That Dam Film Again
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Go on the Scampton museum tour and the first thing you will be shown after the main gate is exactly where that scene took place.
When we did our JP night flying, it was 1974 and the nation was still facing frequent blackouts due to the legacy of the 'Three Day Week'. Everything would be turned off except the aerodrome lights on some nights - even the Cheerio Cafe had to shut. The solo navex across East Anglia was very interesting - just a few aerodrome pundits and the lights of the aircraft ahead. Probably as close to wartime black out as anyone could ever experience!
(500N / HTB, in the days when I first joined, future RAF pilots could apply for an RAF Scholarship before going to RAFC Cranwell. I did, so I had about 40 hrs on puddlejumpers before arriving at Bull$hit Towers in Sep 68. Then, on about Day 2, we were told that a new scheme had just come in and that we could apply to go to University. Several folk did so immediately; the rest of us did a year of joy in the SBL / JM blocks with lots of marching around in horsehair blue before going to University. The UAS was such fun that I had to repeat a year of my course (although there were also personal reasons) and I didn't graduate until 1973... Then Officer Training and JPs at RAFC Cranwell before flying my first fast jet, the Gnat, in 1975.)
(500N / HTB, in the days when I first joined, future RAF pilots could apply for an RAF Scholarship before going to RAFC Cranwell. I did, so I had about 40 hrs on puddlejumpers before arriving at Bull$hit Towers in Sep 68. Then, on about Day 2, we were told that a new scheme had just come in and that we could apply to go to University. Several folk did so immediately; the rest of us did a year of joy in the SBL / JM blocks with lots of marching around in horsehair blue before going to University. The UAS was such fun that I had to repeat a year of my course (although there were also personal reasons) and I didn't graduate until 1973... Then Officer Training and JPs at RAFC Cranwell before flying my first fast jet, the Gnat, in 1975.)
I did the old flying scholarship too. Lots of wonderful flying from Cambridge airport with Marshalls in Cessna 150s. I had a Private Pilot's Licence before I had a driving licence - even a provisional one!
Gentleman Aviator
Beags old bean - fess up; is Caz right to say you went to uni?
Difficult to imagine him with long hair (any hair really
), a flowery shirt and what one believes is termed a "spliff".What next? That he's really just another grammar school oik?
Surely no more revelations.....
No flowery shirt, though I regret that one did have flared jeans.....and polo neck shirts 
.
Hair never recovered from the efforts of 'Slasher' at Cranwell!
I have never smoked anything ever
. Only food, drink and parts of the female anatomy have been on my lips! 
I still had my 'L' plates when my PPL arrived in the post - don't expect to pass your driving test if the only instruction you've had is from your Dad in the family second car - a somewhat elderly 100E.
.Hair never recovered from the efforts of 'Slasher' at Cranwell!
I have never smoked anything ever
. Only food, drink and parts of the female anatomy have been on my lips! I still had my 'L' plates when my PPL arrived in the post - don't expect to pass your driving test if the only instruction you've had is from your Dad in the family second car - a somewhat elderly 100E.
I did indeed take my test with that level of instruction. I failed.
Hey, my old jeans are back in fashion now. Flares, true style is timeless!
Nothing wrong with being just another grammar school oik.
Digitally remastered Dam Busters DVD is ordered!
Hey, my old jeans are back in fashion now. Flares, true style is timeless!
Nothing wrong with being just another grammar school oik.
Digitally remastered Dam Busters DVD is ordered!
Flares, true style is timeless!
When I arrived at the Covert Oxonian Aerodrome, one of my VC10 course colleagues received an invite to a private social do at a Wg Cdr's home (which might or might not have have been 'Pnomh Penh Len'...), who'd written 'lounge suits' on the invite! "Great", said the invitee, "I've got just the thing. A hideous, 1970s purple crushed velvet suit with huge lapels, flared jacket and massively flared trousers!". He went in this get-up; the Wg Cdr's frostiness was only exceeded by his wife's!
When your DVD arrives, Courtney, look for the 'Ghost of Nigger'. In the scene where 'Barnes Wallis' is talking to 'Guy Gibson' at the end of the film, you can clearly see a black dog running about in the background even though there were reputedly no black labradors at Scampton at the time.....
Gentleman Aviator
And I might as well chuck in my "filming of original Dambusters" story - apologies to those who have seen it when I've posted it before.
Many problems at Scampton and Hemswell with lots of "luvvy" erks and officers wandering around, failing to give or return proper salutes. Cue 2 x confused and apoplectic SWOs. Solution: luvvies to wear brown shoes/boots to distinguish them from "real" personnel. All looks the same in B&W.
But ..... Richard Todd, having held the King's Commission, insists on wearing black footwear, and giving and returning compliments.
I so hope it's true.....
Many problems at Scampton and Hemswell with lots of "luvvy" erks and officers wandering around, failing to give or return proper salutes. Cue 2 x confused and apoplectic SWOs. Solution: luvvies to wear brown shoes/boots to distinguish them from "real" personnel. All looks the same in B&W.
But ..... Richard Todd, having held the King's Commission, insists on wearing black footwear, and giving and returning compliments.
I so hope it's true.....
Blooming heck - who mentioned "100E"? My first car - cost me £48, traded it in for a 105E Anglia for £50! Don't remeber cheese cloth tops at LTC though! More like cardies and wincyette (with the odd notable exception!)!
Last edited by Wander00; 17th Jan 2012 at 14:57.
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I always thought Black Buck 1 would have made a good film.
To be fair, it will be more a dramatised reconstruction with 'talking heads' than a feature film.
Sorry for the thread drift....
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I have never smoked anything ever. Only food, drink and parts of the female anatomy have been on my lips! 
. Only food, drink and parts of the female anatomy have been on my lips! I agree the Black Buck would make a good film.
Do a Hover - it avoids G
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An excellent film (BTW nothing wrong with a 100E. One took me to work when trying to sort out XP831. It was a fraction better with an ali head, twin SUs, an A-frame and Konis at the back and decent roll bar on the friont plus an extra gearbox giving 6 forward gears and 2 reverse. Mind you the brakes and the wipers still did not work). Like I said an excellent film.
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What have I started? Won't the film have to be named "Ethnically Diverse Buck of African or Asian Origin"?
Courtney
Another memory leaked into my synapse - as a consequence of the loud Canuk with the chicken on his head taking umbrage to a cocky and pompous Tornado (GR1) nav caling him a "cock-head" (or similar) and generaly being abusive to the whole sqn, said nav was pinned out in the garden using convenient croquet hoops; his buddies seemed to think that was just desserts, so left him there for quite a while. I think it was a UK-based Tornado sqn, certainly not from LBH
Mister B
Courtney
Another memory leaked into my synapse - as a consequence of the loud Canuk with the chicken on his head taking umbrage to a cocky and pompous Tornado (GR1) nav caling him a "cock-head" (or similar) and generaly being abusive to the whole sqn, said nav was pinned out in the garden using convenient croquet hoops; his buddies seemed to think that was just desserts, so left him there for quite a while. I think it was a UK-based Tornado sqn, certainly not from LBH
Mister B
Yeah, Mr B. He was a colourful character. Of course, the bar at Akrotiri was no place to upset people unless you wanted swift and severe retribution. I recall OC 43 (HD) being badgered by a nav one evening in the bar. He turned to a large sqn pilot and barked in his characteristic cockney, "Walta, take 'im out!". Pilot takes nav outside, boys hear duffing up noises and pilot returns to his beer. Nav re-appears looking worse for wear and verbally attacks boss again about the damage to his £150 italian leather shoes. Bored boss barks, "Walta, when I say take 'im out, I mean 'ospital job!"
A good job nothing like that happened in that wonderful film about the dambusters.
A good job nothing like that happened in that wonderful film about the dambusters.
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COCL2
IIRC the film was withdrawn from the USA because the American distributors added footage of B 17's taking part in the Raid. Caused quite a stir in the British Press!!
Richard Todd walked out of the Premiere!!
IIRC the film was withdrawn from the USA because the American distributors added footage of B 17's taking part in the Raid. Caused quite a stir in the British Press!!
Richard Todd walked out of the Premiere!!
...said nav was pinned out in the garden using convenient croquet hoops; his buddies seemed to think that was just desserts, so left him there for quite a while...
We QFIs merely looked the other way....
JF, I did like the idea of the heroic P1127 test pilot driving to work in a 100E! Even brand new, it was blessed with a mere 36bhp (the 100E, that is!) and I can't believe that the ally head and twin SUs reduced the 0-60 in 29.4s time by very much. How ever did the extra gearbox thing work? You're right about those wipers though - a penumatic tank driven by inlet manifold pressure powered the things. I use the word 'powered' rather generously. As you put your foot down in an attempt to pass something (bicycle, horse, pedestrian or perhaps a pre-war Austin 7), despite optimistic pneumatic hissing from the engine bay, they would slow down completely until almost stopped - just what you need when trying to overtake in pouring rain. Lift off again and they would thrash themselves in a mad frenzy - we often had to recover the passenger side wiper from over the Somerset hedges! As for 'brakes'.....they really were pretty awful.
Yes, Black Buck should be a good docudrama whern Ch4 release it. Much of the filming was done using XM655 at Wellesbourne Mountford as it is far more representative of XM607 than any other surviving Vulcan able to be powered up.
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I commend to you all "Dambusters" by Max Arthur, forword by Stephen Fry. Totally awesome account of this historic feat of arms.
As good as the original is, a remake is way overdue. This was a "larger than life" act (60 feet in a lanc, at night, or in daytime with the windows covered in blue cling film...**** that!!) that needs to be seen again with all the technology the film industry now has. The main players behind the film seem to have the right attitude to history and therefore the "truth" seems to be in good hands.
I don't know the scope of the new film, but one thing that is totally missing from the original is the view from the ground...both horrendous (many of the casualties were Ukranian women captives) and remarkable (read the book's chapter on the gun placements on the Mohne).
I hope the remake takes a broader view, is well directed, well cast and historically accurate. If so, it will be an epic.
As good as the original is, a remake is way overdue. This was a "larger than life" act (60 feet in a lanc, at night, or in daytime with the windows covered in blue cling film...**** that!!) that needs to be seen again with all the technology the film industry now has. The main players behind the film seem to have the right attitude to history and therefore the "truth" seems to be in good hands.
I don't know the scope of the new film, but one thing that is totally missing from the original is the view from the ground...both horrendous (many of the casualties were Ukranian women captives) and remarkable (read the book's chapter on the gun placements on the Mohne).
I hope the remake takes a broader view, is well directed, well cast and historically accurate. If so, it will be an epic.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
remarkable (read the book's chapter on the gun placements on the Mohne).
He got shot down. He said that Int had not realised all the searchlights were powered with portable generators.