Although Daniel Craig and the SPECTRE first unit is not expected to arrive in Austria until the New Year, a splinter unit has been photographed at work on the Rettenbach Glacier near the small village and ski resort of Sölden. Locals spotted a twin prop painted with arctic camouflage flying overhead yesterday. Local citizen journalists snapped a few pictures of the shoot as it took place.
For some of the shots the plane was mounted with a camera and it is reported that it took several circuits of the area to capture the required footage. The same plane was previously spotted when the crew were readying locations in Obertilliach.
It has long been known that the Obertilliach shoot would involve an aircraft, and previously, power poles were removed along a forest path to prepare for a stunt sequence in which the plane crashes. It is understood by locals that the large structure built by the crew for the 24th Bond film in Obertilliach would be destroyed when the time came to film the crash.
Visible in the photos is one of the 20 skidoos requisitioned by the SPECTRE production for use on the snow. The crew were also using Range Rovers and the Land Rover Defender to transport crew and equipment. The Defender was last seen in a Bond film when it was driven by Eve Moneypenny during the mission in Turkey on "Skyfall".
Even though this appears to just be a splinter unit capturing what is likely to be establishing shots for a more complex action sequence, local reports indicate that security was tight and the photographers were lucky to capture the shots that they did.
Thanks to Felix Bisson for the alert.
