View Full Version : The Great Air Race
MLS-12D
27th Feb 2004, 05:57
Just wondering if anyone has seen The Great Air Race It is available on DVD, but is kinda pricey ... any reviews welcome. Thanks!
P.S. Two other made-for-tv movies covering roughtly the same period that I enjoyed (and would like to see out on DVD) are Shadow on the Sun and Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight.
[i]Edited to remove advertising links.[i/]
Eric Mc
18th Mar 2004, 22:13
I don't know about the film but the blurb in the ad doesn't bode well. Since when was Mildenhall in London?
MLS-12D.
The great air race was screened on local telly here in Aus, Tasmania, a couple of years ago, but under the name of "Half a world away". A good majority of it was shot at local airports in and arround the melbourne area. Of course a goodly amount of subbing on aircraft types--AT-6 for the GBracer, Stearmans for fairy flycatchers, Anson for a Boeing, etc. I beleive that some of the taxiable? replicas of the DH-88 have been sold on as display aircraft. The acting although not first class was/is good. Personal opinion : quite watchable, with some good flying sequences.
karrank
20th Mar 2004, 11:12
It wasn't bad, sort of flying Neighbours.
The poor old T-6 trying to be a GeeBee was a bit sad, I remember urging him "put your gear up, you can win this". Not sure I'd want to own it but it would be nice to see it again.
The Harvard was trying to be a Vega IIRC, not a Gee Bee (not in the race...)
Not a bad effort considering the budget etc. Acting a bit wooden, but a good idea, and the aircraft were'nt bad. The Anson pretended to be a Boeing 247 (Race 57) and a Stearman acting for a Fairy Fox of Ray 'Battler' Parer. You can see footage of the real race at (NB CP - as far as I am aware, Pathe is a Free site, with free downloads - trust that's OK.)
Cheers
James
JDK. Your reference to link I have edited out is a commercial operation - sorry
Aerohack
20th Mar 2004, 18:36
Even given the most generous dollop of artistic licence I don't see how a Harvard could masquerade as a Lockheed Vega. Orion, maybe, but none of the Orions entered for the MacRobertson made it to the start. A Gee Bee did though — Jackie Cochran's and Wes Smith's R6H 'Q.E.D.'/Race 77, which didn't live up to its name and retired at Bucharest.
karrank
21st Mar 2004, 22:24
Remember fairly clearly the Harvard being referred to as a "Granville" with Granville being played by the Roof Fairy (Gus Mecurio). Erm, I was assuming this made it a GB. There was a Granville in the race (as well as a Vega):
Entry 46 Nominated by Mr. Clyde E. Pangbourn / U.S.A.
Granville Monoplane / Pratt & Whitney 'Hornet' 675hp
Miss J. Cochran / Mr. W. Smith - withdrew Bucharest
No idea what it looks like, even after extensive research (as in 5 min in Google, a glance through The Air Racers by Terry Gwynn-Jones and 5 min of chin-scratching)...:\
Jhieminga
22nd Mar 2004, 08:00
It was a GMD (Granville, Miller and de Lackner) R-6H, specially designed for the Melbourne race and flown for Jackie Cochran by Wes Smith. They had to withdraw at Budapest with engine trouble.
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/gb36.gif
From this site: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/index.html
The Granville Brothers Aircraft Inc. liquidated in 1933, so although it was the same workforce that built the R-6H (named QED) officially it couldn't be called a GB as that company didn't exist anymore.