"THE WAR LOVER" B-17 Scene

JDK · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 7:42 am

Double post.

JDK · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 7:44 am

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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 9:25 am

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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 9:33 am

Good catch man.

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 9:34 am

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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 10:20 am

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

fotobass · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 10:55 am

treadigraph wrote:

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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 11:11 am

zeamerb17 wrote:

"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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 1:02 pm

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

fotobass · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 1:07 pm

Not as old and forgetful as I thought...

Aerovintage books website wrote:

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.

Brewster Buffalo Bibliography on Warbirdforum.com wrote:

---- 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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 1:15 pm

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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 1:54 pm

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 · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2007 8:10 pm

tom d. friedman wrote:

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!

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"THE WAR LOVER" B-17 Scene

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