BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1940) - Respecting THE FEW.

[Alan Eardley]

Peak District wrecks

Which reminds me that tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of perhaps the most poignant wreck of all. On 13th February 1947 Halifax Mk9 RT922 of 47 Squadron crashed while attempting to drop food supplies to the people of the village of Grindon, who had been cut off by snow for over eight weeks. While overflying the site to measure the drop, the pilot was blinded by heavy cloud and blizzard conditions, struck the high ground on Grindon Moor and the plane was destroyed by fire before bystanders could effect a rescue. Squadron Leader Don McIntyre and his crew of five were killed, as were two civilian press photographers who were on board to record the event. Their sacrifice is recorded by a stone memorial at the crash site. Although within my lifetime, in a place I know well, that seems like a different world...

Alan

 

[Smithy]

WWII aircraft wrecks are (for obvious reasons) becoming increasingly rare now but are hugely moving sites. There are still a few in Norway which can be seen, both RAF and Luftwaffe.

I know Kenneth Wynn (the Battle of Britain historian) quite well and he has a sizeable collection of pieces of aircraft from the Battle. To be honest I find them a little unsettling, especially as each is documented with the identity of the individual aircraft and the fate of her crew.

 

[Spitfire]

"Battle of Britain" on Danish national TV

I have just watched "Battle of Britain" - ( again )
They showed it on one of our national TV stations - next sunday they will show "Bridge of the River Kwai".
Hopefully they will show even more old british warmovies....

IMO The Battle of Britain still holds. It has it's weak points, and the model Stukas looks like...eh...model Stukas.
But all in all: Made in 1968/1969 - What a movie!!!:eusa_clap

 

[Twit]

One thing thats ironic about the making of that film is that it was filmed at Duxford, before it was the museum that it is now, and the production did more damage to the place than was managed during the battle!

I spend much of my time working at St Georges hospital in Hornchurch which was Hornchurch airfield during the war and saw a lot of action. You really wouldnt know now although I am going to explore some of derelict outer buildings if I get the chance.

And yes good film, although the best attempt at conveying the battle is Patrick Bishop's Fighter Boys book. It really gets the sense of total ordinary-ness in the midst of huge battle.

 

[Norumbega]

For those who enjoy stats, this may prove of interest for those who study the Battle of Britain. I for one didn't realize the number of Czech and Polish pilots who took part.
http://cz-raf.hyperlink.cz/BoB/stat.html

 

[donCarlos]

For those who enjoy stats, this may prove of interest for those who study the Battle of Britain. I for one didn't realize the number of Czech and Polish pilots who took part.
http://cz-raf.hyperlink.cz/BoB/stat.html

And I never realized how good our pilots were!

 

[Twit]

303 squadron was prodominantly Polish, and pretty fearsome by all accounts. Having said that there are also a number of accounts of them overstepping the mark in terms of aggression against enermy pilots after they had baled out...

 

[Corky]

The outtakes from the movie BATTLE OF BRITAIN...

The outtakes from the movie BATTLE OF BRITAIN look better when recycled as stock dogfight sequences into other movies such as "Piece of Cake", a 1988 BBC series based on the men of the RAF Hornet Squadron during the early days of World War II.

 

[Norumbega]

303 squadron was prodominantly Polish, and pretty fearsome by all accounts. Having said that there are also a number of accounts of them overstepping the mark in terms of aggression against enermy pilots after they had baled out...

I've a feeling that the Kampania wrześniowa was still rather fresh in their collective consciousness.

 

[Spitfire]

And yes good film, although the best attempt at conveying the battle is Patrick Bishop's Fighter Boys book. It really gets the sense of total ordinary-ness in the midst of huge battle.

Absolutely one of my personal favourits on the subject.

 

[Speedster]

BUGGER!!! :rage:

I missed that... and i even knew that DR2 was showing old war movies on Sunday afternoons. Watched "The Great Escape" a couple of weeks ago.

I better order the "Battle of Britain" DVD as soon as possible. Watched it in 1969 in Imperial when i was 11 years old. Made a great impression on me back then.

 

[KilroyCD]

BUGGER!!! :rage:

I missed that... and i even knew that DR2 was showing old war movies on Sunday afternoons. Watched "The Great Escape" a couple of weeks ago.

I better order the "Battle of Britain" DVD as soon as possible. Watched it in 1969 in Imperial when i was 11 years old. Made a great impression on me back then.

There are two versions of the B of B DVD. I'd suggest looking for the B of B Special Edition 2-DVD set, as it corrects the glaring mistakes made when they issued the original DVD. When the original DVD was issued, they made a number of changes, and they weren't all for the better.

 

[kampkatz]

I have the B of B on vhs. Would the 2 disk dvd be worth getting?

 

[Speedster]

Thanks! Will be looking for the Special Edition 2-DVD then.

There are two versions of the B of B DVD. I'd suggest looking for the B of B Special Edition 2-DVD set, as it corrects the glaring mistakes made when they issued the original DVD. When the original DVD was issued, they made a number of changes, and they weren't all for the better.

 

[KilroyCD]

I have the B of B on vhs. Would the 2 disk dvd be worth getting?

I feel it would be worth it for picture quality reasons, as VHS picture quality will ultimately degrade with time and usage.
With the 2 DVD set you'd be getting essentially the same film as you have on VHS, but with more subtitles when the Germans speak. You'll also have a bunch of special features found on the second disc.
When the first edition DVD came out (in 2003 I believe), MGM had re-edited the film and made some changes, including changing some of the score. At the same time, they didn't acknowledge (in the credits) Ron Goldman for having composed the vast majority of the music, instead crediting only Sir William Walton. They added more subtitling (when the Germans spoke), and some of the translation was incorrect. But the biggest mistake was at the close of the film. They substituted this Winston Churchill quote for the original: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." That quote was after the fall of Tobruk. The quote that was originally there (and restored in the later 2 DVD set) is the appropriate one: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

 

[Windsock]

"Wo is die Royal Air Force?"

(Typo in the title sorry- should be "ist") Thanks to technical advice from Rich I now carry a copy of the film with me wherever I go on my iphone. I made an mp4 from my DVD copy and loaded it. The picture and sound quality are just as they are on the DVD. Great for when I get stuck waiting for something.

 

[Spitfire]

now...that's nice Andrew!

 

[ethanedwards]

I love this film, warts and all. The model Ju87's are unfortunate, but given the technology of the day, I'm not sure how else they could have done it. (I'm sure the breaching of the Mohne dam will be far more convincing in the remake of the Dambusters, but will it be a better film for all that visual maturity........?)

Despite all the superb aerial sequences, one of my favourite moments in BoB comes early in the film - it's the exchange between Ralph Richardson and Kurt Jurgens in the British embassy. I always wondered if this was based on true events or is in fact just a device to drive the plot forwards?

Looks excellent on your iphone Andrew, I wonder if you get people watching over your shoulder?

 

[WH1]

I saw this first when I was a kid. It was a great movie, found it last year on the shared drive in fallujah and loaded it on my external harddrive so now I can watch whenever I wish. I am not historically competent enough on WW2 airiel combat to spot the issues so to me it is just a great movie.lol

 

[H.Johnson]

Shouldn't this material be in the 'Moving Picture' thread?

I thought it might actually about something real, a documentary, perhaps.