Escape from Colditz Ch4 9pm
Discussion
Monday night Ch4, 9pm.
Quote.."Near the end of the Second World War, a group of British officers dreamt up an audacious plan to escape from the high-security Nazi prison using a two-man glider made from bed sheets and floorboards. They hoped to fly to freedom from the roof of the castle, but the conflict ended before they could put their plan into action. Here, Cambridge University's Hugh Hunt, whose uncle was a prisoner in Colditz, leads a team of aeronautical engineers and carpenters as they rebuild the glider in the attic where the original was constructed and attempt to see if the mission would have succeeded."
Could be good
Quote.."Near the end of the Second World War, a group of British officers dreamt up an audacious plan to escape from the high-security Nazi prison using a two-man glider made from bed sheets and floorboards. They hoped to fly to freedom from the roof of the castle, but the conflict ended before they could put their plan into action. Here, Cambridge University's Hugh Hunt, whose uncle was a prisoner in Colditz, leads a team of aeronautical engineers and carpenters as they rebuild the glider in the attic where the original was constructed and attempt to see if the mission would have succeeded."
Could be good
I think the guards might have seen a sodding great glider parked on the roof though. And even if it worked and they landed in the field safely, they'd still be in sight of the castle and quickly recaptured. Brave and crazy but not worth it IMHO, especially as the war was almost over.
Here is the original Channel 4 programme. If you want to see how well the glider flew, go to Part 3, 19 minutes in.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBjTmqbNSC0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgmMoOcMto0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dles1q-CDU
Such a treat to see the original men together.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBjTmqbNSC0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgmMoOcMto0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dles1q-CDU
Such a treat to see the original men together.
A bit off topic, but it's this Channel 4 documentary I've been waiting for:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/plane-crash
It's been touted for a few years now, but it looks like they've finally actually crashed an elderly 727; should be shown later this year.
Pete
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/plane-crash
It's been touted for a few years now, but it looks like they've finally actually crashed an elderly 727; should be shown later this year.
Pete
GadgeS3C said:
Enjoyed the programme but they did seem to omit the minor detail of the mass of the pilot and passenger.
I assumed the dummies would have been suitably weighted - but you're right - with no load it proves nothing.I'm not surprised the glider flew, it looks very much like a Slingsby Prefect. Of more importance would be correct trimming and holding together under load, seeing as it was made from scrap and string. My hunch is that in reality, with two people on board, it would fail to reach adequate speed, even with a dive, and hit the deck at about 45 degrees if it didn't break up first.
Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 14th August 14:11
Simpo Two said:
My hunch is that in reality, with two people on board, it would fail to reach adequate speed, even with a dive, and hit the deck at about 45 degrees if it didn't break up first.
I think the bit in the program where they had to surface the "runway" with metal and add a pulley to the bathtub/gravity propulsion system agrees with you. The original design would have failed.Munter said:
I think the bit in the program where they had to surface the "runway" with metal and add a pulley to the bathtub/gravity propulsion system agrees with you. The original design would have failed.
Not necessarily. They mentioned in the programme that the idea arose from watching the upwards airflow towards the castle. They could have just waited for a day with favourable wind conditions to launch. In the programme they had to launch on a particular day, and that meant they had to put up with whatever the conditions were at the time. It's not like the POWs were short of time, and they certainly weren't short of ingenuity. That many of them were also engineers of one sort or another means I doubt that the problem of friction on the launching ramp would have been missed or ignored.tank slapper said:
Munter said:
I think the bit in the program where they had to surface the "runway" with metal and add a pulley to the bathtub/gravity propulsion system agrees with you. The original design would have failed.
Not necessarily. They mentioned in the programme that the idea arose from watching the upwards airflow towards the castle. They could have just waited for a day with favourable wind conditions to launch. In the programme they had to launch on a particular day, and that meant they had to put up with whatever the conditions were at the time. It's not like the POWs were short of time, and they certainly weren't short of ingenuity. That many of them were also engineers of one sort or another means I doubt that the problem of friction on the launching ramp would have been missed or ignored.Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff