Netflix's The Six Triple Eight - Filming on Location at IWM Duxford -

March 12, 2025

By Guest Author

Tyler Perry’s Netflix’s historical film The Six Triple Eight tells the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The all-woman, predominantly Black, Army Corps unit to be stationed in Europe during World War II.

Here we hear from Sam Lee, the Events and Filming Coordinator at Imperial War Museums, Duxford in Cambridgeshire, which was one of the iconic locations, providing a backdrop for this impressive film, The Six Triple Eight.

How did you come to work as the Filming Coordinator at IWM?

I’ve worked for the Imperial War Museums at Duxford since 2007 when I started as a summer casual museum assistant, which involved a bit of everything at the time, talking to visitors, opening and locking up, cleaning the facilities, setting up events and air shows and even keeping the dust off the aircraft and tanks. I stayed on after that first summer and the rest is history! I’ve been the Filming Coordinator for Duxford since 2020 and now also for the IWM North branch on Salford Quays next door to Media City in Manchester.

What makes Duxford such an interesting filming location?

Duxford has a varying array of buildings from period first world war Belfast wooden hangars, T2 type hangar and modern contemporary buildings; AirSpace and Sir Norman Fosters concrete and glass designed American Air Museum in Britain along with this there are many open spaces, backdrops and interiors. Along with a period wartime base Duxford has hosted Cold War spies, DC Superheroes and doubled for major London airports through the ages.

Duxford Airfield has an interesting history, can you tell us a bit more about it?

IWM Duxford is Britain’s best-preserved Second World War airfield set in rural Cambridgeshire right next to the M11. The airfields fascinating history dates back to the First World War. Historic aircraft can regularly be seen taking to the skies from Duxford’s wartime airfield. Duxford has been a witness to world-changing events over the past 100 years where ordinary people have had extraordinary experiences. IWMs remit is collecting, recording and retelling the stories of past generations for future generations.

How was Duxford Airfield transformed into a 1945 location for The Six Triple Eight?

Very early on it was established our First World War Belfast Truss hangar (Conservation in Action) was to be the ‘hero’ for the key scenes involving Major Charity Adams finding out the extensive task she had taken on, with the revealing of hundreds of thousands of mailbags piled to the ceiling and replicated throughout the site on screen. Skip forward eight months to the shoot day, where half the working hangar had been cleared and the entire historic centre of Duxford transported back to 1945 with set dressing, road covering, and lighting additions to the interior and exterior of the Grade II* listed hangar.

It took quite a few months of back and forth with extensive discussions and drawings between IWM and the art department and production team of how the lighting changes could be achieved while adhering to the Grade II* status requirements. I won’t spoil the movie magic but eventually an agreeable method was approved, and the additional outside lighting really made the night scene amazing on screen.

What was it like having The Six Triple Eight production team filming on site?

In late January 2023, in-house prep work commenced which included relocating visitor seating, a replica Spitfire, signage totems and a German Second World War Jagdpanther ‘Tank Destroyer’ weighing 45 tons! We closed the hangar to visitors and the crew came in to start the set build. By this time several more scenes had been acquired for Duxford and one of the IWM offices was to be transformed into General Halts office, kindly colleagues agreed to locate elsewhere for a few weeks. Over two weeks construction took place to build the mountain of mail bags, removing or covering modern structures with the art department and props dressing the set. Roads were covered and army tents, phone boxes and telegraph poles were erected.

Shoot day came and ran very smoothly, visitors were intrigued to see a large group of women dressed in 1945 American uniforms practising marching up and down the site while they looked around and visited Concorde and the SR71 Blackbird. All the scenes were shot and on wrap, late into the evening I for one was very relieved after 7 months of work bringing everything together. I feel very privileged to have played a very small part in helping create the film which tells a very important and largely unknown story of those 855 women and their achievements.

Which other IWM locations are there?

IWM Duxford – A historic Second World War airfield, museum and surrounding landscape set in Cambridgeshire.

HMS Belfast – A historic war ship residing on the Thames, HMS Belfast has an Admirals Bridge, engine rooms, officer’s cabins, galley and roof top bar.

IWM North – An iconic aluminium-clad building with jutting angles designed by internationally acclaimed architect Daniel Libeskind situated on Salford Quays in Manchester.

IWM London – A Georgian exterior and modern interior with imposing staircases, glass roofed terrace, multiple green rooms, offices and corridors

Churchill War Rooms – A unique Second World War bunker with historic rooms, winding corridors, period infrastructure centrally located, adjacent to Whitehall, St James Park and the West End.