"Wings" TV Series

[stevedrew]

Can anyone provide me with information on this series? I heard it was great, and worthwhile chasing up. Can anyone tell me who produced it (BBC?), how many "episodes", is it available on DVD and where I can get a copy.

Failing that, is there anyone who would be willing to help me out with a copy?

I can vaguely recall a TV Series called "Wings" but it was a pretty woeful comedy about two brothers who ran a cheap air service. Surely it's not that one, is it?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[tengew]

no not the comedy. If you look under the history channel or The History Channel - Home Page
Discovery Channel : Science, History, Space, Tech, Sharks, News you should find them they covered many aircraft and air forces worth the wile.

[rednev]

Streching the memory a bit but i think it was a bbc production ,certainly english.
Main characters where Captain triggers ? upper class lt ?gaylord and working class pilot alan farmer.
Many years since i watched it but thought it good at the time,flying scenes done with models but much more realistic than say flyboys cgi.

[John McKenzie]

Hi you guys . I'm old enough to have seen it as a young man , but that was a long time ago ! ....It was about a couple of chaps , one from a very privaliged background , and the other of working class ( who was gifted as a mechanic ) , who applied to join the RFC....I remember that the latter when asked by the interviewing officer for selection / suitability for flight training , " Do you ride ?"...Yes Sir ,he replied.."Ah ,good" said the Officer. ".....a motorcycle "..continued the applicant (whos name was I remember Farmer )...."Er- Hm ...Not what I had in mind" ..said the Officer. They later flew Be's.....The "rich" guy was the cause later , of a rigger having his hands chopped off by a propellor in a starting incident ..Impacience..Switches NOT off etc.. Probably a/c provided by Boddingtons ?...some static only with wobbly tailplanes , but one shouldn't be too critical , . On the whole it was very good family entertainment ....(But not enough violence or swearing for todays directors etc.).....As an aside , my cousins husband , who was an aspiring young actor at the time , was in it , with a very small part as an Observer....(Don't think it led to the big time ! )....All the same , he did a very respectable job of it though we all thought .
In the same vein , another good series at about that time was called " The Flambards " ....This was set somewher about 1908 ? and concerned two brothers (and father ? ..cant remember much )...They deseigned and built a flying machine and went through all the trials and tribulations etc.etc. of pioneers....There was of course a romantic side as well , of course to keep the ladies happy .
Neither series has ever been repeated to my knowledge , & neither have I ever seen them as videos or DVD's.......Sometimes the inteernal TV contacts stated that all the film/videos had to be destroyed...various reasons.
This may account for there non- appearance.?
Hope they are still with us. Regards JM.

[stevedrew]

Well, I am not too critical of these types of shows, despite my thirst and knowledge of history, so I would really like to see this series. I am gathering a collection now, and have seen some reasonably good historic footage courtesy of the Aust Society of WW1 Aero Historians' library.

If anyone has a copy on VHS or DVD, I would be happy to pay all costs involved in getting a copy off to me. Please private me for my address etc.

If anyone can help out, I'd be immensely grateful.

[Chock]

A company called Rare TV did a reissue of the Wings TV series on DVD, but they are now defunct so it's no longer an option sadly, but that might help your search for a used copy.

I watched Wings when I was a kid, it was pretty good (if I recall correctly, it used to be on BBC1 on Sunday evenings), but you have to bear in mind that some of the 'special effects' were of their time, so don't expect CGI on par with Industrial Light and Magic - think more in terms of 1970s Doctor Who episodes and shaky back projection and you'll be nearer the mark. Sort of on par with the 1970's WW1 movie Aces High.

But dated effects aside, it did feature some specially shot footage of aircraft in action, and it was fairly historically accurate too, particularly in regard to the Fokker Scourge, as well generally being well cast and well acted.

In total there were two series of it, for a total of 25 episodes; 12 episodes in series one, and 13 episodes in series two.

Al

[John McKenzie]

Hi ...Yes . Definately a BBC production....I expect quite a lot of us would like a copy ( me included ) for nostalgia sake.
I wonder if Major Laraby (Mathew ) could help us out with some details of filming ?

As an asside , "Wings" was the instigator for Leisure Sport 's (Thorp Park ) director John Hall to start up the WW1 theme with purchase of DrI , and then all the rest.

BTW.(only slightly off topic )..Did anyone ever see " The Flambards" ? ,,Worth getting too I'd think . ...Regards JM

[Chock]

I vaguely recall that a monoplane replica of some sort was constructed for use in Flambards, perhaps a Morane Bullet Deperdussin or something of that nature.

Al

[Major Larabee]

Hi All

Yes the "Wings " Tv series has come up many times in discusion, it was a BBC production and has been allready said was over 2 series an 25 episodes. It was set in 1914 and feature a BE2 squadron in France, the squadron is tasked with dealing with the threat of the new Fokker eindeckers. It was well cast ans well acted, most of the flying was done with RC Model Aircraft, these were provided by my uncle David Boddington, alot of us were involved in building the models!! and as a kid i spent time on the set durring filming. Some fullsize A/C were used including the PPS eindecker replica and a Tiger Moth. Also our very own BE2 replica ( Biggles Biplane Restoration) was used for the flying shots. One the ground taxiable replica's were built, including a Sopwith Pup biuilt by ourselves ( the BE2's were built by the BBC set dept!!) A third series was planed and more Pups and One and a half Strutters were planed for this, unfortunately it was declared to expensive by the powers at B at the BBC and it was scrapped
The series has never been released on either Video or DVD and despite several attempts we have not been able to find out if the series still exists in the BBC vaults. We do have a copy of the series which we got from Original Brand Domains For Sale but i understand this is no longer available. It is not a particularly good copy, i think it has come from someones recording off the TV, but at the moment its all there is!!!! A search on the internet my turn up a copy. Its a great series and well worth a watch if you can find it, maybe one day it will appear from the BBC vaults???
Flambards is another series that we supplied Models and full size ground taxiable replicas for, this was a Yorkshire TV series and is available on DVD from Ebay or Amazon Both these series were fimed in the 70's.

[Gregvan]

If I'm not mistaken, one of our own members posted this wonderful clip on Youtube:

YouTube - Shoot the observer!

YouTube - Shoot the observer!