My father Barry Thomas was the writer who created the "Wings" series. He made his name in the late 1950s with the first TV adaptation of Llewellyn's "How Green Was My Valley" (no video in those days: it was live in the BBC studios.) He finished his BBC career as script editor for East Enders in the 1990s. "Wings" was inspired by his memories of life in the RAF in the 1940s on Lancaster bombers, and the memory was rekindled for him when I joined up at RAF Halton as a boy apprentice in 1968. He found out the RFC connection with that base and it sparked an interest. The idea of a blacksmith who becomes a pilot is rooted in his early teens as a Great Western Railway worker in south Wales, before he joined the RAF in 1943. The series was many years in his mind before he convinced the BBC to make it.
I remember it when it was first on when I was a teenager ; I really liked it, then it disappeared for years before reappearing on RU-vid. It holds up really well (I think all the flying is R/C models !)
Very impressive series. I watched it few years ago when I was doing my private pilot license. Kudos to your father. I am watching it again. I felt the story was incomplete. Was there any plan for season 3 which got shelved. I would expect a logical end to the series with Lorna reuniting with Alan which could have only happened in season 3. History wise, I would expect the series to end with the end of the war again requiring season 3. It felt incomplete to have ended with season 2, which is a shame for such a nice series to be incomplete.
What a great legacy! Your Father must have been an amazing man. These older shows are GOLD, so well done. Especially compared to the garbage now. Thanks for sharing this with us all. Be well friend.
I’m hooked and only halfway through the first episode.My Grandad flew RE8s,I still have his flying helmet,and,pilots licence,dated August 1918.Cant wait for the flying fest to come.Bravo
Many Thankx to You bloody marvelous Brits for posting this series. We yanks don't get to see many BBC productions, and next to Piece Of Cake this is my Favorite. Our countries approach to War may be different, but the result is the same...We Kick Ass and take names, God Save the Queen!
The 1970's was the 'Golden Age' of Brit TV series, producing classics like 'Wings', Colditz', Blakes Seven, 'Survivors' etc, all still available on youtube and/or DVD as far as I know..:)
BRILLIANT SERIES IM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS SERIES. ALSO JUST FINISHED WATCHING THE FULL 2 SERIES OF COLDITZ ANOTHER GREAT BBC PRODUCTION FROM THE 1970'S.
I adored this series in my teens! - It's probably a big part of the reason I became a pilot. Thanks so much for giving me access to this huge nostalgia trip!
I remember very clearly watching this aged 12 with my flight-obsessed father who always wanted to be a fighter pilot in WWII as his father flew in the RFC in WWI. My Dad couldn't fly due to his eyesight and so ended up in the REME - like Alan Farmer in reverse! Many, many thanks for sharing this.
Its good to see a realistic depiction of ordinary working class life here. Historical dramas especially these days always focus on the upper classes. Also everything is so distorted these days by contemporary views and politics. 1970s TV was still able to imagine the past honestly.
Well spotted. My father Barry Thomas who created the series came from a south Wales working class background. His first job in his early teens was on the GWR as a railway apprentice.
Yep! Can you imagine the utter bewilderment and eventual outrage of viewers , back in the 70s, if a group of old 'has beens'were shut up in a 'pretend' house and they were expected to just watch them . ...for hours ....under the pretext of ENTERTAINMENT??!!!! Or, 24/7 of garbage and repeats on a loop.
Many thanks for posting this iconic series so that we can enjoy it again. I remember reading in the Eastern Daily Press, Back Then, that one Air Training Corps unit had changed its parade night to enable cadets to watch. And rightly so!
I have just finished viewing the first series and am looking forward to viewing the second series. I am very impressed with everything about Wings but disappointed that there were only 25 episodes. As the series is almost written in real time, it could have gone on for three more years. But it's a blessing to have what we have. Thanks for your trouble. It is much appreciated.
Given the limitations of the time I suspect that the effects budget for the series would have had to increase in each season to the point it would be unaffordable, this was way before the era of CGI and any flying sequences would require real aircraft or RC models. As it is, the series ends just as the Germans introduce the Fokker Eindekker and the air war gets even more lethal so I can't help but wonder if any of the characters survive the war. Captain Triggers always reminds me a lot of the historical Lanao Hawker so perhaps he ends up the same way.
There were supposed to be more series and a film for the cinema. I remember Nicholas Jones the Actor who played Captain Triggers actually got His pilots licence, and gave an interview saying how they were going to move to replica Aircraft from radio control models and how He looked forward to being able to fly them Himself and that the film was in the offing. Then nothing happened no further series or film materialised.
I always wanted to rewatch this (and see what I missed). This came out while I was serving in the USAF while stationed at RAF Upper Heyford but I went home the last year when this began. Felt good seeing this first episode again.
Terrific to see this again up there with Piece of Cake maybe even "Airline" (albeit mostly civvy flying). Thanks. I recognise Tim Woodward (Farmer) who was the impressive SL Rex in Piece of Cake... amongst many other great roles.
I remember this excellent series when it was broadcast in Australia in the late 1970s. It hasn't been shown since. Glad it's on RU-vid for the time being!
The first series was screened on BBC1 from 2/1/1977 to 20/3/1977 (Sundays). The second series was shown on BBC1 on Thursdays from 5/1/1978 to 30/3/1978.
Outstanding TV drama series. I have always remembered the public school boy in it with PTSD that never left his bed in a French based Royal Army Flying Corps RFC air base, can't remember the actor's name. Intense.
Over the years since I first discovered this series I've watched it many times. It is a superb gem. I can't ride a horse but can fly anything in Flightgear. I just found this on Wikipedia: "The book BBC VFX (Mat Irvine and Mike Tucker) states that few First World War aircraft were still airworthy at the time of production so the majority of flying shots were achieved with 1/6 scale radio-controlled models under the guidance of long-time model aircraft expert David Boddington alongside Derek Piggott and Tony Bianchi." Amazing.
in the year of the 100th aniversary of the carnage, what a better way to remember it by reviewing this excelent serie. Thank you very much for sharing it. All the best
Thank you for this. It does seem from what I have read about the period, true to life. The air combats were very realistic due in the main to the editing. I also liked the way it moved from the RFC to civilian life. Plenty off familier faces with very good acting.
Thank you so much! This is absolutely first class and its just what I need to aid my stories set in the same time, it provides the essential images and flavour to help me write.
Peregrine Mccauley I hate to agree w you, but agree I must & I’ve been saying exactly that, all over Europe, where I presently live, for a v long time. Nobody wants to know. They just keep “downsizing”.
Marketing drives the media...... viewership is income. Tabloid papers have always outsold standard broadsheet papers with in depth content and that's we now have, tabloid TV....real life as one big soap opera .
God I remember this, I was like 5 years old! Used to watch it with my older brother! Funny enough we both have our pilots licence now. Maybe my subconscious and watching this helped?
I also agree with Mr rooster. We are family. The British military has had some of the toughest infantrymen Iin ww1. The greatest war songs Fought off Hitler in ww2. With the great tough Winston Churchill at the helm. And I'll never forget to mention the greatest navy in history. The bottom line is you guys courage. Those ships would go to new worlds and unknown destinations. Always I step ahead of the others ,example copper sheathing on the hull of a warship. Plus the way your country worked hard at home to support the wives by getting good wages and support during the great war. Always been a military of respect and code. Tough ole English hooligans. USA and England together. The evil dictators know what the wrath would be if they really tested us. Thank you Mr rooster for respecting the allies like that.
Me be thinking there maybe a few commonwealth countries who may have something to say about your comments. Especially in world war 1. Have ya heard of a bunch of misfits called the ANZAc’s???? Apparently your blood thirsty imbecile drunken Douglas Haig called them his shock troops towards the ending of the fiasco.
thanks for putting these two series up Luey. Have now got the DVDs but people's comments on here are very interesting. it really was a very well made series and bears rewatching.
"if you can ride a horse....you can fly an aeroplane"....strange ...but my uncle's RFC records reveal that there was indeed a question which asked. "can you ride a horse?" to which he answered "Yes" ....and subsequently he got into the RFC (and survived WW1 as a Pilot) albeit with the equivalent of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
@@justininfrance Interesting. The movie The Blue Shield, starring George Peppard (amongst many others) clearly shows this same attitude about class and flying, but on the German side.
The RFC had view horse riders had better spacial awareness or ability. There was also a history book I read that claimed anyone wanting to join the RFC had to buy their own plane engine (or show the funds to pay) for the plane they were issued to fly in.
...at 3:18.....the 'Flight' Magazine he's reading can be found online... a very interesting resource for anyone who had relatives in the RFC/RAF :>) I found my uncle in it.
They look like Iike big kites and just as unsteady......amazing that they could carry the load of one, let alone two pilots. It took guts to fly one of those.
Our museum has one of these Triumph H's that is great to putter about on. Not fast but very stable. Oh, wait, I am sitting on it in my avatar wearing an RFC cap. In US uni, but it's fun, a 1918 Nash Quad is behind me. I love fooling with history like this.
The planes are more like the Wright Brothers planes than I realized. It's surprising the pilots could maneuver the planes as well as they did. BTW what are those ski-shaped rails mounted on the axle just above the landing gear?
+Kevin Lyons They were designed to stop a plane nosing into the ground in the event of a bad landing. The Avro 504 trainer carried them for the same reason
Life expectancy of new pilots on the front...... 1 - 2 weeks. I thought Christopher Timothy was in this, (played James Herriot) I would of been about 13 when thid aired. Remember Pathfiders too, about the Lancaster crews who lit up the area to be bombed.
the script, the acting, the photography. the old BBC at its bast. ho and they still crammed in two strong female parts and a disabled part. without the need to subvert the story to make it work. :)
It was unfortunately common on engines at the time for engines to spit out small quantities of lubricant, particularly when being started and stopped. This is partially because pilots at the time needed to see the engine to check everything was working alright. As a poster above noted, to land the Avro 504 you have to cut the engine then start it again just before you touchdown.
Thank you kindly for posting this series. Such a pleasant change to settle down to a production that is free from profanities. I have already found the characters likeable and can now imagine that this series is going to be right up my street.
I hope you got to see the rest of the two series, and got to see where Alan Farmer’s (the young lad) marksmanship gets him and some of his fellow airmen out of some difficult situations a few times. Tim Woodward,(1953-2023), who plays Farmer was a son of the famous actor Edward Woodward.
How can I get Season 2 Episode 25....I end up with garbage...RU-vid as been compromised by crap interlopers...could get s2e26 but s2e25 any suggestions?
WWI parachutes were bulky things that couldn't fit in the cockpit of most aircraft. The only recorded use of a single-seater pilot using a parachute was Ernst Udet, a WWI ace who later became the Luftwaffe officer in charge of aircraft supply for Goering. For the most part, parachutes were reserved for the crews of observation balloons, Zeppelins and large aircraft like the Gotha (German) and Caproni (Italy) bombers. It had nothing to do with cowardice or courage, but with the practical circumstances of current aircraft design.
@@MultiPedroAndrade - I got both seasons as a boxed set from a seller in Australia. But US Amazon has the same set for slightly less - including postage.
British drama at it's best made before the chewing gum for the eyes brigade got hold of TV and started pumping it with scripted so called "reality" programmes
