GWR Maunsell loco

[contrex]

I know that people who comment on period inaccuracies are generally regarded as bores, but I was intrigued to see that the latest episode of 'Masters of the Air' (Apple TV) includes a sequence where an East Anglia-based USAAF officer goes on a leave trip to Oxford in 1943. We see his train of blood and custard BR Mark 1 coaches rushing along a single track, hauled by a green Maunsell loco. To my untrained eye, it looks like an S15. On the tender, above, where you would expect to see 'SOUTHERN', it says 'GREAT WESTERN', and below, where you would expect the number (3 digits) it says 'GWR'. I don't know if one side of the tender was actually painted thus, or whether it was digital trickery. You do see a lot of B-17s flying in formation, disintegrating, etc, so I suppose doctoring a loco would be a minor thing

My pal sent me a still frame showing the loco; I don't know if it's allowed to post it here.

 

[Rescars]

Maunsell's technical assistant, Harry Holcroft, was recruited from Swindon. I wonder what he would have had to say on the subject!

 

[contrex]

Maunsell's technical assistant, Harry Holcroft, was recruited from Swindon. I wonder what he would have had to say on the subject!

And Stanier was headhunted from there by the LMS. Maybe, he'd have liked to comment on how a later shot involving downed aviators in Germany being taken to a POW camp seems to suggest that the LMS (or Armstrong Whitworth?) were building Black 5 Kriegsloks for the Reichsbahn.

 

[Rescars]

Clearly a programme brimming with technical accuracy! I wonder what country's planes the USAAF were flying?

 

[contrex]

Clearly a programme brimming with technical accuracy! I wonder what country's planes the USAAF were flying?

Their own; they got the Boeing B-17s (Flying Fortresses) right, at least they looked convincing to me. Of course a real plane buff might spot problems with the markings or something. Maybe they ran out of money or expertise when it came to trains.

 

[Gloster]

Their own; they got the Boeing B-17s (Flying Fortresses) right, at least they looked convincing to me. Of course a real plane buff might spot problems with the markings or something. Maybe they ran out of money or expertise when it came to trains.

More likely they ran out of interest to bother with anything that wasn’t Amurrican.

 

[midland1]

Clearly a programme brimming with technical accuracy! I wonder what country's planes the USAAF were flying?

The USAAF were not fly any planes then, they were still part of the army.

 

[randyrippley]

The USAAF were not fly any planes then, they were still part of the army.

USAAF = US Army Air Force
Originally

 

[contrex]

The USAAF were not fly any planes then, they were still part of the army.

So what does the 'AF' stand for, and who was Ira Eaker (etc)?

 

[30907]

TBH I'm impressed that they got a pre-nationalisation loco

From minimal experience, I would guess that the company name and number were applied manually rather than computer generated.

 

[midland1]

USAAF = US Army Air Force
Originally

sorry yes you are right

 

[Bevan Price]

Well - probably at least 95% of the film audience would not know (or care) whether the loco is "historically correct". And Jubilees would not be correct for the West Highland line - even if one had been available when the film was made - it was a NBR/LNER line. .

 

[Irascible]

Clearly a programme brimming with technical accuracy! I wonder what country's planes the USAAF were flying?

They did, according to what people have told me in a halfway split between amused & appalled ( and the cross sniping between the two was more entertaining ), have the Luftwaffe flying a bunch of odd stuff. They also managed to have an unnecessary swipe at the British & somehow all their air gunners are aces rather than being more likely to shoot their formation mates, but I wouldn't expect anything else given the background.

 

[Rescars]

Well - probably at least 95% of the film audience would not know (or care) whether the loco is "historically correct". And Jubilees would not be correct for the West Highland line - even if one had been available when the film was made - it was a NBR/LNER line. .

Given the story line, a Southern "V" class might have been a nice touch!