shocking and deplorable. It’s sickening and horrible to see what happened to Lee Rigby, and my heart goes out to his widow and child, and his wider family and friends.

I was amazed by the courage of the women who tried to help, and particularly the lady who confronted one of the terrorists and told him that he would lose his war as it was millions against one. That’s true British fighting spirit right there.

I am not sure if it was the same lady but whoever it was that recorded his ranting message was also very courageous. Having the courage to not panic, but instead pull out a phone and record his rant while he still held a cleaver and had blood all over his hands was phenomenal. They deserve a medal.

As for the lady in the street who calmly walks past the camera with her shopping trundler and passes by seemingly oblivious to what has happened, I wonder if she saw that on TV, realised and fainted!

On tonight’s news they said the cops fired eight rounds, and in the footage it looked like around four of them were while the suspects were lying on the ground!

Perhaps the main charcaters should all be CGI like Gollum so they look just like the originals.

If they have done the aeroplane CGI as realistically as Gollum and King Kong we have nothing to fear.

The fact that it gets regurtitated probably suggests that some of us have genuinely strong feelings about it otherwise it would get no responses. I infer that you disagree with those of us who are not interested in a remake for the varied reasons mentioned?

I like the original film. It has a lot of faults but as a piece of history based entertainment it has always been very good, and still stands up today despite being very dated when compared with most films of that era. I also think that the radio version stands up very, very well and personally I enjoy it perhaps a little bit more. I have nothing against anyone who enjoys the old version. It just gets on my wick when people start bagging a remake they haven’t even seen yet, and they don’t intend to see because it seems like some sort of afront to their British culture to imagine that someone else might wish to retell the story. I think it’s highly arrogant and narrow mindedto take the view that the story should not be retold in a new way. That retelling will never take away the old film. It might just improve on it though, and enhance the public’s understanding of the real story. But some here would rather stick their head in the sand and refuse to support or even acknowledge the good that could come of this project.

so why would you like to see a remake?

I would like to see this particular remake because I know it will be done well, considering the team is led by a renowned aircraft collector and aviation historian – Sir Peter Jackson – who has always considered the original movie of his all time favourite films, and he has a high regard for the true story and the airmen involved. He is also noted as one of the great auteurs of our time. As a writer, a director and a producer he has a real passion for detail and really knows how to make a film great. That includes not just using but also developing new technology to make his craft better. The film will be in 3-D using the latest technology to achieve incrdible clarity. I was sceptical about this 3-D technlogy till I went to watch The Hobbit and was totally blown away. Seeing Dambusters given that treatment will be a feast for the senses.

I also think it is high time the story is retold as a big budget feature film, now that all the secrets have been released and the real story is known to the public, all the blurred history of the 1950’s efforts can be sharpened up nicely. And the obvious extra boost the story will receive from being in full colour 3-D will bring the story to life for current and future generations to come.

Having a Bomber Command story highlighted in this manner, and clearly it is one of the most heroic Bomber Command stories there is, will help the ever dwindling population of veterans not be forgotten so quickly.

And can you name a successful remake of a classic film in the last 50 years, say?

There have of course been a lot of terrible remakes (just as there are lots of terrible original films), but there are absolutely loads of successful remakes Charlie. Whether you mean successful as in they were liked by the critics, made lots of money and appealled to a wide audience, or whether you mean they appealed simply to your own personal taste alone I do not know. But on the first criteria of being good money spinners, popular and well received then how about these pretty successful examples?
– Cape Fear
– War of the Worlds (Spielberg’s version)
– Star Trek
– Ocean’s Eleven
– Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
– Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (a remake of the 1954 film Bedtime Story)
– 12 Monkeys
– Always (a remake of A Guy Named Joe)
– King Kong (Sir Peter Jackson’s version)
– The Hobbit
– Scarface
– The Fly
– Casino Royale
– Ransom
– The Thomas Crowne Affair
– 3.10 To Yuma
– Dawn of the Dead
– The Manchurian Candidate
– The Ring
– Father of the Bride
– The Man Who Knew Too Much
– The Magnificent Seven
– From Hell (a remake of the equally good Jack The Ripper)
– Sherlock Holmes (both the current Hollywood series and the UK TV series with Cumberbatch are far better than most prior attempts)

I really could go on and on but I don’t see the point as you’ll probably disagree that any of these were as successful as their originals from the 1920’s – 1950’s or so.

Holy crap, did someone actually get one of them flying again? Or is taht a really nice model?

Thanks for going the extra mile to reload these Peter, it’s much appreciated.

Is that a genuine No. 94 Squadron ‘Hat In The Rin’ Nieuport? If it is, who’s aircraft was it, Rickenbackers?

A lot of those aircraft are unknown to me but it’s a great collection. What is the P-40 with desert colours and a shark’s mouth representing, is this an Italy theatre scheme perhaps?