BBC2 9pm The Spitfire : Britain's Flying Past

[Dr Jekyll]

Eric Mc said:

I wasn't sure what he was saying either. However, I've never heard anyone abbreviate "Focke-Wulf" to just "Focke" before. The normal abbreviation is to use the official one, the letter "FW".

Pity that.

I always liked the story of the Girls school where Douglas Bader gave a talk.

Noticing the giggling from the back row as Bader reminisced about the time he got a Focke on his tail, outmanoeuvred the Focke, got the Focke in his sights etc etc, the headmistress pointed out.

‘As I’m sure you know girls, the Focke is a type of German aeroplane’.

‘That’s true Ma’am’ said Bader, ‘but this fellow was flying a Messerschmitt’.

[paulrussell]

I'd like a program where they focused on other WW2 planes other than Spitfires and Lancasters.

[dr_gn]

paulrussell said:

Eric Mc said:

paulrussell said:

You are all forgetting that the programme was made for a very wide audience. You will always be disapointed as these sort of programes are always filled with over elaborate stories. Also don't blame John Sergeant for what he said, as it's all scripted.

The big assumption in that statement is that the "wide audience" somehow cannot handle facts and only wants emotions.

Raymond Baxter's 1976 "Spitfire" documentary was also made for a wide audience and was a lot better. Is the implication that the wide of audience of 1976 more intelligent than the wide audience of 35 years later?

Or is it that the programme makers of 1976 had more respect and higher expectations of their audience than the media trained and immersed programme makers of 2011?

I don't think people are as inteligent in 2011 than they were in 1976 unfortunatly. I also think very few people who are intrested in the subject get full control of the making of the programe, so we get inaccuracies which enthusiasts spot.

There was a programe not so long ago based on a few pilots from different backgrounds 'competing' to become a 'Spitfire pilot' - going through some of the various training regimes etc. At the end of each week or month or whatever, one of them got 'voted off' and had to pack their bag and leave. I thought it was the ultimate in dumbing down and stupidity: to apply a 'Big Brother' type competition to the Battle of Britain in order to appeal to the lowest common dumbass denominator. I'm surprised Carolyn Grace accepted the offer to be involved.

Can't see what's wrong with simply making a decent documentary and having done with it.

[Eric Mc]

Dr Jekyll said:

Eric Mc said:

I wasn't sure what he was saying either. However, I've never heard anyone abbreviate "Focke-Wulf" to just "Focke" before. The normal abbreviation is to use the official one, the letter "FW".

Pity that.

I always liked the story of the Girls school where Douglas Bader gave a talk.

Noticing the giggling from the back row as Bader reminisced about the time he got a Focke on his tail, outmanoeuvred the Focke, got the Focke in his sights etc etc, the headmistress pointed out.

‘As I’m sure you know girls, the Focke is a type of German aeroplane’.

‘That’s true Ma’am’ said Bader, ‘but this fellow was flying a Messerschmitt’.

I think Bader was already a Prisoner of War before the RAF encountered any Fw 190s.

[Simpo Two]

dr_gn said:

There was a programe not so long ago based on a few pilots from different backgrounds 'competing' to become a 'Spitfire pilot'

I remember that. Thought it was pretty good actually, not unlike the Dams Raid simulation using current RAF aircrew to see if they could cope without modern aids.

[dr_gn]

Simpo Two said:

dr_gn said:

There was a programe not so long ago based on a few pilots from different backgrounds 'competing' to become a 'Spitfire pilot'

I remember that. Thought it was pretty good actually, not unlike the Dams Raid simulation using current RAF aircrew to see if they could cope without modern aids.

It wasn't so much the training regime and disparate backgrounds of the 'contestants', it was more the way that they - somehow - turned it into the ubiquitous "voted off" type reality show that I found annoying. It was (and still is to an extent) as if every single piece of TV had to be dumbed down to fit into that particular format.

[perdu]

dr_gn said:

It wasn't so much the training regime and disparate backgrounds of the 'contestants', it was more the way that they - somehow - turned it into the ubiquitous "voted off" type reality show that I found annoying. It was (and still is to an extent) as if every single piece of TV had to be dumbed down to fit into that particular format.

I wish BBC's Breakfast time allowed that format so we could vote the execrable Balls off his permanant "critique" slot every other day...

(stuck with it because at least its only every other day, with ITV its that snotball Chiles every blimmin day)

I wish that TV showed the other aircraft involved too. I really hate some of the fact-umentaries that purport to show Spitfires, showing Hurricanes and Kittyhawks (and other types) but never say "here's a P40 from America flying in desert colours"

I have seen lots of Desert Airforce footage linked in with BoB footage to tell a tale which is distorted by omission.

I doubt if it will change now as those of us who care start wearing away by mental erosion

[dr_gn]

perdu said:

dr_gn said:

It wasn't so much the training regime and disparate backgrounds of the 'contestants', it was more the way that they - somehow - turned it into the ubiquitous "voted off" type reality show that I found annoying. It was (and still is to an extent) as if every single piece of TV had to be dumbed down to fit into that particular format.

I wish BBC's Breakfast time allowed that format so we could vote the execrable Balls off his permanant "critique" slot every other day...

(stuck with it because at least its only every other day, with ITV its that snotball Chiles every blimmin day)

I wish that TV showed the other aircraft involved too. I really hate some of the fact-umentaries that purport to show Spitfires, showing Hurricanes and Kittyhawks (and other types) but never say "here's a P40 from America flying in desert colours"

I have seen lots of Desert Airforce footage linked in with BoB footage to tell a tale which is distorted by omission.

I doubt if it will change now as those of us who care start wearing away by mental erosion

There was a picture of Billy Drake in his Times obitury reently, next to the front of a desert filter equipped Spitfire. The caption read "..with his Spitfire during the Battle of Britain" or something. At least one reader wrote in to complain.

[Simpo Two]

dr_gn said:

There was a picture of Billy Drake in his Times obitury reently, next to the front of a desert filter equipped Spitfire. The caption read "..with his Spitfire during the Battle of Britain" or something. At least one reader wrote in to complain.

I suppose the kid who edited it did Google Images for 'spitfire' and slapped in the first hit whilst texting his mates on his iPhone lol.

I hope they printed an apology.

[croyde]

Kept thinking that John sounded and looked like Jo Brand.

Enjoyed the documentary though and those old ladies certainly were lookers back in the day, especially the blondie that actually flew Spitfires

[24lemons]

On the subject of Spitfires, I thought I'd share this video I filmed about 30 minutes ago. A Spitfire was hired for a 90th Birthday celebration in Tewkesbury. I was expecting a flypast but got slightly more than that. An astonishing 10 minute display (I only filmed the last couple of mins) It left me rather wobbly kneed and im sure a fly ended up in my eye rather embarrsingly!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrsK29oYtOY

[Simpo Two]

croyde said:

Kept thinking that John sounded and looked like Jo Brand.

Without the self-deprecating fat jokes, yes.

croyde said:

Enjoyed the documentary though and those old ladies certainly were lookers back in the day, especially the blondie that actually flew Spitfires

I met some of them at the deHavilland museum earlier ths year. Sharp cookies still.

[Eric Mc]

"Britain's Flying Past" is a rather grandiose title for a programme that turned out to have such a narrow remit.

With a title like that I would like to have seena broader sweep than just a lacklustre programme on the Spitfire. A documentary based on the book "Empire of the Clouds" would be excellent and could use such a title (minus the word "Spitfire", of course).