Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/11/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 07:20 PM 11/11/2006, Douglas Sharp wrote: >Over here there are at least "Tante JUs" two >flying regularly. one in Lufthansa livery >(rebuilt by air force and Lufthansa apprentices) and one in Swiss colours. >I wouldn't be at all surprised if there weren't >a few at least half ways airworthy frames down >in Spain too , the Spanish air force used them >for a long time after WWII (along with Heinkel >111 bombers and ME109s with different >engines,Hispano-Suiza and even >Rolls-Royce Merlins (Spitfire engines )- quite >a few of which starred in the movie "The Battle >of Britain"). In addition to these - if anyone >feels like salvaging them - there are a few at >the bottom of a lake in, I think, Norway, lost >when the ice they were using as an airfield broke up. The Spanish Air Force used JU-52's, ME-109's, and HE-111's as operational equipment until 1966 and maintained a stock of them for use in war movies into the 1980's. These aircraft were produced for the most part in Spain under license and all were powered, oddly, with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines surplus to the needs of the RAF when it went over to jet-engined aircraft. Spanish aircraft can be seen in a number of war movies of the era, most notably in PATTON and THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. Shots of these Spanish HE-111's were used as the base for the Blitz seens in THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE last year, and these computer-generated images are generally seen as what will be the norm for future WWII European movies. Thus, our grandkids who are technically acute will be raised believing that the British were secretly supplying the Germans with aero motors in the middle of WWII. But, then, the actual aircraft used in THE BLUE MAX were for the most part modern constructions, all of which used inline Lycoming water-cooled engines, causing a bit of strain on the ultimate credibility of the movie. It is still a grand movie. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!