This is the official Blog for WINGS ACROSS THE CHANNEL.
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This clip is from the segment that introduces Dick Probert onto the scene and features some of the first footage from Dick's widow, Nancy Probert who appears in this clip as well.
CLICK HERE (not on the thumbnail) to see the clip.
Don't forget, the film is now available (along with a number of other videos and books) at the Store.
At long last, the second part of the two-part film WINGS ACROSS THE CHANNEL is available by clicking HERE.
The DVDs arrived late last week, just in time for Executive Producer Chuck Liddell and myself to make a scheduled presentation of the film at the Rancho Bernardo Community Center in San Diego.
The presentation went very well and I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mike Gerow, a member of this list and one of the many people who have provided me with assistance on the film. Mike's father, Russell, was one of the original mechanics for Wilmington-Catalina Airline in the 1930s and he provided me with some great information and some of the Douglas Dolphin photos I used in Part 1.
In Full Disclosure, I must report two changes I made to the film from what I had originally proposed: First was that the film is NOT in Dolby Surround Sound as I had hoped. The mixing of the audio was just too much and seemed to divide the signal up and weaken the overall audio. The film is in regular stereo and, believe me, is much better than it would have been in Dolby 5.1.
The second change was that I have omitted the "Flight Plan" segment, which was to highlight the future of aviation on the Island. I did this for two reasons:
The first reason was that I had simply had so much great historical material that I was fighting to keep the film under 1 1/2 hours (it's an hour and 13 minutes long).
The other reason was that, in researching the film, I came to the conclusion that the "future" of aviation on Catalina, at least the foreseeable future, is really going to be no different than what we have right now: helicopter service, private pilots and fixed-wing cargo flights to the Island. I'm afraid the long-standing problem of "nowhere to build an airport" near Avalon will be with us for awhile. (This is discussed at great length in Part 2 as it is really what helped develop the seaplane business).
I would like to thank all of the people on this list for their patience and for their contributions over the past few months to make this film a reality. In fact, "the Making of WINGS Part 2" will be a regular feature of future posting to this blog.
CLICK HERE FOR SNEAK PREVIEW #2
This clip is from the segment "Queen of the Skyways" and features the introduction of the Grumman Goose to the Catalina seaplane fleet.
The segment is actually about United Air Lines debut at the Island ("Queen of the Skyways" was one of the slogans pre-dating "Fly the Friendly Skies").
The Goose appears in this segment because it was first introduced into commercial service at almost the same time as United.
AVAILABILITY: It looks like the film may be availabe for purchase as early as this Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.
As promised, here is the first of what will be a limited number of "sneak previews" from WINGS 2 over the next couple of weeks.
CLICK HERE (not on the thumbnail) to view a one-minute clip of the opening minute of the film. As always, give it time to load. (I know that's not much, but "just enough" additional previews will be coming).
This opening segment features the end of the war and the return of visitors and the steamers to the Island after a nearly four-year absence.
(Click on the thumbnail to see an enlarged photo of the front cover art for the DVD case. The gentleman on the cover is, of course, Dick Probert, founder of Avalon Air Transport.)
The finished film will be going off to the replicators tomorrow and therefore should be available in about a week. In the meantime, I will be setting up the "shopping cart" function for the film and a few other surprises as well.
I won't be taking any advance orders, as I want to view the packaged film first to make sure the replication process went well before I take a dime from anyone.
For those who live on the Island who wish to buy it, I request that you buy the film locally in order to support the local stores.
The price will be the same as for Part 1: $19.95, plus tax and shipping.
Stay tuned...
The last hurdle has been cleared in finishing up WINGS Part 2 with the completion of the narration, which was done last week by actor Gregory Harrison.
Mr. Harrison has appeared in dozens of television programs, most recently "One Tree Hill" and "Law & Order". Many will also remember his roles as the younger doctor in "Trapper John M.D." and as Michael Sharpe in "Falcon Crest".
He did a magnificent job of narration and BEGINNING TOMORROW as I string the film together I will begin posting short "sneak previews" on this blog in the order they will be appearing in the film. Tomorrow's clip will be the opening minute or so of the film.
I will also have details tomorrow on when the film will be available.
Stay tuned...
I've been neck deep in the final editing for WINGS Part 2 over the last few weeks and thought I'd come up for air long enough to give you some updates, including the fact that singer/songwriter Bruce Belland and actor/director Tony Dow will be making "cameo interviews" in the film.
The interviews were conducted a week ago at Bruce's home in Woodland Hills, CA, and feature their seaplane stories and general Catalina stories (Tony practically grew up on Catalina, being a regular visitor here for decades).
Tony Dow not only played the role of Wally on the Leave It To Beaver TV show, but has made numerous appearances over the years in various movies and TV shows, and has also directed a number of TV episodes, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Harry and the Hendersons and Babylon 5. He also has become an accomplished sculptor in recent years and recently exhibited his work at the Louvre.
Bruce Belland wrote and performed the iconic Catalina classic "26 Miles Across the Sea" with The Four Preps in the 1950s. He also has a number of film and TV roles, including one of the neighbor kids on Ozzie and Harriet.
Speaking of music, I'm also in the final stages of arranging the music clearance rights for three songs I will be (hopefully) using in the film, including:
On the down side, the release date has been pushed back hopefully only one week. Rather than 4th of July, it will be more likely released about the 10th or 11th.
I will make more and more posts as we get closer to the release date.
Production on WINGS Part 2 has entered a new phase with the future marketing of the film starting to fall into place.
Besides DVD sales, the film will also be shown at a number of film presentations around the country, thanks to the efforts of Chuck Liddell and Ralph Franklin Productions.
I already have three signed contracts in hand to give talks and present both Part 1 and Part 2 of the film (abreviated versions) at:
Other likely presentations will be in Concord, NH, and El Camino College in Torrance, CA.
In case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted as much lately as I have gone into "mad filmmaker" mode where I must edit, edit and re-edit on my computer/editing station. Although I still have a number of production-oriented tasks to complete, the editing phase is where it all starts coming together.
HOME IS THE FILMMAKER
An hour ago I set foot once again on the Island of St. Catherine after a two weeks on the road. Ironically, it was 15 years ago to the very day that I stepped off a cross-channel ferry belonging to the same company--Catalina Express--to make Catalina my home.
NANCY PROBERT'S SLICE OF HEAVEN
On Wednesday, I met up with Chuck Liddell in Napa and we took his Enterprise rent-a-car to Nancy Probert's beautiful 160-acre horse ranch in the town of Annapolis, California, about 5 miles on a winding mountain road from a sunny and spectacular California coast. "Rancho de los Aviadores" was first purchased by Dick and Nancy in 1975 after they moved from the Long Beach area for the last time. The purpose of the visit, of course, was an interview for WINGS.
Nancy looked great and seemed to have a lot of company around her in the form of "live aboards"--tenants who help her around the ranch--as well as occasional neighbors or horse specialists who help her keep tabs on the horse racing business. Her main ranch house is a converted old apple shed that looks like something Will Rogers or Tom Mix would be pleased to call home.
The house was a veritable museum of old paintings and photographs, along with antique farm and timber equipment. Every wall was lined with shelves of bronze or iron sculptures (including the Sikorsky VS-44), old clocks, Dick's flying trophies and rows and rows of vintage books. In addition to his many other talents, it appears Dick Probert was extremely well-read.
Twilight-time featured the gobbling of wild turkeys in the woods and all fell silent at night when the heavens became filled with diamond-stars scattered on an obsidian sky.
The three of us, plus Nancy's industrious friend and tenant Christy Mattocks, talked over days-gone-by and looked through well-organized files of photographs and journals. In one box, I found Dick's journal from 1957 when he made the trip to Peru to buy the Mother Goose. I can inform you all that the information does indeed match up with the stories I have heard about that trip, right down to the dollar amounts for the Bosch magnetos he purchased from the Peruvian Air Force.
While Nancy stoked the wood-burning stove, she and I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning the first night watching Dick's 8mm movies of the Peru trip, along with many other subjects. Those films, as well as several 16mm films taken by Nancy of Avalon Air Transport/Catalina Air Lines, are now temporarily in my possession and awaiting transfer to high definition video for the film.
BTW, Dick's 1929 Fleet bi-plane occupied one of the many out-buildings on the property and is for sale. If anyone out there is interested in purchasing it, let me know and I will hook you up with Nancy. (Also, I will post a photo of Nancy as soon as I get my camera charger, which I left in Chico....)
I'm back in Chico at my folks' house now and thought I would post some photos of the Chico Air Museum at the historic Chico Municipal Airport.
The airport dates back to 1935 and played a key role during World War II as a training base, including being the home of a number of P-38 Lightnings. It also has the dubious distinction of being the first airport in history to be the location of the attempted hijacking of a civilian airliner.
The airport is now served by United's commuter routes and is an active hub for general aviation. It is also the home base of Aero Union Corporation, one of the nation's leading aerial firefighting outfits. My Dad flew for Aero Union for more than 30 years, including DC-4s, P-2s and P-3s. They were still flying a few B-17s at the time he started working for them.
Tomorrow, I am off to the metropolis of Annapolis, California, on the northern coast to meet up with Chuck Liddell and Nancy Probert for an interview about her years with Dick Probert, Avalon Air Transport and, of course, the Mother Goose.
As promised, I've been on my trip to Northern California and Oregon to conduct two crucial interviews for WINGS Part 2. I had the first interview on Thursday in Roseburg, OR, with David Johnston, author of The Knights of Avalon.
The interview was great and was held at David and Janet's lovely split-level home (designed by Dave himself) near Umpqua Community College in Roseburg. David related not only stories from his great book on Catalina's seaplane history, but a few additional stories as well (you'll have to wait for the film to hear them).
I'll blog more about the trip in the coming days, but for now, CLICK HERE (not on the photo) to see a short clip of my brother flying our home-built Pietenpol Air Camper around Ranchaero Airport in Chico, CA. The experimental plane, first designed in the 1930s, was built by my Dad, brother and even a little help from Yours Truly. (I didn't get to go up in the plane on account of my brother said I was too fat, but got a taxi ride back to the hangar as you will see. Watch closely for my hat to come flying off at one point).
