Other then in Burma, and a bit of Coast Guard work, Helicopters were not around in Military use (or few others for that matter) in 1944. That model was not flown by the RAF until 1953....
Any helicopter used in WWII films should be suspect!!!!!
"Where Eagles Dare".... is a prime example of this.
The anachronistic helecopter is more common than we may think!
"You brought two horses too many"...
I just posted the same example on a different thread under this movie. "Eagles" is, notwithstanding, a great move.
shareWell... -I suppose a helicopter IS stretching it a bit. Particularly the helicopter actually showed in the film. -However, Helicopters WERE in use in small numbers on both sides in WW2. Probably not the models we see in this movie and "The eagle's nest", but the very idea of helicopters being available isn't far fetched. The Germans used a few of them off of ships from 1942 onwards, and the German navy had placed orders for a few before the war had even begun.
As for being in use in the UK in 1944, well, it is THEORETICALLY possible, the first Sikorsky R-4 was first used in combat in may 1944, according to wikipedia. Probably not in the UK, though.
I did notice that the Helicopter was too modern, however I thought it was a Coast Guard Helicopter they just used at the end (even if it's not the right colours).
"Nothings gonna change my world!"
Here's a helicopter from the 1940s which looks quite modern.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bossi_-_Higgins_helicopter,_1940s_b.JPG
Yes, you're right, of course. But I think that for a little bit of added spectacle, artistic licence allows. If that military guy who congratulates her (can't remember his name) just appeared from behind a rock, it would look silly, but an airplane couldn't execute a landing on the rocks, so a helicopter suits just fine. So what if helicopters weren't historically used except in Burma? The aircraft had to come from the UK to begin with, so why not?
shareBah. The UK's first helicopter training Squadron wasn't even formed till April of this year. In this weather, etc. no way.
And, plenty of good short field planes. How about the Lysander seen in the background when they greet the transport plane near the beginning. That would have been able to make a perfectly good low-speed pass then land on the field above the rocks. Easily. Used for special operations pickups and stuff, in terrible weather, so this would have worked great IRL.
In the US version, there isn't a helicopter scene. The movie ends with Lucy next to the water as the camera pulls out to a high view.
The only way I know about the helicopter is from the laser disc which had multiple endings. The dvd just has one ending. Hopefully, we will get a blu-ray with the extras.
Thanks for that info Fats. I didn't think there was a helicopter at the end the first time I saw it. I also wondered why they had a fake helicopter in the Patton's plywood army.
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I watched this last night and the helicopter dropping in for the ending made it look ridiculous.
Also it looked like the one that Tony Hopkins flew in in When Eight Bells Toll
;)
The 1969 WWII classic commando film Where Eagles Dare has a helicopter sequence with some top ranked Nazis flying in to land near the Eagle's Fortress. The time frame in Where Eagles Dare is 1943.
The time frame for Eye of the Needle is June 1940-June 1944. Since we had helicopters in the United States in the 1930s (future President Lyndon Johnson flew in one during his first race for the U.S. Senate in 1938), it is quite plausible that British Intelligence had at least a dozen or so on hand. So I believe this.
Anyway, the author Ken Follett was an advisor on the film and it would have been taken out of the shooting script had he objected. Follett did very thorough research for at least one year before he began writing the novel, so I trust his expertise.
I did'nt even see the end, I was actually going to complain about the helos they showed in the background at Patton's fake army HQ. They sure as hell did'nt have them at D-day.
shareThe Johnson City Windmill was in the 1948 campaign. LBJ wouldn't even have been old enough to run for Senate in 1938. As it was he won a special election to the House in 1938 (at age 29), lost a Senate election in '42, and the won the other Texas Senate seat in '48 with the chopper.
Also the guy he lost to for Senate in '42, Pappy O' Daniels, is the model for the character of the same name in O Brother Where Art Thou. They even stole the "pass the biscuits pappy" from his radio addresses.
I have the American Experience DVD LBJ and the year is 1938 when he flew in that helicopter, but I believe now that it was the re-election for his seat in the House of Representatives, which he won handily. By 1943, he was a serving officer in the United States Navy in the South Pacific.
Johnson became power-hungry and ruthless once he reached the United States Senate (he stole votes and rigged the election to get there). His hit-man Mack Wallace had several of his enemies and political opponents killed while the Justice system in Texas looked the other way. Whether he had Kennedy rubbed out in 1963 is another story entirely, but nothing would surprise me.