Saturday, July 22, 2017

The "Star" of Dunkirk

Back on October 1, 2016 I was at the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, CA. A certain aircraft had just been taken apart and shipped there from on location at the Dunkirk filming. I took a bunch of pictures and video that I had intended to upload two nights ago when the movie came out. I realized that I wanted to visit the museum today for a presentation they were having so I just decided to take some new pictures and do a new video. It is better this way since I got to see the movie and how important this plane was in it.

I'll probably re-edit this blog at some point in the future to get all the links and history right for these aircraft that I am uploading pictures of. They all have their real histories, and I want to get that correct.

I thought the movie Dunkirk was really well done. As I mentioned last week and in the past with westerns, I don't mind watching movies that aren't intended to be historical documentaries. This was more based in creating an experience based on history. It was really intense, suspenseful, and action packed. One thing in the director's favor is he kept it within the two hour range which to me is a bonus. Sometimes I think movies are stretched out a little too long and tend to overkill. As I say in the video, this is probably the closest experience I ever want to have with a German Stucka dive bombing on me.

Here is the mock-up plane seen in the movie as it is right now. Notice the "R9612". That is not its real number of the plane it is based on, but was added for the movie from what I have read.

The Dunkirk Movie Spitfire #1 (Mk.Ia X2650)
From what I understand, the president of Planes of Fame, Steve Hinton, flew the main scenes you see Tom Hardy's character fly. Yes, another movie with Tom Hardy wanting to destroy planes with no survivors...bad humor...Bane as pilot....lol...;)
The Dunkirk Movie Spitfire #2 (Mk.Ia X2650)
In time they will fix that plane up, but in the meantime here is another Spitfire. A Supermarine Spitfire L.F. Mk.IXe
Supermarine “Spitfire L.F. Mk.IXe”

A few links to look at:

The "Star" of Dunkirk (YouTube)

Warbirds

The music taken from Incompetech.com for the video is called Procession of the King.