Sleaford Tech - 1955 and 1961

[XV490]

A pair of gloriously nostalgic and colourful depictions of students' lives at Cranwell here:

British Pathe - (THE SKY IS OURS) (http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=72579)

British Pathe - THE ROYAL AIRFORCE COLLEGE CRANWELL (http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=78525)

Anyone recognise themselves?

By the way, be careful with this British Pathe News resource (as stated elsewhere on PPruNE). It includes an Aladdin's Cave of aviation material, much of it too off-beat to have made the cinemas, some of it overlooked in its historical value and almost all of it badly or erroneously described and classified -- making searching a bit hit-and-miss. But persevere: it's well worth it.

[T-21]

As nobody has responded thank you so much for the films very nostalgic as I grew up at Cranwell from 1966 to 1971. Happy memories of flying in G-ANEF Tiger Moth,Austers ,Chipmunk ,gliders and the Varsities as a young teenager. My father was the Unit Test Pilot on the J.P's.

[Wander00]

Was there not also a feature film, in colour, with a Cranwell story line in the late 50s Would love to see that again

[Wander00]

Just watched the second film, made a couple of years before I joined the College as a cadet. "First solo" was most nostalgic!

[BEagle]

Wander00, the film you're thinking about was probably 'High Flight' starring Anthony Newley, Ray Milland and others and was actually made in 1957.

See HIGH FLIGHT DVD 1957 RAY MILLAND BERNARD LEE (http://www.raremoviesuk.co.uk/high-flight-dvd-1957-ray-milland-bernard-lee-316-p.asp)

In 1966, the 'Look At Life' series made 'School for Skymen' about RAFC Cranwell - I've just found that it's also available on a compilation DVD which I've ordered. Shall report back when it arrives!

IIRC, it even features a Flt Sgt Garbutt - later the superb CWWO, although many of us didn't think so at the time!

[Wander00]

BEagle - how right you are about "High Flight".

Johnny Garbett certainly was a star - retired as a WO as you say, trained as a teacher and ended I think as Head or Deputy Head at Carr's GS in Sleaford, but died of cancer much too young.

[BEagle]

I didn't know he was no longer with us....

Only the good die young, it seems. What a shame.

"Bags of swagger!" - I can hear his words now!

[Wander00]

It was Johnny Garbett's predecessor who on parade gave the immortal order "Roman Catholics and other Non-Christians, Fall Out!"

[Mark22]

In the 25 or so years I have had these two stills from the film 'High Flight', I have regularly aired them in magazines and latterly forums endeavouring to determine the identity of the Spitfire. It was filmed in 1956/7.

It remains one of the Spitfire world's ongoing mysteries. :)

It is a 'Twenty Series' Spitfire, Mk 21, 22 or 24. It appears to be retained in its working livery with a lightly weathered and oil streaked appearance.

With all the visual clues it does not match with any of the period shots of known survivors in the UK or world-wide. Logic would say that it was most probably PK724 from RAF Norton but this has finally been disproved by shots of it in silver finish spanning this time period.

Although possible it is unlikely a Spitfire in this condition would be scrapped without being reported by spotters of the time. There were however Mk 22/24 Spitfires in camouflage at both High Ercall and Cosford in distressed condition in 1956 awaiting smelting.

So anybody from 'Sleaford Tech' remember it?

Was there actually an in-house museum at Cranwell in the mid 1950's?

Could the museum set in the film have been created somewhere else?

PeterA

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Mark12/Album%204/HighFlight-02-001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Mark12/Album%204/HighFlight-01-001.jpg

[Wander00]

Best authority on Spitfires is Peter Arnold, but I do not have an e-mail address for him. There were rumours that there was some sort of aircraft museum store at Fulbeck (used as an RLG by Cranwell, and where I soloed in a JP, sent off by Ron Gillam), and that was where the "museum" scenes in "High Flight" were filmed. No proof though.

[Wander00]

Peter Arnold is a Patron of the Spitfire Society. You might be able to get a message to him via this e-mail address. Peter and I know each other through school (Harrow County, as was) [email protected]

[XV490]

At long last, High Flight's available on DVD! Thanks for the link, Beags - I've been waiting years to see it again.

[alvin-sfc]

Did any of you guys notice the classroom instructor near the beginning of the film, RAF College Cranwell? He"s a dead ringer for a young Anthony Wedgewood Benn.
As I understand it, he was an RAF pilot Do you think its him? :eek:

[sycamore]

Mark22,if you look at the Vampire,there is a sign board which has a name or three written on it. `......ers St P/F ? xxxxxx Spitfire ` or something similar,so I guess it`s a commemorative/donated aircraft,so it should be traceable. Syc

[RETDPI]

Wands and Beags,
Sadly I can confirm Wand's report on the subsequent career and premature demise of the legendary CWWO Johnny Garbett : it must be 20 years ago now. A great character and a role model Rock.
His performances on Wednesday mornings on the square were didactic.
E.g.

" Now, As you have all clearly heard ....... What the SRI has just said gentleman is that.......etc. etc. "
(SRI then being the kindly, but absolutely unintelligible, Sqn. Ldr. Bridges who sounded as if he was talking out of the inside of a tent whilst also wearing a respirator).

Ref. High Flight. Beags might remember Mike Williamson as a flight commander on "A" squadon during our first sojourn at the Towers. Mike was a cadet during the filming of High Flight in 1956 and admitted to me one evening that he was actually in the film:
.
.
.
as P1 of one the many pairs of marching boots during the DI sequence .

[BEagle]

That mention of dear old Sqn Ldr Bridges certainly takes me back, Redders!

"What the SRI just said was...." - a well-known JG sound bite!

Does anyone know whatever happened to dear old 'Uncle Les' Rodda? Another Rock with a heart of gold, but perhaps a little lacking in the IQ department.

"Mr Swan, you're out of proportion!" he once said to one of our number who wasn't quite in line on the square. Who, to be fair, was known to us all as 'Stumpy'... After the final parade of Term 1, Les knew we would miss our trains because the taxis were late. He came down to the SBLs and gave 5 of us a lift to Grantham, refusing any notion of payment.

The comedy routine of F/S Adams and Sgt Rodda before we marched on from the West Wing was a legend. They used to 'drill' the sparrows for fun "You idle little bird, get fell in!".

Whilst it's great to remember the good times, standing motionless in horrid hairy blue with the leaden weight of a SLR dragging down your right side on an early summer morning with sweat gathering where one didn't know it could, whilst trying to ignore the various bugs which settled on one's face was undoubtedly character forming, but not something I'd wish to repeat.

Last time I had to lug a gun, sorry 'weapon', on parade was 1969 at 96's Graduation. Never a-bloody-gain, thank heavens!

[Mark22]

Wander00

You might have noticed that post #9 of Mark22 above is actually signed by one 'PeterA'. :)

Harrow County eh!

[Wander00]

Mark 22 - I had missed that subtlety - if you don't know which Spitfire it is, then NOONE does!

Cheers

Ian

[Mark22]

Quote:-

Mark22,if you look at the Vampire,there is a sign board which has a name or three written on it. `......ers St P/F ? xxxxxx Spitfire ` or something similar,so I guess it`s a commemorative/donated aircraft,so it should be traceable. Syc

Syc,

The sign just reads 'Vickers Supermarine Spitfire' in large script. The words underneath are not discernible but from similar signs it usually reads performance details. This just looks to be a fancy descriptive sign, gold leaf on on oak etc and may be a film prop.

There were no presentation/donated Mk 22 Spitfires to my knowledge.

PeterA (owner of the odd 20 series Spitfire in years past)

[sycamore]

Thanks Mark22,I`ll get my coat...!

[BEagle]

I've just received a DVD entitled Look at Life - British Cold War Jets. It has 9 individual 'Look at Life' shorts - for the benefit of digi-yoof, I should perhaps explain that the 'Look at Life' series were short films which were shown during the break between the B-movie and the main picture at cinemas. Probably just after the 'Pearl and Dean' adverts (with that evocative theme).

One of the shorts was School for Skymen about RAFC Cranwell in 1966 - only 2 years before my time. A very good film. But I was wrong about 'Sgt' Johnny Garbutt - I wouldn't have known who he was in 1966, so couldn't possibly have recognised him in the film at the time. I think it must have been an old SKC film I was thinking of.

For those of us who remember the seemingly endless line of JPs at RAFC Cranwell, the Google Earth image of the current flight line is rather depressing:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/CW.jpg

What a tragedy that RAFC Cranwell isn't the centre of excellence it was 40-50 years ago.....:ugh:

To explain the yellow pin marked 'Javelin', one miserably early morning in the winter of 1969, 'Uncle' Les Rodda took pity on us and held the morning drill session in the building I've indicated. Whilst mooching around inside, I looked behind a wall of packing crates and found a complete Gloster Javelin sitting there minding its own business. I wonder what became of it?

[lauriebe]

Beagle, three possibilities for you:

XH760 to Cranwell as 7892M, 15/10/65. Later scrapped, no date given.

XH768 to Cranwell as 7929M, 12/01/67. Extant, Cerbaiola, Italy, marked as XH707. See the Jav survivors listing on the Thunder and Lightnings site. Tried several times to post a link but it will not work.:ugh:

XH991 to Cranwell as 7831M, 28/2/64. Shown on UK Serials site as scrapped at Binbrook. No date given