"THE WAR LOVER" B-17 Scene

[JDK]

Double post.

Last edited by JDK on Tue May 15, 2007 7:49 am, edited 2 times in total.

[JDK]

Crewdson appears with the also late-great Johnny Jordan in the making of extra on the DVD of On Her Majesty's Secret Service with a most remarkable helicopter film rig. Well worth seeking out.

A book on the stories of the buccaneer film pilots of that era would be wonderful, but so much couldn't be told, then, and can't be told, now.

His IBDB entry gives a couple of clues:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0187682/

[aerovin]

It was in 1000 Plane Raid where they dug the trench and lowered a B-17 (N17W) to blend with the footage from 12 O'Clock High belly landing. For War Lover, the film makers used the fuselage of an ex-Israeli Air Force B-17G that was recovered by Crewdson (as documented in Everything But the Flak). If you watch the scene closely, you can see it is just the B-17 fuselage that is positioned for the camera, as Robert Wagner moves around to the front of the nose.

[mustangdriver]

Good catch man.

[tom d. friedman]

haven't seen the flick in years, great to see the highlighted scenes. listened to an interview w/ robert wagner just yesterday, he didn't even acknoweledge his part in this film!!

[Django]

I am going to have to get this movie. It looks awesome.

[fotobass]

Wonderful thing the Internet, have just ordered "Everything but the Flak" (thanks for the idea Zeamerb!) and The War Lover".

Cheers

Treadders

Where'd you find 'Everything but the Flak'? I've got two paperback compies so fragile I'm afraid to even open them. I've never found it priced affordably on the interweb.

[T J Johansen]

"John Crewdson was killed in a helicopter accident in the early 80s."

After reading "Everything But the Flak" a couple times, I've always wondered what happened to John Crewdson and Greg Board. Sounded like quite the characters.

Dave

Greg Board lived in Arizona in the late 60s, and was involved in the smuggling of A-26s to Angola together with the late John "Jeff" Hawke. In order to avoid prosecution he fled and according to some sources flew with Air America. The were roumors that he later moved to Australia (he might even have been Australian)! Why don't we let our "down- under" correspondent JDK put on his tweeds, locate Dr. Watson and try to round- up Greg Board. He ought to have a million good stories!

T J

[fotobass]

If I remember correctly, wasn't he an Austrailian who had flown Buffalos in the early Pacific war?

[fotobass]

Not as old and forgetful as I thought...

Greg Board, who rebuilt the three B-17s used in the movie from his Tucson, Arizona, base, fled the U.S. in September 1965 just ahead of authorities who sought him for alleged illegal export of Douglas B-26s for Portugal. He reportedly ended up back in his native country of Australia as an aircraft broker and may still be around.

---- chapter four, Everything But the Flak, Meredith Press 1964, Popular Library (paperback) 1964. Subject is B-17s, but pp 41-50 describe the career of Greg Board, a Buffalo pilot in 453 Squadron in Malaya. [dp]

[treadigraph]

Fotoboss, I found it through Abebooks - they listed a number of copies, priced from about $20 or so I think (I brought in £, not sure what the exchange rate is).

Good luck!

Martin Caidin was another excellent author, I love The Saga of Iron Annie.

[tom d. friedman]

i had to watch it again. mcqueen's recklesness was his appeal & charisma in his films. he performed many of his own stunts in his films, such as bullitt, the great escape, & the get away, to name a few. he was the anti-hero!!!

[CH2Tdriver]

i had to watch it again. mcqueen's recklesness was his appeal & charisma in his films. he performed many of his own stunts in his films, such as bullitt, the great escape, & the get away, to name a few. he was the anti-hero!!!

I heard that he was offered a role in 'A Bridge Too Far', but turned it down as he didn't want to be part of an ensemble cast again. He wanted top billing!