Battle of Britain Film

[2Old2Care]

You shouldn't all be so rude about SASless.

After all, it is a well-known fact that the British Prime Minister during WWII was an American (all his best ideas came from the stories his Ma used to tell him about defeating the Evil Tyrant from Across The Sea)

[treadigraph]

Blimey, now I've forgotten what I was going to post... Thanks BEags!

Oh yes, 109s in the "France" attack sequence were flown by Confederate Air Force pilots who had brought the aircraft and jumped at the chance to take part...

Now, I'm just going to scroll up the screen again...

[pulse1]

But Mosquito Squadron was, I think, purely a studio film.

I think that at least one flying Mosquito was used for the film. It was owned by the City of Liverpool and I met the pilot just after the film was made. He was FO on a Viscount at the time and, during a stopover at Liverpool, he wandered into a hangar to look around and came across the Mosquito. Asked if he thought he could fly it he said that he could and ended up flying it for the film.

[SASless]

Now I have a question for you BoB film buffs....what was the lady helicopter pilot's name that hung from a trapeeze like device under an Alouette II and filmed many of the sequences? Hint: Jill....stunt double for Miss Galore of James Bond fame.

The name of her Helicopter Company?

A very lovely lady and much fun to share a drink with I might add!

[Deneb]

BoB - who was portraying who...?

I have often wondered who was supposed to represent who in the film...?
According to Brian Kingcombe, in his book Willingness to Die, just before the film premiere each actor was linked to the pilot he was to portray, to boost interest in the film.
Michael Caine portrayed Brian Kingcome - but what about Deere, Malan, Doe, Stanford Tuck etc? Anyone know or fancy guessing?!
D

[SASless]

A place to start figuring out the Cast and Advisors

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064072/combined

This might help....

t's good that some "stars" do not have big roles. Michael Caine whilst being "hot box office" is shot down - many pilots who seemed invincible were lost. A number of the parts are based on real characters Robert Shaw's is based on Adolf 'Sailor' Malan - 74 Squadron Ace, Susannah York's Harvey is based on one Felicity Hanbury (who later became the Commandant of the WRAF). The scene where she has to deal with a bombed slit trench is based on what happened when Biggin Hill was attacked. Being burned and still being alive was one of the biggest risks - sitting next to a tank of 100 octane whislt being shot at was risky.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by snapper41

I think the pilots were serving Spanish AF chaps?

Correct, led by Spanish Civil War Pilot and ex-Luftwaffe pilot Commandante Pedro Santa Cruz

Prior to the Spanish AF loaning the CASA 2111 (He.111) and the HA.1112 (Me109) some members of the Confederate Air Force had just purchased 4 of the HA.1112's and a Spitfire and agreed to let them be used in the filming as long as they were flown by CAF pilots.
Which pilots were flying the '109s' during the filming at Duxford (where the French airfield scene was filmed) I'm not sure.
Wilson 'Connie' Edwards still owns these '109s' including the only 2 seat trainer version, which is probably the one flown by Adolf Galland during one of his advisory visits to the film set.

Edwards lays claim to having been 'shot down' the most times during filming.

Originally Posted by robin

But Mosquito Squadron was, I think, purely a studio film. There were no aerial shots made for it - it used 633 Squadron and B & B stock shots.

Not so, Mosquito Squadron used 4 airworthy Mossies for filming at Bovingdon, and the opening low level sequence was shot for the film using 3 x Mosquitoes was filmed from the rear of a Shacketon MR3.

Originally Posted by pulse1

I think that at least one flying Mosquito was used for the film. It was owned by the City of Liverpool and I met the pilot just after the film was made. He was FO on a Viscount at the time and, during a stopover at Liverpool, he wandered into a hangar to look around and came across the Mosquito. Asked if he thought he could fly it he said that he could and ended up flying it for the film.

Yes, one of the 4 used was at the time technically owned by Liverpool Corporation, as it had been bought for display at Speke Airport after it had been retired by CAACU in 1963.

Not sure about the last part........the a/c was specifically surveyed by Les Hillman in 1968 with a view to being used in the film, and it was overhauled by Doug Bianchi's Personal Plane Services and then test flown by the late Neil Williams. Neil then flew it down to Bovvie for the filming.

[thunderbird7]

Aireal filming was done from a converted B25 with a plexiglass nose, I believe. The blown up hangar was one of the old hangars at Duxford (aren't the remaining ones listed buildings? Ooops!).

"Stick to me like glue!"

[SASless]

Now don't leave out Lefty Gardner and his bunch.....loved watching him fly his P-38!

http://warbird.com/lefty.html

[Blacksheep]

Americans who crossed into Canada and made their way across to England and the RAF lost their US citizenship, and technically became fugitives from justice.

Ah! So there weren't any actual Americans in the BoB at all then... Just a couple of Canucks and a few stateless asylum seekers...

Michael Caine portrayed Brian Kingcome

Michael Caine was playing a Squadron Leader who didn't stand a chance once his black labrador wistfully watched him taking off. Whereas Brian Kingcombe was a Flight Lieutenant who served as a Flight Commander in 92 Sqn at the time and was never shot down and killed. Thankfully he was stilll alive and kicking last time I looked.

There's a lesson there for Fighter pilots - Never but never let your pet labrador wistfully watch you taking off.

[aviate1138]

Originally Posted by robin

As an ATC cadet at the time, the Spanish Airforce and camera plane was based out of Bovingdon at the time - we had a Wing Parade marching around them
But Mosquito Squadron was, I think, purely a studio film. There were no aerial shots made for it - it used 633 Squadron and B & B stock shots.
I do remember, though, a big explosion during my Maths GCE and a Mosquito being set on fire for a crash sequence - but that was on the back lot of Elstree's MGM studio

Mosquito Squadron used Real Mosquitos - 3/4 of them. 3 filming, one standby or u/s. Assembled by Doug Bianchi. Pilots were [in part] Neil Williams, Pat Fillingham, Sqd Ldr Taffy Rich. Farnborough Shackleton Mk 1 was camera plane and for a few days we were based either at West Raynham, Bovingdon or Blackbushe. Title sequence was shot over/off the North Norfolk coast. The Shackleton flew so low the prop wash was partly sea water from the wavetops. West Raynham was the base for that and the Bloodhounds tracked our every move!
Bovingdon was for airfield 'strafing' scenes with an Me 108 as the aggressor [I think].
We were just finishing shooting when the whole BoB Airforce turned up.
From the control tower the sight of Mosquito, He 111, Spitfire, Hurricane, Me 109[Merlin] and the B-25 and Shackleton all together was a sight to see.
Blackbushe was used because the nearby Minley Manor was used as the French Chateau action sequence.
Script was poor, no money for Visual Effects and a Producer that said he would use library footage if he could, didn't help!
The above is true because I was there. The sight of 3 Mossies doing a running break and stream landing at Bovingdon is etched in my memory!
Aviate 1138

[aviate1138]

Originally Posted by Blacksheep

Ah! So there weren't any actual Americans in the BoB at all then... Just a couple of Canucks and a few stateless asylum seekers...

After the Spanish Civil War a number of young Americans were not allowed back in their homeland and their passports were confiscated. Britain gave them passports and quite a few fought the 2nd World War from September 3rd 1939 onwards in the RAF or Army. The US Government regarded anyone not on the Fascist side in Spain as therefore being Communist! Hence the re-entry refusal. Robert Gordon Edwards was one such 'victim' and had a remarkable life during the Spanish Civil War, WW2 [Army Commando/Para]and as a Film Producer afterwards. Proud to have known and worked with him.
Aviate 1138

[aviate1138]

Originally Posted by pulse1

I think that at least one flying Mosquito was used for the film. It was owned by the City of Liverpool and I met the pilot just after the film was made. He was FO on a Viscount at the time and, during a stopover at Liverpool, he wandered into a hangar to look around and came across the Mosquito. Asked if he thought he could fly it he said that he could and ended up flying it for the film.

Neil Williams flew the Speke Mosquito [B.35 I think] down to Bovingdon. He felt something was not right with the elevators after having taken off, decided that as Doug Bianchi and the Mosquito Engineers were down at Bovingdon/Hatfield, he would carry on. After landing he told Doug about the problem. Doug opened the fuselage maintainence panel [starboard side ahead of the tailplane] grabbed a flashlight and peered inside. He emerged ashen faced.
The elevator cable run had been somehow splashed with battery acid and there were only a few strands intact!
http://www.mossie.org/images/W4050/ajd_d19_34.jpg
This hatch but on the B.35 not the prototype. The other variant used was the T.III from De Havillands - Pat Fillingham flew that one.
Aviate 1138

[PPRuNe Pop]

There were some marvellous flying sequences showing the Mosquitoes. All genuine stuff.

The owner of the 3 Mossie's was John Crewdson who had 'appeared' in a few films. He told me one day, on a visit to Biggin Hill with the three Mossies, that he wasn't in for the money, just the pleasure!

Sadly he was killed in Jet Ranger crash over The Wash.

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by Deneb

Michael Caine portrayed Brian Kingcome - but what about Deere, Malan, Doe, Stanford Tuck etc? Anyone know or fancy guessing?!
D

According to Wikepedia Michael Caine played Sqn Ldr Canfield:

The film has an all-star cast including
Laurence Olivier as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command,
Trevor Howard as New Zealander Air Vice-Marshal Sir Keith Park, Air Officer Commanding No.11 Group RAF and
Christopher Plummer as Canadian fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Colin Harvey (since Plummer was Canadian, he asked for his character's RAF uniform to display the "Canada" shoulder flashes).
Other cast include Michael Caine as Squadron Leader Canfield,
Ralph Richardson in a cameo as the British Ambassador to Switzerland,
Robert Shaw as Squadron Leader Skipper,
Susannah York as Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Colin's wife),
Ian McShane as Sergeant Pilot Andy and
Kenneth More (who had made himself a household name with his portrayal of Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky 12 years before) as Group Captain Barker – Station Commander at RAF Duxford.

[teeteringhead]

A mate of mine got involved in a strange film about mosquitos in the early 1970s. IIRC it was a Dutch (??) TV film which was filmed in and around Stanford PTA, with full MoD backing. The only "mosquito" was a ginormous r/c model, and air-to-air shots were filmed from matie's Puma!

It can't have been that accurate a film, cos they also used night internal shots of the Puma cockpit - as a mosquito cockpit!!

It gets better .... some of the "ground shots" were filmed in a nearby pub (which incidentally I think was also used as a location in "Dad's Army"), so they asked the Puma crew to bring No 2s (battledress in them days) to drink as "extras" in the background! (no pay but free beer!)

Somehow can't imagine MoD approving a task of that nature these days......

[Cumbrian Fell]

Hawkinge Hanger

I understand that some of the airfield bombing shots (and the aforementioned Belfast-truss hangar) were taken at Hawkinge, that was by this time on a care and maintenance basis.

[aviate1138]

Originally Posted by PPRuNe Pop

There were some marvellous flying sequences showing the Mosquitoes. All genuine stuff.
The owner of the 3 Mossie's was John Crewdson who had 'appeared' in a few films. He told me one day, on a visit to Biggin Hill with the three Mossies, that he wasn't in for the money, just the pleasure!
Sadly he was killed in Jet Ranger crash over The Wash.

What a nice man! Did a film with him down in Devon. He had to fly the aircraft at the camera, perched on the top of Berry Head. Wind about 30+ knots at the optimum crosswind angle! The Director screaming because the aircraft nose wasn't actually pointing at the camera!!!
Aviate 1138

[Boxer42]

The DVD is also available on Play.com for £6.99 post free. Ordered myself a copy yesterday.

[Pancake]

Originally Posted by Boxer42

The DVD is also available on Play.com for £6.99 post free. Ordered myself a copy yesterday.

I've just ordered a copy from Amazon for £4.97...
P. (Just starting to recover from the various York/Knightly plus webbing posts)