LEARNING TO FLY [Main Title]

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  • Title: LEARNING TO FLY [Main Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 4664
  • Other titles: AMATEUR NAVAL FILM BY LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER F R A TURNBULL [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Silent amateur film shot and edited with intertitles by Lieutenant-Commander F R A 'Dick' Turnbull showing episodes from his period of training as a Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot, 1940 - 1941.
  • Description: START 00:00:00 20:24 "Learning to Fly 1940 - 1941’". ‘"Elementary Training at Elmdon on Tiger Moths’". Scenes at RAF Elmdon outside Birmingham where de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane trainers are seen taxiing and landing on a grass runway past other parked Tiger Moths and two Vickers Supermarine Spitfires. Aerial views in subdued daylight of the outskirts of Birmingham and the countryside surrounding RAF Elmdon framed by the wings and rigging of Turnbull's own Tiger Moth. 00:01:08 "Battles at Netheravon’". Air-to-air shots filmed on a cloudy day of two dual control Fairey Battle 'T' trainers in flight on the port or left hand side of Turnbull's own aircraft. He picks out the flying instructor in the rear cockpit of the aircraft closest to him; his cockpit cover has been pulled back. 00:01:42 "Approach without Engine"’. An old Morris Bullnose saloon car with the engine cover off and the engine removed left abandoned at Netheravon Flying Training School, Wiltshire; two men (one in a white coat) are seen moving about in the background. Another air-to-air shot of a dual control Fairey Battle T, with the trainee pilot’s cockpit hood pulled back. Intertitle ‘Aerobatics below safety height’. Shots, some under-exposed, of a battered old MG (?) sport car. 00:02:37 "‘Hurricanes at Yeovilton"’. Scenes filmed in the summer of 1941 at «HMS Heron», the Fleet Air Arm's Fighter Training School at Yeovilton, Somerset, showing Hawker Hurricanes taking off and landing on a hard runway with wheels and flaps down. A Miles Master Mk I trainer flies low overhead with its wheels lowered. Two more Hurricane are seen touching down on the runway and taxiing along it. 00:03:51 "Deck Landing Training – «HMS Argus»’". An aerial view of the First World War aircraft carrier «HMS Argus» steaming at high speed in the Clyde, filmed possibly in June 1941; the vessel's flight deck is entirely free of any obstructions as she possesses no superstructure. Views filmed on the flight deck showing Fairey Fulmar fighter/reconnaissance aircraft landing on the 470 foot-long flight deck; during one attempted landing, the 'batman' waves the pilot off as he has come in too fast and high but the next effort ends with success when the Fulmar touches down and snags the deck arrester wire. The deck crew push the aircraft back after it has come to a stop although its propeller is still spinning. They prepare a Fairey Swordfish Mk I torpedo-bomber for take off; the biplane makes a successful take-off run down the flight deck and makes a turn to port once it is clear of the aircraft carrier; a flight deck crewman in the foreground has a wheel chock in his hand. The Swordfish touches down on «HMS Argus» and is caught by the arrester wire; the deck crew then run forward to grab hold of it. Title ‘The End’. END 00:05:00
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR NAVAL FILM BY LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER F R A TURNBULL [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: MGH 4664
  • Sound: None
  • Access Conditions: IWM Film: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1940-1940
  • Production Country:GB
  • Production Details:Turnbull, F R A (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W Title language: English
  • Technical Details:Footage: 130 ft (ca); Running time: 5 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 4664

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