Title:VICKERS GUNS AND BOFORS GUNS IN ACTION [Allocated Title]
Film Number:BDY 47/2
Other titles:
Summary: Unedited and uncensored (?) newsreel rushes showing a Vickers machine gun team and Bofors guns taking part in a practice shoot at a firing range regularly used by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Channel coast and RAF fighters simulating low-level strafing runs against the light anti-aircraft gun detachments.
Description: Part I. Scenes filmed with a sound camera showing a Vickers .303 machine gun in action. An officer, protected by a rifleman, establishes an observation position in scrub vegetation at the top of a sand dune. Two men set up a Vickers .303 machine gun by mounting the gun on its standard tripod mounting. A voice off-screen shouts "Load!"; an ammunition belt made from cloth is threaded through the breech and firing commences. Filmed with a long lens in front of the gun position, the Vickers is seen and heard producing a regular firing rhythm. Because of the camera position, the only person who is clearly visible is the gunner.
Part II. Scenes filmed with a sound camera showing a Bren .303 light machine gun fitted to a Bofors 40mm light anti-aircraft gun being fired at a target drogue being towed by an unseen but audible target towing aircraft. After firing a burst of ammunition, the empty magazine on the Bren gun is exchanged for a fresh one. A target sleeve is seen being towed several hundred feet high as more light machine gun rounds are fired at it. A view from in front of the Bofors gun as it tracks its target; two other Bofors detachments are visible in the background.
Part III. Mute scenes filmed with a standard wide angle lens from the sand dunes overlooking the firing range at Dannes showing a single Hawker Hurricane Mk I belonging to one of the fighter squadrons with the BEF Air Component flying low over the Bofors anti-aircraft detachments from different directions and performing aerobatic manoeuvres over the Channel.
Part IV. Mute scenes filmed with a wide angle lens from the sand dunes overlooking the beach firing range showing three low-flying Hawker Hurricanes buzzing the Bofors gun detachments; their crews try to keep the aircraft in their sights but are too slow. The three fast-moving aircraft are seen repeatedly buzzing the beach from different directions. At one point, British Movietonews cameraman Norman Fisher can be seen filming near one of the Bofors gun detachments. Lying on the ground near each gun are steel ammunition boxes containing 40mm rounds.
Production Details: British Movietone News (Production company)
Universal (Production company)
Fisher, N (Production individual)
Noble, R (Production individual)
Gray, M (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Expeditionary Force (1939-1940) (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery (regiment/service)
Royal Air Force, British Expeditionary Force Air Component (regiment/service)
Keywords: Dannes, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography)
Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event)
Aerial Warfare (theme)
Artillery (theme)
British Army 1939-1945 (theme)
France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: None
Subtitle language: None
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 607 feet; Running time: 6 mins 45 secs
