'Live' BofB dig on TV.....

Martin Bull · #1 (**permalink**) May 28th, 2004, 09:14 PM

UK Channel 5 TV is showing a 'live' Battle of Britain aviation 'dig' this coming Sunday, 30th May.

I think this may be the Hurricane which impacted Buckingham Palace Road ( can't recall which aircraft it was ; After The Battle have covered it ) - I doubt whether much remains to be found, but we shall see.....

The_Historian · #2 (**permalink**) May 28th, 2004, 09:31 PM

Martin,
That sounds interesting. See Time Team have a D-Day special on this Monday at 9pm, haven't seen any details of what they're up to so far.

Regards,

Gordon

Martin Bull · #3 (**permalink**) May 29th, 2004, 02:42 PM

The Channel 5 programme is tomorrow night at 9. The aircraft in question I assume must be Ray Holmes' 504 Squadron Hurricane which collided with the 'Victoria Station Dornier' on September 15th 1940.

The Hurricane hit the juction of Buckingham Palace Road and Pimlico Road vertically at about 400mph.

The_Historian · #4 (**permalink**) May 29th, 2004, 08:41 PM

Martin,
I remember seeing a bit about it in ATb, so I'm looking forward to the programme. That's assuming I actually get peace to watch it.

Doesn't seem like ten years since I pulled a sickie off work to watch the 50th anniversary of D-day...........

Regards,

Gordon

Onthefield · #5 (**permalink**) May 29th, 2004, 10:15 PM

You know, I can't get any of those stations or docs over here (now I'm in the US, back home).

Martin Bull · #6 (**permalink**) May 31st, 2004, 07:52 AM

Oh dear. File under 'embarrassing'.

Could have been an interesting programme but trying to make it a 'LIVE - reality TV' event was disastrous.

They ran two simultaneous 'digs'; the Hurricane in London and a MkXIV Spitfire in former E. Germany which looked really interesting.

But the Spit dig had to be stopped almost immediately when they hit quantities of aviation fuel. And in London, Channel 5 didn't seem to have realised that most aircraft bits coming from the ground bear a strong resemblance to large chunks of mud - it's only when they are professionally cleaned that they look interesting. So we were treated to the sight of the obligatory bubble-headed female presenter hopping about squeaking 'What is it ? What is It ?' and then snapping 'You're all talking at once !' [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] You almost wondered if she had been expecting someone to hop into the Hurricane's cockpit and fly it away....

A wasted opportunity.

The_Historian · #7 (**permalink**) June 1st, 2004, 01:27 PM

Couldn't agree more, Martin.
Guy de la Bedoyere was out of his depth (he's a Roman Britain expert), and the Spit dig was an embarassment.
Bright spots? The bird presenting (!), and the guest of honour who was still eyeing up the ladies at the age of 90+!
Time Team the following night was a bit better, but they were also out of their depth on anything that modern. Better effort though.

Regards,
Gordon

sommecourt · #8 (**permalink**) June 1st, 2004, 03:54 PM

Also saw it and very disappointed; for all the reasons stated above. Unfortunately commercial TV is like that... which is why they are always poor at representing history, which few of them understand - except that it gets good ratings!

Martin Bull · #9 (**permalink**) June 1st, 2004, 04:41 PM

Time-team was marginally better ( Guy de la B popping up again ) but I spent most of the time wondering if the presenters might tread on a Schu-mine....

Paul Errass · #10 (**permalink**) June 1st, 2004, 06:06 PM

Got to agree on this one guys,Ray Holmes looked totally bemused at the antics of the blond bird and John Suchet gushing over every muddy/rusty artifact that was discovered.

The Historians involved should have known better,but Ray giving the blond bird the eye was priceless !!!!

Paul [img]smile.gif[/img]

Greenjacket · #11 (**permalink**) June 16th, 2004, 11:13 PM

The thing that pissed me off about that programme was John Suchet's tendency to cut off people's recollections mid-sentence in order to ask his usually pointless questions.

Stefan · #12 (**permalink**) June 16th, 2004, 11:39 PM

That was going on all through the D-Day commemorations, someone would be telling the interviewer what he remembered and the interviewer would inevitably interrupt to say 'but what did you feel'. It was all about getting emotional responses rather than respect.

Martin Bull · #13 (**permalink**) June 17th, 2004, 06:33 AM

They also cut people short when they gave the 'wrong' answer - like the RAF pilot who, when asked which was the best aircraft ( the interviewer thinking that only Hurricanes and Spitfires flew in WW2 ) said ; 'Oh, the P-51 Mustang...' CUT!! [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]