daveymac82c wrote:
I know that most of the shots were of real Spits, Hurricanes and ME-109's, but from what I understand, and I may be wrong, there are not flying Stukas.
I can only assume that they used remote-controlled scaled Stuka models, especially considering the bumpy handling that implies R/C, but are there any good documentaries that show how they used the models?
Hah. We wish there were a doco. You are correct that there were (and remain) no flying Stukas. And, as you guess, they were flying models.
You might wonder why a 1940 era film uses 'D' Ju-87 models; that's because they did get the Ju-87 in the RAF Museum's collection running, but couldn't fly it - electrics, IIRC, but the models were in hand to copy the real thing.
They then took a couple of Percival Proctors and mocked them up into 'Proctukas' but the redefined the term 'dog'. Gary Brown wrote a history of the Proctuka saga in issue one of Warbird Digest.
The model flying (included Spitfires, Hurricanes, He111 and Buchons too) was undertaken on Malta to get the blue skies. The model film team were not pleased to be left off the film credits - the assumption being that the film-makers didn't want the public to know models had been used.
If you like the film and want to know more about it, get hold of (the late) Robert Rudhall's two books on the making of the film. 'Battle of Britain the Film' is available again from Victory Books,
http://www.victorybooks.co.uk/new.htm (see lower) and the 'Battle of Britain the Photo Album' is worth tracking down.
Cheers
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
