9 replies to this topic

[f1steveuk]

As I am still recovering, and forced to watch British Television as our French signal seems to have gone, I watched "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" today. Obviously "Brookley" was supposed to be Brooklands, complete with banked corner, just where Benny Hill's windmill lookout was based, but it was filmed, supposedly, at Booker Airfield, High Wycombe. There were cars running this banking, and as it was the days before C/SGI, one surmises they actually were on something! Is there banking there, or was a large piece reproduced?

[David Beard]

Originally posted by f1steveuk
As I am still revovering, and forced to watch British Television as our French sigmal seems to have gone, I watched "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" today. Obviously "Brookley" was supposed to be Brooklands, complete with banked corner, just where Benny Hill's windmill lookout was based, but it was filmed, supposedly, at Booker Airfield, High Wycombe. There were cars running this banking, and as it was the days before C/SGI, one surmises they actually were on something! Is there banking there, or was a large piece reproduced?

The banking was there all right: I remember seeing it....a large timber structure which appeared in the field normally home to gliders and light aircraft. I couldn't figure out what on earth it was for, at the time. I think perhaps it was just one banked corner, not a circuit. It vanished as quickly as it appeared.

[MCS]

Didn't we cover this somewhere else on TNF a while back, or am I imagining we did?

They used part of the old Hitchin to Bedford railway up at the Old Warden tunnel for the Terry Thomas train stunt and some of the flying sequences were over Bedfordshire. The chimneys at London Brick in Stewartby are clearly visible in one shot.

[alansart]

Originally posted by MCS
Didn't we cover this somewhere else on TNF a while back, or am I imagining we did?

They used part of the old Hitchin to Bedford railway up at the Old Warden tunnel for the Terry Thomas train stunt and some of the flying sequences were over Bedfordshire. The chimneys at London Brick in Stewartby are clearly visible in one shot.

I didn't know that.

I spent my early years nearby in Stevenage.

I at least got to see some of the staged Dogfights set up for the Battle of Britain film. We used to lay back on the grassof the school playing field watching it all happen

[lil'chris]

Jean Pierre Cassel who played the french airman, Pierre Dubois, in the film died a couple of weeks ago. He also appeared in the 2003 film of Michel Vaillant according to this:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0144045/

[petestenning]

Yes the Old Warden area was used for filming and some of the planes are housed at the Airfield.
The Avro and Boxkite do fly at the displays on a not too windy day and fly over my house.


The Old Warden area and Northill etc were used in the BBC series Wings about the RFC, Royal Flying Corp.

Pete

[RA Historian]

Did you also catch the scene where the nuclear cooling towers are visible in the background? Not quite in keeping with the period aircraft

[f1steveuk]

I thought it was a bit much expecting a whole banked circuit to have escaped me!!! I bet that was fun running a stripped model T at speed on banking that just stopped out of shot!

I recall watching some dog fights and some models being blown up off Beechy Head, indeed some "wreckage" hung on the wall of the Beechy Head Hotel for years until it burnt down. I also remember when I was repping for a motor factor, driving between Seaford and Eastbourne past what was RAF Friston. I later found out they were filming "A Piece of Cake" there, but that day I was forced to jump out of my skin as a Spitfire and a "Buchon" 109 buzzed me at about 200ft, followed by a camera plane. I was well awake afterwards.......

[Paul Rochdale]

As we are going slightly off topic, can I mentions these WW2 aircraft? I was born and brought up in Ramsgate, right under the flightpath to RAF Manston. One day, a pair of Flying Fortresses flew over and a mate and I cycled up to see them parked up and unlocked. We climbed inside and marvelled at the planes. They had been flown over to be used in the Steve McQueen movie 'War Lover' and each plane was painted in two different sets of markings so that they could be filmed from different angles and it would appear they were a squadron.

On another occasion dozens of Spanish 'Messerschmitt' Bf109s and Heinkel 111s flew over us, and around the town for half an hour. These were used in the movie 'Battle of Britain.

[Phil Rainford]

I seem to recall that most of the Heinkels were from the Spanish Air Force and were still in active service !!