728 Cliché Alert! Numerous episodes: The German Sdkfz251 halftracks are actually the Czech OT810.
795 Episode 3: The paratroops are attacked by numerous German armoured vehicles. One of them is clearly meant to be a Jagdpanzer IV but it's tracks and wheels give away the fact that it's a British FV432 APC in disguise.
| 795.01 Episode 3: The tanks and other AFVs look pretty good, but there is one weird looking German tank. A disguised T34 probably, but disguised to represent what? |
| 795.02 That Jagdpanzer IV is actually meant to be a Stug III, it's quite a similar vehicle in design and the compromise of adapting an FV432 might add to the confusion. |
796 Episode 3: Private Blithe (Marc Warren) is wounded and is later shown in hospital. The exterior of the white painted hospital is an office building (now demolished) on the British Aerospace site where the series was largely made.
1010 Its nice to see that the producers went to the trouble of constructing replica German tanks and assault guns for the films...but even better (at least for me) is that they also went to the trouble of making replica British vehicles - notably several Cromwells (also based on the FV 432 APC?) seen during the Operation Market-Garden episode alongside the ubiquitous Shermans. DaveM
| 1010.01An update - the Cromwells were not modified FV432s, they were the were the genuine article. RR Services supplied two of the three Cromwell tanks used in the picture. These are genuine WW2 Cromwells that had been converted to Charioteers by the Finnish Army by fitting up-rated turrets and guns. A few years ago the Charioteers were re-imported from Finland and fell into RR Services hands. Original Cromwell turrets were obtained from British Army ranges and fitted. New Rolls meteor engines were installed at the same time as modifying hatches and other fittings back to original. The tricky part was getting the turret traverse and elevation mechanisms to work for the picture. The third Cromwell in the film is in fact a Centaur - same tank, different engine. DaveM |
1018 All three Shermans used in the picture are Grizzlys (The original Chrysler model, the M4A1). Two were the same as used in Saving Private Ryan and a further example was purchased. DaveM
| 1018.01 A very minor technicality - in at least one episode the Shermans are meant to British rather than American, so the M4A1 is actually the wrong variety of Sherman for this episode. The British Army used the Ford built version of the Sherman, the M4A2, slightly longer than the M4A1 and with internal differences, it was slower and regarded by some as inferior to the Chrysler M4A1 |
| 1018.01.01 The US exported the Chrysler versions for British use. The reasons are correct, but the writer has reversed which tank was Lend-Leased. Mark Breeding |
| 1018.02 One of the Shermans from the series has been sent to the Canadian War Museum in Ottowa. DaveM |
1019 The three Stug IIIs were built on FV432 chassis at the Hatfield studios where the majority of Band of Brothers was shot. The FV432s came direct from British MoD stocks. They were built by the team of Steve Lamonby, the Vehicle Consultant to the picture. He did a brilliant job, including moving the entire driving position and controls about a further eighteen inches to the rear of the vehicles. DaveM