Memphis Belle (1990) I don`t know if I should laugh or cry

I know that often, film makers have to make-do with what ever they can in the way of equipment to make a war movie.
However in the film Memphis Belle, the British producer (David Puttnam) was going to use the historically correct aircraft to "play" the American escort fighters in the period of Memphis Belle`s last flight. However the movie bosses told him he couldn`t.
Why
Well, the answer is that the correct aircraft to use as escort fighters would have been Spitfires in American markings. But the movie bosses insisted that he use P-51`s(too early).
As( in their words ) American audiences would not accept that the USAAF had used non-American aircraft in WW2.

 

Take the Spits covering the 101st in "Band of Brothers" as a compensition

Cheers,

 

And why is it in every movie lately-they feel the need to use Curtiss P-40 Warhawks as Me-109s!!!

 

What movie is this
I must admit I`ve never seen this

 

Memphis Belle for starters!!!
Diamond Swords also!!!

 

Actually, I'm fairly certain that 'Memphis Belle' used at least one semi-authentic 'Me109' ; Duxford-based The Old Flying Machine Co's Hispano 'Buchon' G-BOML flown by the late Mark Hanna who was killed flying the same aircraft in 1999.

[ 29. November 2002, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

 

I thought that the german fighters in Memphis Belle was mostly focke wulf 190's?

regards

 

I knew all those old bound copies of FlyPast would come in handy one day !

August 1989 issue, page 8 'Memphis Belle Action', and there is a large colour pic of Mark's father Ray at the controls of the OFMC's 'Me 109', Ha-112 G-BOML about to take off for a filming 'sortie'. There's another one visible alongside ; I don't know if this was a 'flyer' or a mock-up. I know from reading an interview with Mark Hanna some years ago that working on this film was some of the hardest flying he'd had to do in the 'Buchon'.

 

Martin is right
The German fighters used in the actual air combat sequences in the film Memphis Belle are actually Spanish Hispano HA-1112 Buchon's, a post-war Spanish copy of the Bf-109 airframe with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine

[ 29. November 2002, 02:13 PM: Message edited by: redcoat ]

 

OK,

I admit, I thought they were the "real" Bf 109´s....

Must say ****. If they make movies on this 50 years ahead we´ll be seeing B-52´s and Mig 21`s probably...They should be asking us first!

 

Thanks to visual computer fx we'll never see such "workarounds" anymore in future war flicks, but hundreds of digitalized Dakotas dropping paras and dozends of digitalized Me's fighting CAD Spits...

Cheers,

 

Abdy: I think those were P-47s in BoB, not Spitfires. Or do I need to change my glasses?