news Dambusters to be re-made

[simonsfotos]

Reference the replica Lancasters, they are indeed being built in New Zealand. In fact they are being made by a company called The Vintage Aviator who have already constructed/restored 2 Fe2bs, several Fokker Dr.1s and several other incredible WWI aircraft. Their attention to detail is incredible judging from the articles that I have read about them and from the photos that have been published. So, I have no qualms that the Lancs will look as accurate as it is possible to make them.

 

The original version of Guy Gibson's book 'Enemy Coast Ahead' was indeed published (1946) whilst a lot of the details were still on the secret list. However, in 2006 a new 'Enemy Coast Ahead - Uncensored' was published where all the previously unavailable information was included. Unfortuantely though I've not had a chance to read it...yet.

 

Ever since the new film was announced there have been worries about whether it will spoil people's memories of what, despite its inaccuracies, is a much loved film with a truly great actor in the lead role. Hopefully, Stephen Fry's script will not fall foul of this PC age.

[Tony B]

with Stepehn Fry doing the script , might have a fighting chance. I've seen some of his film work,particullay a film called V. Very powerful film. Worth watching.

[Snapper]

The script problem receiving the most attention is around the story's own He Who Must Not Be Named scenario. Unlike Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, Nigger the dog is a real historic figure. Not bad for a black labrador. Everybody knows this, so in saying it's become boring, I am being boring.....again. How often do we have to remind the 'PC brigade' that however unpleasant the name is, and no one can argue this, Guy Gibson was born in 1918 not 1998 or 2008. When I was a boy in 1968, the local wool shop was still selling colours such a N....r brown and no one batted an eyelid. Time marches on. Context is a word freely available in dictionaries to all - even the politically correct - not so you'd know it. This was a rant - blame it on the day job.

 

Simon's points on the planes is much more interesting. The company building them is owned in whole or in part by Peter Jackson (I believe) and this is why the quality is so strong. His WW1 epic, which exists in part as a test trailer highlighted on here by one of our gang, is great fun.

[schliesser92]

Living and working in Germany, the news of a remake amused my German colleagues, until I pointed out that they were going to do it for real in the interests of accuracy. Smiles disappeared, most of them live in the Eder valley!

 

Incidentally, my late maternal uncle, Fritz, was a Flak-gunner in the Luftwaffe, and told me years ago (I was about 16 then!) that the Flak protection at the Mohne dam had been reduced about two weeks before the attack, with his Abteilung (= battalion) being sent North to protect the industrial "heartland" of Germany, eventually moving further from the Ruhrgebiet to protect the U-boat motor factory in Bremen. His unit had 8.8cm Flak 18s, and when they went there were only light units (20mm Flak38 etc) defending the dam.

[Lewis Garner]

I can't see why there's a problem with the name, people seem to have a problem with everything these days. Most people my age are horrified that I go out shooting. Where's the problem in that?

Just had a read on Wikipedia about it, hopefully they can turn out another impressive film on 40 million dollars.

Regards, Lewis.

[agripper]

Have to admit I don't get all this about the name of a historical dog. Why is okay for some people to use a word and not others. I remember watching a programe about Richard Prior who usedthe "N" word alot as do a lot of black comic, his wife and now widow is white and she passed a coment at a party useing the same word in the same context in the same conversation and what had been acceptble when Prior had used it no longer was so for her. Double standard there I fear. It is not the word so much as the context for the word and who ueses it. But this is only one part of history being rewriten to suit the PC word!

 

Only my thoughts and sorry if I have offended anyone!!:cool2:

[agripper]

 

 

did find this of one of the replicas

" http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/entertainment/2383809/Takeoff-looms/ " and more.

[Snapper]

Wow - amazing. Even in 2d

[Adam Elsdon]

That looks impressive, read the article and its made out of fibreglass and steel, i wonder if i could have one as a gate guardian for my house after they finish with them!

[agripper]

would be nice if after the film they could leave at least one outside RAF Scampton with AJG on it !!!

[abn deuce]

Wow - amazing. Even in 2d

 

I agree .

[nz2]

Sorry to disappoint you as to claiming a plane to park up, but it's being filmed in New Zealand!

Last summer ( ours) thats twelve months ago now there was controversy in Masterton as access to the airfield (a public place ) was restricted while filming for the Dam busters was under way.

 

As for the detail in accuracy towards this film I have to take that it is similar to the exceptional detail used in manufacturing aircraft for the WW1 projects.

check out http://thevintageaviator.co.nz

Doug

[John Pearson]

Sorry to disappoint you as to claiming a plane to park up, but it's being filmed in New Zealand!

Doug

 

There sure are no mountains like that by Scampton! It was said that the reason that the Lanc's predecessor the Manchester was based in Lincolnshire was because the engines were so unreliable that you needed the 'land anywhere' feature of land that was like a billiard table!

[antarmike]

There sure are no mountains like that by Scampton! It was said that the reason that the Lanc's predecessor the Manchester was based in Lincolnshire was because the engines were so unreliable that you needed the 'land anywhere' feature of land that was like a billiard table!

 

Lincolnshire has some pretty good hills. Ludford Magna, at 130m, was one the highest bomber airfields. (as are Binbrook and Kelstern, which also sit on the top of the Linconlshire Wolds ) Scampton, Waddington , Kirton Lidsey and Helmswell to name but a few sit on the edge of the Lincolnshire cliff.

 

A few miles west of Scampton the River Till lies at less than 10m above sea level, but the "Cliff rises to 60m in the middle of Scampton's runway in little over two kilometers)

 

Approach these airfields from the West and this becomes apparent. Then there is the steep climb from from Grantham up to Spitalgate.

 

If you actually look at the NZ "mountains, unless the trees that line the skyline are truly giants, these are just large hills, not mountains.

 

No, there are not any airfields in Lincs that vaguely look like this field in terms or towering Hills, (except possibly Kirmington, Wickenby, East Kirkby and Grimsby/Waltham, all of which lie under the shadow of the Wolds), but Lincolshire certainly isn't a billiard table.

 

East Kirkby is at 10m, The hills a few kilometers to the north are at 92m.

Edited April 7, 2010 by antarmike

[nz2]

I don't know the landform of the original airfield used, and Mike's description answers some of my queries.

The airfield at Masterton is in a broad valley with the hills along one side( west) . Filming to the south is flat with hills way to the distance to the other points of the compass.

This can be best seen in watching You tube photos of air shows at the Airfield. One is a 360 degree image of the airspace.

Careful camera angles and covering background features are well know film attributes!

Once in the air any camera angle will show rural farming land, the different farming types and building styles could be problomatic involving more masking.

I will wait and see!

 

This country(NZ) has no large stone built dams so I wonder where that will be filmed?

Doug

[N.O.S.]

Sorry, I've lost the plot - will any of the replicas be flyable?

[trustmeimamechanic]

Nooooh , it would be nice but at best it will be a big RC model :-(

[Issy]

When i started reading the thread on the re make, my first thoughts were how on earth would they address his dog's name :nut: seems i wasn't the only one to think of it either . History is history and nothing will alter the fact that his dog's name was Nigger . Our history would end up like a bit like chineese whispers if we go altering everything just be be polite and not wanting to offend everyone, mind you it may create a few more jobs in the history re writting depts :-D

[John Pearson]

Lincolnshire has some pretty good hills. Ludford Magna, at 130m, was one the highest bomber airfields. (as are Binbrook and Kelstern, which also sit on the top of the Linconlshire Wolds ) Scampton, Waddington , Kirton Lidsey and Helmswell to name but a few sit on the edge of the Lincolnshire cliff.

 

A few miles west of Scampton the River Till lies at less than 10m above sea level, but the "Cliff rises to 60m in the middle of Scampton's runway in little over two kilometers)

 

Approach these airfields from the West and this becomes apparent. Then there is the steep climb from from Grantham up to Spitalgate.

 

If you actually look at the NZ "mountains, unless the trees that line the skyline are truly giants, these are just large hills, not mountains.

 

No, there are not any airfields in Lincs that vaguely look like this field in terms or towering Hills, (except possibly Kirmington, Wickenby, East Kirkby and Grimsby/Waltham, all of which lie under the shadow of the Wolds), but Lincolshire certainly isn't a billiard table.

 

East Kirkby is at 10m, The hills a few kilometers to the north are at 92m.

 

Thanks for Geography lesson: perhaps I should mark my posts appropriately or alternatively maybe I could offer you a lesson in recognising wit and or humour??? I assure you that I do not labour under the impression that the green stuff in the fields of Lincolnshire is really green baize.

 

(My 'humorous' post is based on a quote from one of the first Manchester pilots who said, to the effect: "The kite itself is alright but the RR 'X' layout 24 cylinder engines are awful. That is why they sent us here, it is so flat that we can put the old bird down almost anywhere" (Not exactly word for word but close enough.)

 

I do not think that many people in the world would consider 130 metres as constituting a 'mountain': isn't most of the world's land surface above 130 metres? (Maybe not, I need to check my Geography books!!)

[Snapper]

OK. We've done geography. Moving on....

[fesm_ndt]

I am glad for one to see a movie like this remade. Sadly films like the longest day etc which showe the allies fighting side by side have been replaced by drivel such as U571 showing the US navy capturing a German U boat to capture an Enigma machine. Slightly inaccurate as:

 

- The Us Navy wasnt in the war at that point

- it was British that captured it

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141926/#comment

 

But what really annoys me the most is the excuse given at the time was that Americans would not watch a war film without it being Americans. Most Americans I have met would watch anything and would appreciate something different. Hollywood and the media act like a big Netnanny

 

Watched Kokoda the other week, very gritty

[antarmike]

Thanks for Geography lesson: perhaps I should mark my posts appropriately or alternatively maybe I could offer you a lesson in recognising wit and or humour??? I assure you that I do not labour under the impression that the green stuff in the fields of Lincolnshire is really green baize.

 

(My 'humorous' post is based on a quote from one of the first Manchester pilots who said, to the effect: "The kite itself is alright but the RR 'X' layout 24 cylinder engines are awful. That is why they sent us here, it is so flat that we can put the old bird down almost anywhere" (Not exactly word for word but close enough.)

 

I do not think that many people in the world would consider 130 metres as constituting a 'mountain': isn't most of the world's land surface above 130 metres? (Maybe not, I need to check my Geography books!!)

 

As I have already said, 130m features in the Wolds are not mountains, and I never claimed them to be ( I actually called then "good Hills"), but those calling the NZ "mountain" a "mountain" are wrong. if you scale the trees on tne NZ "mountains" you will see thay are actually only Hills, fairly close to the airfield.

 

The average height of land is fairly immaterial to the point I was trying to make because a lot of Lincs lies around or below 10m, the Wolds are quite strikeing when viewed from the right location, They are not particularly high, but they are a lot higher than the sorrounds, and some views in Lincs are not disimilar to the NZ shot.

 

I do know that green stuff in fields is usually cabbages, Sprouts, leeks, Barley or Sugar beet around here. Not much Livestock, so not much grazing land, although there are a few sheep, and the odd horse. (you'd have to be odd to want to live in Lincs.)

 

I wasn't having a go, just trying to dispel the popular myth of a flat Lincolnshire. The Lincolnshire fens are flatish , as is the Ilse of Ancholme, but the Lincolnshire Wolds are hilly, and the Lincolnshire cliff runs north, on the edge of several airfields. My comments were as much aimed at members from foreign countries who are not that familiar with Lincolnshire, and the area around Scampton, as at anyone in this country.

 

I was just trying to give a fuller picture to everyone, not to knock you.

Edited April 8, 2010 by antarmike

[John Pearson]

As I have already said, 130m features in the Wolds are not mountains, and I never claimed them to be ( I actually called then "good Hills"), but those calling the NZ "mountain" a "mountain" are wrong. if you scale the trees on tne NZ "mountains" you will see thay are actually only Hills, fairly close to the airfield.

 

The average height of land is fairly immaterial to the point I was trying to make because a lot of Lincs lies around or below 10m, the Wolds are quite strikeing when viewed from the right location, They are not particularly high, but they are a lot higher than the sorrounds, and some views in Lincs are not disimilar to the NZ shot.

 

I do know that green stuff in fields is usually cabbages, Sprouts, leeks, Barley or Sugar beet around here. Not much Livestock, so not much grazing land, although there are a few sheep, and the odd horse. (you'd have to be odd to want to live in Lincs.)

 

I wasn't having a go, just trying to dispel the popular myth of a flat Lincolnshire. The Lincolnshire fens are flatish , as is the Ilse of Ancholme, but the Lincolnshire Wolds are hilly, and the Lincolnshire cliff runs north, on the edge of several airfields. My comments were as much aimed at members from foreign countries who are not that familiar with Lincolnshire, and the area around Scampton, as at anyone in this country.

 

I was just trying to give a fuller picture to everyone, not to knock you.

 

I give up!

 

Can't you read 'Snappers' comment above? Or even your own 'And stop being so serious'. It was ME that used the word 'mountain' not you!

 

To be honest, knock away, I could not care less if Lincolnshire is composed of 500 metre vertical slabs of green cheese - my comment was meant to be humorous!!!! (albeit with a historical basis). Please no more Geography!!!!!!

[antarmike]

I give up!

 

Can't you read 'Snappers' comment above? Or even your own 'And stop being so serious'. It was ME that used the word 'mountain' not you!

 

To be honest, knock away, I could not care less if Lincolnshire is composed of 500 metre vertical slabs of green cheese - my comment was meant to be humorous!!!! (albeit with a historical basis). Please no more Geography!!!!!!

 

Sorry you have lost me, I said the post wasn't meant to have a go at you, but was just a general comment for the benefit of all, so where the "knock away" comes from I don't see..

Edited April 9, 2010 by antarmike

[Snapper]

Time to get back on topic please. Thank you.