Biggles Sweeps The Skies

[GASML]

We've just managed to acquire some of the original action story boards from the 'missing' Biggles movie, for which the "Biggles Biplane" BE-2 replica was built.

They are the original large-scale storyboards drawn for Universal Films in pencil and charcoal by Production Designer and Artist Richard Macdonald.

Pre-Production took place in 1968-69. Everything was put in place - rights acquired, actors casted, scripts made, costumes designed and the replica WW1 aircraft commisioned. The film fell at the last hurdle however and was never completed.

The film's storyboards were retained by their creator Richard Macdonald for over thirty years until his death, when they were passed to fellow production designer Warren Mills. He agreed for them to be reunited with the aeroplane they illustrate.

The story board below illustrate the moment that the evil von Stahlheim (aka Sheikh El Shaheed) attempts to murder Biggles and hijack the BE-2.

We've also got a copy of the original script. I wonder, does anything else survives from 'the Biggles movie that never was' ?



More at Biggles Biplane Restoration

[Barry Hickson]

Originally Posted by GASML

We've just managed to acquire some of the original action story boards from the 'missing' Biggles movie, for which the "Biggles Biplane" BE-2 replica was built.

They are the original large-scale storyboards drawn for Universal Films in pencil and charcoal by Production Designer and Artist Richard Macdonald.

Pre-Production took place in 1968-69. Everything was put in place - rights acquired, actors casted, scripts made, costumes designed and the replica WW1 aircraft commisioned. The film fell at the last hurdle however and was never completed.

The film's storyboards were retained by their creator Richard Macdonald for over thirty years until his death, when they were passed to fellow production designer Warren Mills. He agreed for them to be reunited with the aeroplane they illustrate.

The story board below illustrate the moment that the evil von Stahlheim (aka Sheikh El Shaheed) attempts to murder Biggles and hijack the BE-2.

We've also got a copy of the original script. I wonder, does anything else survives from 'the Biggles movie that never was' ?



More at Biggles Biplane Restoration

Great piece of Biggles History there. Good to see you have the script as well. Maybe you should send it to Sir Peter Jackson!

[robkamm]

cool find. didnt they make 2 Biggles movies in the 1980s with time travel or something? i remember them flying aroung Big Ben or something. maybe it was a different movie.

[GASML]

Originally Posted by robkamm

cool find. didnt they make 2 Biggles movies in the 1980s with time travel or something? i remember them flying aroung Big Ben or something. maybe it was a different movie.

Yes, sadly. Biggles Adventures in Time (1986). A shocker. Best forgotten!

[Breguet]

What was it's history between being built for the Biggles movie and being used for "Wings" ?

[GASML]

Hi Breguet,

The decision to 'can' Biggles Sweeps the Skies was made in summer 1969. The film company had also commissioned a Sopwith Camel replica and two Aviatik replicas from the British sailplane manufacturer Slingsby and these aircraft were not ready. They literally ‘missed the boat’ to Algeria, where filming was due to take place.

By the time the fleet was completed and the next boat ready to sail, it was the hottest time of year in North Africa and there were doubts about the ability of the aircraft to be safely flown in the extreme desert heat. That delay sealed the fate of the movie.

The BE replica was shipped to the USA and sold by the film company in 1970. The trail goes cold for a while, but we know it was sold in 1972 to a group known as the Lafayette Escadrille in Pennsylvania. The man who owned the operation was Sal LaBate.

It seems that in 1973-74 the aircraft flew with the Great War Flying Circus at Bealeton in Virginia before being sold to a syndicate of pilots in upstate New York with similar ambitions, and it was around this time that the BBC used the aeroplane for filming for Wings in spring 1977, before the aircraft was wrecked in the accident in Neenah, Wisconsin in June 1977.

Finally a plea. If anyone has any more information on the aeroplane's time in the USA, please get in touch with us, either via the forum or via our website Biggles Biplane Restoration