Anyone know the story behind this picture?
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 172
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From: midlands
If my memory serves me correctly this was an Italian crew on a NATO exercise circa mid 80's [?} who flew into high tension wires. Cant rememeber why they were being filmed but I seem to remember that they didn't survive - I also remember the poster comming out and us all feeling a bit odd because it showed 2 guys in the process of beign killed!
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 549
Likes: 14
From: The South
Skidkid,
You obviously haven't operated the Gazelle. They call them ejector seats as in a crash the seat mounts are so weak that the crew get thrown out of the aircraft. A friend of mine went through the bubble during a crash.
Dudley? If you are a pilot I then I have a choice of two at CCAOU, probably not the tickety boo bloke.
Regards,
FNW
You obviously haven't operated the Gazelle. They call them ejector seats as in a crash the seat mounts are so weak that the crew get thrown out of the aircraft. A friend of mine went through the bubble during a crash.
Dudley? If you are a pilot I then I have a choice of two at CCAOU, probably not the tickety boo bloke.
Regards,
FNW
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 291
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From: Chamonix
I was working in Slovenia in the mid-90s.
I flew with a chap who said he was on this Squadron.
Supposedly its a Yugoslavian Army Gazelle, the base was in Mostar. Event was late 80's.
The crew was indeed killed and the valley this event took place in is now known as "wires valley".
Ive never attempted to confirm any of the above claims but the pilots in the Slovenian Air Force (Bell 412 Sqn) were very passionate about this poster.
I flew with a chap who said he was on this Squadron.
Supposedly its a Yugoslavian Army Gazelle, the base was in Mostar. Event was late 80's.
The crew was indeed killed and the valley this event took place in is now known as "wires valley".
Ive never attempted to confirm any of the above claims but the pilots in the Slovenian Air Force (Bell 412 Sqn) were very passionate about this poster.
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: UK
I saw the pictures in an Air Forces magazine in the 95/96 period and spoke with the editor who said he needed some money if we were to use them. I then contacted the RAF Flight Safety man - 'Wing Commander Spry' and 'invited' him to obtain the use of pictures as they were perfect for a Flight Safety poster.
Anyway, he had some money in a budget (only a couple of hundred pounds I recall, is what the editor wanted) and bought the right to use them.
The rest as they say is history.
Spry contacted me some weeks later to thank me for putting him on to the editor and told me that it was a Jugoslavian military aircraft, and the truth of the matter was that it didn't actually hit the wires, it hit a building on take-off - but the photographs show the wires just right for wire strike impact purposes.
So now you know - never let the truth get in the way of a good story!!
Oh yes and I was told the crew survived.
Anyway, he had some money in a budget (only a couple of hundred pounds I recall, is what the editor wanted) and bought the right to use them.
The rest as they say is history.
Spry contacted me some weeks later to thank me for putting him on to the editor and told me that it was a Jugoslavian military aircraft, and the truth of the matter was that it didn't actually hit the wires, it hit a building on take-off - but the photographs show the wires just right for wire strike impact purposes.
So now you know - never let the truth get in the way of a good story!!
Oh yes and I was told the crew survived.
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 509
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From: Darraweit Guim, Victoria
7balja01, I don't see TBC saying anything of the sort. It may come as a shock but the remains of the poor helo were probably moving while they were filming, the background is different in each. You can see some of the Autumn trees that predominate in the 4th shot in the foreground of the 1st.
Looks real and fairly horrible to me, especially as I have lost a friend to a wirestrike while he was filming for TV.
Looks real and fairly horrible to me, especially as I have lost a friend to a wirestrike while he was filming for TV.
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 370
Likes: 18
From: Oman
7balja01
tbc is saying that the photos show the result of a building strike, the wires just happen to stand out on the 4th frame. It makes a good flight safety poster for wires as opposed to buildings.
Not that I would ever try to put words in the mouth of tbc but I think I'll get away with it this time.
tbc is saying that the photos show the result of a building strike, the wires just happen to stand out on the 4th frame. It makes a good flight safety poster for wires as opposed to buildings.
Not that I would ever try to put words in the mouth of tbc but I think I'll get away with it this time.
