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Originally Posted by XV490
(Post 10836138)
Is that Peter Townsend second right (with RST)?
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I’m with the majority, the expensively produced programme was spoilt by the gung-ho manner in which it was presented.
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As a youngster I went to school in North Yorkshire and my best mate knew Ginger Lacey who had by then retired to Flamborough Head. Sadly never met the man
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Originally Posted by Terry McCassey
(Post 10836660)
As a youngster I went to school in North Yorkshire and my best mate knew Ginger Lacey who had by then retired to Flamborough Head. Sadly never met the man
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pr00ne wrote:
A lot of you on here would appear to be angry and bitter and twisted old reactionary buffoons. |
Me too. My father was in the BoB and would have cringed at that presentation. But he was just doing what was needed and moved on afterwards. Still had the bad dreams later.
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Originally Posted by pr00ne
(Post 10836190)
Just watched all three episodes, and all I can say is what a silly lot of reactionary old pedantic nit picking dinosaurs you are!
I am 71 and am well aware of the events of the Battle of Britain, I joined the Royal Air Force about a quarter of a century after the actual events of the BoB. I thought this was a well made and very good series. The two presenters did not annoy me, the odd use of the phrase "the Nazi's" did not annoy me as there were far more references to "the Luftwaffe' "the Germans" and "the enemy" than "the Nazi's." Kate Humble in the two seat Spitfire and the 54 Sqn episode out of Hornchurch was really good, as was the use of the Bolingbroke as a bomber. The similar all glass cockpit was a useful feature used by the pilot to demonstrate what would have happened if an 8 gun Hurricane or Spitfire had engaged a He 111 head on. The use of warbirds and pilots like Cliff Spink and historians like Stephen Bungay enhanced the whole series. The concentration on three lesser known episodes and relatives of lesser known individuals made it of interest to me, and I would imagine fascinating to those who do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of the events as some on here seem to have. I ignored this thread before now because I was pretty sure what the reaction from most would have been, but when two much younger and non aeroplane or warfare history folk mentioned it to me and said that they had really enjoyed the series I thought that I would give it a watch. So I read this thread through before hand, then watched it. My opinion now? Thoroughly enjoyed the series, enjoyed the style of both presenters, and as to the reaction? A lot of you on here would appear to be angry and bitter and twisted old reactionary buffoons. Your Peter Snow and I claim my £50. |
I remember meeting and chatting with Adolf Galland at the reception after the premiere of the BofB film. Robert Stanford Tuck was there with him. A huge privilege, not only because I had so much enjoyed Fly for your Life.
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Originally Posted by jolihokistix
(Post 10838638)
I remember meeting and chatting with Adolf Galland at the reception after the premiere of the BofB film. Robert Stanford Tuck was there with him. A huge privilege, not only because I had so much enjoyed Fly for your Life.
Tuck and Galland were already close friends by the time of the BofB movie filming, as Tuck was Godfather to Galland's son born a few years earlier IIRC. I remember seeing a great photo of the two of them taken a few years before Tuck passed away, I think taken in Germany, on one of his visits to Galland, both in tweeds and deerstalkers etc with broken 12g over there arms out blagging birds, and both in deep conversation. |
I found it pretty good for a modern program. We may be interested, but the vast majority of people just don’t care about the ‘Battle of Britain’, a bland title that leaves youngsters non the wiser; my youngest son’s history GCSE had it only as a background to a small part of the many hours spent on the role and experience of women in WW2. Any interesting program, no matter how flawed to aviation and history buffs, can only be helpful.
FWIW I dislike the emphasis on the glamorous fighter pilots and associated myths. Almost twice as many Coastal and Bomber Command aircrew died on invasion targets, including Luftwaffe airfields, as Fighter Command aircrew (note I use ‘aircrew’ not ‘pilots’ as some were air gunners, including the Blenheim nighfighter gunner buried some 200 yds from where I now sit). ‘The Few’ is almost universally applied to Fighter Command aircrew when Churchill was explicitly referring to all aircrew in the 3 commands, which is both unfair and ironic given that far fewer of the other 2 commands’ aircrew survived the war. The programs also avoided revisionist history even where that may be justified. Individuals that become leaders and get noticed, such as Bader, often get there by having character traits that would give the Woke brigade fits. Better to leave these things unsaid. I would like to see 2 follow-up programs, one on the contribution of the other 2 commands and one on what would have happened if the Luftwaffe achieved air superiority and Hitler had launched an invasion. I’m not holding my breath. I look forward to their intended program on the dams raid to see if they put it in a wider context or just concentrate on the glamorous bits. |
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