Mosquito Squadron

[uxb99]

I purchased Mosquito Squadron thinking it was 633 Squadron. I had never seen the film.
I was always lead to believe there were only three flyable Mosquitoes at the time however this film shows four airworthy Mosquitoes.
So which aircraft was the fourth?
Feel free to post any 633 or Mossie Squadron film anecdotes.

[treadigraph]

G-ASKA, KB, KH and G-AWJV.

JV flew in Mosquito Squadron and not 633 Sqn, it's the aircraft described by Neil Williams in "Airborne" as the one he first flew. Now at London Colney.

[uxb99]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

G-ASKA, KB, KH and G-AWJV.

JV flew in Mosquito Squadron and not 633 Sqn, it's the aircraft described by Neil Williams in "Airborne" as the one he first flew. Now at London Colney.

Interesting, thank you. Did Neil Williams fly in the films? Sad that his life was cut short and none of the aircraft are still flying in the UK.

[DHfan]

As I recall, Mosquito Squadron used some out-takes from 633 Squadron in the flying sequences.

I'm sorry you wasted your money - it was a terrible film...

[uxb99]

Originally Posted by DHfan

As I recall, Mosquito Squadron used some out-takes from 633 Squadron in the flying sequences.

I'm sorry you wasted your money - it was a terrible film...

50p in a charity shop so no big loss. It's okay for Sunday afternoon.

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by uxb99

Interesting, thank you. Did Neil Williams fly in the films?

I think he did; other than Allen Wheeler, IMDB is lacking info on the flying unit for the film.

[uxb99]

Also noticed two Ansons at the end of the movie. Presumably these are the two now still airworthy?

[treadigraph]

Possibly but probably not, think the RAF still had a few in service in 1968.

Edit: G-VROE was an instructional airframe between 1965 and 1978 when it joined the G-Reg as G-BFIR. G-AHKX became civilised in 1946!

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by uxb99

Interesting, thank you. Did Neil Williams fly in the films?

Neil flew TT.35 TA634 (now at the Mosquito Museum) during the making of Mosquito Squadron, and indeed it was Neil that flew the aircraft back to Liverpool after filming was completed, in the summer of '68 in what was to be the aircraft's final flight. He didn't fly in the making of 633 Squadron.

[Sleeve Wing]

I remember the the filming of 633 Sqn. from Inverness Dalcross Airfield. It was 1963.
I was based at Lossie at the time and they closed the LL area for a few days while the Mosquitoes were in and about the Cromarty Firth at low level.
Saw the film later and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I think it was plain that a number of outtakes from the original filming were used in the subsequent Mosquito Squadron.
I believe John Crewdson (?) was one of the pilots and may even have collected together the aircraft for the shoot.
It was the first film, 633, that featured the Sikh pilot.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by Sleeve Wing

I believe John Crewdson (?) was one of the pilots and may even have collected together the aircraft for the shoot.

Crewsdon was involved with the film, in the aerial production, but I don't believe he actually flew any of the Mosquito's during filming, I think he may have been one of the B-25 pilots along with Martin Cadin. The B-25 had been flown over from USA the previous year for use as camera ship on War Lover, also filmed at Bovingdon, and Crewsdon had been involved with that, having sourced the B-17's in the USA, and flew one of them over for filming.
I believe the Mossie pilots were all serving RAF from CAACU at Exeter where the Mossie's had just been retired from RAF use, and RAF CFS at Little Rissington. They included Taff Rich (who did the crash landing sequence) Flt.Lt D.J Curtis, FO C.Kirkham (who flew the final RAF Mosquito flight in 1965) and the legendary Jeff Hawke, who was still just a serving RAF pilot at the time, and left the RAF just after filming finished. He actually 'borrowed' one of the Mosquito's to fly back to Wattisham for his RAF leaving bash.....and legend has his departure afterwards was quite memorable.

[pulse1]

I believe that one of the aircraft in Mosquito Squadron was owned at the time by the City of Liverpool. The pilot gave up his day job as an airline pilot to fly it in the film. After the film was completed he came and flew our club Tiger Moth. He had a proper seat type parachute which he had been given to use in the Mosquito.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by pulse1

I believe that one of the aircraft in Mosquito Squadron was owned at the time by the City of Liverpool. The pilot gave up his day job as an airline pilot to fly it in the film. After the film was completed he came and flew our club Tiger Moth. He had a proper seat type parachute which he had been given to use in the Mosquito.

See my post #9 above. That was TT.35 TA634, and that was flown exclusively by Neil Williams for the duration of the filming.

[chevvron]

I was present at Bovingdon one day in 1963 during the filming of '633'; me and a mate put on our ATC Cadet uniforms ostensibly to scrounge a flight with Southern Communications Sqdn; while sitting in the lounge waiting for a flight with other ATC cadets, Donald Houston walked in!
I counted 12 Mossies there, one of them being just a fuselage on a trailer.
We missed the sequence where they deliberately wrecked one of the aircraft although we did go over the previous day to see what they had done to it; amazing that the 'bullet holes' were actually bits of stuck on plywood but you could only tell the difference from about 2 feet away!
Stood behind the camera during the shooting of the scene where Donald and Cliff Robertson were about to depart on the raid; those arc lights were hot but it was actually shot in simulated darkness.
There is a scene in '633' which was repeated in 'Mosquito Squadron' with a Mossie landing on runway 02 and as the camera panned round, you can see a line of Ansons in the distance all with their shiny white tops! At the end of the second film, there was an Anson painted in camouflage colours as well as the others.
After 633, one Mosquito remained at Bovingdon for several years, only flying out (after a hole had been drained in the tailplane to drain out the water) in late 1967; it remained in the first hangar on the left parked along with our gliders (we did several detachments at Bovingdon from Halton during this period) and on one occasion we all climbed in it.
I saw 633 on TV a few months ago; amazing what I missed; there was a freshly painted helicopter landing circle where the aircraft parked and as the camera panned round, I saw a long wheelbase Landrover parked near the hangars; neither of these existed during WW2 of course.

[treadigraph]

The B-25 in 633 Sqn was N9089Z which languished at Biggin Hill for a while before being acquired by Bill Fisher/HAPS and joining the Southend Museum. Since then she has languished at a number of other UK airfields as G-BKXW (Jeff Hawke, Aces High and Fighter Collection all owned her at one time or another) and she is now at the Wings Museum at Balcombe, hopefully gradually being restored for exhibition.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by chevvron

After 633, one Mosquito remained at Bovingdon for several years, only flying out (after a hole had been drained in the tailplane to drain out the water) in late 1967; it remained in the first hangar on the left parked along with our gliders (we did several detachments at Bovingdon from Halton during this period) and on one occasion we all climbed in it.

I suspect this was RS712, now owned by Kermit Weeks. After filming for 633 Squadron finished, this was bought from off of Mirisch Films by Grp.Capt H.A.Mahaddie, and it spent some time at Bovvy before being stored at Henlow and then West Malling. It was one of the airworthy Mossie's used in Mosquito Squadron back at Bovvy in 1968, and during this time it was used by Mahaddie so he could fly between filming sets on Battle of Britain which he was involved in sourcing the aircraft for. It was bought by the Strathallen Collection in 1972, where it stayed until sold off in the early 80's when bought by Weeks.

[KING6024]

The only time I saw the Mosquito fly was in 1962/3 when I just happenned to be on Watford High Street at about 1830 when a formation of 3/4 flew low level along the length of the High Street..At the time I knew nothing about the making of 633 Suadron..In the mid 1950s I often visited Bovingdon as a CCF cadet and flew several times in the Ansons and once in a Devon.

[JEM60]

Used to help a farmer friend in Little Missenden, Bucks, not far in a straight line from Bovingdon. Used to see the B.25 filming three or four Mosquitos regularly for a time. Good days!.

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by GeeRam

I suspect this was RS712, now owned by Kermit Weeks. After filming for 633 Squadron finished, this was bought from off of Mirisch Films by Grp.Capt H.A.Mahaddie, and it spent some time at Bovvy before being stored at Henlow

Another one mentioned by Neil Williams - when he flew the Hummingbird from Leavesden to Old Warden, he got as far as Henlow before another engine problem where it spent some time sharing a hangar with the Mossie...

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Originally Posted by uxb99

Also noticed two Ansons at the end of the movie. Presumably these are the two now still airworthy?

I don't think so.

TX227 became G-AWMH - Bound for Biafra but never made it - finally written off Liberia June 1969. VM329 was I suspect scrapped at Bovingdon.