Talk:L'autre aile
Places
Chartres (which one of the three airfields existing actually ?) :
Stock footage or opportunism?
The film opens with an aviation meeting in Chartres (the two spires of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres can be seen in the distance).
Then comes the event's opening cocktail party (with an unknown aircraft barely visible), mixing anonymous crowds with shots of the film's main actors.
Now right in the middle of the story, the camera films the actors and reveals in the background the aerodrome devices for landing assistance.
It's not certain that we're still in Chartres, but we're certainly not in Le Bourget yet.
LBG :
others (unidentified airfield) :
Maybe Dugny (military installations mirroring the civil site at Le Bourget opposite the runway) in the distance :
Pilot
The credits mention Commandant (Major) Antonin Brocard but say nothing about the pilot, Albert Deulin, one of the French pioneer of commercial aviation by becoming the chief-pilot of aerial CFRNA-Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aérienne.
Albert Deulin was a successful ace with 20 air victories mostly achieved under Major Brocard command.
His employment naturally led him to double the actors during aerial sequences. A few weeks after the end of filming, he killed himself at the controls of a brand new prototype, being test pilot in addition to his work at CFRNA.
Model
Lioré et Olivier LeO 21 or not ?
The movie was quickly followed by a book described as a "visual novel". The author, Ricciotto Canudo, had published his novel in 1922, and as soon as the film was finished, reworked it to include shots from the film and those taken by a set photographer.
One of these gives a better view of this model of what looks like the future LeO 21, first flown in 1926.
The fuselage is very similar, but there are many differences: the landing gear appears to have tandem wheels rather than a single wheel; the engines are halfway up both wings (on the manufactured airliner, they will be mounted on the lower wing); the tail has nothing to do with the final design.
