It is quite possible that the person I remember who "claimed" to have flown the Speke mosquito was an imposter. He appeared at our flying club with a seat type parachute which he said he was given after the film was finished. We had a single Tiger Moth at the time and he built up quite a few hours while trying to get an airline job back. He disappeared without paying his flying bill.:*

Interesting that an American could join just by claiming to be Canadian. If I remember correctly (And it's been 55 years) In S/L George Beurling's book Malta Spitfire he says that the RAF made him go back across the Atlantic to get his birth certficate even though he had his Canadian pilot's licence with him.

After an excellent landing you can use the airplane again!

Mosquito Squadron was definitely not a studio made film; I remember seeing the Mossies flying over my home in '68, and the 'arches' used for the Highball bomb practice were on the airfield at Bovingdon. The French Chateau which was the actual target was I believe, Minley Manor, just a stones throw from Farnborough!

Teeteringhead It was possibly "Soldaat van Oranje" about the Dutch in exile in UK during WWII

One of the Mossies from 633 Sqdn languished at Bovingdon until about 1966 or '67. 613 GS from Halton had a detached flight there during 1967, and we shared the same hangar as this Mossie, so we all became well versed at climbing into it (unofficially that is!)
When the time came to fly the Mossie away, they thought there was something not quite right with the elevator balance, the controls feeling very heavy. Someone succeded in making a hole in the elevator skin, and several pints of (presumably) rainwater poured out!

633 Sqn sequences shot in the Lairig Ghru I think? ( Can't believe how sad I am.... )

"What about the officers, Sir?"

"Give them a bloody shovel!"

My two favourite "bloopers" are:

- The implication that the Poles were the first operational Allied squadron (in fact, the Czechs were).

- The listing of Allied pilots in the credits includes 1 Israeli

Both of which are down to the producer, who flew (as a Pole) in the Battle.

Which may explain why it is such a superbly constructed film.

Repeat Please!

John Crewsdon certainley didn't own 3 of the Mosquitoes used in Mosquito Squadron.:=
The 4 used for the flying sequences were:-
T.3 RR299 owned at the time by BAC/BAe and flown by Pat Fillingham
B.35 TA634 owned at the time by the Corporation of Liverpool
B.35 RS709 owned at the time by Peter Thomas (Skyframe Collection)
B.35 RS712 owned at the time by Grp.Capt. Hamish Mahaddie

Famous shot of the late John Crewsdon piloting one of the B-17's at not-a-lot-above the Bovingdon aprons during filming of the The War Lover in 1962.:eek:
http://snap28.photobox.co.uk/2458252...8967a96de8.jpg

I think you'll find it was an Alouette, in fact the same one that was used as a helo camera platform in the filming of the Battle of Britain IIRC.

"Repeat Please!"

OK -


:ok:

"It's unforgivable, I lost my temper "

To his wife after he just bawled out the pompous Nazi....

Alright, alright, I want the DVD, so could someone tell me. specifically, which is the best one to buy and from where? The double DVD seems the one to go for. The only copy of the film I have is recorded on video from TV!

I was in London in May, and particularly went down to see the Memorial to The Few, and I was actually a bit disappointed with some aspects. Some of the pilots look a bit manic!

It was nice to see New Zealand recorded as providing the greatest number of participants after the UK itself, and Poland. Two of the top ten aces were also Kiwis of course! Just in case you forget!

Who's the babe Beagle? Nice eyes!

Thanks Lon More, I can do some more searching on that!

Just to be absolutely correct, at the time of the making of 'Mosquito Squadron', RR299 was owned by HSA.

True.........being aquired from storage at Shawbury after being retired from CAACU in '63.

And Pat Fillingham of course had been a Mosquito production test pilot at Hatfield during WW2.

For the nominal sum of £100. On the 12th July 1963, RR299 (now on the civil register as G-ASKH) was flown by Pat Fillingham to Hawarden, where it would reside for the next 33 years.

There is a scene in the film showing the plotting room where a briefing is taking place. If you look carefully you will see one of the men in the scene has a disfigured face. He had been badly burnt when shot down in the Battle of Britain and was one of MacIndoe's (sp?) guinea pigs.

Just one of the fascinating bits of trivia revealed in the book on the making of the film.

Beagle

Where did you get that photo of my girlfriend?!

DVD
 

The Battle of Britain

www.play.com £6.99 delivered

www.dvd.co.uk £6.95 delivered

Both are 2 disc editions