An Cosantóir

50 Lt Col P. McMahon - Reprinted From 75th Anniversary Magazine THOSE MAGNIFICENT DAYS It's all a long time ago now but I was on my Wings Course in Baldonnel, flying Provosts, when it was ru- moured that 20th Century Fox wanted to make a movie in Ireland using First World War aircraft. Sure enough, in June 1965 we got our first sight of Fokker DVll's, SE5's, Pfalzs and other strange aircraft. For the next six months our minds were to be distracted by the coming and going of these vintage aircraft and how we envied those pilots who were lucky to be chosen to fly them. All of our senior class was involved, but fortune had not smiled on the 9th Young Officers course as regards timing. It was just a year too early or, were we a year too late? We didn't complain when in September of that year, our course was suspended because the Vampires we were flying on the advanced stage of our course, were making too much noise and causing serious prob- lems for the film Director, John Gullerman. We joined the eighty or so other extras in our snazzy German uniforms and strutted around the ramp at Baldonnel which had been turfed and converted to a field for the shooting of the final and fatal flying sequence involving the main character played by George Peppard. But "The Blue Max" was finished before I got my Wings so I never got to fly in it. It was released the following year, 1966, and went on to be a reasonable success. Now I'm not a particularly religious person but I do re- member praying that another flying film would be made in Ireland and that I would get the chance to fly those old machines. You can imagine my delight when it was learned in 1967 that Paramount Pictures was planning to film "Darling Lili" here using the same aircraft as the "Blue Max". The only problem was they wanted the same pilots to do the flying, but as the shooting pro- gressed, it was decided to extend the flying sequenc- Making the Red Baron, July – August 1970 Irish Air Corps and civilian pilots who flew the aerial sequences in "The Blue Max" THOSE MAGNIFICENT DAYS es and more pilots were drafted in. I was one of the lucky additions and in July 1968 I entered the world of make-believe in an SE5 or a Fokker or perhaps the "rub- ber" Pfalz, the latter so named because its wings bent when aileron was applied. It was to become mostly my aircraft as no one else was very anxious to fly it and as the most junior pilot I had last pick. I didn't mind, I was just happy to be airborne and realise my fantasy. There were to be three whole months of flying to add to a similar period the previous year when a lot of flying sequences were shot. Flying for Darling Lili was completed in August 1968 and the film released in 1969. It performed very poorly despite the amount of money spent on production. If it wasn't for the flying sequences and the fact that I and about a dozen other Air Corps pilots were involved in the making, I don't think I would have gone to see it at all. There were to be two more films made in Ireland. In 1969, "Ace Eli" and "Rodgers of the Skies", directed by Cliff Robertson, came to town and involved two months of flying. This film, however, wasn't released until 1973 and little was ever heard about it. Then in 1970 the Corman brothers arrived to make "The Red Baron", a "B" Movie for United Artists. Luckily for me they were anxious to have the services of experienced film pilots which we had now become, and the Air Corps was once again asked to supply both pilots and technicians. This time the flying was to take place from Weston, and since the budget was small, each day had to produce results. During the previous evening, a picture of the director's view of the next day's sequences was drawn on large sheets of paper by aerial director Jimmy Murakami. At the early morning briefing, these would be displayed and detailed discussions would take place on how they could be achieved. When all was resolved, we took to the skies. But all the briefing in the world made no difference to the aircraft. Most of the replicas did well to climb 200 feet per minute after take-off and miniature SE5's, the "Curry Wots" were not only at full power to stay with the other airplanes, they were at more than full power. But we got used to them and bit by bit the film got made. Most of the dogfights were filmed at 4,000 feet which was the ceiling for many of the aircraft, but once "Ac- tion" was called, we knew we would not be able to hold the height for long. So the weaker aircraft were "called" first, to take a "hit'', pull up, stall spin, smoke and watch out for the aircraft on your port side and the aircraft on your tail. You had to have your wits about you, and even then, you got many frights. ''The Red Baron", or as it was known in the USA, "Von

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