"Battle of Britain" sets and costumes

[Naphtali]

I saw "The Battle of Britain" (1969) for the first time last night. While the story is heavy handed, sets, costumes, aerial photography, and special effects are magnificent. Until I was able to move beyond intellectualizing the special effects, I cringed when scarce, beautiful aircraft were "destroyed."

The collection of Irvin jackets should be orgasmic for those who appreciate the design.

One question occurred to me: Which are longer-bodied jackets, RAF Irvin (any version), US M444, US B-3, US B-6, US D-1, US ANJ-4? Apparently, they all serve similar purpose and are fabricated from similar materials. At least in this motion picture, the Luftwaffe had nothing comparable. Flight jackets appeared to be a cross between an A-2 and a motorcycle jacket. Yuck.

 

[Jedburgh OSS]

Battle of Britain extras

See if you can find a book titled "Battle of Britain, the making of a film" by Leonard Mosley from 1969. I have a paperback copy, original price 95 cents. Also the 2 disc DVD version of this film has extras on the making plus full length commentary. The German planes were Spanish post-war repros provided by the Spanish Air Force as they were its current arsenal at that time. All of the planes destroyed were either Fiberglas replicas for that purpose or models. A converted B-25 known as the Psychedelic Monster was the camera plane that was also used in Catch 22. If you have questions I'll see if they're covered in the book. I saw this movie when it was released. Some other guys in the neighborhood and I walked to the theater to see it when we were 5th graders (+/-) in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

 

[Spitfire]

Allthough a fantastic film the collection of "irvins" are not that "orgasmic" :eusa_doh:
Take a look in the IRVINthread in Outwear. The jackets used in the film are being discussed there.
To my knowledge the american jackets are slightly longer than the irvin.
regarding the luftwaffe jackets: Luftwaffe had NO leatherjacket for their pilots. So they were all bought by the pilot, and yes, they were motorcyklejackets either made in France or Germany. That simple.

 

[Smithy]

Spitfire, is right, many of the "Irvins" are dodgy film props...

Fantastic film though.

 

[Twitch]

It is a little known fact that Gen. Adolf Galland flew one of the Spanish-built 109s.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

It is a little known fact that Gen. Adolf Galland flew one of the Spanish-built 109s.

I wonder if he had a cigar lighter installed in it.

 

[Micawber]

Spitfire, is right, many of the "Irvins" are dodgy film props...

Fantastic film though.

That Chateau set was built on the back of Duxford airfield just before the MoD announced it was putting it up for sale.

 

[Micawber]

...oh and one of my first jobs was working for the company who made some of the headwear for the production including the German officers caps.

 

[SpitfireXIV]

I cringed when scarce, beautiful aircraft were "destroyed."

i did too. i tend to get like that with aviation-themed films.
i almost passed out during "The Aviatior" during that crash scene.

 

[Smithy]

i did too. i tend to get like that with aviation-themed films.
i almost passed out during "The Aviatior" during that crash scene.

If you didn't like that, I'd imagine Sir Tim's rather large prang in his Spit XIV in '96 had you in a complete coma

 

["Doc" Devereux]

If you didn't like that, I'd imagine Sir Tim's rather large prang in his Spit XIV in '96 had you in a complete coma

It's an unfortunate truth that aviation inevitably includes the occasional... shall we say "Unplanned touchdown?" It's a tribute to their crews that so many old aircraft are still in the sky.

 

[Jedburgh OSS]

Another unplanned landing...

Watch Tora! Tora! Tora! for the scene when one of the B-17's arrives on the islands and crash lands. That was not in the script. The ground crew got word that one of the landing gears was stuck, so the film crew had the plane circle until they were set up. Notice the unmatched, slightly grainier look than the rest of the movie. Later, some dialogue was added and scenes were filmed on board the plane by the actors portraying the crew to match the previously filmed actual crash. (You really don't think they would have actually done this on purpose even back in 1968-69 during the production?) When 12 O'Clock High was made in 1949 they had a hard time finding enough B-17's for that movie although that crash into the tent was in the script. However during the night the wind blew down the tent and a member of the production crew replaced the break away wooden pole with a steel pipe. Fortunately it missed the pilot as it sliced through the plane and still worked to good effect. The crash and burn at the beginning of Memphis Belle was a true accident caught on film and worked into the script.

 

[Smithy]

[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]It's an unfortunate truth that aviation inevitably includes the occasional... shall we say "Unplanned touchdown?" It's a tribute to their crews that so many old aircraft are still in the sky.[/QUOTE]

Couldn't agree more Doc. Otherwise the sights and sounds of vintage aviation would be lost.

 

[Twitch]

That's why they came up with the saying "any landing you can walk away from is a good one." Covers a multitude of sins and legalizes many faux pars.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

That's why they came up with the saying "any landing you can walk away from is a good one." Covers a multitude of sins and legalizes many faux pars.

Very true, but I understand that the fashion is generally to leave the aircraft in a reusable condition. Insurance premiums are bad enough as it is! lol

 

[DutchIndo]

The movie I liked that had RAF "Kit" was 633 Squadron. As a kid I drooled over the Flying Helmets. Mosquito Bombers were also awesome to watch. Tora Tora Tora is a great flick especially the attack on Wheeler Field. It still amazes me that people didn't get killed filming those P-40s getting strafed.
As I mentioned on another post they had quite a few Tora planes at Long Beach Airport. The stunt flying in some of the movies back then (60s-70s) was done by Frank Tallman and Paul Mantz (?). They had a great museum here at Orange County Airport back then. They had alot of the planes from movies they did. I clearly remember seeing the B-25s still in "wardrobe" from the movie "Catch-22".

 

[KilroyCD]

It is a little known fact that Gen. Adolf Galland flew one of the Spanish-built 109s.

A friend of mine was one of the pilots for the movie. He mostly flew the "Messerschmitts" (Hispano HA-1112 Buchons), but did occasionally fly some of the Spitfires. He was the one who made a dead stick belly landing in TE308 (one of the two-seat Spits) during the filming due to an engine failure. But I digress.
There was one two-seat Hispano there for the filming, and it was in this aircraft that Galland went up, but as a passenger, not the pilot. My friend was the pilot who flew Galland. The Buchon had an automatic setting for the radiator cooling flaps. Sometimes during hard manoeuvering these would pop open. The unintended effect of this was to allow the "Messerschmitt" to turn more tightly than a Spitfire. When this was demonstrated to Galland, he said something to the effect that if they had known this at the time, they could have won the Battle of Britain.

 

[Smithy]

Thanks Kilroy, hadn't heard that about the radiator flaps.

Whenever I hear about or see a Buchon now I always think of Mark Hanna

 

[KilroyCD]

Thanks Kilroy, hadn't heard that about the radiator flaps.

Whenever I hear about or see a Buchon now I always think of Mark Hanna

Yes, tragic. I had the pleasure of talking with him one day at Duxford, and ironically we were discussing the flight and landing characteristics of the Messerschmitt 109. In this case, it was when he was flying Hans Dittes' Bf109G-10 / Hispano hybrid with the extended tailwheel strut. Not long after that he had his tragic accident.