The best show ever(WINGS)!
Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:38 pm
I used to watch this with my dad back in the day when I was younger. 
Man how come they can't come out with something like this again? Details, great photage, accurate, and always liked the narrator. Anyone know who it was?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOwfOG90vQE
One of my favorites from WINGS was on the XB-35 and YB-49. Great stuff!
Man how come they can't come out with something like this again? Details, great photage, accurate, and always liked the narrator. Anyone know who it was?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOwfOG90vQE
One of my favorites from WINGS was on the XB-35 and YB-49. Great stuff!
Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:21 pm
My favorite was the F6F. I wore my video tape copy out on that one. The episode for the F4U and the AD/A-1 Skyraider was also very good. I agree that narrator had a voice that would keep you attentive.
Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:44 pm
Yeah these are great I have quite a few on VHS. My daughter just watched the B-25 episode this past weekend to do a report.
I have heard 2 different narrators. One American and one English. The B-25 episoe was the English Narrator.
Shay
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Semper Fortis
I have heard 2 different narrators. One American and one English. The B-25 episoe was the English Narrator.
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:12 pm
Those were great! 
This new crap called "Great Planes" is laughable.
Its so inaccurate, I can't even watch it.
Bring back "Dogfights" or re-run "Wings"
This new crap called "Great Planes" is laughable.
Its so inaccurate, I can't even watch it.
Bring back "Dogfights" or re-run "Wings"
Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:14 pm
I have fond memories of that series, though all I have left on VHS is the P-51 and B-17 episodes - both narrated by the American narrator. I recently noticed that the P-51 episode can be seen on Youtube, but with the English narrator instead - same exact script. I was surprised to notice that the Military Channel's Great Planes episode on the P-51 heavily uses the same script from the original Wings episode, though the video/editing shown doesn't back up what is being said.
With the warbird related shows I have seen lately on TV, I have been thinking a lot along the lines of how much nicer it would be if Wings would be brought back - a very thorough, and very credible source of information, with excellent footage besides - the series definitely kept my interest going in warbirds as a child growing up.
With the warbird related shows I have seen lately on TV, I have been thinking a lot along the lines of how much nicer it would be if Wings would be brought back - a very thorough, and very credible source of information, with excellent footage besides - the series definitely kept my interest going in warbirds as a child growing up.
Last edited by JohnTerrell on Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:18 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:15 pm
I loved the B-17 episode. I wish they would bring those out on DVD
Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:17 pm
F1G Pilot and I worked on a few of the Luftwaffe editions of Wings, and it is still great to see the series. Another run would be neat.
Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:36 pm
i can hear walter cronkite narrating in my head right now!!!
Re: The best show ever(WINGS)!
Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:23 pm
Nathan wrote:Details, great photage, accurate, and always liked the narrator. Anyone know who it was?
I just looked some of the episodes I have which are copyrighted 1989. Luke Swann is an english narrator that did alot of them, but also Phil Martin (english) and Robert Courtney (not english). So a few different narrators.
A great show.
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Great PLanes
Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:02 pm
Luke Swann was Australian, not English. Early episodes, such as the B-29 one that I took part in, were narrated by John Honey, also Australian. The series you know as "Wings" was actually called "Great Planes" when it was originally made in Hobart, Tasmania . . . first was the F-111, then the B-29, XB-70, F-14 . . .
The accuracy in the series was down to Barry Cawthorn, a retired Cathay Pacific flight engineer who was also my Technical Advisor on Black Jack's Last Mission. A really nice guy who had a truly broad and deep knowledge of aircraft.
The accuracy in the series was down to Barry Cawthorn, a retired Cathay Pacific flight engineer who was also my Technical Advisor on Black Jack's Last Mission. A really nice guy who had a truly broad and deep knowledge of aircraft.
Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:22 pm
I remember they used to have Wings Marathons on the original Discovery Channel on New Years Day. Talk about being glued to the set. Then they used to run the re-runs at 11 PM...I stayed up late many a night.
The accuracy was fairly remarkable and the footage was always good. The latest incarnation "Great Planes" just sucks. How can a show that was produced nearly 20 years before Great Planes totally run circles around the newer show?
The only thing that made me chuckle from "Wings" was a passage in the A-26 Invader episode. "With a top speed of 355 mph, it was as fast as an ME-109E, so an Invader pilot had an option of dogfighting an enemy plane". While factually correct...the Invader was as fast as the ME-109E, but the problem was that the the "E" model was the standard model in 1940, and was basically extinct by 1944.
The accuracy was fairly remarkable and the footage was always good. The latest incarnation "Great Planes" just sucks. How can a show that was produced nearly 20 years before Great Planes totally run circles around the newer show?
The only thing that made me chuckle from "Wings" was a passage in the A-26 Invader episode. "With a top speed of 355 mph, it was as fast as an ME-109E, so an Invader pilot had an option of dogfighting an enemy plane". While factually correct...the Invader was as fast as the ME-109E, but the problem was that the the "E" model was the standard model in 1940, and was basically extinct by 1944.
Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:26 pm
My favorite series was Wings of the Luftwaffe..... back in the days of good cable tv <sigh>
I never learned so much, so quickly.
I never learned so much, so quickly.
Re: Great PLanes
Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:35 pm
Steve Birdsall wrote:Luke Swann was Australian, not English. Early episodes, such as the B-29 one that I took part in, were narrated by John Honey, also Australian. The series you know as "Wings" was actually called "Great Planes" when it was originally made in Hobart, Tasmania . . . first was the F-111, then the B-29, XB-70, F-14 . . .
The accuracy in the series was down to Barry Cawthorn, a retired Cathay Pacific flight engineer who was also my Technical Advisor on Black Jack's Last Mission. A really nice guy who had a truly broad and deep knowledge of aircraft.
Sorry Steve no offense meant. He sounds more English than Aussie to me (keep in mind I'm no cultural expert with bad hearing
). I take it from your tense that Luke is no longer with us? Of all my old aircraft episodes the ones where he narrates I enjoy most. Also I like the soundtrack used on the early episodes better than the subsequent releases.
Now that you mentioned it. While looking at the episode credits I did notice that even though the show was "Wings", some of them the credits started with "Great Planes". I really need to get everything transferred over to digital.
Have these been release in DVD? (anyone)
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Chuckles
Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:55 pm
The only thing that made me chuckle from "Wings" was a passage in the A-26 Invader episode.
How about the "Tarzan" bomb in the B-29 episode? When the producer Colin Grubb asked me what I thought was the worst error in the program (there's always more than one!) I told him it was using "Tarzan" instead of "Tarzon". He was suitably repentant.
That was the original version, narrated by John Honey. I'll be damned if the same error wasn't repeated by the American narrator in the re-dubbed version!
Colin was the creative force behind those early "Great Planes" episodes, including the music. For that reason I took him to New Guinea when we filmed Black Jack's Last Mission.
Since then he's produced two of the most popular network shows broadcast here: Gardening Australia and Collectors, which I'll be watching later tonight.
How about the "Tarzan" bomb in the B-29 episode? When the producer Colin Grubb asked me what I thought was the worst error in the program (there's always more than one!) I told him it was using "Tarzan" instead of "Tarzon". He was suitably repentant.
That was the original version, narrated by John Honey. I'll be damned if the same error wasn't repeated by the American narrator in the re-dubbed version!
Colin was the creative force behind those early "Great Planes" episodes, including the music. For that reason I took him to New Guinea when we filmed Black Jack's Last Mission.
Since then he's produced two of the most popular network shows broadcast here: Gardening Australia and Collectors, which I'll be watching later tonight.