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Reunion at Duxford
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'We used to miss a lot of targets'
Ken Adam
Artist
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Views | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21. Pre-flight superstitions | 165 | 01:11 | |
| 22. The Falaise Gap: the smell of death | 267 | 03:40 | |
| 23. 'We used to miss a lot of targets' | 148 | 01:01 | |
| 24. Reunion at Duxford | 152 | 02:15 | |
| 25. Belsen concentration camp | 228 | 02:36 | |
| 26. Distractions from the heavy impact of the war | 141 | 01:05 | |
| 27. Everlasting bonds with fellow pilots | 180 | 02:55 | |
| 28. Bailing out: 'We didn't have ejector seats in those days' | 155 | 03:26 | |
| 29. Spending another year in Germany after the war | 249 | 01:01 | |
| 30. Riverside Studios: how I got started in film | 182 | 02:11 |
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We used to miss a lot of targets, or we didn't destroy as many targets as we thought. But, you know, diving at about 550 miles an hour without a proper... using your gunsight, you know, you were pretty happy if you got within 50 or 60 ft of what you were… And the noise these rockets made! I mean, the Germans were shit-scared of the Typhoons, and there were some reports, too, that some of the pilots who had baled out were shot at, you know, so there was no great feeling…
Sir Kenneth Adam (1921-2016), OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam, was a production designer famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s. Initially, he trained as an architect in London, but in October 1943, he became one of only two German-born fighter pilots to fly with the RAF in wartime. He joined 609 Squadron where he flew the Hawker Typhoon fighter bomber. After the war, he entered the film industry, initially as a draughtsman on This Was a Woman. His portfolio of work includes Barry Lyndon and The Madness of King George; he won an Oscar for both films. Having a close relationship with Stanley Kubrick, he also designed the set for the iconic war room in Dr Strangelove. Sir Ken Adam was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.
Title: 'We used to miss a lot of targets'
Listeners: Christopher Sykes
Christopher Sykes is an independent documentary producer who has made a number of films about science and scientists for BBC TV, Channel Four, and PBS.
Tags: World War II
Duration: 1 minute, 1 second
Date story recorded: December 2010 and January 2011
Date story went live: 15 August 2011
