Maybe this has been discussed before because the movie I am talking about is from 1969. Tonight I saw an hour of where eagles dare. In it there was a german helicopter. Helicopters didn't exist as far as I know.
Hi Volkbert--they indeed did exist then. The Germans had them as well as we did. Erich B. knows an excellent site (which has been posted here before--somewhere) that has all kinds of great info and period fotos of them in use.
Volkbert : As Carl said I posted a site wherever it went to on German Helicopters. Think there were at least 3 variants plus the odd copter/glider used as an experiment by the U-boote arm. Maybe Herr Kaleun can help us with that one ? Anyway if you punch up German Helicopters on your search engines there should be a site dedicated to VTO projects.......i think ! If you find it post for us please as I want it for my un-orderly files. Also there were a couple of captured units at Ainring in Austria along with several Stukas from a night ground attack unit and the Fw 190D's from the Würger staffel. E E
And Indeed I saw a book that showed photographs of WW2 helicopters-not too advanced at that stage I believe it was called "Machines of World War 2"
Thanks for the information about German helicopters, guys - something else for me to learn ! I'll just say a word in defence of 'Where Eagles Dare' - one really has to watch this film with, shall we say, total suspension of disbelief ! I mean, how much ammo does Clint Eastwood use and where did it come from ? Those three haversacks , with all those bombs as well ? Our heroes jump from the cable car into a freezing river - in the next frame they're all bone-dry. And their MP40's seem to have more firepower than a battery of 88's ; blasting everything in sight at incredible ranges, the Germans blaze away at the 'bus, riddling it with holes but somehow missing the tyres.... and so on No, you just have to sit back and wallow in one of the best-ever 'Boy's Own Paper' war-comic fantasies ! In case you're wondering, I've seen it many times, think it has one of the best opening sequences ever , always enjoy it hugely....but never take any of it seriously
On "Where Eagles Dare" I grew up watching these movies as well as movies like "Kelly's Heroes" and "The Green Berets" none are historically correct but are all great to watch and escape this current world with. I have two of these on DVD and still waiting for W.E.D. to come out. As a collector--on Where Eagles Dare. The uniformw are all OK as Gebirgejager uniforms--except the "M-43 caps" they were too ill-fitting and definately arent convincing--but the peaked visors they were looked nice and had correct insignia. I will always love this movie--I love the scenery and the story. The movie is much better than the book in my humble opinion. Can't get better than Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton--I say.
We're definitely on the same wavelength on this one, Carl ! Actually, I think that all Alistair McLean's books were rubbish - but the film is a hoot ! ( Especially Derren Nesbitt's hilariously over-the-top Gestapo officer )
And a great job he did--in that role. I know I saw him in something else not too long ago. I was surprised as I thought that was him--and didnt really believe so until the end of the movie.
Well, I actually watched some film of a German helicopter with Swastikas on the tail was being flown inside some basketball hall or something. I think, flown by Hanna Reitsch.
Freid : It must have been a propaganda ploy to build up her ego if it actually happened. The helicopters were still so elementary that only a selcet few actually test flew these contraptions
Of course it was propaganda because the helicopter (which was a plane with two horizontal propellers on each side) was 'flying' indoors! However, it was real. There weren't that good special effects then.
There were at least 4 different helicopter blade configurations by the two manufacturesrs of the bladed birds. i do not doubt what you witnessed per movie, just wondering though wh the pilot may have been. no reply is necessary here please
Here´s the proof on that, Hanna flying inside a hall, described it as "very dangerous" on her book... Flugkapitan Hanna Reitsch demonstrating the manoeuverability of the FW-61 in front of a large audience inside Berlin's Deutschlandhalle Stadium in February 1938. http://www.flying-bike.demon.co.uk/helistuff/reitsch.htm
Thanks Kai ! Interesting that it took so very long for the Luftwaffe to see the potential of the bladed a/c until 1945. Even then it was still so experimental and the idea of competiton between the a/c firms reigned for unusual designs. How simple it could have been to be used as a necessary transport especially behind the lines at low altitude....
THANKS A LOT, my dear Kai! Something in me was telling me: "Wait for Kai, he'll come up with the picture". Victory is sweet. Not really. We all beleive your Luftwaffe words all the time, Erich.
