SPITFIRE BIRD
After watching the Typhoon and GR4s at Lossiemouth this afternoon, this was a wonderful way to end the day.
Oddly, the music goes quite well with Team America: World Police which is on in the background...
Oddly, the music goes quite well with Team America: World Police which is on in the background...
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"Sceptic calling, Sceptic calling.....Hello?"
Nobody gonna take me up on the pun in relation to post number 4?
Nobody gonna take me up on the pun in relation to post number 4?
Last edited by airpolice; 26th May 2012 at 21:31. Reason: To prompt a response.
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I presume you do all realise this was one of Leslie Howards last films?
He was shot down on the way back from Lisbon not long after - allegedly after standing in (possibly unwittingly) as a double for Churchill
He was shot down on the way back from Lisbon not long after - allegedly after standing in (possibly unwittingly) as a double for Churchill
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 26th May 2012 at 15:31.
Just a week ago, I downloaded and viewed "The First of the Few". I thought is very well done - much better than I expected. The only thing I found annoying was David Niven's character - a "Hollywood-comedy" version of a woman-chasing test pilot. Leslie Howard's portrayal of R J Mitchell was excellent.
Technically, the Scheider Trophy sequences were well done. Did they have access to real seaplanes or were they replicas?
Does anyone know who flew the aerobatic sequences in the film? Jeffery Quill or Alex Henshaw are the obvious candidates.
Technically, the Scheider Trophy sequences were well done. Did they have access to real seaplanes or were they replicas?
Does anyone know who flew the aerobatic sequences in the film? Jeffery Quill or Alex Henshaw are the obvious candidates.
None but a blockhead
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I've been musing more about the music, which is clearly a matter of taste, but is it appropriate?
I think it is. That style was created in the early-mid 70s (closer to the war than to us, chronologically!) by German bands like Neu, Kraftwerk, Cluster et al, as a conscious reaction to only having two popular musical traditions around them - German Schlager, and American/British rock'n'roll - and wanting to express their own culture in their own way. Neither Schlager, which is horribly vapid, nor rock'n'roll, which is the music of the conquerors, were any good. (Folk music, which in other circumstances has been a force for musical innovation, was also out of bounds. Looking backwards wasn't an option.)
At the same time, electronics became affordable enough to be pushed into the service of music making, making sounds and rhythms uncanny enough to reflect the increasing awareness of culture as being symbiotic with automation, cybernetics and the rise of the machines. Electronics as a distinct engineering discipline from radio, came out of WWII, which also drove many of the basic innovations behind its subsequent explosive development.
So you might not like it as music (I do!), but the connections between that music and the video are a lot stronger than at first apparent.
I think it is. That style was created in the early-mid 70s (closer to the war than to us, chronologically!) by German bands like Neu, Kraftwerk, Cluster et al, as a conscious reaction to only having two popular musical traditions around them - German Schlager, and American/British rock'n'roll - and wanting to express their own culture in their own way. Neither Schlager, which is horribly vapid, nor rock'n'roll, which is the music of the conquerors, were any good. (Folk music, which in other circumstances has been a force for musical innovation, was also out of bounds. Looking backwards wasn't an option.)
At the same time, electronics became affordable enough to be pushed into the service of music making, making sounds and rhythms uncanny enough to reflect the increasing awareness of culture as being symbiotic with automation, cybernetics and the rise of the machines. Electronics as a distinct engineering discipline from radio, came out of WWII, which also drove many of the basic innovations behind its subsequent explosive development.
So you might not like it as music (I do!), but the connections between that music and the video are a lot stronger than at first apparent.
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"Does anyone know who flew the aerobatic sequences in the film?"
According to the IMDB database "Bunny" Currant plays himself in the film as "Hunter Leader", though uncredited.
Bunny Currant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This thread identifies some of the others, and the location as Ibsley
Presumably one or more of these did the flying sequences?
Battle of Britain pilots in First of the Few - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums
According to the IMDB database "Bunny" Currant plays himself in the film as "Hunter Leader", though uncredited.
Bunny Currant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This thread identifies some of the others, and the location as Ibsley
Presumably one or more of these did the flying sequences?
Battle of Britain pilots in First of the Few - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 27th May 2012 at 17:14.
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"Does anyone know who flew the aerobatic sequences in the film?"
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From Wikidpeadia
"Quill actually flies a Spitfire in the film, and had tested the Spitfire in battle, shooting down three aircraft while on temporary assignment to the RAF. Jeffrey Quill's log book records that the flying sequences for the film were made by him from Northolt on 1–2 November 1941, in a Spitfire Mk II."
and
"Film footage of the Supermarine S.4 in taking off from Southampton Water, and in flight, which is now available nowhere else. The film also includes footage of many real-life Battle of Britain fighter pilots in the opening and closing scenes. RAF fighter pilots such as Tony Bartley and Brian Kingcombe (with pipe) have cameo roles in the scenes at the dispersal"
I'm guessing - but maybe the original Supermarine films were lost when the factory was wrecked by bombs?
"Quill actually flies a Spitfire in the film, and had tested the Spitfire in battle, shooting down three aircraft while on temporary assignment to the RAF. Jeffrey Quill's log book records that the flying sequences for the film were made by him from Northolt on 1–2 November 1941, in a Spitfire Mk II."
and
"Film footage of the Supermarine S.4 in taking off from Southampton Water, and in flight, which is now available nowhere else. The film also includes footage of many real-life Battle of Britain fighter pilots in the opening and closing scenes. RAF fighter pilots such as Tony Bartley and Brian Kingcombe (with pipe) have cameo roles in the scenes at the dispersal"
I'm guessing - but maybe the original Supermarine films were lost when the factory was wrecked by bombs?
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IBSLEY
You might be interested to know that there is a revival day at the former RAF Ibsley on June 3rd that includes a Spitfire and Harvard flypast in tribute to the 70th anniversary of "First of the Few" that was indeed filmed there. Very timely release of this amazing track. See this link for more 2012 Revival
Just a numbered other
First heard this on Radcliffe & Maconie on Radio 6 Music
Not normally my kind of music, but strangely compelling.
I've just listened to the whole EP 'The War Room' on Spotify. It somehow reminds me of an updated 'War of the Worlds' by Jeff Wayne.
Also by these guys: 'Lit Up'. Lt Cdr Tommy Woodroffe's famous drunken commentary of the 1937 review of the fleet put to music!
It's gawn, There's no fleet!
Not normally my kind of music, but strangely compelling.
I've just listened to the whole EP 'The War Room' on Spotify. It somehow reminds me of an updated 'War of the Worlds' by Jeff Wayne.
Also by these guys: 'Lit Up'. Lt Cdr Tommy Woodroffe's famous drunken commentary of the 1937 review of the fleet put to music!
It's gawn, There's no fleet!
It's Gawn......Totally....!
Arkroyal;- "Also by these guys: 'Lit Up'. Lt Cdr Tommy Woodroffe's famous drunken commentary of the 1937 review of the fleet put to music!
It's gawn, There's no fleet!"
I'm new to Spotify and can't find this.....any hints...?
It's gawn, There's no fleet!"
I'm new to Spotify and can't find this.....any hints...?
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Video on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsP95AfBtkk
Links from there to the rest of "The War Room"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsP95AfBtkk
Links from there to the rest of "The War Room"
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 3rd Jun 2012 at 12:20.
Just a numbered other
GQ2
You've probably found it by now, but search in spotify for Public Service Broadcasting, and you'll find the lot.
No magician who ever could have waved his wand could have waved it with more accumen!
You've probably found it by now, but search in spotify for Public Service Broadcasting, and you'll find the lot.
No magician who ever could have waved his wand could have waved it with more accumen!
