BBC2 9pm - castles in the sky

[ecsrobin]

Just a heads up guys about a 90 minute drama on BBC2 tonight that looks like it could be quite good and aviation related as it's about radar/chain home.

"This is the remarkable human drama behind the invention that was to prove pivotal in the Battle of Britain. It is also the thrilling story of the tenacity and courage of a most unlikely group of British heroes."

[The Vambo]

[tdm34]

Thus far looking good....

[Tango13]

tdm34 said:

Thus far looking good....

Really?

The phone in the bucket of water was a favourite trick of R V Jones.

No mention of his assistant Wilkins who suggested that aircraft interfering with radio signals could be used to detect them.

As for the bit about bouncing a radio signal off the Ionosphere to boost the range...

Had the scriptwriter(s) actually taken the trouble to read any history? I very much doubt it.

[tdm34]

Tango13 said:

tdm34 said:

Thus far looking good....

Really?

The phone in the bucket of water was a favourite trick of R V Jones.

No mention of his assistant Wilkins who suggested that aircraft interfering with radio signals could be used to detect them.

As for the bit about bouncing a radio signal off the Ionosphere to boost the range...

Had the scriptwriter(s) actually taken the trouble to read any history? I very much doubt it.

Well I still enjoyed it.....

[Willy Nilly]

Oh tell me why, do we build castles in the sky?

[The Vambo]

Tango13 said:

Really?

The phone in the bucket of water was a favourite trick of R V Jones.

No mention of his assistant Wilkins who suggested that aircraft interfering with radio signals could be used to detect them.

As for the bit about bouncing a radio signal off the Ionosphere to boost the range...

Had the scriptwriter(s) actually taken the trouble to read any history? I very much doubt it.

I think you are looking for a documentary, don't for the love of God watch U-571, you will piss your pants.

[perdu]

I enjoyed it

And I cannot stand Eddie Izzard in real life

Good entertainment value

[ecsrobin]

perdu said:

I enjoyed it

And I cannot stand Eddie Izzard in real life

Good entertainment value

Very good entertainment and hopefully bringing something that is quite a specialist subject into the general publics homes.

[D_T_W]

tdm34 said:

Tango13 said:

tdm34 said:

Thus far looking good....

Really?

The phone in the bucket of water was a favourite trick of R V Jones.

No mention of his assistant Wilkins who suggested that aircraft interfering with radio signals could be used to detect them.

As for the bit about bouncing a radio signal off the Ionosphere to boost the range...

Had the scriptwriter(s) actually taken the trouble to read any history? I very much doubt it.

Well I still enjoyed it.....

As did I, whilst it may not have been factually accurate to the nth degree, it beat most of the other ste on telly at the moment!

[Severian]

Tango13 said:

No mention of his assistant Wilkins who suggested that aircraft interfering with radio signals could be used to detect them.

Do you mean Skip Wilkins played by Karl Davies who appeared throughout most of the programme?

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Tango13 said:

As for the bit about bouncing a radio signal off the Ionosphere to boost the range...

Which is exactly what you do with HF.

And exactly where the early experiments were centred (20-55MHz).

Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Friday 5th September 00:37

[tdm34]

perdu said:

I enjoyed it

And I cannot stand Eddie Izzard in real life

Good entertainment value

Pick up a copy of Valkyrie, Izzard is rather good amongst a stellar cast of British thespians, Tom Cruise isn't bad in it either

[Simpo Two]

It was one of the few programmes I watch from start to finish. But I found the bolt-on 'drama' rather false and WW's performance in front of the brass excruciating. I also thought the 'fishing line with bells' analogy a very poor way for a boffin to explain the concept to a layman - was it true? And was the team really stumped for valves when they were in TVs all the time? You'd expect a cutting edge development team to be aware of such things. And could they not have booked Bawdsey Manor - it used to be bookable for events but perhaps no more?

[Tango13]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Tango13 said:

As for the bit about bouncing a radio signal off the Ionosphere to boost the range...

Which is exactly what you do with HF.

And exactly where the early experiments were centred (20-55MHz).

Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Friday 5th September 00:37

I know this but then so did Edward Appleton who did a significant amount of work in this area long before Watson Watt.

[BikeBikeBIke]

Can someone identify the strange looking aircraft used as a Target during testing in the show?

I enjoyed it as a drama, loosely based on fact. Better than reality shows.

[ecsrobin]

It was an avro anson

[BikeBikeBIke]

ecsrobin said:

It was an avro anson

Thanks, that plus the squadron code was enough to identify it - K6183. I guess the shots were filmed in New Zealand.

[tdm34]

ecsrobin said:

It was an avro anson

The In cockpit shots were from a Mossie, probably KA114

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

The first aircraft used was a DeHavillad DH89A Dominie (Dragon Rapide) reg G-AKIF from Duxford.

As correctly pointed out, the second aircraft was the (New Zealand based) Avro Anson reg ZK-RRA (K6183) coded up as VX-B.

I'd also concurr that the in cockpit shots were a Mosquito - the rudder trim is the dead give-away.

Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Thursday 11th September 00:31