Because we all could use a laugh

[mustangdriver]

Yesterday Trey Carroll and I watched the epic movie The Defender. I own the movie thanks to a fellow Wixer. I had to ask if anyone knew a few things.

Which Hurricane was it that he flew in the filming of BOB

Is that a Bolingbroke in the start of the film along with a B-25. And where are they now?

Where are Bob and Chris now?

[steve dickey]

Didn't Zane, "ZTEX" come across Bob a couple years back at an airport south of Ft Worth??

[Steve Nelson]

I love how at the beginning they're designing a "revolutionary" new wing/airfoil for the Defender, but when they finally get around to attempting to fly the prototype, it has a set of stock Cessna wings.

SN

[AEH]

I've not seen this film till this evening, and to be honest, after viewing I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

For those who have not yet seen this gem here is a link:

http://www.nfb.ca/film/defender

Have a beer or 3 and enjoy.

-AEH

[Dan Jones]

Years ago I was there at his field in Carmen. There was a Bolingbroke there, as well as a derelict Mk 1 or II Anson, and some Zero junk laying in the weeds. They were working on the P-40 at the time. The Hurricane is the one that was with the Strathallan Collection until the Canadian Warplane Heritage purchased it. It was lost (along with four or five other aircraft) in a hangar fire in Hamilton, Ontario in the early 'nineties. The B-25, if I remember correctly, became Tillamook's airplane - but I could be wrong about that. It was an interesting place...

Last edited by Dan Jones on Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

[rcaf_100]

The Hurricane was RCAF Mk XII 5377 and later went to CWH in Hamilton where it was lost in the 1993 hangar fire.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/hurrireg ... f5377.html
Some bits that didn't melt (ie landing gear, exhaust stacks) made it onto the the fibreglass replica on display there now.

[ZRX61]

His worldwide reputation as a genius at restoring "warbirds"

Excuse me??

[mustangdriver]

I tested the aircraft's seatbelts by crashing the airplane!

[BHawthorne]

Is this guy for real or is this satire? I'm 5 minutes in when they throw the crazy tank guy at us chasing cows and the borrowed plane. I feel like this is the documentary version of internet trolling. So far it's like coming up on an accident scene but it's too interesting not to gawk at it.

[aerovin]

That documentary is an all time classic. I have no idea for certain, but it seems the documentary makers started it as a serious effort until the saw what they had for a subject, then it turned into the dry, ironic, and very entertaining film. All they had to do was let Bob talk; what else is necessary? His assistant was only icing on the cake, but the sequences with him and his chase vehicle (not starting) could not have been done better with a script and a hundred takes. The restoration of the Zero to flight status shows Bob's "resourcefulness" at its best; all that was missing was a sledge hammer and a big crowbar.

(Edit: I watched it again and there actually was a sledge hammer involved...)

Last edited by aerovin on Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Sopwith]

I saw this film a few years ago and forgot all about it till now.Is Bob still around?

[Tiger Tim]

I find myself watching that documentary about once a year. Sometimes I'll wonder if it could have been at least a part of the inspiration for another famous Canadian duo...


-Tim

[the330thbg]

I find myself watching that documentary about once a year. Sometimes I'll wonder if it could have been at least a part of the inspiration for another famous Canadian duo...


-Tim

I LOVED the RED GREEN show!!!!

Great stuff!!!!

[andyman64]

ah more of our hard earned tax dollars well spent on the film board of Canada Jesus that made me embarrassed to be a Canadian!

[Steve Nelson]

When I showed the film to my brother (after seeing it for myself for the first time a couple of years ago) I described it as "Red Green Builds An Airplane." Am I the only one who thinks Bob's assistant bears an uncanny resemblance to Red's nephew Harold?

SN