Movie recall
 

Can anyone recall a movie (1960s?) In which a group of ex army soldiers return to the (Libyan ?)desert to retrieve some loot they hid there during WW2?

What really surprised me was that a number of the "109s" were clearly Buchons, and as these were models/props why on earth do that? Especially as plenty of the aircraft depicted were Me109s.
Bizarre!

Despite the inaccuracies listed above it was a very entertaining watch. Personally I'm in awe of the "Originals" and proud of their bravery and persistence :ok:

NEO

Buchons were the Merlin powered BF109’s, I must admit I didn't look that closely at them, there were a lot of BF108’s though, which were the trainers come general hacks, you’re not getting them mixed up are you? They might have been added to give a mix to the fleet..



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Am I mistaken indeed.
Do you call those 108s?

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Thanks, as I said I never looked closely, That's weird, I wonder if they were left over from another film and re used.
Thinking about it, there are quite a few Buchons in the UK based at Sywell, so I wonder if they were used for filming the scenes where the SAS are moving amongst the aircraft. Probably the same aircraft below.

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FWIW I think Ben Macintyre's BBC documentary of a few years' ago was very good - on iPlayer I think - as was his documentary on Operation Mincemeat and Double Cross. Recommended.

Guys, remember this is designed for the general public's consumption. One can find fault in everything if one looks hard enough. What would you prefer a 100% accurate series which would probably be pretty boring to the public and be so expensive to make that there wouldnt be another one or what we have, which quite frankly is way better than 99% of sh1te on the BBC.

It's been claimed in various sources that RAF Bentwaters is the location used for the aircraft ground scenes.

It's mentioned elsewhere that three Buchons and two Bf 108s all in desert markings were gathered at White Waltham last year for filming a TV series. This would also fit in with when this series was filmed.

I thought it was riveting and mrs olster and I binge watched the lot over 2 days. As she is normally a Downton Abbey / Strictly kind of gal that took some doing. The writing, filming, acting, direction and music made for a highly entertaining series. Real poignancy when considering the bravery, sacrifice and motivation on show. Also told a fascinating story that needed to be told. I can live with what I perceived to be minor technical inaccuracies and who would have thought an AC/DC sound track would harmonise with the visuals?! A personal anecdote in that my own father was a doctor in the Parachute Regiment during WW2 and met David Stirling after the war. Mildly eccentric was his view, notwithstanding the incredible bravery. He never mentioned Paddy Mayne but good grief what a man. Law graduate, rugby international, boxing champion and 4 DSOs. They don’t make them like that anymore. The juxtaposition between then and now is stark. Fighting brutally for our freedom so that a moron like Matt Hancock can be a celebrity. Great series in my view, hats off to the production team.

I forgot to mention and a most praiseworthy lack of wokeness and indeed to use a modern phrase in a different arena a ‘net zero’ of wokeness. Plus spectacular use of swearing including the worst word of all banned chez olster. Directing that word combined with his nationality at Paddy Mayne would require balls of steel I would have thought (quote David Irving in the series). However in terms of accuracy I imagine that high level of profanity would have been the lingua franca of the 1940s British army. So well done again.

Been searching but just can’t find it, there was an obit in the Torygraph in the last 10 years of an Army Officer on Spitfires, awarded a DFC, returned to his Battalion and commanded them in Korea where he was awarded a MC. Whether he was attached/seconded/transferred during his flying career I can’t remember.

The book "Churchill's Secret Warriors" is a ripping yarn.

If you have a serious interest in this subject I strongly recommend reading "Born of the Desert" by Malcolm James Pleydell (the doc). It is written first hand and also in the language of the time. It is the most factually compelling account of the time and the people that I've ever read.

A minor moan: AC/DC at very loud volumes followed by quieter and muffled audio for the dialogue. OTOH I might be going deaf!
I always thought the LRDG morphed into the SAS, but the series infers otherwise.

Popski's Prvate Army is a terrific read, and all the better for Peniakov having paved the way in desert navigation.
They did much the same job but the unit did not continue after the war.

Ralph Bagnold designed the Bagnold Sun Compass for Desert Navigation,the Bagnold sun compass was used by LRDG for Desert Nav.
In the early days of the SAS - the LRDG were used to transport/navigate the SAS on their sorties.

Thoroughly enjoyed the series, apart from the silly heavy metal/modern music; and I say this as a heavy metal fan!

The novel A Good Clean Fight by Derek Robinson covers similar territory about the SAS, albeit with a couple of parallel stories about the RAF and the enemy. It is obvious fiction, but I enjoyed the book.

I saw the set for the attack on episode 6 last year. It was opposed the HAS rented to Everrett Aero. Will be driving past the hangar actually the old hush house for the A10s) seen on episode 3 on Saturday. Was what is now Bentwaters Parks.