• Short Summary

    Planes named after some of the Windmill Girls are christened with champagne and lipstick.

  • Description

    Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire.

    A group of girls from the Windmill Theatre arrive by a De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide plane to christen some Westland Whirlwinds helicopters which have been named after them. The girls totter down the steps of the aircraft and walk across the tarmac. The 820 squadron is nicknamed "The Windmill Squadron" and the girls are introduced to some of the naval officers and men. Yvette Davies christens the helicopter named after her with a bottle of champagne then autographed it with lipstick. The girls are presented with bunches of flowers and badges by some of the HMS Albion navy boys.

    Paperwork currently missing for this issue.

    The pilot of the Rapide is named as Zita / Zeta Irwin (sp?) but we do not see him (or her!) - no paperwork to confirm spelling.

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    83.03
    Media URN:
    1349
    Group:
    Colour pictorials
    Archive:
    British Pathe
    Issue Date:
    01/12/1958
    Sound:
    sound
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Colour
    Duration:
    00:01:42:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:15:45:00 / 01:17:27:00
    Canister:
    CP 205

Comments (4)

  1. Gordon Parkes says

    I was the Naval Airman Safety Equipment(SE3). I am the far youngster carrying the flowers at the end of the clip

  2. jamied says

    The aircraft the ladies arrive in is a De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide, Reg. No. G-AKSD, named "Windmill Girl".

    The sailors seen are from HMS Albion.

    The helicopters are all Westland Whirlwinds. The five Windmill Girls they were named after were Yvette Davies, (seen in this clip), Xenia Scott, Zoe Allen, Terry Keighley and Victoria Peterson.........

    www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1
    958/1958 - 0589.html

  3. jamied says

    CORRECTION: "Victoria Peterson" in my notes should read Victoria Patterson.

  4. British Pathé says

    Thanks.

We always welcome comments and more information about our films.
All posts are reactively checked. Libellous and abusive comments are forbidden.

Add your comment