Title:HAWKER TYPHOON MK IA, LIBERATOR AND TYPHOON CRASH [Allocated Title]
Film Number:ARY 7-86
Other titles:
Summary: A miscellaneous collection of unedited material.
Description: The first sequence was shot in about September 1941 and shows various activities around Typhoons of 56 Squadron. Initially one sees a close up of the massive air intake. The shot then pulls back to show the type more fully. A close up of the port side nose shows a Wing Commander's insignia painted thereon. One aircraft (letter 'D') taxies with two ground crew hanging on the wing tips. In the background a Typhoon is undergoing major engine maintenance. In a good close shot an armourer cleans the barrels of the aircraft's armament in situ as the camera pans up to show fitters (wearing berets which is very unusual) working on the engine. In a shot from the rear of the aircraft an armourer lays on the wing and attends to the internal end of the guns. He fits the ammunition feed chute, loads a belt of ammunition and closes the breach. Using an arming tool he cocks the breach. The loading of the ammo belt is then shown in close up. Two legs dangle out of the open 'cab-door' of the aircraft. A hand reaches up and grasps a proffered screwdriver. Other shots include a mid shot of the aircraft being worked on and a bowser re-fuelling. The second sequence was taken, in long shot, on 11 August 1944 from Airfield B5. It shows crew baling out of a stricken Liberator. The novelty of this piece is the fact that the 'plane flew itself for a while and performed some spectacular aerobatics before plunging to earth. The final part was taken on the same site on the previous day. Flying Officer Geoff Murphy brings his aircraft in to land with one wheel still retracted. After the crash there is a mid shot of the ambulance and crash crew around the aircraft with Murphy smiling and walking to the ambulance, a close up of the smashed nose and oil radiator (still smouldering). Next shots of Typhoons flying over the airfield, two Typhoons taking off in dust clouds and the column of smoke rising from the Liberator crash end the section.
Production Details: RAF Film Production Unit (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Murphy, Geoffrey (person)
Royal Air Force, Sqdn 56 (regiment/service)
Royal Air Force, Sqdn 245 (regiment/service)
Keywords: aircraft, United States - combat: Consolidated B-24 Liberator (object name)
aircraft, British - combat: Hawker Typhoon Mk Ia (object name)
aircraft, British - combat: Hawker Typhoon Mk Ib (object name)
Number B5 Airfield, Le Fresne-Camilly, Calvados, France (geography)
