Here's a cool scene from the movie The Train.

Spitfire chases train

memorable scene

Spitfire? I thought the Germans were after them.

quote:

Originally posted by Farmer_Bill:
Spitfire? I thought the Germans were after them.

If I understand the scene correctly the guys on the train were allies who commandeered the train. The Spitfire not knowing this thought he was shooting up a German engine.

Watch the movie and all will make sense, its a hreat movie. link below.
http://www.hulu.com/the-train

Get the DVD and then listen to the director's commentary. That scene was added and they almost got killed filming it.

Thanks guys. I didn't know my Axis from the holes in the ground.

Another engineer/pilot and I used to "shoot" at each other. He had a Mooney and I flew a Cherokee. Who ever was in the plane would come swooping in from the front 90 degrees of the train (45 degrees on each side of straight ahead) to strafe the train. We'd shoot at each other by blinking the loco headlight and the plane's landing light. The plane was not allowed to start "shooting" more than about 1/2 mile out to give the engineer a chance to see it and start defending himself with the headlight. There were a lot of arguments afterwards about who started shooting first but we had a lot of fun. The person who was going to fly would get on the company computer and see when the engineer departed the away from home terminal and then go take off and hunt for the proper train from the air. Of course if possible we always tried to come out of the sun.

This was done out on the wide open prairies of Montana and Wyoming where there were no houses and no power lines etc. It is definitely weird to see a plane only 30 feet up coming down the track straight at your loco!

My engineer buddy scared the crap out of my conductor one day when we were crossing the long multi-span deck girder bridge over the Tongue River. He came flying up the river just off the surface then swooped up over the train on the bridge, just as my conductor was pouring a cup of coffee. My conductor saw movement out of the corner of his eye, turned and saw the plane headed for him, let out a whoop and spilled the coffee all over himself as the plane buzzed the cab. He was pretty PO'd but couldn't say much since he had ridden with me a couple of times when we strafed a train.

Ah to be young and stupid again.

Wyhog

The plane in the movie has square wing tips. It is not a Spitfire..as the Spitfire has very unusual eliptical wingtips. Nor is it a Hawker Hurricane, as that has rounded wingtips. Anyone have any idea what it was?

It's a clipped wing Spitfire.

Wes

Yep, clipped wing spitfire:
click here

Dialog/soundtrack in French, fascinating footage (nothing about the strafing run):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2pEvr32C7g

quote:

clipped wing spitfire:

Thanks

In training during WWII, at Luke field, Arizona we flew old Curtis P-40s and AT-6 advanced trainers. Once in a while we would catch a freight going across the desert. The trick was to get in back of it, get real slow and low and pass the engine, waving at the guys in the cab. I managed it once, and someone actually waved back--I think. I might have been too busy looking out for cacti?

Some guys talked about coming at a train head on, but that I didn't do that! Ah, youth!

Charlie

That was a great movie. Burt Lancaster did a great job.

beertrain, I agree. If you listen to the coomentary you will learn that Burt did most of his own stunts.

Thanks for posting this! I haven't seen that movie in years.

The sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine in a Spitfire is just incredible.

Planes and trains...what else is there

quote:

Originally posted by beertrain:
That was a great movie. Burt Lancaster did a great job.

worht watching just to se Mr Burt Lancaster. One of the best actors ever.

I bet the engine needed new rims on it's drivers after that stop. A stop like that would put flat spots on the rims.
Of the other 2 actors, one of them looked like Lee Marvin, anybody have an idea how the 3rd one was?
Al

Just looking at Burt Lancaster driving that train reminded me of a by-gone day when men played men in movies. Not boys playing men like today. Actually, you can blame it somewhat on birth control pills. Birth control pills make women desire less macho men, so the media portrays them more as the modern women desires. So you have Leonardo Decaprio playing a lead role in Titanic rather than a Clark Gable. Anyway, Burt looked totally cool in that scene.QUOTE]Originally posted by beertrain:
[That was a great movie. Burt Lancaster did a great job.[/QUOTE]

quote:

you will learn that Burt did most of his own stunts.

You also learn he did a bunch of other peoples stunts as well. The kid getting shot on the station roof, that was Lancaster doing the fall.

The only Americans in the film are Lancaster and Scofield. The rest are French or German. The station master (Jacques) is the police inspector in Charade (Cary Grant/Audry Hepburn) and the underground contact is the stamp peddler in the same film.

The director's commentary also goes into the details of a number of the stunts that Lancaster did which makes the film so authentic. From learning how to cast a bearing to how to plant/handle plastique.

The original script did not have the body count that the final version has. Many of the french actors had stop work clauses in their contracts and it was easier to off them then extend their contracts.

quote:

Birth control pills make women desire less macho men

And all along I thought it was my wit and good looks.