Title:UP IN THE AIR - RAF PRESENTATION TEAM [Allocated Title]
Film Number:MIL 434F
Other titles:
Summary: Version of an RAF Presentation film.
Description: Film begins with a brief overview of the history of airpower from 1914, through the Battle of Britain and Bomber Command's offensive against Germany to the dropping of the first atomic bombs. The growing threat posed by the Soviet Union is described using footage of Soviet air, land and sea forces on exercise to illustrate the point. Phantom aircraft are scrambled to intercept a Tu-16 'Badger' reconnaissance aircraft, a Tornado F2 fires a trial missile and Bloodhound and Rapier surface to air missiles appear briefly. A Tornado GR1 demonstrates the use of the JP 233 system to crater runways before landing and taxiing to a hardened aircraft shelter for maintenance. Harrier GR3s fire rockets and drop BL-755 cluster bombs, and the narrator emphasises their ability to operate from small improvised airstrips. The roles of the Nimrod MR1 and Buccaneer in maritime reconnaissance and strike are illustrated, a search and rescue Sea King helicopter winches a man up from the deck of the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service vessel RMAS Kinterbury (A.378) and VC10, C130 and Chinook aircraft are shown in the transport role. A readiness exercise is carried out at RAF Brüggen in West Germany, Jaguar and Tornado GR1 aircraft make low-level bombing sorties, part of a Red Arrows display is shown and the narrator sums up, stressing the point that NATO has kept peace in Europe since 1945 and that the RAF is an important part of that achievement.
