Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines aircraft

James Steven Beverly · July 22, 2012

I had mentioned "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes" (1965)in my tribute to Steampunk culture. It was on early this morning and being an insomniac and completely insane, I stayed up and watched it, having not seen it in a very long time. The thing that caught my eye on this go 'round was the replica aircraft. I had forgotten how cool they were. I got to wondering as I did with "The Spirit of Saint Louis"(1957) where the planes went after production being a certified aerophile (the enthusiast not the plane). I found this and found it very interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Magnificent_Men_in_their_Flying_Machines

Aircraft

The film is notable for reproductions of 1910-era aircraft, including a triplane, monoplanes, biplanes and also Horatio Phillips's 20-winged multiplane from 1904.[8] Air Commodore Wheeler insisted on authentic materials but allowed the use of modern engines and modifications necessary to ensure safety. Of 20 types built in 1964 at £5,000 pounds each, six could fly, flown by six stunt pilots and maintained by 14 mechanics.[2] The race takeoff scene where seven aircraft are in the air at once included a composite addition. Flying conditions were monitored with aerial scenes filmed before 10 am or in early evening when the air was least turbulent, for the replicas, true to the originals, were flimsy – and control, especially in the lateral plane, tended to be marginal. If the weather was poor, interiors or other incidental sequences were substituted. Wheeler eventually served not only as the technical adviser but also as the aerial supervisor throughout the production and later wrote a comprehensive background account of the film and the replicas that were constructed to portray period aircraft.[9]

The following competitors were listed:

Number 1: Richard Mays, "Antoinette IV" (Aircraft number 8: flying replica)

Number 2: Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, "Avro Triplane" (Aircraft number 12: flying replica)

Number 3: Orvil Newton, "Bristol Boxkite", nicknamed "The Phoenix Flyer" (Aircraft number 7: flying replica)

Number 4: Lieutenant Parsons, "Picaut Dubrieul" nicknamed "HMS Victory" (Aircraft number 4)

Number 5: Harry Popperwell, "Little Fiddler" (Aircraft number 5)

Number 6: Colonel Manfred von Holstein and Captain Rumpelstoss, "Eardley Billing Tractor Biplane" (Aircraft number 11: flying replica)

Number 7: Mr Wallace. (Aircraft number 14)

Number 8: Charles Wade. (Aircraft number unknown)

Number 9: Mr Yamamoto, "Japanese Eardley Billing Tractor Biplane" (Aircraft number 1: duplicate flying replica)

Number 10: Count Emilio Ponticelli, "Philips Multiplane", "Passat Ornithopter", "Lee Richards Annular Biplane" and "Vickers 22 Monoplane" (Aircraft number 2: flying replica)

Number 11: Henri Monteux. (Aircraft number unknown)

Number 12: Pierre Dubois, "Santos-Dumont Demoiselle" (Aircraft number 9: flying replica)

Number 13: Mr Mac Dougall, "Blackburn Monoplane" nicknamed "Wake up Scotland" (Aircraft number 6: original vintage aircraft)

Number 14: Harry Walton (no number assigned).

1963 Replica of the Bristol Boxkite, now hanging in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.

While each aircraft was an accurate reproduction, some "impersonated" other types. For instance, The Phoenix Flyer was a Bristol Boxkite built by F.G. Miles Engineering Co. at Ford, Sussex, representing Curtiss biplane of 1910. Annakin had apparently expressed a desire to have a Wright Flyer in the film.[6] The Bristol (a British derivative of the French 1909 Farman biplane) was chosen instead because it shared a common general layout with a Wright or Curtiss pusher biplane of the era, and had an excellent reputation for tractability.[9] For the impersonation, the replica had "The Phoenix Flyer" painted on its outer rudder surfaces and was also called a "Gruber-Newton Flyer" adding the name of its primary backer to the nomenclature; although the American pilot character, Orvil Newton inaccurately describes his aircraft to Patricia Rawnsley as a "Curtiss with an Anzani engine."[2]

F G Miles, chiefly responsible for its design and manufacture, built the replica Bristol Boxkite with the original standard twin rudder installation and powered the replica with a 65 hp Rolls-Royce A65. In the course of testing, Air Commodore Wheeler had a third rudder inserted between the other two (as did some original Boxkites) to improve directional control, and replaced the first engine with a Rolls-Royce C90 that barely delivered the power of the original 50 hp Gnome rotary, and provided a 45 mph top speed.[9] The Boxkite was tractable and the scene in the story when the aircraft loses a pair of main wheels just after takeoff but lands smoothly was repeated 20 times for the cameras. In the penultimate flying scene, a stuntman was carried in the Boxkite's undercarriage and carried out a fall and roll (the stunt had to be repeated to match the principal actor's roll and revival). Slapstick stunts on the ground and in the air were a major element and often the directors requested repeated stunts; the stuntmen were more than accommodating – it meant more pay.[6]

The Eardley Billing Tractor Biplane replica flown by David Watson appeared in two guises, as the German pilot's aircraft, in more or less authentic form, impersonating an early German tractor biplane, as well as the Japanese pilot's mount, modified with boxkite-like side curtains over the interplane struts and other colourful fuselage decorations.

Santos-Dumont flying his Demoiselle in Paris, 1907

In addition to the flying aircraft, several unsuccessful aircraft of the period were represented by non-flying replicas – including contraptions such as an ornithopter (the Passat Ornithopter) flown by the Italian contender, the Walton Edwards Rhomboidal, Picaut Dubrieul, Philips Multiplane and the Little Fiddler (a canard, or tail-first design). Several of the "non-flying" types "flew" with the help of "movie magic". The Lee Richards Annular Biplane with circular wings (built by Denton Partners on Woodley Aerodrome near Reading) "flew" better than its 1910 namesake, although the movie model was towed into the air.[9]

The flying replicas were specifically chosen to be different enough that an ordinary audience could distinguish them. They were all types reputed to have flown well, in or about 1910. In most cases this worked well, but there were a few surprises, adding to an accurate historical reassessment of the aircraft concerned. For example, the replica of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle, a forerunners of today's ultralight aircraft,:

(I have a Eipper Quicksilver MX that looks:

-not my plane, mine's disassembled at the moment while I'm refurbishing it-

:very much like this aircraft and probably has very similar flight characteristics.)

:was in its early form unable to leave the ground except in short hops. Extending the wingspan and fitting a more powerful Ardem 50 hp engine produced only marginal improvement. When Doug Bianchi and the Personal Planes production staff who constructed the replica consulted with Alan Wheeler, he recalled that the Demoiselle's designer and first pilot, Alberto Santos-Dumont was a very short, slightly built man. A suitably small pilot, Joan Hughes, a wartime member of the Air Transport Auxiliary who was the Airways Flying Club chief instructor, was hired. With the reduced payload, the diminutive Demoiselle flew very well, and Hughes proved a consummate stunt flyer.[6]

The Shuttleworth Collection's replica A.V. Roe IV Triplane

Bianchi had in 1960 created a one-off Vickers 22 (Blériot type) Monoplane, using Vickers company drawings intended for the Vickers Flying Club in 1910. The completed prototype was available and 20th Century Fox purchased the replica, though it required a new engine and modifications including replacing the wooden fuselage structure with welded steel tubing as well as incorporating ailerons instead of wing-warping. The Vickers 22 became the final type used by the Italian contestant.[9] Sometime after the film, the Vickers was sold in New Zealand. It is believed to have flown once, at Wellington Airport in the hands of Keith Trillo, and is now at the SouthWard Museum.[citation needed]

Peter Hillwood of Hampshire Aero Club constructed an Avro Triplane Mk IV, using drawings provided by Geoffrey Verdon Roe, son of A.V. Roe, the designer. The construction of the triplane followed A.V. Roe's specifications and was the only replica that utilised wing-warping successfully. With a more powerful 90 hp Cirrus II replacing the 35 hp Green engine that was in the original design, the Avro Triplane proved to be a lively performer even with a stuntman dangling from the fuselage.[6]

Original Daguerreotype of an Antoinette IV c. 1910 – note triangular ailerons hinged on trailing edge of wing

The Antoinette IV movie model closely replicated the slim, graceful monoplane that was very nearly the first aircraft to fly the English Channel, in the hands of Hubert Latham, and won several prizes in early competitions. When the Hants and Sussex Aviation Company from Portsmouth Aerodrome undertook its construction, the company followed the original structural specifications carefully, although an out-of-period de Havilland Gypsy I engine was used. The Antoinette's wing structure proved, however, to be dangerously flexible, and lateral control was very poor, even after the wing bracing was reinforced with extra wires, and the original wing-warping was replaced with "modern" ailerons (hinged on the rear spar rather than from the trailing edge, as in the "real" Antoinette). The final configuration was still considered marginal in terms of stability and lateral control.[9]

The realism and the attention to detail in the replicas of vintage machines are a major contributor to the enjoyment of the film, and although a few of the flying stunts were achieved through the use of models and cleverly disguised wires, most aerial scenes featured actual flying aircraft. The few genuine vintage aircraft used included a Deperdussin used as set dressing, and the flyable 1912 Blackburn Monoplane "D" (the oldest genuine British aircraft still flying[10]), belonged to the Shuttleworth Trust based at Old Warden, Bedfordshire. When the filming was completed, the "1910 Bristol Boxkite" and the "1911 Roe IV Triplane" were retained in the Shuttleworth Collection,[11] Both replicas are still in flyable condition, albeit flying with different engines.[12] For his role in promoting the film, the non-flying "Passat Ornithopter" was given to aircraft restorer and preservationist, Cole Palen (1925-1993) who displayed it at his Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, New York, where it still exists and is on display in the 21st century.

During the promotional "junkets" accompanying the film in 1965, a number of the vintage aircraft and film replicas used in the production were flown in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The pilots who had been part of the aerial team readily agreed to accompany the promotional tour in order to have a chance to fly these aircraft again.[6]

Edited July 22, 2012 by James Steven Beverly

Brian Drysdale · July 23, 2012

You can find some of these aircraft at the Shuttleworth Collection.

http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft-details.asp?ID=3

http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft-details.asp?ID=4

Plus many other old airscraft.

http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft.asp

James Steven Beverly · July 23, 2012

You can find some of these aircraft at the Shuttleworth Collection.

http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft-details.asp?ID=3

http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft-details.asp?ID=4

Plus many other old airscraft.

http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft.asp