High Flight
Seemed an odd time for the Hunter blue note - thought had to be fast and low level
But now I have a copy of High Flight on DVD, which is of much higher quality than the rather washed-out version showed on Talking Pictures TV yesterday. A pity that they didn't use a better copy.
I was a patch kid at Cranwell when this film was being made. Lots of teenagers from the MQ patch were included as extras for the crown scenes. At the time my dad was working at Barkston Heath on Provost aircraft.
Aaron.
Aaron.
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Fond memories of the 'new' Meteor fire practice airframe at Manby. All the fire Crews were braced for the exercise, but sadly Plt Off Arthur ***** had left the signal Very pistol in the Landrover. By the time he got it, fired the Red cartridge, and the Crash Crew got there it was almost self-extinguished wreckage. i guess they got another one later.
Nemesis of the Proot Dynasty
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Two of my Flight Commanders (Not at the same time!) were extras on the film and were held back from leave to take part with a monetary bribe. Later a good friend of mine told me that he had also been roped in as an extra and spent some time with Anthony Newley during filming. He was in the scene where Newley sings the "Open Boat Song"
I mentioned the filming of High Flight in Northern 'Q', the runway resurfacing at Leuchars over the period caused some problems along with the weather, I wonder if that's how they ended up doing some filming in Cyprus. I'm sure they made two versions, one in B & W which included some footage of the Farnborough air show from 1956 which, of course, included the display by 43's Hunters. Obviously there's a great deal of continuity breaches throughout the film, i.e. the idea of all officer cadets being prospective pilots, all passing through training, entirely at Cranwell, then straight to the same Hunter Squadron somewhere and followed all the way through by the same CO, Wing Commander Ray MIlland and all drawn from within the first tourists to form the aerobatics team!
FB
FB
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I saw it in colour at the cinema many years ago and it included the Farnborough display scenes. I remember because it showed a Valiant taking off using rocket-assisted take-off.
Polecat
Polecat
Last edited by polecat2; 20th Oct 2018 at 20:09. Reason: Grammar.
The DVD I have is actually a copy from the VHS tape I had at the time, made some 14 years ago.
At around 1 hr 20 min it shows a short segment from the Farnborough Air Show, which includes the Fairey Ultralight helicopter, the Fairey FD2, the Vulcan and a rocket-assisted take-off by the Valiant.
My memory was a little at fault - the DVD is only as good as you would expect from a VHS-to-DVD transfer of an off-air recording.
At around 1 hr 20 min it shows a short segment from the Farnborough Air Show, which includes the Fairey Ultralight helicopter, the Fairey FD2, the Vulcan and a rocket-assisted take-off by the Valiant.
My memory was a little at fault - the DVD is only as good as you would expect from a VHS-to-DVD transfer of an off-air recording.
Last edited by BEagle; 23rd Oct 2018 at 15:48.
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Beagle,
Do you still have the VHS tape? There are quite a few companies who profess to do "professional standard" VHS to DVD conversion. You may have what could be one of a few surviving copies of the complete movie.
Polecat
Do you still have the VHS tape? There are quite a few companies who profess to do "professional standard" VHS to DVD conversion. You may have what could be one of a few surviving copies of the complete movie.
Polecat
The original VHS tape must be over 21 years old now as I taped it from BSkyB's The Movie Channel, which rebranded in 1997. I'm not sure whether I taped it from BSB's original Marco Polo satellite or from Sky's Astra though. Probably the latter as my BSB receiver and 'squarial' became redundant at the end of 1992 and I took advantage of a year's free 'dual movies subscription' compensation offer soon after when I replaced my system with a Sky analogue system in early 1993.
I will not make any further copies though - I only made my own DVD-R for 'format convenience' in case my VCR died and anything else would undoubtedly infringe copyright.
I will not make any further copies though - I only made my own DVD-R for 'format convenience' in case my VCR died and anything else would undoubtedly infringe copyright.
Youtube has the full length film for viewing.....free.
I happened to watch it last night.....except for some nice video of Hunters in formation.....better appreciated with the audio muted.....I can. understand why it is free.
Later I watched a documentary on the Lightning.....and very much enjoyed that video.
Listening to the "Bee" and some of the other pilots talking of their experiences in the aircraft was very enjoyable.
I happened to watch it last night.....except for some nice video of Hunters in formation.....better appreciated with the audio muted.....I can. understand why it is free.
Later I watched a documentary on the Lightning.....and very much enjoyed that video.
Listening to the "Bee" and some of the other pilots talking of their experiences in the aircraft was very enjoyable.
The Lightning Video from last night.
