Wings - Officers and Gentlemen s2e8 - Tim Woodward

[@Psilanderfan1884]

It was nice to watch Edward Hardwicke ⭐️in this episode as Colonel Ross!

[@peterbamforth6453]

Yes I spotted Edward, the best ever Watson alongside Jeremy Brett in Sherlock Holmes and Pat Ried in colditz...

[@Plymouthpilot]

The best series I have watched in years!

[@tungstenkid2271]

+Plymouthpilot - yes I first watched Wings on TV in the 1970's, and now watching it again on youtube I'd forgotten how bloody good it was, superbly acted, directed and scripted..:)

[@tungstenkid2271]

A great episode because it never kept cutting back to boring civilian soap scenes at Becket's Hill..:)

[@rachelar]

Word

[@billybogg3602]

thanks for posting.

[@caseyjonessnr1200]

Another excellent episode. 47:54

[@peterbamforth6453]

A memorable tv series in the UK A nice bit of realistic class distinction in this episode..Edward Hardwicke was brilliant.( Watson in the British TV series with Jeremy Brett playing Holmes.)

[@andrewmetcalfe9898]

14.30 “That wasn’t victory sergeant. That was murder”, except if there was absolutely no way for Farmer to know that the German plane that he saw swooping low over his airfield before makinga dash for the lines was delivering a message and not bombs. It was an unfortunate circumstance, no more.

[@TheSpikehere]

Always loved this series as a kid. Not many holes to pick in it, although someone like Lt. Starling would have known that Bonaparte was never actually a Corporal.

[@Droodog127]

I like all the mistakes of flubbed lines being left in

[@tungstenkid2271]

Incidentally George Peppard in 'The Blue Max' also comes up against slight class distinction when he joins a German squadron because he's not an aristocrat like most of them, but they're generally a decent lot because they know Peppard is a bloody good pilot. And to his credit he exudes confidence and never for an instant feels he's inferior to the others in any way, in the air or on the ground..:)

[@Kahdeksanpenninen123]

@tungstenkid2271 Where ever you got the word "slight" here?

[@tungstenkid2271]

As a working class kid from a council estate in Leicester, I somehow passed my scholarship in 1959 and was sent to a posh grammar school, but not for an instant did i ever feel i was "socially inferior" to the other kids from posh homes, because I'd passed just the same as them, so we were all equal in my opinion. I think the newly-commissioned Farmer probably feels the same way, he knows he's a damn good pilot and is therefore just as qualified as them to be an officer..:)

[@robertpeston6692]

Good on you, class is a out-dated concept.

[@matthewbeddoes8472]

Yes back in the day class was huge. The distinction of officer and man however remains.

[@tungstenkid2271]

@@matthewbeddoes8472 In one 'Wings' episode the officer in the observers cockpit orders Farmer to turn to engage a Fokker but Farmer refuses because it'd be suicidal and gets court-martialled, but it all blows over because Farmer's C.O. puts up a good case to get Farmer off the hook, citing Farmers excellent judgement.

[@rachelar]

Different time different rules tho maybe that was the turning point as they were losing pilots and officers fast. Get better planes already!

[@rachelar]

​@@robertpeston6692 still exists in snobby Britain. We were too nice to let the Etons and Harrows to continue to exist. On the other hand pleb chav "culture" has won out and dumbed down everything. We shouldve made it all in the middle (meritocratic middle class) like e.g. Japan (admittedly Japan has got its own social problems and is also quite snobby)

[@cacampbell3654]

" .... buck-toothed, well-bred, nincompoop ..."! LOL Quite the stereotype that!!!!

[@peterbamforth6453]

Hans Joachim Marseille An aristocrat and talanted 2nd world pilot said to his men "If I ever hear of any of my men shooting down a parachutist I will kill them myself." He was one of the few men that lived after insulting hitler in public with all the big boys at a party. Because the ball bearing factories were all demolished in Germany his plane engines were fitted with roller bearings they overheated and a superb pilot with amazing deflection shooting abilities blew up and down.......

[@davidfogarty2220]

Really enjoying this series second time round. Of all the characters in the cast the one I feel least warmth to, is 'rugger bugger' Bravington.

[@rickschultz9589]

Shooting down a balloon was very difficult in those days. As the program shows, they were well protected with AA and eventually would often have fighter protection. Although filled with hydrogen, they were difficult to destroy with with regular machine guns. Later in the war, the attackers would try rockets, although inaccurate, a lucky hit would blow the thing up.

[@tungstenkid2271]

+Rick Schultz - If a balloon was shot down the hun could simply get a new one out of a crate and have it up in a matter of hours, so in my humble opinion it wasn't really worthwhile risking our pilots and aircraft to knock them down.

[@Retro-Future-Land]

They got incendiary rounds too right at the war's end didn't they?

[@michaeldelucci4379]

The ammunition was issued around 1917

[@John-G]

Rather sad that over a hundred years later there's less chance now of an officer being commissioned from the ranks in the British Army, particularly in a combat arm (infantry or cavalry), unless he's been to public school, than there was then.

[@Merlin-lc4zu]

Poor Alan is literally heading for no mans land.Never going to be accepted as a true gentleman flier by the upper class toffs and now the mechanics and riggers of his class are turning on him too.

[@oldskoolfool141]

The story of every crab that dares climb from the barrel

[@rachelar]

Typical Britain - can't rise above your station. I had a coal miner dad but went to a (meritocratic) independent school and mixed with lots of better to do's than I, quite a few snobs and alot went to Oxbridge. Didn't fit in with the town kids after that-they even thought I wasn't local coz I talked "posh" (not really, just not monosyllabic)

[@colinedwards7367]

You should read Thomas Packenham's book "The Anglo Boer War" for his comments on the British Officer class of this period and it seems to me carried over into WW1 he is not very complimentary - he says that there were only two Generals worth their salt and they were de Wet and Botha both boers.

[@peterbamforth6453]

Well said, The court martial film with Edward Woodward springs to mind.

[@rachelar]

Weird relationship Boers subsequently had with the Brit empire ie serving it but not liking it either

[@jasonnicholasschwarz7788]

Farmer is defo NOT officer material.

[@andyb.1026]

Just before WW2 my uncle ( who could fly) applied for Aircrew and was asked if he had ever ridden to hounds, having come from a Glasgow council estate.. In about 1941 (when they were desperate for Pilots) he was asked to reapply , his answer was "I still haven't ridden to hounds" He was never prompted again 😂😮

[@mikeyoung9810]

From one extreme of The Captain shooting down Farmer (who was waving his arms) to Farmer shooting down the Germans (who was waving his arms) is the difference of perspective mankind carries out his/her actions and we then judge them.

[@grahvis]

In the 1797 Spithead mutiny, one of the complaints by the sailors of one ship was that their captain was merely the son of a butcher. Snobbery in the ranks.

[@robertpeston6692]

it's ridiculous!

[@Retro-Future-Land]

Got to be a proper officer now!

[@tedsmith3407]

what a shame it came to an end could have gone onto F E 8, SOPWITH PUPS, SE5A

[@tungstenkid2271]

+ted smith - 10 years later in 1988 Tim Woodward was in the WW2 drama series 'Piece of Cake' with Spitfires buzzing around, but the show wasn't a patch on the slick fast-moving 'Wings'..:)

[@tungstenkid2271]

Yes, pity we never had a chance to see Farmer going up against Richthofen..:)

[@TheSealOfTheRose]

A Sergeant would not gorge himself on cake in front of his superior officer.

[@thegypsyman9043]

Absolutely, not quite "becoming" of an officer & gentleman! But seriously, very good series, too bad was not continued. Beautifully shot, well acted, appeared to be period "correct" for most part, will get better w/age! Had "comic" moments, such as capture of "insignificant" German General. Strange, they usually had a driver, not driving themselves. ("Machinegun Post.")

[@susanchace4912]

Listening to the chaps sitting on the commission board gives all a really good idea why the british officers are what they are........montgomery was great example.

[@cricketbatguitar]

A bunch of wankers?

[@jchere2099]

The background music, talking, etc. is so annoying! Hard to hear anyway and that doesn't help any!

[@susanchace4912]

Really!!!!!!!!!! Britain only had "gentlemen" fighting in their wars!!????? Screen writer had a great joke at the expense of their "fighting" men or was this written as a satire?

[@davidwright7193]

I think the phrase “an officer and a gentleman” comes from a proposal for the education of US Naval officers written by John Paul Jones which led to the founding of West Point. Remember that John Paul Jones was a murderer, a mercenary and little short of a pirate.

[@alecblunden8615]

​@@davidwright7193A gentleman is a man entitled to a blazen of arms which boils down to a coat of arms from the College of Heralds, and to have the legal right under Common Law to bear arms. Certain occupations, such as being a cleric, a lawyer or an commissioned officer in the Royal Forces, gives you that right, although legislation has wisely restricted the right to bear arms. John Paul, later John Paul Jones, was never eligible to be a gentleman. Crew and later master of merchantman, and running from a murder charge, are no recommendation

[@Laconic-ws4bz]

As an Aussie who went to school in Kent between 73-77 I made some observations at Huntleys boys school Tunbridge Wells. English class system, a cluster fuck when it came to giving talented people an opportunity. My accent is better than yours even though we are both English. Johny Rotten was right. Born Aussie with Scottish DNA.