The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Sgt. Alvin C. York - Mar 1st, 2004

www.alvincyork.org ^ | Dr. Michael Birdwell

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. That's right, it's your grandpa's attic. Duh. I knew that. :-)

It a frazzled kind of day. Thanks for sharing with us.

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon Darksheare.

[Darksheare]

Afternoon.
ON a side note: In the movie High Road to China with Bess Armstrong and Tom Selleck, they have two vintage biplanes named Dorothy and Lillian (named after the Gish sisters.. *meow*) but I have never been able to find out what make and model the planes are.

[Professional Engineer]

Your York connection is cool. Thanks for sharing the story with us.

[SAMWolf]

I heard they were Tiger Moths

[Darksheare]

Somewhat wrong tail shape, and wrong engine facing shape.
They had a "tombstone" slab nose like a JN-4, but not the wings or body shape.
And none of the articles about the movie (from way back) ever said what they were.

[snippy_about_it]

[SAMWolf]

Found this

While on the subject of vintage European biplanes we must mention the Belgian Stampe. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, this two-place, all wood-trainer won the hearts of the entire continent and even today the center of a dedicated aerobatic competition, the Coupe D'Anjou, a contest in France for Stampes only. Soft, docile, and easy to fly, the Stampe is an excellent choice for an entry level acrobatic airplane. If you want to see some Stampe flying, rent a copy of the film High Road to China, in which two Stamps masquerading as WWI Fighters, flit all over the Hindu Kush. They were flown in the film by Eric Miller and David Perrin (who lost his life during filming in a liaison helicopter accident).

The Stampe was designed in 1933 by Belgian WW I pilot Jean Stampe. He was a Moth dealer in the 1920´s. The aircraft was meant as a rival to the De Havilland D.H. 60 Moth and the D.H.82 Tiger Moth. The aircraft was so popular that production was started and license right were sold to Farmann in France. Only 10 were delivered to the military before WW II stopped the production in France. In 1947 the production was resumed by Stampe and Renard and 65 modernized SV 4B´s were delivered to the Belgian Air force. In France and Algeria approx 850 Stampe SV 4A and SV 4C were built mostly powered by a 140 h.p. Renault 4 Pei engine. The museum's SV 4B with the registration OY-DBC was completed in 1955 and was in service in the Belgian Air force until 1976 as V62. The aircraft came to Denmark in 1977 and flew again in 1987 after a complete restoration.

[Darksheare]

Both wrong.
Inline engine, not radial, and a flat tombstone engine facing, not the rounded fairing on the Stampe.
Weird, honestly.
But, it is possible they 'modified' parts of the aircraft.
The cockpits were rounded, not the square sides, and as mentioned they had the tombstone engine facing.
*snort*
Gotta love trying to track down aircraft!

[SAMWolf]

This is all I can find. :-(

High Road to China (Warner 1983, 105m) D: Brian Hutton. Tom Sellick = O'Malley, Bess Armstrong = Eve, Jack Weston = Struts, Wilford Brimley = Bradley Tozer, Robert Morley = Bentik. Screenplay: Jon Cleary, S Lee Pogostin. A pilot is saddled with a spoiled industrialist's daughter on a search for her missing father through Asia that eventually involves them in a struggle against a Chinese warlord. Maltin review: "Low road to escapism, with Selleck (in his first starring feature) as a boozy ex-WW1 aerial ace hired by heiress Armstrong to find her father. Strictly mediocre, with substandard action scenes and the flattest dialogue this side of the Great Wall."

AIRCRAFT: Stampe, DH Tiger Moth.

[colorado tanker]

I just love those Iowa class battleships. Real beauties.

[Darksheare]

Weird.

[colorado tanker]

Howdy, folks. Nice story about Sgt. York. Interesting that he converted from isolationism to interventionist before WWII, particularly where he was a member of a pacifist sect.

I have to agree that the film Sgt. York was not the best of the genre.

I got a real laugh last night during the Academy Awards when they were talking about Cold Mountain and referred to the Civil War as "the most violent period in American history," as if it was some kind of crime spree. Those airheads really are clueless about our history.

[SAMWolf]

Morning CT.

[SAMWolf]

You watched the Academy Awards? ;-)

[snippy_about_it]

....referred to the Civil War as "the most violent period in American history," as if it was some kind of crime spree.

LOL. Well you know they were all carrying (gasp) guns!

[Darksheare]

Morning.
*chuckle*
I don't watch the Academy Awards.

[colorado tanker]

Yep. The weather was kinda raw yesterday so I fired up a pot of chili and we chowed down watching the Awards. When Billy Crystal is the emcee it can be pretty funny.

The silence about The Passion was deafening, as it turned over $100 million in its first week. One thing Hollywood won't overlook is money.

It was bad enough that Lord of the Rings, an epic about good triumphing over evil, swept the Awards. Next year they have to do something with a blockbuster about Christianity. Gasp!

[colorado tanker]

It would be fun to tell a Hollywood airhead that almost all the Southern soldiers were Democrats and watch their expression! :)

[SAMWolf]

Yeah, if "The Passion" gets nominated it'll be interesting to watch next year, just to see the reactions.