REACH FOR THE SKY was just on Th¡s Network a little while ago. Yes, they used quite a bit of this exact footage, but they got away with it by using little snippets at a time, combining them with actors in mockup cockpits, intercutting with archive footage, and other tricks.
This stuff is brilliant. It's awesome how something so simple...swinging models on a wire...can yield such convincing results. By "simple" I don't mean "easy"...as others have pointed out, doing this stuff right was quite difficult. Can someone tell me how they made the plane bank and slip off-screen? I can't figure that one out.
@smurfswacker Like around 1:30 and subsequent? I figure the model is rigged to a hinged "plate" so the "puppeteer" can use a rod to dip the inside wing down for the bank.
My favorite moment is at 2:16. When you see the close up of the one plane with a massive squadron in the background while the music swells! It just seems like one of those old movie moments were the hero is heading up on his first flight. Gives me goose bumps.
I believe the 1941 Special effect footage is actually a Motion Picture test reel. As simple as these effects are a test would be required to prove to the effects can be done convincingly. Many films of that era had effects like this. In the movie Casablanca the aircraft at the end is flown on a wire.
It is filmed for the Reach for the Sky in 1956. Raeach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film of aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956.
Hey! I believe that this raw unedited footage is shot for the Reach for the Sky (1956 film). Reach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film of aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956.
Better than in some movies of that era! I can't remember the title, but I saw a war era plane film where a flight of naval fighters and bombers were to blow up a dam. My gawd, the dam scene looked like a kid's school project, with little Fairey Fireflys on wires turning and swooping and little fireworks going off - just appallingly phoney.
Then it cut back to a group of serious English stage actors on a ship's bridge, making solemn comments on the cost of the raid, making it all the more funny!
@AbuAvital No, the Dambusters was way more sophisticated, and the raid used Lancasters, not Fireflys. I've already griped about the crummy pasted-on explosions in the water on Dambusters post somewhere!
Great stuff ! I just bought a German dubbed Japanese movie called 'Kampfgeschwader Totenkopf' which features a large number of beautifully made 'sliding wire' models. It was made by the same studios that did Godzilla. One of the best examples of the use of sliding wire models is to be seen in the attack scenes of 'The Bridges at Toko Ri'.
You are correct. Judging by the scale of the models(20-30in) the background was probably a long oil/airbrush painting about 100ft by 30ft and the clouds up front were CO2 fog and oil smoke.
I'm an editor and I have to tell you thisfootage is AMAZING and would cut very well. Almost every shot has some golden moments. I am highly impressed with what these guys did with scale planes and wire rigs.
I agree with the earlier comment that this is footage for " Reach for the Sky, the Douglas Bader biopic.
The bubble canopy Spit at the end doesn't match the period of the other aircraft but the(real)Spits they used in RFTS had bubble canopies and you would expect the model work to match the footage of the actual aircaft.
What's great is that they had the foresight to keep the camera moving all the time, rather than the typical static camera... in reality, if this were real footage it would have been shot from a moving plane and I appreciate that they took that into consideration. great foreground smoke and matte painting use...
Beautifully done. The planes swinging backwards then forwards, hanging still then moving and planes with props not yet starting, then suddenly starting to spin are all pre-edits that were meant to be "cut on action." So these are the rushes. This may have been for training purposes or for a British film studio. The WWII Hollywood movie "A Yank in the RAF" though not using these specific scenes has model effects in a very similar style. Well done.
Absolutely superb! As a scale modeller myself those models look very well made and finished. The weathering is also very well done. I wonder if George Lucas had seen this footage before starting on StarWars. Which also beggars the question of who worked on this and what did they do after the war, was Gerry Anderson involved at this time or was this too early for him.
Great stuff Bomberguy. I wonder if it was made for aircraft recognition purposes. I have old (1940's) Royal Observer Corp's magazines that show still images of similar models for this reason. Perhaps someone at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, UK could give info. - All that and Max Bruch! (I once met an old lady who claimed that she knew him.)
That Spit looks like a MkXVI, which was only introduced in '44. The squadron codes are for a glider-towing squadron, though, which may mean a bit of wartime disinformation.... It does resemble 'Reach For The Sky' (1956) but I don't have the whole film to find exact matches.
Amazing for that era and is better than some modern stuff with all the high tech! Appreciated very much thanks.
nibornodrog 1 week ago
Airfix's contribution to the war effort?
Threetails 7 months ago
I love those planes turning in a 20-foot radius! 8-)
carmium 8 months ago
REACH FOR THE SKY was just on Th¡s Network a little while ago. Yes, they used quite a bit of this exact footage, but they got away with it by using little snippets at a time, combining them with actors in mockup cockpits, intercutting with archive footage, and other tricks.
FPilotBierce 8 months ago
This stuff is brilliant. It's awesome how something so simple...swinging models on a wire...can yield such convincing results. By "simple" I don't mean "easy"...as others have pointed out, doing this stuff right was quite difficult. Can someone tell me how they made the plane bank and slip off-screen? I can't figure that one out.
smurfswacker 11 months ago
@smurfswacker Like around 1:30 and subsequent? I figure the model is rigged to a hinged "plate" so the "puppeteer" can use a rod to dip the inside wing down for the bank.
FPilotBierce 7 months ago
The sequence from 3:10 particularly good.
TK42138 1 year ago
Utterly amazing! The added score was perfect.
greatersumofparts 1 year ago
My favorite moment is at 2:16. When you see the close up of the one plane with a massive squadron in the background while the music swells! It just seems like one of those old movie moments were the hero is heading up on his first flight. Gives me goose bumps.
moirproductions 1 year ago
Very cool ! ! !
jerkfacejim 1 year ago
Is a Death Dance...
Bruno47602 1 year ago
How did they hide the wires?
cuddlyable3 1 year ago
CGI - epic fail.
deggis4 1 year ago
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!
thecollector1138 1 year ago
I believe the 1941 Special effect footage is actually a Motion Picture test reel. As simple as these effects are a test would be required to prove to the effects can be done convincingly. Many films of that era had effects like this. In the movie Casablanca the aircraft at the end is flown on a wire.
thudar9 1 year ago
very impressive. tnx for the upload
studiojulio 2 years ago 2
love those props starting and stopping as well as the sudden 'backwards' flight and bouncing fuselages..great stuff -star wars eat your heart out....
flyingdutchman44 2 years ago 4
wonderful stuff brilliantly done, some very convincing!
MadDogDucati 2 years ago
Very Nice video. Thanks :)
computerjantje 2 years ago
It is filmed for the Reach for the Sky in 1956. Raeach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film of aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956.
Nevenius 2 years ago
Hey! I believe that this raw unedited footage is shot for the Reach for the Sky (1956 film). Reach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film of aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956.
Nevenius 2 years ago
hell of a yaw on those 109s lol...nice one..
abdabs855423575 2 years ago
Better than in some movies of that era! I can't remember the title, but I saw a war era plane film where a flight of naval fighters and bombers were to blow up a dam. My gawd, the dam scene looked like a kid's school project, with little Fairey Fireflys on wires turning and swooping and little fireworks going off - just appallingly phoney.
Then it cut back to a group of serious English stage actors on a ship's bridge, making solemn comments on the cost of the raid, making it all the more funny!
NVanWendy 2 years ago
@NVanWendy Are you refering to The Dambusters? Great movie as far as story line, but bad special effects.
AbuAvital 1 year ago
@AbuAvital No, the Dambusters was way more sophisticated, and the raid used Lancasters, not Fireflys. I've already griped about the crummy pasted-on explosions in the water on Dambusters post somewhere!
NVanWendy 1 year ago
lol 1:14 1:20,4:27
rafaeljose3 2 years ago
beats CGI shit anyday
reticulan5 2 years ago 11
@reticulan5 You know, CGI is really overboard. Because it can be. I agree with you.
cochranexyz 1 year ago
Interesting, thanks !
FIREWORKEVENTS 2 years ago
I love the brilliant shot at: 4:53
dethaduj 2 years ago
Brilliant. Effects today need to make a lot more use of models and miniatures!
eljefekief 2 years ago 2
ive seen worse effects in movies today lol
Swampdog36 2 years ago
vrooooom!!!!!!!
gingerbeer3 2 years ago
lol looked espacially good for 41"
LeSPauldude45 2 years ago
Thats 1941 CGI computer graphics.
matrox 2 years ago
what this music?
kepler98 2 years ago
Fun! Reminicent of the colour movie "Battle of Britain" made in 1969.
woodbinedrinker 2 years ago 2
That looked amazingly good. I would love to see those features.
satweavers 2 years ago
so much work....well done.
fjbutch 2 years ago
WAY cool!!!
B70Valkyrie 2 years ago
It's like Gerry Anderson's take on the Battle of Britain (and a bit afterwards by the looks of that last Spitfire). Magnificent!
bravo0105 2 years ago
Whats the musical piece? Love the track
TamsinSA 2 years ago
Max Bruch's Violin Concerto 3rd movement
CptSchmidt 2 years ago
maybe its a training video ?
69fastbacklover 2 years ago
lol funny and cool!
Least u don't have to muck about painting the models ;)
devine666darkness 2 years ago
Great stuff ! I just bought a German dubbed Japanese movie called 'Kampfgeschwader Totenkopf' which features a large number of beautifully made 'sliding wire' models. It was made by the same studios that did Godzilla. One of the best examples of the use of sliding wire models is to be seen in the attack scenes of 'The Bridges at Toko Ri'.
sx976 3 years ago
That was absolutely GORGEOUS!
I'm inspired!
jhassig45 3 years ago 2
Not bad given the limited resources of the day~
Plataea 3 years ago
As a VFX artist who worked with miniatures in films in the 90's.This is fantastic!
The back drop must have been huge! the models back then were typically 2-3ft long.
couldnt see the wires even.
Getting depth of field on the models was difficult and required much light.
I'm trying to imagine the rig holding all those
models up AND moving them around.
If you want to see this kind of work closer to our
time look at Skotak Bros(Aliens,Terminator2)
and "The Right Stuff
-CGI today is no fun.
will4ward 3 years ago
Agree completely. Very fine minature work, tops even the Lydecker brothers. CGI takes all the fun out of it.
4436Bakman 3 years ago
Those clouds are not digital!
edStueart 3 years ago
You are correct. Judging by the scale of the models(20-30in) the background was probably a long oil/airbrush painting about 100ft by 30ft and the clouds up front were CO2 fog and oil smoke.
simply cool.
will4ward 3 years ago
there was a postwar movie 1953 "angels one five"" that i seem to remember had good effects..(john gregson ,jack hawkins etc)
pacificlipper 3 years ago
its from reach for the sky. angles one five (great film) used real Hurrie's not models
dougie275 3 years ago
These are amazing images contrasting the beauty of flight against the backdrop of war.
rolko52 3 years ago
I'm an editor and I have to tell you thisfootage is AMAZING and would cut very well. Almost every shot has some golden moments. I am highly impressed with what these guys did with scale planes and wire rigs.
chaucer44 3 years ago 9
This has been flagged as spam show
i think this is awesome!!!!
chtalm36 3 years ago 2
I agree with the earlier comment that this is footage for " Reach for the Sky, the Douglas Bader biopic.
The bubble canopy Spit at the end doesn't match the period of the other aircraft but the(real)Spits they used in RFTS had bubble canopies and you would expect the model work to match the footage of the actual aircaft.
Akitsuki43 3 years ago 3
What's great is that they had the foresight to keep the camera moving all the time, rather than the typical static camera... in reality, if this were real footage it would have been shot from a moving plane and I appreciate that they took that into consideration. great foreground smoke and matte painting use...
gshawnadams 3 years ago 2
Terrific footage.... Well done.....
gshawnadams 3 years ago
Beautifully done. The planes swinging backwards then forwards, hanging still then moving and planes with props not yet starting, then suddenly starting to spin are all pre-edits that were meant to be "cut on action." So these are the rushes. This may have been for training purposes or for a British film studio. The WWII Hollywood movie "A Yank in the RAF" though not using these specific scenes has model effects in a very similar style. Well done.
Northside777 3 years ago
Absolutely superb! As a scale modeller myself those models look very well made and finished. The weathering is also very well done. I wonder if George Lucas had seen this footage before starting on StarWars. Which also beggars the question of who worked on this and what did they do after the war, was Gerry Anderson involved at this time or was this too early for him.
Will the questions never cease???
nutster9000 3 years ago 2
Dude! this is da Bomb!
IveeDeeVee 3 years ago
YOU MEAN THEY WEREN'T REAL PLANES?? lol
Bomberguy always finds the neatest stuff! Thanks for your efforts, Bomberguy. I enjoyed this, and the music was perfect for it!
janitor17 3 years ago 3
Very touching , makes me cry little bit!
georgitushev 3 years ago
Great stuff Bomberguy. I wonder if it was made for aircraft recognition purposes. I have old (1940's) Royal Observer Corp's magazines that show still images of similar models for this reason. Perhaps someone at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, UK could give info. - All that and Max Bruch! (I once met an old lady who claimed that she knew him.)
2775754raf 3 years ago
This footage must be much later than the Battle of Britain; You see the Bf 109F (not-E), and at the very end is a Spitfire with bubble canopy.
Note at 3.53 the last He 111 carrying a smoke cartridge under the wing, which "explodes" in the next scene.
BaronKrolok 3 years ago
That Spit looks like a MkXVI, which was only introduced in '44. The squadron codes are for a glider-towing squadron, though, which may mean a bit of wartime disinformation.... It does resemble 'Reach For The Sky' (1956) but I don't have the whole film to find exact matches.
openfold 2 years ago
At 4:08 the He-111s threw it in reverse.
metalrod23 3 years ago
AHHHHH!!!!
Gotta get a recording!! Great stuff!
Thanks again!
davisgloff 3 years ago
As usual, Marvelous.. I don't know how you find this stuff, but I'm very grateful.
OK, I admit I'm stumped.. Is that Brahms?
davisgloff 3 years ago 4
Max Bruch's Violin Concerto 3rd movement
Bomberguy 3 years ago 2
Could be something for 'Reach for the Sky' maybe?
dave41184 3 years ago
lol good stuff
z5teve 3 years ago
I seem to be more easily fooled by a good scale model than a good digital effect. Excellent find Bomberguy!
TheOriginalWheelsTV 3 years ago 2
very realistic wow
horizonflyer9 3 years ago
must have been tough to control those planes
RepublicCommando29 3 years ago 2
I love it, keep up the FANTASTIC work!
oisiaa 3 years ago
Very interesting...
zenithbay 3 years ago
Keep 'em coming, Bomberguy!
denberg2 3 years ago