BRITAIN'S RAF (Year 6 No 6) [Main Title]

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  • Title: BRITAIN'S RAF (Year 6 No 6) [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UKY 302
  • Other titles: MARCH OF TIME [Series Title]
  • Summary: Film explains the strategic importance of the Battle of Britain and shows all Commands of the RAF in action.
  • Description: Film combines library material with actuality footage and specially recorded sequences. Spitfires Squadron scramble to intercept Heinkel He 111s reported by Royal Observer Corps spotters. Control centre gives orders to engage enemy over Dover, where barrage balloons are shot down in flames and a plane crashes into the sea. Civilians in a shelter are consoled to know that "the RAF is giving Berlin a taste of their own medicine". Defence of Britain, a nation of merchants and shopkeepers, had traditionally been based on a small army and the mightiest battle fleet in the world. Decisive future importance of the RAF was recognised only in the 1930s (Prince Edward Prince of Wales inspects Hawker Hart Is of 12 Squadron) when strategists foresaw that Germany's chief offensive weapon would be a numerically overwhelming air force. Plane production was increased while the RAF recruited boys from all walks of life and from all parts of the Empire, some going to the British Empire Air Training Scheme in Canada (classroom scenes and inside trainer). Then after the sudden fall of France, Britain became wholly dependent on her air power. Barrage balloons, the sandbagging of shelters and the Air Council in session (Minister of Air Sir Archibald Sinclair flanked by Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Under Secretary of State for Air [Captain H H Balfour ?] and Command chiefs) represent the start of this new phase in the war when "in all the tragic months of the Second World War no name has shone with greater glory than that of Britain's RAF". Reel 2. Coastal Command under Air Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill cooperates with the Royal Navy in the protection of convoys (destroyers escort freighters, Short Sunderlands at Plymouth, in flight and over Land's End) and prizes the American-built Lockheed Hudson (drawing). Fighter Command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding with superior pilots and planes (pilots on airfield, Spitfires in flight, dogfight, downed Messerschmitt Bf 109 with brolly emblem) is defeating Luftwaffe, emphasised by an interview with a "POW" who in almost faultless American tells his captives that he was surprised by a faster plane. Bomber Command under Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse has been pounding German industrial areas as distant as Munich (Blenheims, Wellingtons bombed up). Today the RAF is still unconquered in Britain, the Near and Far East and the war may well depend on its ability to maintain an uninterrupted flow of matériel (from the USA). RAF crew sing "There will always be an England" and commentator concludes "today the RAF is the toast of the whole democratic world".
  • Alternative Title: MARCH OF TIME [Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: UKY 302
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1940-10
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: Time/Life (Production sponsor) March of Time (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Edward, Prince (Duke of Windsor) (person) Bowhill, Frederick William (person) Dowding, Hugh Caswall Tremenheere (person) Peirse, Richard Edmund Charles (person) Portal, Charles Frederick Algernon (person) Sinclair, Archibald Henry Macdonald (person) Royal Air Force, Sqdn, 12 (regiment/service) Royal Navy (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Observer Corps (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: aircraft, British - balloon: barrage balloon (object name) aircraft, British - combat: Bristol Blenheim (object name) aircraft, British - combat: Hawker Hart 1 (object name) aircraft, British - combat: Supermarine Spitfire (object name) aircraft, British - combat: Vickers Wellington (object name) aircraft, British - seaplane: Short Sunderland (object name) aircraft, German - combat: Heinkel He 111 (object name) aircraft, German - combat: Messerschmitt Bf 109 (object name) aircraft, United States - transport: Lockheed Hudson [drawings only] (object name) combat, British - air-air (object name) operations, British maritime - routine: convoy (object name) operations, British air - preparation: bombing up (object name) operations, British naval - escort: convoy (object name) society, British - precautionary: air raid shelter (object name) society, British military - education: British Empire Training Scheme (object name) training, British air (object name) Land's End, Cornwall, England, UK (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 2 Footage: 1598 ft; Running time: 17 mins
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    UKY 302

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