question Battle of Britain film 1969

[Rick W]

Ive just been watching the classic film Battle of Britain made in 1969. It made me wonder how many vehicles, planes etc were actually destroyed during the making of it? There are obviously some real ME109's, Hurricanes and Spits in it. How many of them were destroyed, how many survive today?

[Jessie The Jeep]

Aircraft that were blown up were fibreglass fullsize replicas, or radio controlled models. I'm guessing the vehicles were real. It took two years to track down RAF gate guardian Spitfires and make them airworthy for the film. The Messerschmitts ( actually Spanish built Buchons with Merlin engines ) and Heinkels ( also with Merlin engines ) were supplied by the Spanish Air Force. Filming was done over the UK, South of France and Spain. Only two Heinkels were allowed to the UK for filming, so shots where you see the bombers over London, with the city below, were these two aircraft. Larger formation shots were filmed looking level or up so the ground couldn't be seen.

 

I think a few of the original aircraft replicas survive at the KENT BATTLE OF BRITAIN MUSEUM - http://www.kbobm.org/

 

The Luftwaffe attack on the French airfield at the beginning of the film was shot on the South side of Duxford. The hangar at Duxford which was blown up during the RAF airfield attack was destroyed without permission.

[Richard Farrant]

Ive just been watching the classic film Battle of Britain made in 1969. It made me wonder how many vehicles, planes etc were actually destroyed during the making of it? There are obviously some real ME109's, Hurricanes and Spits in it. How many of them were destroyed, how many survive today?

 

Rick,

 

I do not think any aircraft were destroyed, replicas / mock ups were made and destroyed. A lot of the location scenes were done around my locality and I recollect seeing a lot of the flying from out of Hawkinge aerodrome, while working on Romney Marsh that summer. Another thing I saw was the mock up of the three masts at Dover, where the Stuka crashes into them. This was all scaled down and the aircraft was suspended on a cable from a crane. Also minature barrage balloons in the area. The "ME109's" were in fact Spanish built Buchons IIRC.

[Willyslancs]

wasnt it tony oliver driving one of the staff cars? werent some of the vehicles his after the film was made.....

[rippo]

I know where the bedford MW used in the film lives, its just under gone a major restoration, now its back in green paint.

[berna2vm]

My favourite film!!!

[ArtistsRifles]

Aircraft that were blown up were fibreglass fullsize replicas, or radio controlled models. I'm guessing the vehicles were real. It took two years to track down RAF gate guardian Spitfires and make them airworthy for the film. The Messerschmitts ( actually Spanish built Buchons with Merlin engines ) and Heinkels ( also with Merlin engines ) were supplied by the Spanish Air Force. Filming was done over the UK, South of France and Spain. Only two Heinkels were allowed to the UK for filming, so shots where you see the bombers over London, with the city below, were these two aircraft. Larger formation shots were filmed looking level or up so the ground couldn't be seen.

 

I think a few of the original aircraft replicas survive at the KENT BATTLE OF BRITAIN MUSEUM - http://www.kbobm.org/

 

The Luftwaffe attack on the French airfield at the beginning of the film was shot on the South side of Duxford. The hangar at Duxford which was blown up during the RAF airfield attack was destroyed without permission.

 

I thought they demolished the hangar at North Weald - some film was shot there, I recall seeing the fresh paint on the hangars.....

[Jessie The Jeep]

The hangar demolished was definately Duxford. Some filming may have been at North Weald ( until bad weather forced the move to Southern France ). There's a sequence of photos of the hangar demolishion in the 'Airfields of the Eighth Then and Now' on the Duxford pages. The camouflage on the Duxford hangars still seen today was applied for the BoB film.

[ArtistsRifles]

The hangar demolished was definately Duxford. Some filming may have been at North Weald ( until bad weather forced the move to Southern France ). There's a sequence of photos of the hangar demolishion in the 'Airfields of the Eighth Then and Now' on the Duxford pages. The camouflage on the Duxford hangars still seen today was applied for the BoB film.

 

Many thanks kind sir

 

My old RCT unit (C Troop, 215 Sqn RCT (VR) used to use North Weald for driver training at weekends in those halcyon days and I recall the old hands reminiscing about the times they had to stop training for the filming - plus the painted hangars!!

[Rick W]

All good stuff, thanks for the info guys.

[Tony B]

The aircraft staged through Jersey. We bunked of school to ride up and see them.

[ashley]

wasnt it tony oliver driving one of the staff cars? werent some of the vehicles his after the film was made.....

 

If IIRC Tony Oliver was the main byer/supplier of vehicles for this film amongst others and had first choice of buying them after filming.

 

Ashley