15 replies to this topic

[ScorpioUnbound]

What ho all.

Brick by Brick - Rebuilding the Past.

This is a programme showing how the CG-W Factory has been moved to its current position but promises to cover some of the history of the plant from its inception as an aircraft factory to its demise from that role.  This will obviously cover its Great War involvement.
Enjoy.



Cheer ho



John.

[Jonathan Saunders]

Thanks for the Heads-up otherwise I had missed this in the weekly trawl of the tv listings.

[ScorpioUnbound]

Jonathan Saunders, on 06 April 2012 - 01:23 PM, said:

Thanks for the Heads-up otherwise I had missed this in the weekly trawl of the tv listings.

I almost did because 2 chaps standing around in hi-vis vests didn't seem to merit further inspection but just sometimes, ones eye can be caught by the shape of a word or phrase and that's what made me read the review ( a Sunday Times 'Pick of the day').
John

[mandy hall]

Just about to start.

Mandy

[Ken Lees]

A very interesting programme. I hadn't heard of the man but he clearly had quite a significant influence on early aviation.

[Pighills]

DOH!!!!!!!!

To think I turned over from this programme (I'm currently redecorating my bedroom) to find something I could "listen to" whilst painting.

If only I'd known

[ScorpioUnbound]

A surprisingly informative and interesting hour of television that had many (short) shots of early aircraft (although an Avro Tutor crept in, presumably because it was a biplane) that offered a very decent biography of CG-W and his dreams for Hendon and British aviation.  Well worth tuning into the BBC iPlayer for if you were unable to catch the programme 'live'.


John

[seadog]

An excellent programme and shows just what the Beeb can do when it tries. The reconstruction of the building was a superb achievement and provides yet another reason to visit the RAF Museum, as if one was needed!.

BBC iPlayer Link


Norman

[blackmaria]

Yes,i really enjoyed the programme.I had heard of Graham-White because quite a few pilots mention his flying school in their memoirs but he obviously isn't as well known as he should be.I was suprised there were still a few buildings that survived from the airfield and factory.When i was a teenager i lived near Joyce Green airfield near the Thames at Long Reach where James McCudden and Mick Mannock flew from,but there was nothing left there to tell you it was once an important R.F.C airfield.

[ScorpioUnbound]

It was the shape of the Claude Grahame-White name that alerted me to read the review, a name I knew predominantly from the eponymous gallery at the RAF Museum.  One can only hope that the Beeb are using programmes like this as practice for the centenary of the Great war in two years time.



John

[Jim Clay]

Fascinating hour of telly

Was I alone in finding the use of film of war casualties, in what I think was 'hospital blues', running a 3-legged race a lazy way to illustrate the CG-W workers' sports days?

[mandy hall]

Agreed a very informative hour of telly.

Mandy

[ScorpioUnbound]

Jim Clay, on 07 April 2012 - 05:00 PM, said:

Fascinating hour of telly

Was I alone in finding the use of film of war casualties, in what I think was 'hospital blues', running a 3-legged race a lazy way to illustrate the CG-W workers' sports days?

One of my off-beat ideas here but were recovering casualites ever engaged in war work as a form of occupational therapy in which case some who were trained as wood or metalworkers pre-war could have contributed to manufacture at CG-W or elsewhere.



John

[David Filsell]

I thought it terrific in regard to the rebuilding - but factually unsound, actually inept, on its frequent analysis which continued to harp on about the fact that British generals though air observation unimportant. All a bit butchers and bunglers all cavalry orientated. Of course the RFC was too small on outbreak of war, so was the regular army. But aircraft were used bt the army in the 1912 manoeuvres and considered helpful from early in 14.

[seadog]

Well thats your opinion!, obviously you are some kind of "expert".

[RobL]

Very good, although rather biased as I was chuffed to see the place I used to live (the splendid mock-Tudor 1917 Officers' Mess) on the small screen