land rover in 633 squadron

[ford 369]

at the moment I am watching 633 squadron with the wife and less than five minutes into the film as a jeep drives the squadron leader from his plane towards the station commanders office a series land rover safari is clearly visible,this set me thinking how many more inapropriate vehicles and pieces of kit can be named in films

[Willyslancs]

havent we done that before? ....

[phil munga]

This happens all the time , later type vehicles made to look old or some times just use a later vehicle because thats all thats available , I've pointed this out to the other half many times but she'll reply am I bothered

[Willyslancs]

:rofl: yep i get that too ......

[Tony B]

Just finished watching 633 caught the end. Wasn't that a Carmicheal or Redwing fire tender, just to the left of THE at THE END?

[snowtracdave]

And who has noticed in The Battle of Britain the scene on a German airfield with a Unimog driving along by the hedge just behind the row of aircraft ?

 

Pretty good when they weren't even in prototype until around 1947 .

[ford 369]

dont forget the obvious ones like Steve Mcqueens triumph in the great escape,mind you I woudlnt fancy anyones chances of making the jump on a wartime bmw or zundapp

[Tony B]

Or following beautiful continuity. The Series 1 Land Rover at the end of Ice Cold in Alex.

[antarmike]

And who has noticed in The Battle of Britain the scene on a German airfield with a Unimog driving along by the hedge just behind the row of aircraft ?

 

Pretty good when they weren't even in prototype until around 1947 .

With respect to "Battle Of Britain"

I wonder just how many RAF Matadors had been ordered, built and issued by 1940, and would they have been on fighter airfields? The problem is not just post war vehicles making into WW2 films, it is WW2 vehicles being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have never seen a wartime still photograph that shows an RAF Matador on a British homeland fighter Airfield in 1940! With The BEF losing most of it's kit at Dunkirk just a few months previously, and resulting serious equipment shortages, would large 4x4 Matadors be parked up in lines on RAF bases doing nothing, as depicted in the film?( Almost every other shot seems to show a Matador)

 

Although from Cab shape, body style etc, I guess that the AEC Matadors in BofB are actually post ww2 production Matadors (i.e. O85310000+ chassis numbers) from the 1950's and really shouldn't be in the film either! In the highly unlikely event of a Matador being on an RAF Fighter base on UK mainland in 1940, surely it would have had the double curved roof, and had the platform back body? And surely they wouldn't have been painted in RAF Blue Grey as were the BofB film Matadors.

Edited December 31, 2009 by antarmike

[antarmike]

Why Worry about the odd Land Rover in 633 Squadron? There are such glaring problems with the aircraft themselves, a spurious Land Rover is hardly of any consequence.

 

The Mosquitos looked nothing like operational aircraft.

Eight Mosquitos were primarily used, five airworthy and others that could not fly but could be taxied on runways or used as set dressing. The airworthy TT 35 Mosquitos were converted in an attempt to make them resemble a fighter-bomber variant (FB Mk VI). The TT 35 models had their clear nosecones and side windows painted over and dummy machine gun barrels fitted. No attempt was made to smooth over the flat "Bomb Aimer's" panel, so the result looked like a painted bomber front end, with four "Blue Peter" style bog roll centres stuck on it! However they could do nothing to deal with the bulged bomb bay and could not replicate the flat armoured glass windscreen of the FB model.

 

However the fourth airworthy Mosquito was a T3 with a solid nose which only required the fitting of dummy machine gun barrels. It lacked the two-stage Merlins, V-shaped windscreen and bulged bomb bay of the TT 35s, so it looked slighly more like the real thing. No attempt was made to simulate the four Hispano cannons that should also have been visible on all of the aircraft. Remind me when the 633 Squadron story was supposed to have happened (attacking a V2 Rocket fuel site suggests late in the war), but later FB VI's were also fitted with Rocket rails, and early production models had these retro fitted. The 633 FB VI's are missing these rails.

 

The Mosquitos used in the film were:

 

RS709 - flown in the film ( rebuilt as PR.XVI configuration and now at National Museum of the US Airforce Dayton now wearing serial NS519.)

RS712 - flown (later owned by Kermit Weeks, now at EAA museum Oshkosh)

RS715 - cockpit section only appears in film (Rear fuselage was acquired from Elstree and has been built into a night fighter NFII recreation HJ 711, Yorkshire Air museum)

TA639 - flown (and now at RAF Museum Cosford)

TA719 - flown (and now at Duxford)

TJ118 - cockpit section only apperaed in film (at Mosquito museum, The rear fuselage has now been acquired by the museum)

TV959 - at Bovington Airfield, but was not flown (present location unknown to me but TV959 is owned by The Flying Heritage Collection, but is believed to be still in the UK at the moment. Elvington??)

TW117 - flown (Norwegian Aircraft Museum Bodo)

 

No original German aircraft were available so Messerschmitt Bf 108 aircraft were used to represent the Messerschmitt Bf 109. The 108 was a two seat sports/ recreational plane that only saw limited use by the Luftwaffe as personal transport and Liason duties. It was unarmed. Although sharing some design features with the 109 it doesn't really look anything like it! (imagine a Bf109 with a greenhouse grafted onto it!)

(to be fair though the RAF impounded four Bf 108s on the outbreak of World War II and put into service, where they were designated Messerschmitt Aldon. They were used as a light communications aircraft, but they caused some confusion by being mistaken for attacking Bf 109s.)

 

 

The camera aircraft, a North American B-25 Mitchell, appears in the film, dropping Bergman back into Norway. I am unaware the type was ever used in this role! (A Halifax was surely a likely contender)

Edited December 28, 2009 by antarmike

[retriever]

Even worse than the land rover in 633 was the saracen marked as german.

[Smithy]

Don't forget the American helicopter disguised as a German one in Where Eagles Dare!!

[croc]

How about having an "as seen in film" section at MV shows, that would give the spotters something to get excited about :coffee:

[antarmike]

In "Battle of Britain "

1948 Citroen Light 15

"German" Chevrolet 15 Cwt 1940??

International Harvester R-200

1955 Faun F60

M35

Mack B-61

Cadillac M37

M2A1 half track

Edited December 30, 2009 by antarmike

[antarmike]

633 squadron did have Saracen

and Series II 1958 109"

but also staring was this 1951 Fordson Major tractor

Edited December 29, 2009 by antarmike

[antarmike]

And everyone eye is so caught by the 1951 series I landy in ice cold in Alex, they may not have noticed on the otherside of Anthony Quail's head is a 1950 Hudson.

Edited December 29, 2009 by antarmike

[antarmike]

In "Mosquito Squadron" this German M5A1 circa 1942-44

[Richard Farrant]

In "Mosquito Squadron" this German M5A1 circa 1942-44

 

Mike,

 

I believe the M5A1 was one of the British gun tractor conversions and that the turret could be a dummy. Note the towing hook on the front for manouvering the 17 pdrs. It might well have been one of a batch that used lay in a dealers yard in Sussex.

[snowtracdave]

OK......Been racking my brains and can't remember which film it was :

 

I caught the tail end of a John Wayne film set in WWII a few months back in which , needless to say , he was winning pretty much single handedly , but I'm sure he did it whilst driving round in an M38A1 . Anybody else remember it or have I imagined that one in my decrepitude ?

[ford 369]

633 squadron did have Saracen

and Series II 1958 109"

but also staring was this 1951 Fordson Major tractor

 

could that be a morris minor in front of the landy as well?

[ford 369]

another common sight in films seems to be german marked m3 and m5 halftracks in the film Tobruk they are seen and if I remember correctly in Ice cold in Alex as well

Nigel

[antarmike]

Ice cold also has

Marmon Harrington Amoured Car MkIII

Montreal Locomotive Sexton??,

White M2A1

Morris Commercial C8 FAT

and a Nuffield Mk VI Crusader 2

 

Haven't time to upload photo's tonight, might get round to it tomorrow

Edited December 29, 2009 by antarmike

[Guest trucky]

and an IH tractor,with ak49 rifile

[antarmike]

I haven't time to post piccy's but follow this link.

http://imcdb.org/movie.php?id=53935

You can search most films. The identification of some vehicles may be disputed.

 

You can also search for a particular vehicle to see which films it has been spotted in.

 

Have fun

[antarmike]

One last one from "Battle of Britain" A german Dodge Weapons carrier.