Planes on Film: Ten Favourite Aviation Films

Front Cover
Extremis Publishing Limited, 2016 - Art - 365 pages

One of the most durable genres in cinema, the aviation film has captivated audiences for decades with tales of heroism, bravery and overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Some of these movies have become national icons, achieving critical and commercial success when first released in cinemas and still attracting new audiences today.

But what are the stories that lie behind the production of these films? How did they come about? Where were they filmed? How did the production teams get access to all of the aircraft? And how were the special effects achieved?

In Planes on Film: Ten Favourite Aviation Films, Colin M. Barron reveals many little-known facts about the making of several aviation epics. Every movie is discussed in comprehensive detail, including a thorough analysis of the action and a complete listing of all the aircraft involved. With information about where the various planes were obtained from and their current location, the book also explores the subject of aviation films which were proposed but ultimately never saw the light of day.

With illustrations and meticulous factual commentary, Planes on Film is a book which will appeal to aviation enthusiasts, military historians and anyone who has an interest in cinema. Written by an author with a lifelong passion for aircraft and their depiction on the silver screen, Planes on Film presents a lively and thought-provoking discourse on a carefully-chosen selection of movies which have been drawn from right across the history of this fascinating cinematic genre.

About the author (2016)

Dr Colin M. Barron was born in Greenock, Scotland in 1956, and was educated at Greenock Academy (1961-74) and Glasgow University (1974-79) where he graduated in Medicine (M.B. Ch.B.) in 1979. He worked for the next five years in hospital medicine, eventually becoming a Registrar in Ophthalmology at Gartnavel General Hospital and Glasgow Eye Infirmary. In December 1984 he left the National Health Service to set up Ashlea Nursing Home in Callander, which he established with his first wife Sandra and ran until 1999. He was the chairman of the Scottish branch of the British Federation of Care Home Proprietors (BFCHP) from 1985 to 1991, and then a founding member and chairman of the Scottish Association of Care Home Owners (SACHO) from 1991 to 1999. Colin has a special interest in writing; his first non-fiction book Running Your Own Private Residential and Nursing Home was published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 1990. He has also written around 150 articles for various publications including This Caring Business, The Glasgow Herald, Caring Times, Care Weekly, The British Medical Journal, The Hypnotherapist, The Thought Field and many others. He was a regular columnist for This Caring Business between 1991 and 1999. In 1992 Colin was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Health (FRSH). He is a former member of various societies including the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis Scotland (BSMDH), the British Thought Field Therapy Association (BTFTA), the Association for Thought Field Therapy (ATFT), the British Complementary Medicine Association (BCMA), and the Hypnotherapy Association. Colin has been using TFT since early in 2000, and in November 2001 he became the first British person to qualify as a Voice Technology TFT practitioner. He used to work from home in Dunblane and at the Glasgow Nuffield Hospital. Colin has also had 40 years of experience in public speaking, and did some training with the John May School of Public Speaking in London in January 1990. His book The Craft of Public Speaking was published by Extremis Publishing in June 2016.

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