Thanks for the comments chaps. To cover a few points:
Cracking documentary, and nice to see a good amount of the last 617 Sqn Lancaster, which I was blocked from recovering back to the UK a few years back. Maybe with all the renewed interest I ought to try again - even if its just to stop the flow of parts showing up on ebay.
Thanks - & we have looked at bringing it back. Tricky proposition - very sensitive.
Shame the expert wasn't slightly more clued up; the turret examined wasn't the mid upper, its the shell of the FN5 front turret.
That it was the MU turret was verified by many other sources.
Had the camera been poked in the back of the bomb bay, you can still see the Tallboy shackles.
We did but didn't use the footage
Shame about the poor continuity work - period film and photos displayed back to front stood out amongst standard TV production errors when dealing with military aviation.
We knew this, (Rob Owen - 617 Sqn Historian was very forensic and we would have been lost without him) and for various production/editorial reasons decided to leave it as it is.
Yes, there were some continuity errors (I'm pretty sure that 617 never flew the Lancaster B II, for example), but overall a cracking programme well presented.
True Beags, (& we didn't actually say it was a "617" Lanc!) - but it is the best colour footage available so we ran with it!
Maybe it would have been better if the programme presenter hadn't started the thread. I'm sure I'd still have found it and watched it.
Eh? You maybe...but plenty of others were pleased to be pointed in the direction. Still....you can't please everyone!
I recall reading about most if not all of the ops in Paul Brickhill's book, serialised in John Bull magazine in the 1950s.
True - but the vast majority of people simply don't know the story. Especially those younger than you!
Anyway, it garnered 1.1 million viewers on first showing which is pretty fab for Ch5 so thanks for watching.
& many thanks to all who contacted me via social media @JohnNicholRAF to offer comment. Much appreciated.