Warbird Information Exchange

I was not impressed with this movie but they did do some filming at Duxford showing Sally B and some of the other resident aircraft of that field. I enjoyed the book more than the movie.

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

I haven't read the book yet, but I enjoyed the movie. I think some of the others were Princess Elizbeth and SNAFU.

-Thomas Reilly

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Warb ... 3861560352
http://warbirdwatcher.blog.com/

_________________
-Thomas Reilly

The Warbird Watcher
http://warbirdwatcher.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Warb ... 3861560352

Photos from Duxford shared on the Key forum last summer captured some of the activity that was happening at the field at the time of the filming for Monuments Men and another film (note post #1399, showing the four Spitfires all lined up, brought together for the film (three airworthy, one static):

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthre ... 013/page47
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthre ... 013/page46
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthre ... 013/page45

I enjoyed the film, but thought it definitely needed a lot more character development. The characters were pretty one-dimensional..it would have been nice to have seen their backstories and motivations fleshed out a bit more. All in all not bad, but not particularly memorable either.

One little aviation moment that gave me a chuckle was when they were tooling around Paris in a Tiger Moth that had supposedly been hidden in a French barn, yet clearly sported a huge British registration. Since it's not an "airplane" movie I'll give them a pass. Of course, I've seen countless movies that take place in far-flung countries featuring supposedly "local" airplanes with prominently-displayed N-numbers.

SN

Decent movie. I'll second what Steve said about the movie lacking character development. I just never felt connected to any of the characters, thought it was a pretty enjoyable watch. The airfield scene at Duxford with the C-47, B-17, P-47, Spitfires and P-51s all visible was pretty cool.

_________________
Matt

I leaned over to my wife and said "Look..Sally B and Princess Elizabeth..must be Duxford." And she knew what I was talking about! That's why I married her..

SN

I said almost the same thing! We were stationed in England and I dragged my wife to Duxford many times.

JMC

Same thought here. I also thought they were pretty gutty to be flying over Paris at night in 1944, kept waiting for a British or American nightfighter to come down and nail them.

That being said, my wife and I did really enjoy the movie. It was a good story, and I didn't go to it expecting a documentary.


JMC

And I've seen plenty of movies set in the USA with planes carrying C-XXXX registrations and sigh, "another runaway production..."

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Not a great movie but a good enough show to fill up a slow afternoon. I wonder how long it will be before we see a documentary on PBS covering the real people and action involved.

I noticed the Tiger Moth and it's registration right away but just had to pass it off as "typical Hollywood". I know a little of what the Monuments Men did and too wish the movie was stronger on character development. I did notice that the film had people talking, most were unaware of the scale of German art theft or how destructive the war was. The book gives a much better picture of how it worked and they only cover Northern Europe leaving Italy for another book.

_________________
"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

.

This is something I didn't know. I never realised that there were American night fighters operational over France in 1944. How many squadrons? What types did they operate?

There's always something new to learn.

BG

_________________
Little Johnny : "When I grow up I want to be a pilot!"

Johnny's Mother : "Don't be silly Dear - you can't do both!"

I know that some US night fighter squadrons operated Northrop P-61 Black Widows from the U.K. I think that earlier on the operated the P-70 Havoc and maybe Bristol Beaufighters and deHavilland Mosquitos on reverse lend lease.

_________________
"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

Well, I had my timing a little off. The Americans were operating over Britain between May and July, but it looks like the first American unit did not make the continent until August 1944. But the British Mosquitos might have been around that night. Heck, maybe even a German intruder.

However, I mostly meant it as a snarky comment during the movie, not really trying for historical accuracy! Forgive my impertinence...

JMC

JMC - nothing to forgive.

I never knew before now that the Americans operated night fighters at all over France, so I've truly learnt something.

Even if a night fighter had made a night radar contact on a Tiger Moth I doubt whether they could have made a kill (whatever the nationality) as I guess a 'robust' cruise speed in a Tiger would have been hard to match without stalling from any of the n/fighters of the day.

Haven't seen the movie yet but noticing your last comment concerning 'historical accuracy', my personal opinion is that if you include the words 'historical accuracy' in the same sentence as 'war movies' then that pairing of words qualifies as a definite oxymoron.

Barry

_________________
Little Johnny : "When I grow up I want to be a pilot!"

Johnny's Mother : "Don't be silly Dear - you can't do both!"