“The trouble with these international affairs is that they attract foreigners.”_____Lord Rawnsley (Daily Post)
“Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”; “Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes” is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Robert Morley, Terry-Thomas and James Fox, directed and co-written by Ken Annakin.
An English press magnate (Lord Rawnsley), offers £10,000 to the winner of the Daily Post air race from London to Paris, to prove that Britain is “number one in the air”.
This film has at least 16- 1910 era aircraft replicas which were built in 1964 at a cost of $15,000 (£5,000) each of which only six could actually fly, the remainder were either full sized static models or miniture models. When they did fly, the flying conditions had to be closely monitored as the handling qualities were much like the originals which was marginal at best!
The following competitors were listed in the Daily Post Air Race:
Number 1: Richard Mays (actor James Fox), “Antoinette IV” (Aircraft number 8, flying replica)
Number 2: Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (actor Terry-Thomas), “Avro Triplane IV” (Aircraft number 12, flying replica)
Number 3: Orvil Newton (actor Stuart Whitman), “Bristol Boxkite”, nicknamed “The Phoenix Flyer” and inaccurately referred to as a Curtiss (Aircraft number 7, flying replica)
Number 4: Lieutenant Parsons (actor Jeremy Lloyd),”HMS Victory” (Aircraft number 4, non flying)
Number 5: Harry Popperwell (actor Tony Hancock), “Little Fiddler” (Aircraft number 5, Dixon Nipper No. 1 “The Little Fiddler” , non flying)
Number 6: Colonel Manfred von Holstein (actor Gert Fröbe) and Captain Rumpelstoss (actor Karl Michael Vogler), “Eardley Billing Tractor Biplane” (Aircraft number 11, flying replica)
Number 7: Mr Wallace (actor uncredited). (Aircraft number 14, Walton Edwards Rhomboidal, flying replica )
Number 8: Charles Wade (actor uncredited). (Aircraft number unknown)
Number 9: Mr Yamamoto (actor Yujiro Ishihara), “Japanese Eardley Billing Tractor Biplane” (Aircraft number 1, “Eardley Billing Tractor Biplane, duplicate flying replica)
Number 10: Count Emilio Ponticelli (actor Alberto Sordi), “Philips Multiplane” (non flying), “Passat Ornithopter” (non flying), “Lee Richards Annular Biplane” (non flying), and “Vickers 22 Monoplane” (Aircraft number 2, flying replica)
Number 11: Henri Monteux (actor uncredited). (Aircraft number unknown)
Number 12: Pierre Dubois (actor Jean-Pierre Cassel), “Santos-Dumont Demoiselle” (Aircraft number 9, flying replica)
Number 13: Mr. Mac Dougall (actor Gordon Jackson), “Blackburn Monoplane” nicknamed “Wake up Scotland” (Aircraft number 6, original vintage aircraft)
Number 14: Harry Walton (actor uncredited) (no number assigned).
Aircraft Types:
| Antoinette IVImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Avro Triplane IVImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Bristol BoxkiteImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Picaut Dubrieul MonoplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Dixon Nipper No. 1 The Little FiddlerImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Eardley Billing Tractor BiplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Eardley Billing Tractor BiplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Philips MultiplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Passat OrnithopterImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Lee Richards Annular BiplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Vickers 22 MonoplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Santos-Dumont DemoiselleImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Blackburn MonoplaneImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
Walton Edwards RhomboidalImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| DeperdussinImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
HMS VictoryImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |