MovieChat Forums > The Brylcreem Boys (1999) Discussion > Errors both in Geography and Historical ...

Errors both in Geography and Historical Fact!

posted 18 years ago by MadTom
13 replies | jump to latest

I just submitted the following to the Goofs section:

"It is highly improbable that a German fighter and a British bomber fighting over France would end up shooting each other down over Ireland. The shortest distance between France and Ireland is over 200 miles (about an hour flying time), barely within the operational radius of German fighters and with only a very narrow corridor that does not pass over England, which was very heavily defended by Allied fighters with radar guidance which would have easily taken care of any German fighter pursuing a British bomber. Unless the British bomber pilot was totally clueless and the navigator and the rest of the crew dead or unconscious, he would have been home free over his own home soil well before reaching Ireland. If any British and German aircrews had strayed over Ireland and shot each other down, they would have been (and should have been for this movie) British fighter pilots defending against German bombers attacking Britain."

I'm a retired US military officer whose experience includes time as an Air Force fighter pilot, and this error screamed out to me when I saw this movie. I'm guessing the writers thought for some reason that the story would have been more interesting with a German fighter pilot and a British bomber crew, but it just couldn't have happened.

Am I missing something? Anyone out there have any known historical information to the contrary?

[–] The_Khazi 18 years ago

I must admit I haven`t seen the film yet but your argument certainly seems to make more sense.The Me109 barely had 30 mins over London in 1940 so it seems unlikely that one could reach Ireland & hope to get back unless it had extra fuelling tanks at the expense of everything else.Northern Ireland was certainly bombed during WW2 & I also read somewhere that the Germans accidentally bombed Dublin so your views seem more likely.

The story of an Irish prison camp housing British & Germans together sounds ridiculous but did it actually exist & if so is anything still left of the site.Was there more than one camp?

Slightly Straying on the subject: I saw a programme on UK tv a few months ago which took former German POW`s back to the site of their camp where they actually managed to locate the site of an old tunnel they`d started to dig.Other interesting films are "The One That Got Away"(Hardy Kruger-1958)& "The McKenzie Break"(Brian Keith-1970).

[–] TheWanderingFish 13 years ago

I know this is a really old post, but such a camp did in fact exist - Ireland was neutral during the war, so they "imprisoned" (in a very friendly environment) any foreign soldier found on their soil.

Google: Camp Curragh WWII, or read:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13924720

I suppose on a clear day you can see the class struggle from here

[–] padula007 18 years ago

It's a MOVIE, for crying out loud.

[–] megatosspot 18 years ago

It wasn't a 109; the guy who greeted the German pilot said he was sorry about his observer. So probably a 110 intruder, hanging around looking for returning bombers.

[–] MadTom 17 years ago

Even if it was an Me-110 or a Ju-88 night fighter lurking in wait for Brit bombers, it wouldn't make sense to be waiting for them over Ireland.

[–] Harvestmoonman13 13 years ago

Would make more sense to be a german bomber crew shot down over ireland and a british spitfire pilot during the battle of britain.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] vincewarde 13 years ago

I don't know if it makes much difference, but the bomber crew clearly have their navigation messed up, since he thought he was over France. This was not unheard of.

As for the German night fighter, I do not know if they used drop tanks to extend their range and endurance - but that would have been a huge help in night fighter operations over the UK - which continued until at least March of 1945. It should also be remembered that the RAF bombers did not fly in formation, but in more of a stream that might last several hours. Being able to loiter over England in order to surprise them on either takeoff or landing was an advantage.

It is also possible that a bomber could have been intercepted shortly after takeoff and inadvertently headed West in ordered to take evasive action. A prolonged fight could have resulted in both aircraft going down over Ireland. Another possibility could have been strong Westerly winds causing both aircraft to be much further than West than they believed.

Some readers may remember that the B-24 "Lady Be Good", overflew there base in North Africa be several hundred miles, crashing in the Sahara Desert with the loss of the entire crew. They were not found until the early 1960s.

Could a similar set of circumstances have resulted in aerial combat over Ireland? Not very likely, but possible.

[–] devonblue 12 years ago

Here is a link for all those who do not believe

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060047/Built-Guns-Spitfire-buried-peat-bog-70-years-time.html

[–] trpsarge 12 years ago

Aerial actions did heppen but tended to be more a case of the RAF chasing down the Luftwaffe. One famous dog fight involved a Ju88 which eventaully crashed at TowerGarre, Tramore Co. Waterford having beaten off a succession of attacks from up to 4 RAF fighters along the lenght of the country,

Read 'Land Fall Ireland' by Donal MacCarron or 'Guests of the State' by T. Ryle Dwyer for actual accounts of both the aerial warfare and the internment camp.

Not so far removed from the reality as you might think.

The big let down is the films is shot in the Isle Of Man as opposed to Ireland and fails to take into account the actual location of the internment camp, which is on a flat plain known as the Curragh.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] trpsarge 12 years ago

Not as strange as you thing to have British Bombers crash in Ireland. Couple of book on the subjects out there.

One vickers wellington crashed just out side Waterford city in 1940.

Navigation was more of an art form than a pure science up to the middle of the war and accidental landings, crashes, bombings and even dogfights were not unusual in Ireland, during what was known as' The Emergency'!

[–] 12 years ago

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