Black Eagle Projects

I am in the process of creating a series of documentary films on Aviation. All will be in the Black Eagle Projects stable and we will call it the aviation series. It is a step away from wildlife documentary filmmaking I know, but I will get back to the bush again soon. As I am in the pre production stage on five new wildlife documentary films.

The first seven will be documentaries on different aviation subjects. So far two are complete, being the Avro Shackleton 1722 and Airshow.( In SA they spell Air Show Airshow as one word) The series will be finished in April 2008,and will be available on DVD’s( documentary DVD’s ).The individual documentary DVD’s will be available as soon as they are finished.To get a copy of the Shackleton or Airshow DVD please contact Andrew Schofield at andschofield@gmail.com

Documentary filmmaking takes time and precision, especially the documentary film with technical aspects in it. Aviation is a very popular subject with many thousands of knowledgeable enthusiasts on general aviation. So it is vital to make sure that our documentary film production is 100% correct. During the making of the Avro Shackleton 1722 documentary film we had the best advisors on historical aviation available to us in he form of Henry James Potgieter, Buks and Pat not forgetting Chris Teale the museologist.

Aviation photography is a very popular past time and there are many good aviation photographers out there creating really outstanding aviation images. There are also many amateur or weekend documentary video makers who create very good aviation pictures, and independent documentary aviation makers who cover all aviation art, and air force aspects of general aviation.

So to fulfill one of my dreams of making some really good aviation documentary video films I started with the Avro Shackleton 1722 film then completed the Airshow documentary DVD, these are now available to order. The new innovation that we have started is that there is stock in England and all orders from England and Europe are posted from England. The Black Eagle Projects Website is up and running in England and the one in South Africa will be open in January. The next on the list is the Huey Helicopter the Dakota c-47 DC3 the Harvard and a documentary on how a young military aviator get their wings, and one surprise that will have you in the cockpit with some unique aviation perspectives.

An aviation picture library where you can purchase aviation pictures will also be available as of January. The aviation series of DVDs will be available to order from the website and there will also be aviation gifts for sale.

Engine run up

On the 1st of December we did an engine runup on 1722, about sixty guests arrived to see the grey lady start up. Alan Ward from Scotland got sit upfront with Pottie as he ran up the engines. For any details please send me an email at andschofield@gmail.com .
Andrew Schofield.

Shackleton Film

Shackleton 1722 is the last flying Mark 3 in the world today.

Lovingly restored and maintained by Pottie and the gang at Ysterplaat AFB. This film shows the history of the Shacks in 35 Squadron from delivery in

1958 to today. The background to the aircrafts history and a visit to Newark air museum in the UK to see Sqdn leader Brian Withers give a rundown on WR977.A full flight with all

the checks and griffon engine noises, interspersed with interviews with Pilots, Engineers, Historians and Shackleton people. A chapter is

dedicated to the 1716 Survivors and their families.

This is the story of Shackleton one seven two two,

Fondly known as Potties private bomber.

And the dedicated team who has restored her to the beautiful condition that she is in today.

Two Two is the last flying

Shackleton Mark 3 in the world.

The Avro Type 696 was designed by the talented and innovative Roy Chadwick. He started designing aircraft in 1911 when he joined

Avro at the age of 18.

The 696 design started with the Manchester, a 2 engined bomber that was completely underpowered for the task at hand.

This he modified by adding 2

extra Merlin engines and named it the Lancaster. This legendry aircraft is still

famous to this day for its endurance and ruggedness.

The Lancaster took part in every major night attack on Germany during the 2^nd world war.

Towards the end of the 2^nd world war the Lincoln bomber was developed but it soon became clear that a long range, land based, maritime aircraft was needed - this heralded the birth of Avro 696 which Chadwick named the Shackleton after Sir Ernest Shackleton, the respected and intrepid explorer.

For Shackleton’s “Quest” expedition in 1921 and 1922 Chadwick had designed the AVRO Antarctic.

Here he is seen on the right.

The first Shackleton was flight tested on the 9^th of March 1949. Sadly Roy Chadwick never saw this as he was killed in a crash on the 23^rd August 1947.

The Shackleton started life as a tail dragger like most of the WW11 bombers and went through 3 phases to the tricycle undercarriage of the Mark 3.

Some of which stayed in service till 1991.

The SAAF took delivery of the first Shackletons in May 1957 and they arrived in South Africa in the August of that year.

The aircraft were numbered successive to the serial numbers of the Sunderland’s.

The first Shackleton of a total order for eight was numbered One seven one six, an aircraft that was to die in a spectacular albeit tragic manner in the Western desert on her ill fated trip to Royal Air Force base Fairford on the 13th July 1994.

The SAAF Shackletons were operated by 35 squadron. Their emblem is Shaya Amanzi . It means strike the water. This maritime squadron is based at Ysterplaat.

The aircraft were operated from Cape town international airport, then known as DF Malan, as the runway at Ysterplaat was not long enough for a fully laden Shack to take off on.

Sadly Shackleton one seven one eight crashed into high mountains in the Western Cape on the 8th of August 1963 and all thirteen crew members were lost.

The remaining aircraft went on to serve for 27 years on active front line service till November 1984 when the effect of sanctions against the South African government of the day made it nearly impossible to keep the aircraft serviceable.

After a last fly – past the remaining seven Shackletons were despatched to various locations throughout South Africa for static display purposes and some were painted in hideous colours.

Fortunately for us a small group of men led by Sgt Major Henry James Potgieter, Affectionately known as Pottie, kept the Shack spirit alive and one six and two two were lovingly restored and looked after.Any info or to get a copy of the film contact Andrew Schofield at andschofield@gmail.com