MovieChat Forums > The Winds of War (1983) Discussion > Vickers Wellington in the mini series

Vickers Wellington in the mini series

posted 17 years ago by TristanTzara
4 replies | jump to latest

I would be very interested to know how they "did" the Wellington in the sequence concerning the night raid on Berlin (episode 4 if I remember well). Clearly they used a model for the flying shots, but prior to take off it certainly looked very much like they found a real taxiable Wellington. To my knowledge the only two in existence are at the RAF museum at Hendon and at Brooklands, though this one is not fully restored. Does the one at Hendon have working engines? Or perhaps they used something like a DC-3 for the close ups of the engines and a model for the distance shots? A small matter I know, but I would be interested if anyone can shed any light on this.

[–] stumitchumjc_omnimovie 17 years ago

"Tris", I wish that I could help you in your quest for this intimate knowledge of the series' productions--which was awesome, especially considering there wasn't such a crittur as CGI back then.

What was awesome of The Crown back then, was that they'd ACTUALLY used WW I technology in building the Wellie--doped streched canvas over spruce frames (Hypothetically, a crazed crewman could have punched or kicked a hole in her!)!! It probably had a hidden advantage in aiding the bird to effectively carry insanely heavy bombloads to the target, so the bird had to be extremely nimble in dodging fighters 'n' flak. Thank God for Spit's and 'Canes, to escort them, when they could!

And the American bombers, by contrast, used the best armouring of fuselages and airfoils, then, as best as the market and conditions could bear.

[–] TristanTzara 17 years ago

Actually they didn't use WWI technology at all. The design of the Wellington was a very far seeing one by the great Barns Wallis. It was called geodedic structure and consisted of a criss cross patern which could withstand an awful lot of damage. Many a Wellington crew managed to get home due to this.

[–] TorontoJediMaster 17 years ago

The Wellington's geoditic design did indeed allow it to sustain a lot of battle damage, yet still be able to make it back. Thus, it was highly popular with aircrews.

The Wellington was the workhorse of Bomber Command until 1942, when the four-engined Halifax and (especially) Lancaster bombers came into service. The early service models of the Halifax were quite problematic. It got to be so bad that some Halifax crews (as well as high-ranking Bomber Command officers) wanted to revert back to Wellingtons until they could convert over to Lancasters.

[–] marathon_man 11 years ago

Resurrecting an incredibly old post, I know, but I'm just watching that episode and the taxiing Wellingtons are models too unless I am very much mistaken. They have simply used macro lenses - and later a foreshortening effect where a serviceman on the ground is shown - to give the effect of a larger scale.