Dambusters film

[jmorgan]

FourWheelDrift said:

jmorgan said:

Richard Todd had an interesting life. Part of the relief for the Pegasus Bridge. In the Longest Day film he played Major John Howard (who led the glider assault). Not sure who played himself.

Meeting up again during filming.

Superb. I believe my parents met him at the cafe a few years before he passed away. They did not know who he was at first but got chatting and he started to discuss with them what happened, although sort of familiar with the event, not until he said something along the lines of "we came up over there".

[AMG Merc]

Riley Blue said:

I was at school in Hamm, Germany in the mid-'60s, not far from the Mohne Dam. On a visit there we walked across the dam whistling the Dambusters theme and found, propped up against one of the trees on the far side of the dam, the end from one of the bombs. From memory it was about 2 1/2 - 3 feet in diameter and I thought it had a toothed ring on it but I'm now not so sure. It was, I think, cast iron. There was an information board stuck in the ground but I can't remember any detail after all this time. It was gone when I returned in 1995 - still whistling the same tune. On the '60s visit the rebuilt section in the centre of the dam was clear to see.

Nice story, and good to know that your school friends didn't seem to take sides

[Eric Mc]

It was only recently that I discovered that Todd was a Dubliner.

[ou sont les biscuits]

Eric Mc said:

It was only recently that I discovered that Todd was a Dubliner.

I always preferred The Chieftains myself.

[aeropilot]

Lucas CAV said:

Eric Mc said:

All good stuff.

Now we should discuss where the film got it wrong (deliberately in some cases) and what they weren't allowed to show.

I always thought Richard Todd's portrayal of Guy Gibson was a bit bland. A good performance but perhaps not as complex as the real person.

Not something filmmakers in the 1950's would have even considered.

Reach For The Sky for example, portrays Bader in a totally different light to his real personality.

[Riley Blue]

AMG Merc said:

Riley Blue said:

I was at school in Hamm, Germany in the mid-'60s, not far from the Mohne Dam. On a visit there we walked across the dam whistling the Dambusters theme and found, propped up against one of the trees on the far side of the dam, the end from one of the bombs. From memory it was about 2 1/2 - 3 feet in diameter and I thought it had a toothed ring on it but I'm now not so sure. It was, I think, cast iron. There was an information board stuck in the ground but I can't remember any detail after all this time. It was gone when I returned in 1995 - still whistling the same tune. On the '60s visit the rebuilt section in the centre of the dam was clear to see.

Nice story, and good to know that your school friends didn't seem to take sides

It was a school for the sons of British forces personnel so we were naturally biased. It was in a former Luftwaffe barracks, here's a photo taken of it before we arrived - WGS = Windsor Girls' School, WBS = Windsor Boys' School:

[DB7 for ever]

One of my favouraite films and I could watch it over and over again.

Saddest part was when poor " " got run over and Mike Baldwin went down into the cliffs along with Schuey Mcfee.

Cheers

[aeropilot]

Riley Blue said:

AMG Merc said:

Riley Blue said:

I was at school in Hamm, Germany in the mid-'60s, not far from the Mohne Dam. On a visit there we walked across the dam whistling the Dambusters theme and found, propped up against one of the trees on the far side of the dam, the end from one of the bombs. From memory it was about 2 1/2 - 3 feet in diameter and I thought it had a toothed ring on it but I'm now not so sure. It was, I think, cast iron. There was an information board stuck in the ground but I can't remember any detail after all this time. It was gone when I returned in 1995 - still whistling the same tune. On the '60s visit the rebuilt section in the centre of the dam was clear to see.

Nice story, and good to know that your school friends didn't seem to take sides

It was a school for the sons of British forces personnel so we were naturally biased. It was in a former Luftwaffe barracks, here's a photo taken of it before we arrived - WGS = Windsor Girls' School, WBS = Windsor Boys' School:

[DB7 for ever]

LMAO.

When we were kids in the early 70's we had a selection of dogs ( Alsatians and German Sheps )with names ranging from Ranji, Zarr, Sambo & Honky to name a few and we never got any crap off anyone for it. Maybe because we were a mixed raced family at the time so saw the funny side of it all unlike some Pc degenerates of today.

My Grandad even called his dog Adolf and Rommel and we always tuned in to watch " Love thy neighbour" Ahhhh, those were the days.

Cheers

Smollet said:

The DVLA don't find it a problem going by this number plate.

Edited by DB7 for ever on Monday 23 January 16:11

[nicanary]

jmorgan said:

Richard Todd had an interesting life. Part of the relief for the Pegasus Bridge. In the Longest Day film he played Major John Howard (who led the glider assault). Not sure who played himself.

Peter Lawford played Lord Lovat, who led the relief troops who linked up with Howard, which would have included Todd. IIRC Lawford was part of the Rat Pack, (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis jnr., Frank Sinatra etc.)

Fantastic flying by the glider pilots - highest quality according to historians - some of them landed only 47 yards from the perimeter fence, in the dark, obviously unpracticed. not making a sound.

[aeropilot]

nicanary said:

jmorgan said:

Richard Todd had an interesting life. Part of the relief for the Pegasus Bridge. In the Longest Day film he played Major John Howard (who led the glider assault). Not sure who played himself.

Peter Lawford played Lord Lovat, who led the relief troops who linked up with Howard, which would have included Todd.

No, Todd was a member of the 7th Para's who were dropped into the areas around Pegasus Bridge very shortly after the Ox and Bucks gliders landed as reinforcements to them to hold the bridge, the first members of the 7th reached the bridge only some 30 mins after the Ox and Bucks had secured the bridge, and some 5 hours before Lovat's Commandoes had even landed on the beaches, let alone relieved the 6th Airborne at the bridge.

[Eric Mc]

ou sont les biscuits said:

Eric Mc said:

It was only recently that I discovered that Todd was a Dubliner.

I always preferred The Chieftains myself.

Yer drunk - ye silly aul fool.

[TR4man]

Going off on a slightly different tangent.

Is there much to see at the three dams nowadays in relation to the raid?

I don't imagine for one moment that there is a visitor centre and the like, but is it possible to see the repairs to the dam structures? Do they look now, how they looked back in 1943 (apart from being repaired of course)?

[nicanary]

aeropilot said:

nicanary said:

jmorgan said:

Richard Todd had an interesting life. Part of the relief for the Pegasus Bridge. In the Longest Day film he played Major John Howard (who led the glider assault). Not sure who played himself.

Peter Lawford played Lord Lovat, who led the relief troops who linked up with Howard, which would have included Todd.

No, Todd was a member of the 7th Para's who were dropped into the areas around Pegasus Bridge very shortly after the Ox and Bucks gliders landed as reinforcements to them to hold the bridge, the first members of the 7th reached the bridge only some 30 mins after the Ox and Bucks had secured the bridge, and some 5 hours before Lovat's Commandoes had even landed on the beaches, let alone relieved the 6th Airborne at the bridge.

I think therefore that Hollywood has yet again taken the mickey. In the film Lovat relieves the bridge captors. Nothing like a bit of drama to get in the way of fact.

[Ayahuasca]

There was (haven't been able to find it for a while) a fantastic clip on youtube of some bouncing bomb practice drops, had one bouncing towards a beachful of spectators, some bouncing against ships, one aircraft sadly disintegrating when the splash from a bouncing bomb knocked its tail off. Set to 633 Squadron music too.

[Wacky Racer]

Ayahuasca said:

There was (haven't been able to find it for a while) a fantastic clip on youtube of some bouncing bomb practice drops, had one bouncing towards a beachful of spectators, some bouncing against ships, one aircraft sadly disintegrating when the splash from a bouncing bomb knocked its tail off. Set to 633 Squadron music too.

Some archive footage here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOGRTlrYCIE

[AMG Merc]

DB7 for ever said:

LMAO.

When we were kids in the early 70's we had a selection of dogs ( Alsatians and German Sheps )with names ranging from Ranji, Zarr, Sambo & Honky to name a few and we never got any crap off anyone for it. Maybe because we were a mixed raced family at the time so saw the funny side of it all unlike some Pc degenerates of today.

My Grandad even called his dog Adolf and Rommel and we always tuned in to watch " Love thy neighbour" Ahhhh, those were the days.

Cheers

Smollet said:

The DVLA don't find it a problem going by this number plate.

Edited by DB7 for ever on Monday 23 January 16:11

There was a programme in the 70s called Mind Your Language. About a London-based language school. now that was interesting

[Evangelion]

Wacky Racer said:

Some archive footage here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOGRTlrYCIE

Interesting film. (Not 633 Squadron music. Nice bit of Mellotron though.)

The man waving his arms about at the end is Wallis himself. By the way, he was an engineer, neither a scientist nor inventor as has been claimed.

Last time I looked, there were several epidoses of Mind Your language on YouTube.

[Johnnytheboy]

Eric Mc said:

On any thread about the Dambuster's Raid, just count to number of comments about the dog and related issues compared to comments about any other aspect of the mission.

It's totally out of proportion and prevents any discussion about the really ingenious technology used and the true bravery of those who took part.

Other aspects worth discussing are how truthful the film (and original Paul Brickhill book) actually are.

And discussions about what other more modern books on the subject have revealed that couldn't be revealed at the time of the original book and film never get mentioned.

It's all fascinating stuff but the threads always get sidetracked over canine nomenclature nonsense.

It's like a microcosm of western civilisation, and how it's going down the stter.

Next time we have a war, as a nation we'll be more worried about the identity politics implication of dog names than designing war-winning weapons.

[unrepentant]

Hitler was a dog lover.