BBC coverage of RAF 100 years
I thought the first half was good but then it missed out huge chunks of RAF history spending too much time on celebrity flying in a Typhoon! No mention of FEAF, NEAF or RAFG! Apart from the Vulcan, no mention of the Jet age and the Cold War! Very disappointing!!
Could have spent a day filming at LPG at Brunty featuring the Q-shed etc., and a simulated scramble that they've done at Open days.....
No opportunity for any celeb participation in that though
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It was well reviewed in the Telegraph and I enjoyed it too.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/...ride-mcgregor/
‘It’s going to be quite an adventure,” said Ewan McGregor at the outset of RAF at 100 with Ewan and Colin McGregor (BBC One) and you couldn’t help believing it. The introductory sequence had just held out the soul-stirring prospect of First World War biplanes in mock combat, a dogfight between a Spitfire and its Second World War arch-rival the Me 109, and a Cold War-era Vulcan bomber in flight.
It was all my Airfix-inspired childhood dreams made real, and the tantalising promise of an armchair ride in one of the world’s most advanced jet fighters as well. What I wasn’t anticipating was how moving this documentary, presented by the film star and his former RAF fighter-pilot brother, would be in parts.
It was all my Airfix-inspired childhood dreams made real, and the tantalising promise of an armchair ride in one of the world’s most advanced jet fighters as well. What I wasn’t anticipating was how moving this documentary, presented by the film star and his former RAF fighter-pilot brother, would be in parts.
I too, Roving. Very glad to see the Hastings in the Airlift bit, a much overlooked but key aircraft of its time. Its successor, Fat Albert, conspicuous by its absence (or was that when I was putting the kettle on?).
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RAFG and the Cold War should have got much more of a look in than just showing yet another Vulcan in it's deterrent role.
Very lightweight.
Did ground crew even get a mention? I'm sure some of them were involved in that little fracas 1939-45
Last edited by ExRAFRadar; 26th Mar 2018 at 10:10. Reason: Getting wound up :-)
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Yes - overall good for getting 100 years into 90 minutes. We will all have our favourite bits missing; mine were:
1. No between the wars "Imperial Policing"; obviously un-PC at present, but arguably kept the RAF going as an independant force.
2. Nothing on RAF contribution to Assault Gliders in WWII - 60% of gliders in the Rhine Crossing (and 60% of the casualties) were flown by RAF.
3. Despite talking to Martin Withers about the Vulcan, no mention of Black Buck - for it was he.
My favourite bits in it:
1. SOE Lysanders.
2. Unloading the Dak against the clock.
3. Mogwi's Falklands dit - and reminding us he was RAF at the time!
4. McHoot "only blowing the bl%%dy roof off" in Sierra Leone. Only 53 CGCs have been awarded, and his is the only RAF one to date.
Overall a good 8/10 - a pleasant surprise. BZ to BBC
1. No between the wars "Imperial Policing"; obviously un-PC at present, but arguably kept the RAF going as an independant force.
2. Nothing on RAF contribution to Assault Gliders in WWII - 60% of gliders in the Rhine Crossing (and 60% of the casualties) were flown by RAF.
3. Despite talking to Martin Withers about the Vulcan, no mention of Black Buck - for it was he.
My favourite bits in it:
1. SOE Lysanders.
2. Unloading the Dak against the clock.
3. Mogwi's Falklands dit - and reminding us he was RAF at the time!
4. McHoot "only blowing the bl%%dy roof off" in Sierra Leone. Only 53 CGCs have been awarded, and his is the only RAF one to date.
Overall a good 8/10 - a pleasant surprise. BZ to BBC
yep, people are unaware that the RAF did order 30 odd in the mid 1960's and the order was cancelled at around about the same time as the F111K
Who remembers the TV series called "Diamonds in the Sky" which was introduced by Julian Pettifer nearly 40 years ago? A superb history of civil aviation over seven 45 minute episodes, it had time to go into the sort of detail and coverage that RAF 100 obviously couldn't in 90 minutes. Too late now, but wouldn't a 6 part series on similar lines, but purely devoted to the RAF have been great? I don't suppose there is the money, or the inclination now, though, (nor many journalists of the calibre of Julian Pettifer).
Last edited by Tankertrashnav; 26th Mar 2018 at 10:56.
Tankertrashnav wrote:
I certainly do - in fact I also have the book which was first printed in 1979. But these days I doubt whether the BBC's policies would countenance something along similar lines for 100 years of the RAF, or whether the 'app-for-that' obsessed yoof of today would be particularly interested.
One of the best documentary series ever broadcast by the BBC was The Valiant Years, a not-to-be-missed compendium from Churchill's memoirs which had many of my generation glued to the screen in 1961! Would they broadcast it today? No - rubbish such as Strictly Come Dancing is about the zenith of the BBC's efforts....
Who remembers the TV series called "Diamonds in the Sky" which was introduced by Julian Pettifer nearly 40 years ago?
One of the best documentary series ever broadcast by the BBC was The Valiant Years, a not-to-be-missed compendium from Churchill's memoirs which had many of my generation glued to the screen in 1961! Would they broadcast it today? No - rubbish such as Strictly Come Dancing is about the zenith of the BBC's efforts....
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Accepting that we no longer have a kipper fleet, I was amazed and annoyed that Coastal didn't even get a mention. So the Air Force contributions to the U-Boat battles were of less important than the SOE taxi service? No SAR service nor ASR marine craft? Also, in the beginning, I heard no mention of the RNAS. My tinnitus may have let me miss it but the wife didn't clock it either. So the great unwashed probably now think that the RAF is just an Army mob that was given independence and, for 5 years of its 100, employed some jolly nice girls to ferry its aeroplanes around. Anyway, we did get the huggyfluff tut tuts for Dresden and the sanctimonious comment from the bloke who encouraged it. All in all, I'm unable to hoist a BZ for it.
Naff all to do with the RAF.
It was a program about a pair of scotsmen, one of whom
is a pilot. I eventually fell asleep.
I could write reams of "What about this and what about that?"
Even in my short time in the R.A.F., there was a whole host
of things that happened and none of it was mentioned.
We have recorded it but I don't think it will ever get replayed.
My wife thought it quite dull.
It was a program about a pair of scotsmen, one of whom
is a pilot. I eventually fell asleep.
I could write reams of "What about this and what about that?"
Even in my short time in the R.A.F., there was a whole host
of things that happened and none of it was mentioned.
We have recorded it but I don't think it will ever get replayed.
My wife thought it quite dull.
Take it we both watched the same programme...??!!
One I watched was all about the Royal Air Force...
One I watched was all about the Royal Air Force...
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They crammed a lot into the hour but I was disappointed that Fat Albert didn't get a mention, let alone even a picture! Considering some of the aspects they covered you would think that it would have figured in coverage of Transport Command and its successor.
Still as an ex Brat, it was nice to see the many shots of the roofs of Workshops when all you normally ever saw was the inside!
Still as an ex Brat, it was nice to see the many shots of the roofs of Workshops when all you normally ever saw was the inside!
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Frankly disappointed with BBC RAF Centenary programme last night. Had to ham it up instead of telling the story plain and simply; too emotional and dramatic, too much giggling and false bonhomie, clearly fixed on making a very serious story "entertainment" for a BBC1 audience.
Danny:-
Par for the course these days I'm afraid, Danny. Others have spoken of previous series that knocked this prog into a cocked hat, to which I would add "War in the Air". I used to watch it round our local Milk Bar (wot's that then?), which had a B&W single channel (Beeb) TV fixed half way up the wall. Took me 15 weeks to see them all, at tuppence ha'penny a pop (for the obligatory cuppa). Got me hooked tho, I joined up five years later. 
Still showing on a YouTube near you!
Had to ham it up instead of telling the story plain and simply
Still showing on a YouTube near you!
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I agree with you Newt; and too McGregor centric.
If, as Beags mentioned, it was aimed at Joe Public, then the uninitiated will have many gaps in their knowledge.
If, as Beags mentioned, it was aimed at Joe Public, then the uninitiated will have many gaps in their knowledge.