I have just read these posts. I was born in 1934. In 1940 I lived in Hampstead North London. Parliament Hill was a hill on Hampstead heath which overlooked the whole of London. I watched the Battle of Britain from that hill. Later, after we had won the Battle of Britain, I spent the whole of the London blitz, sheltering from the bombing, in a basement in Flask Walk Hampstead. As a child, we thought that the war was a big adventure. We, as kids, had aircraft recognition books, both British and German. I know I was only a child, but I never saw any fear. Loss of life and possessions was sad but it only made us more determined to win. There was never any talk of surrender.
I was bourn 13yrs after ww2 as a child my late mum told me things she did during the war in the 70s a programme came on the tv called the world at war showing actual film and people telling what they did
While the film puts emphasis on the Spitfire, the bulk of the battle was carried by the "old school" Hurricanes. The typical order of battle was for the slightly faster and more nimble Spits to engage and draw off the fighter escorts so the sure and steady Hurricanes could swarm in on the bombers. Proved a very effective tactic.
Battle of Britain pilots have said that was a bit of a myth. In the chaos of air combat you attacked whatever was in front of you, it wasn't realistic to split the targets like that.
@@graemegalvin811 I am pretty sure they had only 1 airworth Hurricane when this was filmed. If you look when hurricanes are on screen, its acually just 1 hurricane and BF109's with a different paint job
I believe all the He-111s and Me-109s were Spanish variants, still in flying condition. The movie shows only a couple of German aircraft types; no Do-17s, no Ju-88 (bombers), no Me-110s (escort fighters) ... I guess there were not enough of them in flying condition to form a Schwarm or even a Staffel. Or maybe not a single one of them could fly anymore, more than 20 years after the war. I didn't realize this the first time I saw Battle of Britain because I was too young, but I was already building plastic model kits of WW2 aircraft and at a certain moment I noticed the lack of German bomber types in the movie.
My favorite movie of all time. My Dad took me to a theater see it the day before Thanksgiving 1970 in NJ. Those scenes stuck in my mind forever. I built models of every plane used in that movie. Back then, a Heinkel 111 was hard to find!
Hurricane shot down most enemy bombers,much more stable platform than the spitfire which hunted German bombers escorts ie the ME 109 which the spitfire was designed for,ie a fighter/ interceptor,but the hurricane was more rugged, roles were initially interceptor ,ie bombers ,then it took on the role as fighter/ bomber, ground attack , strafe,ivy no doubt the spitfire was a good plane,but in my humble opinion the hurricane did as much for the war effort probably more.check the records out any of you latter day experts.
@@jimduffy1967 I'm sure there was Spitfire snobbery from some German pilots, saying they got shot down by a Spitfire when in fact it was from a Hurricane.
@@MegaBadgeman you are spot on there David, hurricane was a good gun platform,not as manouverble as a spitfire but I'm sure during battle of Britain it downed more enemy bombers, spitfire was there to intercept enemy escort fighters.
Just imagine being in a bomber, desperately struggling to get out and seeing the ocean getting closer. Must have been terrifying last moments for the crew. :(
At least those crews got a quick and painless death somewhat instead of outright drowning to death as their plane started to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Warhammer : The reason that USA , UK , and USSR defeated Germany is because the Allies were more violent. Humane existentialism such as you profess betrays hesitation to kill the enemy. You are hereby dismissed from RAF fighter training program.
In 2015, we went to RAF Duxford, for the 75th Battle of Britain anniversary, can't believe how the years have passed! Anyway, to hear that beautiful Merlin engine in the Spitfires and Hurricanes was absolutely fabulous! They had some German fighters there too, and enacted a 'section squadron scramble'. Then they had a dogfight over the airfield. Brilliant day, perfect weather! Everyone was so very proud, great memories!
I was there at Duxford also in 2015. It was a great week - even some WW1 vintage British and German aircraft were in the sky doing precision flying and diving / strafing runs. I couldn't help but wonder if there were more films coming with the real, vintage aircraft (and capable pilots).
My dad took me to see this at 'the pictures' in Preston in 1969 Pity there was only Heinkels and no Dorniers. Best war film ever. Polish Hurricanes joining RAF Spitfires is my favourite part (bloody marvellous) and the music is brilliant. I'm sure my ex Lancaster rear gunner dad had some sympathy for the enemy bomber crews in the film.
Thank you for his service. My Mum's cousin was in the Dam Buster squadron as a Lancaster pilot and his bomb blew the bottom out of the Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord. He got shot down on way home and bailed out over an island and was a POW. They were men alright.
Truly a GREAT GREAT MOVIE reenacting the Battle of Britian! The music, actors and actress, authentic planes and location. One of the best war movies! Very under rated.
on just one day during the battle of britain, my grandfather was singlehandedly responsible for downing 30 Heinkels. Hitler called him the worst mechanic in the Luftwaffe.
For those wondering what was happening here, the Germans realized we would not be able to defend everywhere. So the cunning plan was to attack the un-defended north of England. Alas, the flaw was that the RAF rotated squadrons in and out of combat, and the north was where they were rested. So they got hammered by experienced and well-rested pilots while having no fighter escort...
@@MarkHarrison733 Yes the Germans though it was SO irrelevent that they decided to sacrifice 1700 of their aircraft in the summer of 1940 complete with their "experten" aircrews for utterly NO reason at all .
This scene from the film is based on a real event, an attack on northern Britain by a group of unsupported Heinkel bombers based in Norway. They did not attack in the early stages of the battle as it was too far for fighters to escort them, and they knew they would be sitting ducks without support. In the opening of the scene we see two German officers talking. One gives his commander a report claiming high losses of British fighters. But his commander points out that German aircraft attacking in the south continue to be met with large numbers of fighters. He therefore concludes that this can only be happening if fighters from the north have been brought down to replace losses. They therefore make the decision to make a bombing attack on the north, believing it to be unprotected by fighters. This was completely wrong, as the Germans had considerably over estimated British losses and British ability to replace losses. The result is what is depicted in this clip. In the actual event the Germans dumped their bombs and headed for home without reaching their target. They nevertheless suffered a loss of about 10% of their Norway based bomber group, or almost thirty planes. There were no British losses.
That's right, but they were Ju-88s, not Heinkels. After that raid and a few other equally disastrous ones, the Germans withdrew their Norway-based group from the battle. Likewise with the Stukas. Even though they were the only planes the Germans had accurate enough to take out RADAR towers, the losses in the Stuka groups were so high that they were withdrawn after about a week. The Germans never caught on to Chain Home anyway, so they viewed the RADAR towers as lower priority targets.
@@nottmjas The rest scattered. The British fighters didn't have the range to chase them down. Also, the fighter pilots were new pilots, so they weren't very good at navigating over open water.
@nottmjas They would have liked to have sent every bomber down into the north sea but as spitfires only had enough .303 ammunition for 14.7 seconds of firing, unless they hit something vital immediately it would take most of that ammunition to take down one bomber. In reality that's what saved the bombers.
For those upset about the 'realism', the dialogue at the start explains that the Luftwaffe believed the northern fighter reserves had been moved south and that unescorted long range missions from Norway to the NE of the UK would be reasonably safe. Yes they did have bf 110 escorts in reality but since there were none available for filming and they were virtually useless in that role, the film didn't bother with them. All this can be established if you just google 'Luftwaffe unescorted' and do less than a minute of reading rather than let your emotions do the typing.
@@wadesaleeby2172 I guess that's supposed to be a 'written by the victors' argument? Again, if you read just a little about the production of the film or the long range role of the Norway based Luftflotte 5 in the battle, then there is nothing to complain about here. Is the counter-argument here that the Germans somehow lost the Battle of Britain without making any miscalculations worthy of a single scene in a film covering the whole campaign?
The fact remains that northern cities were heavily mauled, with Hull being the most heavily-bombed city of all, facing 95% housing damaged or destroyed...
@@tedthesailor172 Ok, but this scene is about Luftlotte 5 being sent from Norway with inadequate cover in daylight, losing 15% of their aircraft and consequently never coming back. The fact that other Luftflotte successfully bombed Hull in night-raids doesn't detract from the realism of this scene and neither me nor the film claimed that parts of the North weren't bombed.
What I love about this movie is: You also see how allied planes get shot down and not just a few but a good amount of them. That is way more realistic than that what Hollywood does. Hollywood only shows axis getting their ass kicked and only for a dramatic scene where a friend of the protagonist has to die/ the protagonist has to get injured is one of the axis able to actually do shit
There was a Terrific music score with this movie, which could shift from the dramatic, to triumphal, then almost to tragedy & despair with just changes in tempo and prominence of lead instruments ...
Around 37% of "kills" were made by Spitfires. The Hurricane accounted for about 63% in the Battle of Britain, but they always feature the Spit because it's sexier.
I had no idea. I always knew that the Hurricane was involved somewhat during the Battle of Britain, but this movie gave me the impression that the Spitfire dominated the show without question.
That makes perfect sense, since the Spitfire was faster and more agile than the Hurricane. I heard that the Spitfire was highly competitive with the Messerschmidt.
The 109 was quicker, but the Spitfire's elliptical wings gave it a tighter turning circle - it could out-turn a Messerschmitt on its tail or when hunting, get the inside angle
My father was there on the fighter stations during the conflict and on set of the making of the movie. The first British pilot killed at the beginning of the movie was named after dad, for all his input and anecdotes to the director, crew and actors.
@@MangoTroubles-007 Corporal in the Royal Signals in charge of a Bren Gun Carrier team. He manned the guns on many bombing raids of the airfields. 6 years service after demob he joined MOD Police, as he was an excellent marksman, which meant he went on various detachments, but most were with the RAF, apart from several years at the SAS Hereford in the 70s.
I first saw this movie while visiting my British grandparents in Martham England in 1969. My grandfather was one of the troops evacuated from Dunkirk. He served in the Royal Artillery.
The navigator's map (at 0:33) clearly shows a large yellow area towards the top fold, which is Edinburgh - and a smaller yellow area towards his cuff, which is Berwick on Tweed. Over the sea, the red line is the aircraft's planned route and the black line is the aircraft's actual track. Just of the coast there are 2 black lines that intersect with the planned route and these black lines lead to Edinburgh and Berwick on Tweed, which is strange given that this particular raid was ostensibly against airfields in the Vale of York (15 Aug 1940). As was quite correctly stated at the start of this clip, this is well outside the range at which the Luftwaffe could have provided a fighter escort and it is also true that a Spitfire cannot be in the north and the south at the same time. However, the flaw is the implied belief that all of the RAF's fighter squadrons were engaged in the air war over London and the southern counties. I'm sure the map is not of German origin as it looks remarkably similar to those that I used when I joined the RAF in 1972!
My uncle was an RAF officer during the war. according to him it was not as easy as shown here. he also claimed that whenever the last generation of Bf 109 showed up, nicknamed the Black Death by the RAF, everybody said his prayers, including the Spitfire pilots.
nah there wasn't any advances of 109s on the western front after the battle of britain hitler foolishly invaded the soviet union so most of the Luftwaffe was sent their besides why waste time on prop planes when the Germans were throwing so much into their early jet fighter's.
@@raypurchase801 I dont remember them but I remember the premier of the film in my town and they had a full sized spitfire and hurricane outside the cinema. That was cool for a boy my age .
@@paulbrooker5203 The good old days when there didn't need to be a subplot about a black gay man, struggling for liberty in the face of overt racism and homophobia.
Bob G,my dad RAF Spitfire pilot WW2. Said Hurricane won the Battle of Britain(more stable gun platform). He got to fly a Bf109 post-war,said best plane ever built!
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SuperTinman2009 I play a flight simulator called IL2 Sturmovik, I enjoy flying German planes the most but damn, the spitfires are sooooooo nice!
@@SuperTinman2009 I'd say the Hurricane, better bomber interceptor, the Spitfire, better dogfighter. Both could do either role well though, and the BF109 was of course a very worthy and capable foe for both too
That scene surely brings a lump to my throat when you see those young brave pilots defending this country from an invasion when you consider what's going on in this country today, it's 'soul destroying'.
@@MarkHarrison733 "The Fuhrer And Supreme Commander Of The Armed Forces. The Fuhrer's Headquarters. 16th July, 1940. 7 copies Directive No. 16 -- On Preparations For A Landing Operation Against England Since England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, shows no signs of being ready to come to an understanding, I have decided to prepare a landing operation against England, and, if necessary, to carry it out. The aim of this operation will be to eliminate the English homeland as a base for the prosecution of the war against Germany and, if necessary, to occupy it completely." But as we both know the first phase of the operation, that being the battle of Britain, was smashed, meaning the rest of the plan was academic. The operation had been stopped in its first phase. What would be described in common parlance as "A resounding British victory".
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 As soon as Stalin broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 28 June 1940 the OKW started preparing for Barbarossa. Sea Lion was a deliberate bluff while the Axis prepared for Barbarossa, as Galland and von Rundstedt confirmed in 1940.
@@MrPatrickworthington The Battle of Britain was irrelevant as the Kriegsmarine could never have got past the much larger Royal Navy, which in any case was to continue the war from Canada.
The Spitfire is, of course, the most beautiful thing in the sky, but even as a Britisher, I have to admit that the Heinkel was a pretty good looking aircraft itself. Very clean lines.
The BF-109 is a good looking plane as well. Tbh most planes of WWII just look awesome, not many look bad. The B-17 is amazing and large, the P-38 lightning looks weird and awesome. The Japanese Zero looks sleek.
The surviving Luftwaffe bomber pilots of this battle remembered these moments as terrifying as this was their first taste of battle and many of them barely twenty years old.
I worked for a man in the 1980s that flew Lancaster Bombers in the war, he flew many missions over Germany, HE WAS 19 years old. and many other RAF aircrew were much the same age.
The Luftwaffe shat themselves after realising the RAF had more planes than they were told.The Luftwaffe records showed that their doctors began to comment upon "Kanalkrancke" Channel sickness".Pilots began showing dicky tummies etc..Funny they had a song too about bombing England.
I've lived and worked outside the green and pleasant land for 20 years. I watch this movie once a month to remind me who I am. And zulu and last night of the proms.
The guy at 0:05 with the puffy cheeks was also the Sergeant in the Tiger Tank from Kelly’s Hero’s, that Clint Eastwood was able to convince him into blasting a hole in the door of a bank the tank crew was guarding so they could all loot the gold that was inside. Good Day Everyone!
When this movie was made I was in junior school in England it happen that they were filming close by and we could see dog fighting in the sky above our school I never forget the sound especially the spitfires 🇬🇧
@@garyseeseverything8615 Look at all these sad pathetic twats with there anti British B.S again, you mad cause you wanna take all the glory as an American for winning the Battle of Britain on your own? 😂😂😂😂
This attack took place in the Northern area of England. In the previous scene of this film one of the German Majors was like: "Not even a Spitfire can be in the North and the South at the same time." They thought the RAF had concentrated their fighters in the South...they were wrong.
@@MarkHarrison733 That was true of other movies in their time. Carpenter's "The Thing" dropped so heavily into the sin-bin that it adversely affected his career for years to come. Now of course, it is regarded as an SF horror masterpiece.
The scene of the bombers breaking formation at 1:08 was recycled for Das Boot when the U-Boat base was attacked near the end of the movie. (Yes, 'Luftwaffe' planes bombing Kriegsmarine bases.) The twin-engined bombers then transformed to single-engine aircraft later in that scene.
They were told that the RAF was concentrated in the South, which to a certain extent was true, they didn't know about airfield in 13 group and Northern 12 group, they were simply caught out, they never tried a raid from. Norway again
This aerial battle you see is loosely based on a real-life air raid in northeast England just north of Hull on the afternoon of August 15, 1940 where 65 He 111's of KG 26 escorted by 34 ME 110s in two separate formations from airbases in Norway. Elements of nine RAF squadrons intercepted it over the North Sea. In actuality eight Heinkel 111s were lost as well as eight ME Bf 110s with no British losses. Shortly thereafter, 50 Junker 88 bombers of KG 30 attacked with no fighter escort. They heavily damaged the RAF airfield at Driffield before being intercepted where seven Ju 88s were lost to Spitfires, plus one to ground fire AAA.
@@jacobmendez3572 "The few" referes to Winston Churchill's famous speech about fighter pilots and not bomber pilots you liberal fu#kwit. And if you think the bombing was unnecessary you're wrong, it was total war against a truly evil regime and it all helped deny the enemy rescources and personell, perhaps you would rather the world was now controlled by Nazi's.
I remember watching this movie as an 11 year old boy and enjoying watching "the RAF giving the Germans a good thrashing". Now I just see the portrayal of young men dying and I can only imaging the heartbreak for every family that lost their loved ones. Doesn't seem so glorious any more.
"RAF victory" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 most of them Polish and Czech pilots, who were later betrayed and ignored by their "allies". Brits can never win a war by themselves. Even in the Malvinas (Falklands) they had to get USA and Chilean help (guess from who? from the genocide Augusto Pinochet) to defeat the brave and courageous Argentinian Air Force.
@@LuisGax76 Some Polish/ Czech etc BUT the majority were British and I have studied the BofB and yes the the Poles were betrayed by Churchill and Atlee for political reasons BUT they were not the first or last politicians to betray other countries the US has been 'doing' for years.
Im pretty sure there wasn't any CGI to begin with, CGI was very new and crude at the time it wouldn't be another 8 years until Star Wars would come out so when making a war movie, they either used real planes (which they did) or used remote controls, gliders, or models like Dunkirk
And to this day, people still think a crashing plane makes that whining whirring sound. I love how films took the distinctive Stuka siren and slapped it over every diving plane ever created lol. I cannot tell you how long I thought that was just a sound planes made when they dove at high speed.
@@bmused55 True, but the Wilhelm scream at least didn't mislead me lol. I guess I could have thought a lot of people yell the same way but the damn Stuka siren made me think planes just whine as they dive lol.
@@zdenekkopecny4928 WHY ARE YOU SO SNEERY WITH YOU REPLY ? DEPENDING ON A PERSONS AGE, HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD KNOW THAT ? IT BECAME A BIG ISSUE WHEN THE FILM WAS RELEASED, VERY FEW PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT THE SPANISH HE 111, OR THAT THEY HAD EVEN SURVIVED, AND AIR WORTHY. ONLY A FEW WERE. BUT WITH CAMERA TRICKERY, AS IN MOST WW2 FILMS, THEY MADE IT LOOK LIKE MANY. THE LAST HE111 CRASHED ON IT'S WAY TO A AIR DISPLAY AT MONTANA USA, IN 2003 BOTH CREW WERE KILLED.
As a former military guy I notice that the bombers broke formation to elude the fighters. In WWII American bombers held their formation in order to allow their aircrafts gunners to provide supporting fire to each other. Bombers could not elude or outrun fighters.
In 1939 the RAF thought that bombers could fly in formation with gunners supporting each other. The early daylight raids put paid to that idea, so the RAF switched to night bombing. The USAAF had bigger formations and many more guns, so the tactic worked for them. Mostly.
00:07 - "Not even a Spitfire can be in the South _and_ the North at the same time!"... ...it's been 30+ years since I last saw this movie but I'm sure that snotty grin is gone when the casualty reports come in.
Here they could well have been Spitfires since they were mainly sent there to rest and got a turkey shoot by chance. Although to the Germans too often a fighter plane was always a Spitfire. We had the same mentality, hence a tank was often reported as a Tiger, I had a next-door neighbor who went into France 9 days after D-day, overnight the slit trench he was in was shelled and he then spent the next 12 months in hospital, the thing was he told me it was an 88 that hit his trench. It probably wasn't, likely a 75mm field gun, but legendary weapons get substituted in... In that way the film is completely correct with the Luftwaffe reporting Spitfires.
Yes, the Hurricanes were not quite as maneuverable as the Spitfires and didn't quite have the same power/performance, but they were a very steady gun platform. So they tended to hit the bombers, while the very agile Spitfires tended to take on the fighter escort. This division tended to develop as the differences in the two fighters were recognized. The Hurricane was a very steady aircraft, but the Spitfire was somewhat less stable, which made it a bit more of a handful to fly, but wonderfully agile. The Spitfire was also much earlier in its development than the Hurricane, and so had a lot more development in the airframe. The Hurricanes actually shot down more aircraft than the Spitfires in the Battle of Britain, but the Spitfires got all the glory! The Hurricane was only really developed into a fighter-bomber after 1940, at which it excelled in many theaters, but the next generation of fighters tended to outclass it as a fighter. The Spitfire, on the other hand, was developed to far greater capabilities during the course of the war, and was still a quality interceptor at the end of the war. You''ll also notice that the RAF didn't send any Spitfires to France in 1940, only Hurricanes. At there start of the film, you can see the Hurricanes in action as the squadrons head west ahead of the Germans. The Spitfires were held back for Home defense, which is why they were something of a surprise for the Germans when they encountered them over England. To pick the difference between the Spitfires and the Hurricanes, the Spitfire has a beautiful elliptical wing shape (seen from above or below) with pointed tips, as well as two coolers under the wings, while the Hurricanes have squared-off wingtips.
True but it's also a fact that the Hurricane took out as many if not more German fighters as the Spitfire.This is because there were twice as many Huricanes in the BoB
I recall in the same film the Squadron leader, played by Christopher Plummer, berating one of his pilots for doing the exact same thing on the pretext that possible battle damage to the controls of the fighter could lead to the pilot "being spread over his airfield like strawberry jam". In reality senior officers frowned on unneeded aerobatics in wartime flying as a waste of resources and a risk to precious airplanes but the junior pilots during peacetime training were encouraged to perform such stunts as good basis for acquiring the needed fluency in flying to avoid being easy targets. The most effective pilots were those who quickly changed from showy aerobatics to using their aircraft in an economic and sparse way to shoot down as many enemies as possible and knowing when to avoid danger when that was needed. So-called "shoot and scoot" tactics.
I have read stories of RAF fighter pilots saying that they didn't have gun bursts any longer than 3-4 seconds. I have learned from this clip to count how long a gun burst lasted. The longest was 4 seconds, most gun bursts didn't last any longer than 2-3 seconds.
What is so unique about this film is that (a god forbid) Hollywood remake cannot do is these are real WW2 planes flying around in real mock dog fights no of that crappy CGI.
CGI would be okay if only the people who make the films took the trouble to appreciate what a WW2 aircraft and pilot could do ....they could not fly about the sky like a X wing in space, they had limited ammunition ....fighters anyway...and could not zip about firing a fifteen second burst in one go like Ben Affleck did in a later film. Who incidentally would not be able to be a RAF volunteer pilot whilst he was in the USAF, who were not in the war in 1940. Hollywood try to make such scenes more dramatic....which usually turns out to be crap...
Sorry to say at the moment there are more Spitfires and Hurricanes flying in the world then 1969 the German fighters are in the process of flying again they were all part of the payment to the pilots who took part in this film.
Yes indeed. Having access to real aircraft and enthusiastic pilots helps, just do not be too fussy about the Mks and engines on show. In fact, at the time the producers were looking after one of the world's larger airforces albeit a little dated. I only wish they had been able to show the characteristic trails left by tracers, which was a feature of much earlier films c.f. The Dambusters.
@@TheArgieH we'll have to get used to it, we won't see this example of a huge dramatic aerial combat display, ever again. Nobody could afford it anyway. most of the actors are dead too.
The only tiny complaint I have about this epic scene is the use of Stuka noises for diving German aircraft that aren't Stukas. Other than that, brilliant. None of the easily-spotted fake animation done by animators who have never seen a real aeroplane, much less know how they really fly.
Good point ..stuka screaming was part of the terror effect ... unique to it. Like fellow whose cars scream like they're going to tear the track apart and come up a whimper against the more silent menacing motors!!
This film was my most favorite film when I was a kid. Watching this film in VHS with my dad a thousand time (another one was TOP GUN). I still love the film from this era. No CG, All real planes (except some radio control that they blew up and some drawing plane into the film during post process). It gives a lot more realistic feeling than those "Red Tails" kinda film
Howard Halifax ,I totally agree. A Good air combat movie doesn’t need someone who act like he’s the best and know it all, good air combat movie doesn’t need every details accurate but built inside computer. Instead I prefer a bit less accurate (these spanish he-111 and bf109) but actually fly not something I could play in War Thunder
Architude ,Haha I understand you. If Top Gun was released only like 5 years ago I’d feel the same to you. But back in the day, I was a lil kid and there weren’t a lot of air combat film to watch so.. it was good enough for me. Forgot to mention because it’s not quite an air combat movie but.. “Air America” was another childhood fav. of mine too!
I mean back in the day.. say the late ‘80 we ain’t got a lot of aviation movie. If we can fast forward a bit to the early ‘90 we’d have “Flight of the Intruder” which I kinda love that film. “The Tuskegee airmen” which was 10,000 better than “Red Tails” and of course the “Memphis Belle” which was another favorite of mine. But in the late ‘80 we only got those films + the “Iron Eagle” which I think “Top Gun” does better than that film lol. But man.. the “Battle of Britain” we got the young version of Michael Caine and also the young version of Ian McShane as “Andy” plus that film was release on 1969 but it featured a 21:9 ultra wide screen and most of them look so authentic (minus some Spitfire MK.Va/IX, Buchon and Casa which standing in for BF109E and HE-111) I really love that film and still watching through this days
This scene recreates the occasion when german bombers believing they were out of range of the RAF attacked targets in the north east of England although they were not unescorted they were accompanied by Me110's. Not as deadly as the Bf109 but still worthy of respect.
Later in the war (when the Americans entered), the American P51 fighter was under-powered and under-performed until the Americans let the British install their Rolls Royce Merlin engine into it! As a result, it became one of the best (probably the best fighter, with the exception of the German ME 262 jet fighter) in the war! Chuck Yeager (the first man to break the sound barrier) flew a P51 during the war and shot down five ME 109s in one day with it.
This was a brilliant film for 1968/9 . Not historically accurate in all areas, but considering what they DID achieve, very good. It could never be remade today, without CGI. I'm happy with this version. I'm also pleased with the list of country's, also involved, who's FREE countrymen, risked their lives, and how many actually died.
Pretty wild that he got drummed out of the Luftwaffe and sent to the regular army. Must have been scapegoated for the northern air raid debacle. No wonder he was willing to go rogue when those crazy Americans told him about all that gold.
A Hienkel .. planted itself into our local Cricket pitch . My Nan who was the grounds keeper because Grandad after getting back from Dunkirk was sent straight away for reorganisation . Was so pissed off.
One of the great aviation movies from that time period. Never again will we see aviation movies made to that scale. Because of movies like this and Tora, ToraTora I can't watch CGI made movies. Brings back memories of Model building .
FUN FACT: Only two Heinkels came to Britain for this movie. The massed shots of Heinkels were filmed above Spain. The sky looks the same everywhere. Clever intersplicing between the Spanish shots and the English shots mean you'd never know it.
There's some great documentaries on Malta including stories about Canadian ace and marksman extraordinaire George Beurling, but yeah... would love to see a major motion picture about it. Had an uncle who was a pilot there. He was actually knocked out of the war during an air raid in a bit of a freak accident jumping into a fox hole. Used a cane the rest of his life as a result.
I have just read these posts. I was born in 1934. In 1940 I lived in Hampstead North London. Parliament Hill was a hill on Hampstead heath which overlooked the whole of London. I watched the Battle of Britain from that hill. Later, after we had won the Battle of Britain, I spent the whole of the London blitz, sheltering from the bombing, in a basement in Flask Walk Hampstead. As a child, we thought that the war was a big adventure. We, as kids, had aircraft recognition books, both British and German. I know I was only a child, but I never saw any fear. Loss of life and possessions was sad but it only made us more determined to win. There was never any talk of surrender.
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I was bourn 13yrs after ww2 as a child my late mum told me things she did during the war in the 70s a programme came on the tv called the world at war showing actual film and people telling what they did
@@bobbybates2614 u were not alive then
Beautiful post ✨✨✨
@@arcpvp4307 World at War was firstvshown on TV in the 70s he was refering to that not a live experience
1:59
NEVER, store extra ketchup packets on your gunsight!
I can imagine them rolling to McDonalds car lane saying "nicht ketchup".
Ha Ha Ha
Nothing more exciting than watching Spitfires peeling off at the end, absolutely marvelous!
Number 3 sloppy.. Tighten up..
Ruddy marvellous !
While the film puts emphasis on the Spitfire, the bulk of the battle was carried by the "old school" Hurricanes. The typical order of battle was for the slightly faster and more nimble Spits to engage and draw off the fighter escorts so the sure and steady Hurricanes could swarm in on the bombers. Proved a very effective tactic.
Battle of Britain pilots have said that was a bit of a myth. In the chaos of air combat you attacked whatever was in front of you, it wasn't realistic to split the targets like that.
At the time of filming there were not that many Hurricanes about to even form a squadron.
@@graemegalvin811 I am pretty sure they had only 1 airworth Hurricane when this was filmed. If you look when hurricanes are on screen, its acually just 1 hurricane and BF109's with a different paint job
I believe all the He-111s and Me-109s were Spanish variants, still in flying condition. The movie shows only a couple of German aircraft types; no Do-17s, no Ju-88 (bombers), no Me-110s (escort fighters) ... I guess there were not enough of them in flying condition to form a Schwarm or even a Staffel. Or maybe not a single one of them could fly anymore, more than 20 years after the war. I didn't realize this the first time I saw Battle of Britain because I was too young, but I was already building plastic model kits of WW2 aircraft and at a certain moment I noticed the lack of German bomber types in the movie.
Weren't many Hurricanes still flying. Spitfires, however, were still numerous.
My favorite movie of all time. My Dad took me to a theater see it the day before Thanksgiving 1970 in NJ. Those scenes stuck in my mind forever. I built models of every plane used in that movie. Back then, a Heinkel 111 was hard to find!
THE Flyer. The Airfix Heinkel 111. Good memories 😀😀😀
@theflyer4916. ”Every plane” or ”every type of plane”? I would guess the later alternative…
@@YDDES I’d say you’re right, but I sure would have loved every one!
The Spitfire didn't have to be in two places at once - the Hurricane was already there and twice as many of them.
Hurricane shot down most enemy bombers,much more stable platform than the spitfire which hunted German bombers escorts ie the ME 109 which the spitfire was designed for,ie a fighter/ interceptor,but the hurricane was more rugged, roles were initially interceptor ,ie bombers ,then it took on the role as fighter/ bomber, ground attack , strafe,ivy no doubt the spitfire was a good plane,but in my humble opinion the hurricane did as much for the war effort probably more.check the records out any of you latter day experts.
great comment!
@@jimduffy1967 I'm sure there was Spitfire snobbery from some German pilots, saying they got shot down by a Spitfire when in fact it was from a Hurricane.
@@MegaBadgeman you are spot on there David, hurricane was a good gun platform,not as manouverble as a spitfire but I'm sure during battle of Britain it downed more enemy bombers, spitfire was there to intercept enemy escort fighters.
@@jimduffy1967 The fighters had different roles. The spitfires tackled the german fighters so that the hurricanes could down the bombers.
Just imagine being in a bomber, desperately struggling to get out and seeing the ocean getting closer. Must have been terrifying last moments for the crew. :(
It's a lousy way to die so a madman can conquer the world.
At least those crews got a quick and painless death somewhat instead of outright drowning to death as their plane started to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Nobody asked the Nazi's to visit!
@@craigolive803 not all German soldiers were Nazis.
Warhammer :
The reason that USA , UK , and USSR defeated Germany is because the Allies were more violent.
Humane existentialism such as you profess betrays hesitation to kill the enemy.
You are hereby dismissed from RAF fighter training program.
In 2015, we went to RAF Duxford, for the 75th Battle of Britain anniversary, can't believe how the years have passed! Anyway, to hear that beautiful Merlin engine in the Spitfires and Hurricanes was absolutely fabulous! They had some German fighters there too, and enacted a 'section squadron scramble'. Then they had a dogfight over the airfield. Brilliant day, perfect weather! Everyone was so very proud, great memories!
Back in the days before the corporate globalists made their power grab. Heady days indeed.
I can remember when it was the 40th anniversary. The years do indeed fly by
I was there at Duxford also in 2015. It was a great week - even some WW1 vintage British and German aircraft were in the sky doing precision flying and diving / strafing runs. I couldn't help but wonder if there were more films coming with the real, vintage aircraft (and capable pilots).
👍
For us Britons, when the music kicks in, your heart swells. Thank God for the RAF and all the Empire and other allied pilots.
Absolutely.
For us yanks too!
Yes sir!~!!!!
Yes, 101 New Zealand pilots in that battle, 30 Aces, and the commander of air defence over London, ( Sir) Keith Park.
@George Job oh god here come the fucking oil hoarders
My dad took me to see this at 'the pictures' in Preston in 1969
Pity there was only Heinkels and no Dorniers.
Best war film ever.
Polish Hurricanes joining RAF Spitfires is my favourite part (bloody marvellous) and the music is brilliant.
I'm sure my ex Lancaster rear gunner dad had some sympathy for the enemy bomber crews in the film.
There were no Dorniers left. Spitfires and Hurricanes shot them all down.
@@BradBrassman hahaha what about the balsa wood Stuka models
Thank you for his service. My Mum's cousin was in the Dam Buster squadron as a Lancaster pilot and his bomb blew the bottom out of the Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord. He got shot down on way home and bailed out over an island and was a POW. They were men alright.
„Help yourselves everybody , there‘s no fighter escorts“ that really just shows how excited these lads are
" well done lads , home and tea " 🇬🇧👍
I believe that's what Plumber said to York.
A masterpiece for 1969 no CGI . Real flying .
Great aerial movie footage with real aircraft makes this a treat. A recent movie nowadays would use CGI which isnt the real thing
No CGI. Every plane was a real item flying. This type of film will never be seen again.
@@mrrobg61 seeing the spitfire sweep past the Bombers at the angle they did and the music playing. Hairs on the back of my neck standing up
I actually saw a lot of this from parliament hill Hampstead London. I was six at the time.
Truly a GREAT GREAT MOVIE reenacting the Battle of Britian! The music, actors and actress, authentic planes and location. One of the best war movies! Very under rated.
Bad editing, bad movie
@@CaesarCassius Opinions vary bub. Your in the minority.
You mentioned location. Duxford lost a hangar in the making of this film no one gave the film company permission
on just one day during the battle of britain, my grandfather was singlehandedly responsible for downing 30 Heinkels. Hitler called him the worst mechanic in the Luftwaffe.
Great way to find yourself with a K98 in your hands, wearing a trench coat, on a slow train to the eastern front
We owe a lot to the British well done also a great war movie
This Scene Is A Hell Of A lot More Accurate Then The Entire Pearl Harbour Movie
BaronVonCarrotz yep very true lol, the heinkle he 111 were lousy bombers and did horrible in England
The only thing accurate about the Pearl Harbor movie is that the date.
Pearl harbour is a sh*t
@@angrymi-24v38 just watch tora tora tora it’s much more accurate.
@@angrymi-24v38 but yes I agree it is awful
My Mum, she's 95 now, lived in Surrey during the war; she can remember watching spitfires fighting enemy planes in the blue summer skies of 1940.
For those wondering what was happening here, the Germans realized we would not be able to defend everywhere. So the cunning plan was to attack the un-defended north of England.
Alas, the flaw was that the RAF rotated squadrons in and out of combat, and the north was where they were rested. So they got hammered by experienced and well-rested pilots while having no fighter escort...
It was irrelevant.
@@MarkHarrison733 Yes the Germans though it was SO irrelevent that they decided to sacrifice 1700 of their aircraft in the summer of 1940 complete with their "experten" aircrews for utterly NO reason at all .
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 It was because the RAF was bombing cities and towns in Germany from 11 May 1940 onwards.
@@MarkHarrison733 Yeah, that was debunked a few decades back. The small town in question was accidentally bombed by He- 111s.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 As soon as Stalin broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 28 June 1940 the OKW started preparing for Barbarossa.
This scene from the film is based on a real event, an attack on northern Britain by a group of unsupported Heinkel bombers based in Norway. They did not attack in the early stages of the battle as it was too far for fighters to escort them, and they knew they would be sitting ducks without support. In the opening of the scene we see two German officers talking. One gives his commander a report claiming high losses of British fighters. But his commander points out that German aircraft attacking in the south continue to be met with large numbers of fighters. He therefore concludes that this can only be happening if fighters from the north have been brought down to replace losses. They therefore make the decision to make a bombing attack on the north, believing it to be unprotected by fighters. This was completely wrong, as the Germans had considerably over estimated British losses and British ability to replace losses. The result is what is depicted in this clip. In the actual event the Germans dumped their bombs and headed for home without reaching their target. They nevertheless suffered a loss of about 10% of their Norway based bomber group, or almost thirty planes. There were no British losses.
Only 10%.
Were our boys feeling charitable in not wanting to shoot down even more?
That's right, but they were Ju-88s, not Heinkels. After that raid and a few other equally disastrous ones, the Germans withdrew their Norway-based group from the battle. Likewise with the Stukas. Even though they were the only planes the Germans had accurate enough to take out RADAR towers, the losses in the Stuka groups were so high that they were withdrawn after about a week. The Germans never caught on to Chain Home anyway, so they viewed the RADAR towers as lower priority targets.
@@nottmjas The rest scattered. The British fighters didn't have the range to chase them down. Also, the fighter pilots were new pilots, so they weren't very good at navigating over open water.
@nottmjas They would have liked to have sent every bomber down into the north sea but as spitfires only had enough .303 ammunition for 14.7 seconds of firing, unless they hit something vital immediately it would take most of that ammunition to take down one bomber. In reality that's what saved the bombers.
For those upset about the 'realism', the dialogue at the start explains that the Luftwaffe believed the northern fighter reserves had been moved south and that unescorted long range missions from Norway to the NE of the UK would be reasonably safe. Yes they did have bf 110 escorts in reality but since there were none available for filming and they were virtually useless in that role, the film didn't bother with them. All this can be established if you just google 'Luftwaffe unescorted' and do less than a minute of reading rather than let your emotions do the typing.
Who won the war?
@@wadesaleeby2172 I guess that's supposed to be a 'written by the victors' argument? Again, if you read just a little about the production of the film or the long range role of the Norway based Luftflotte 5 in the battle, then there is nothing to complain about here. Is the counter-argument here that the Germans somehow lost the Battle of Britain without making any miscalculations worthy of a single scene in a film covering the whole campaign?
The fact remains that northern cities were heavily mauled, with Hull being the most heavily-bombed city of all, facing 95% housing damaged or destroyed...
@@tedthesailor172 Ok, but this scene is about Luftlotte 5 being sent from Norway with inadequate cover in daylight, losing 15% of their aircraft and consequently never coming back. The fact that other Luftflotte successfully bombed Hull in night-raids doesn't detract from the realism of this scene and neither me nor the film claimed that parts of the North weren't bombed.
@@CunySark I wasn't criticising the movie, just stating a historical fact...
What I love about this movie is: You also see how allied planes get shot down and not just a few but a good amount of them. That is way more realistic than that what Hollywood does. Hollywood only shows axis getting their ass kicked and only for a dramatic scene where a friend of the protagonist has to die/ the protagonist has to get injured is one of the axis able to actually do shit
There was a Terrific music score with this movie, which could shift from the dramatic, to triumphal, then almost to tragedy & despair with just changes in tempo and prominence of lead instruments ...
Two different composers.
Both created masterpieces.
Around 37% of "kills" were made by Spitfires. The Hurricane accounted for about 63% in the Battle of Britain, but they always feature the Spit because it's sexier.
I had no idea. I always knew that the Hurricane was involved somewhat during the Battle of Britain, but this movie gave me the impression that the Spitfire dominated the show without question.
Generally the Spitfires tangled with the fighters, and the Hurricanes went after the bombers.
That makes perfect sense, since the Spitfire was faster and more agile than the Hurricane. I heard that the Spitfire was highly competitive with the Messerschmidt.
The 109 was quicker, but the Spitfire's elliptical wings gave it a tighter turning circle - it could out-turn a Messerschmitt on its tail or when hunting, get the inside angle
So that's why the Spitfire had such elliptical wings. I had always wondered about that.
My father was there on the fighter stations during the conflict and on set of the making of the movie. The first British pilot killed at the beginning of the movie was named after dad, for all his input and anecdotes to the director, crew and actors.
Was your dad a Hurricane or Spitfire pilot?
@@MangoTroubles-007 Corporal in the Royal Signals in charge of a Bren Gun Carrier team. He manned the guns on many bombing raids of the airfields. 6 years service after demob he joined MOD Police, as he was an excellent marksman, which meant he went on various detachments, but most were with the RAF, apart from several years at the SAS Hereford in the 70s.
I first saw this movie while visiting my British grandparents in Martham England in 1969. My grandfather was one of the troops evacuated from Dunkirk. He served in the Royal Artillery.
The worst defeat Britain had ever suffered.
The navigator's map (at 0:33) clearly shows a large yellow area towards the top fold, which is Edinburgh - and a smaller yellow area towards his cuff, which is Berwick on Tweed. Over the sea, the red line is the aircraft's planned route and the black line is the aircraft's actual track. Just of the coast there are 2 black lines that intersect with the planned route and these black lines lead to Edinburgh and Berwick on Tweed, which is strange given that this particular raid was ostensibly against airfields in the Vale of York (15 Aug 1940). As was quite correctly stated at the start of this clip, this is well outside the range at which the Luftwaffe could have provided a fighter escort and it is also true that a Spitfire cannot be in the north and the south at the same time. However, the flaw is the implied belief that all of the RAF's fighter squadrons were engaged in the air war over London and the southern counties. I'm sure the map is not of German origin as it looks remarkably similar to those that I used when I joined the RAF in 1972!
Awesome observation ❤
My uncle was an RAF officer during the war. according to him it was not as easy as shown here. he also claimed that whenever the last generation of Bf 109 showed up, nicknamed the Black Death by the RAF, everybody said his prayers, including the Spitfire pilots.
Hans Meier... RAF... Well... Do you have a British uncle?
nah there wasn't any advances of 109s on the western front after the battle of britain hitler foolishly invaded the soviet union so most of the Luftwaffe was sent their besides why waste time on prop planes when the Germans were throwing so much into their early jet fighter's.
"We will fly in tight, disciplined formation in order to concentrate our defensive guns and...."
"Spitfire!"
*"BREAK FORMATION!"*
I watched them filming this from my school playground on the south coast, great film .
Do you remember the "Battle of Britain" bubblegum cards?
I had a Dinky Spitfire.
@@raypurchase801 I dont remember them but I remember the premier of the film in my town and they had a full sized spitfire and hurricane outside the cinema. That was cool for a boy my age .
@@paulbrooker5203 Agreed. There was a Spitfire at my local shopping centre too. I rode my bike there and spent ages, just gazing at it.
@@raypurchase801 back in the good old days when films were made without CGI in every scene.
@@paulbrooker5203 The good old days when there didn't need to be a subplot about a black gay man, struggling for liberty in the face of overt racism and homophobia.
Beautiful planes. Both the British and Germans knew how to build amazing aircraft.
Which hasn't changed to this day and when the two work together they can create something very special indeed, just look at the Eurofighter Typhoon
Bob G,my dad RAF Spitfire pilot WW2. Said Hurricane won the Battle of Britain(more stable gun platform). He got to fly a Bf109 post-war,said best plane ever built!
SuperTinman2009 I play a flight simulator called IL2 Sturmovik, I enjoy flying German planes the most but damn, the spitfires are sooooooo nice!
@@SuperTinman2009 I'd say the Hurricane, better bomber interceptor, the Spitfire, better dogfighter. Both could do either role well though, and the BF109 was of course a very worthy and capable foe for both too
@ great game series that, played it before myself too 🙂
That scene surely brings a lump to my throat when you see those young brave pilots defending this country from an invasion when you consider what's going on in this country today, it's 'soul destroying'.
Hitler never intended to invade the UK.
He might have tired it if the Germans had won the Battle of Britain and achieved air supremacy.
@@MarkHarrison733 "The Fuhrer And Supreme Commander Of The Armed Forces.
The Fuhrer's Headquarters. 16th July, 1940. 7 copies
Directive No. 16 -- On Preparations For A Landing Operation Against England
Since England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, shows no signs of being ready to come to an understanding, I have decided to prepare a landing operation against England, and, if necessary, to carry it out.
The aim of this operation will be to eliminate the English homeland as a base for the prosecution of the war against Germany and, if necessary, to occupy it completely."
But as we both know the first phase of the operation, that being the battle of Britain, was smashed, meaning the rest of the plan was academic. The operation had been stopped in its first phase. What would be described in common parlance as "A resounding British victory".
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 As soon as Stalin broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 28 June 1940 the OKW started preparing for Barbarossa.
Sea Lion was a deliberate bluff while the Axis prepared for Barbarossa, as Galland and von Rundstedt confirmed in 1940.
@@MrPatrickworthington The Battle of Britain was irrelevant as the Kriegsmarine could never have got past the much larger Royal Navy, which in any case was to continue the war from Canada.
The Spitfire is, of course, the most beautiful thing in the sky, but even as a Britisher, I have to admit that the Heinkel was a pretty good looking aircraft itself. Very clean lines.
Yup
The BF-109 is a good looking plane as well. Tbh most planes of WWII just look awesome, not many look bad. The B-17 is amazing and large, the P-38 lightning looks weird and awesome. The Japanese Zero looks sleek.
The surviving Luftwaffe bomber pilots of this battle remembered these moments as terrifying as this was their first taste of battle and many of them barely twenty years old.
I worked for a man in the 1980s that flew Lancaster Bombers in the war, he flew many missions over Germany, HE WAS 19 years old. and many other RAF aircrew were much the same age.
The Luftwaffe shat themselves after realising the RAF had more planes than they were told.The Luftwaffe records showed that their doctors began to comment upon "Kanalkrancke" Channel sickness".Pilots began showing dicky tummies etc..Funny they had a song too about bombing England.
I've lived and worked outside the green and pleasant land for 20 years. I watch this movie once a month to remind me who I am. And zulu and last night of the proms.
Welcome home
The guy at 0:05 with the puffy cheeks was also the Sergeant in the Tiger Tank from Kelly’s Hero’s, that Clint Eastwood was able to convince him into blasting a hole in the door of a bank the tank crew was guarding so they could all loot the gold that was inside. Good Day Everyone!
Oddball?
Back when they used real airplanes and real blood to make movies. Terribly hard on the actors pool though, burning through those extras like that.
Real blood for sure. Heinz Yankee blood: grown, not made
When this movie was made I was in junior school in England it happen that they were filming close by and we could see dog fighting in the sky above our school I never forget the sound especially the spitfires 🇬🇧
Has to be the BEST world war 2 movie ever made, remember going to see it when it first came out
2:00 He got hit so hard all the ketchup squirted to of his burger! - Squire
Yup
There's a Jumo HE111 engine on display at Bamburgh Castle, which was pulled from the North Sea by a trawler.
Surprisingly well preserved.
TO ALL RAF FIGHTER PILOTS THANK YOU FROM AN AMERICAN
As a grandson of a Bob pilot I thank you sir.
all luftwaffe pilots thank you from Germany
You should thank the Americans they saved British but people like you don’t read. You have no clue.
Reminds me of Heroes over Europe british pilots
@@garyseeseverything8615 Look at all these sad pathetic twats with there anti British B.S again, you mad cause you wanna take all the glory as an American for winning the Battle of Britain on your own? 😂😂😂😂
This attack took place in the Northern area of England. In the previous scene of this film one of the German Majors was like: "Not even a Spitfire can be in the North and the South at the same time." They thought the RAF had concentrated their fighters in the South...they were wrong.
It still is one of my favourite films, ever...
Yep me too! Remember first watching it with my grandfather when I was 6 and loved it ever since
Totally! Eat lead Jerry!
Defo up there with the best war films made.
Truly brilliant movie, with a music score to match...
This film was an awful flop.
@@MarkHarrison733 That was true of other movies in their time. Carpenter's "The Thing" dropped so heavily into the sin-bin that it adversely affected his career for years to come. Now of course, it is regarded as an SF horror masterpiece.
2:01 lol WTF was that British fighter shooting Old El Paso chuncky tomato salsa?
Top secret weapons from mexico ;)
Guoenyi they didn't have cgi and shit back then so this was better than anything back then
The scene of the bombers breaking formation at 1:08 was recycled for Das Boot when the U-Boat base was attacked near the end of the movie. (Yes, 'Luftwaffe' planes bombing Kriegsmarine bases.) The twin-engined bombers then transformed to single-engine aircraft later in that scene.
Only thing dumber than sending out Heinkels without fighter escort is sending out Stukas without fighter escort.
sonrouge exactly!!!
It's because they didn't think the spitfires would be in the north too, but as you see they were wrong.
They were told that the RAF was concentrated in the South, which to a certain extent was true, they didn't know about airfield in 13 group and Northern 12 group, they were simply caught out, they never tried a raid from. Norway again
This aerial battle you see is loosely based on a real-life air raid in northeast England just north of Hull on the afternoon of August 15, 1940 where 65 He 111's of KG 26 escorted by 34 ME 110s in two separate formations from airbases in Norway. Elements of nine RAF squadrons intercepted it over the North Sea. In actuality eight Heinkel 111s were lost as well as eight ME Bf 110s with no British losses. Shortly thereafter, 50 Junker 88 bombers of KG 30 attacked with no fighter escort. They heavily damaged the RAF airfield at Driffield before being intercepted where seven Ju 88s were lost to Spitfires, plus one to ground fire AAA.
Matt P. Really? I never would've guessed seeing as the title is Battle of Britain
I had heard of that raid , the Luftwaffe didn't have fighter escort for that far of a raid. Hence their bombers got chewed up
Only two of "The Few" still alive now. Well God Bless all of them for what they did.
Bomb civilians?
@@jacobmendez3572 what?
@@jacobmendez3572 "The few" referes to Winston Churchill's famous speech about fighter pilots and not bomber pilots you liberal fu#kwit. And if you think the bombing was unnecessary you're wrong, it was total war against a truly evil regime and it all helped deny the enemy rescources and personell, perhaps you would rather the world was now controlled by Nazi's.
@@jacobmendez3572 fuck off
@@williamspencer2899 what they bombed civilians
I remember watching this movie as an 11 year old boy and enjoying watching "the RAF giving the Germans a good thrashing". Now I just see the portrayal of young men dying and I can only imaging the heartbreak for every family that lost their loved ones. Doesn't seem so glorious any more.
The "glory" is in the RAF victory against a vicious regime and huge odds.
"RAF victory" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 most of them Polish and Czech pilots, who were later betrayed and ignored by their "allies". Brits can never win a war by themselves. Even in the Malvinas (Falklands) they had to get USA and Chilean help (guess from who? from the genocide Augusto Pinochet) to defeat the brave and courageous Argentinian Air Force.
@@LuisGax76 sounds like those thrashings are still hurting there.
@@LuisGax76 Some Polish/ Czech etc BUT the majority were British and I have studied the BofB and yes the the Poles were betrayed by Churchill and Atlee for political reasons BUT they were not the first or last politicians to betray other countries the US has been 'doing' for years.
@@LuisGax76lmao Cope more.
2:00 "Tomato Heinz" becomes Heinz tomato.
😂 😂
It's ''Tomate Eins'' (Tomato One). He is the commander of this bomber attack. He didn't say ''Heinz''.
@@Emdee5632 I know. I'm just playing word games ;))
Ebsolutely marvelous - good show chaps!
Weather forecast for Spain that day: slightly cloudy with a chance of Heinkels.
The Heinkels respond to the spitfire attack by....breaking formation.
Are they TRYING to get shot out of the sky?
@@NK-qn6pq That's... not the reply I was expecting to my comment.
@@NK-qn6pqпотому что авторы фильма клинические идиоты..
The spitfire was loaded with high explosive ketchup rounds
Better then the Italians who used uncooked spaghetti :).
Delogros EY! WHATTA YOU MEAN WE USE-A THE UNCOOKED SPAGHETTI? YOU SHUTTA YOUR FACE, STUPIDO!
Germans had sausages
Say what you want but it’s bloody hard to shoot with a bottle of Heinz in your face 😂
Much better without CGI
Im pretty sure there wasn't any CGI to begin with, CGI was very new and crude at the time it wouldn't be another 8 years until Star Wars would come out so when making a war movie, they either used real planes (which they did) or used remote controls, gliders, or models like Dunkirk
2:55 One of the most GLORIOUS EPIC music covers, ever!
my late uncle was one of those spitfire pilots he survived the battle..
Kraft won an Oscar for the tomato ketchup
fun fact: the wing leader's code name is "Tomate 1" 0:42😄
Most memorable line in the film Achtung Spitfire. RIP the pilots from both allied and axis airforces.
It's better with Takin' a Ride by Don Felder.
RIP Luftwaffe fighter pilots who defended their cities against B-17s. But not RIP Luftwaffe bomber pilots who firebombed London!
Oh wow tomato sauce in the eyes what a way to go to the great place in the sky
And to this day, people still think a crashing plane makes that whining whirring sound. I love how films took the distinctive Stuka siren and slapped it over every diving plane ever created lol. I cannot tell you how long I thought that was just a sound planes made when they dove at high speed.
Much like the wilhelm scream... used everywhere!
@@bmused55 True, but the Wilhelm scream at least didn't mislead me lol. I guess I could have thought a lot of people yell the same way but the damn Stuka siren made me think planes just whine as they dive lol.
Squirty ketchup eyes, highlight of the movie. Damned good shooting too
@ 4:32 I swear the pilot tells him to get his Tomato Heinz ready too
The spitfire was shooting paint balls.
Just amazed at how many airworthy HE-111's they had in this movie. What are there like 1-2 left in the world right now?
@@zdenekkopecny4928 WHY ARE YOU SO SNEERY WITH YOU REPLY ? DEPENDING ON A PERSONS AGE, HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD KNOW THAT ? IT BECAME A BIG ISSUE WHEN THE FILM WAS RELEASED, VERY FEW PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT THE SPANISH HE 111, OR THAT THEY HAD EVEN SURVIVED, AND AIR WORTHY. ONLY A FEW WERE. BUT WITH CAMERA TRICKERY, AS IN MOST WW2 FILMS, THEY MADE IT LOOK LIKE MANY. THE LAST HE111 CRASHED ON IT'S WAY TO A AIR DISPLAY AT MONTANA USA, IN 2003 BOTH CREW WERE KILLED.
As a former military guy I notice that the bombers broke formation to elude the fighters. In WWII American bombers held their formation in order to allow their aircrafts gunners to provide supporting fire to each other. Bombers could not elude or outrun fighters.
The under-appreciated D-H Mosquito had wood to make its body light, and two Merlin engines. It was a bomber faster than the German fighter aircraft.
And the RAF warned them flying by day!
@@jacksimpson-rogers1069 This was 1940, the DH Mosquito was not involved then. Besides the fact it was never used a a daylight fighter.
In 1939 the RAF thought that bombers could fly in formation with gunners supporting each other. The early daylight raids put paid to that idea, so the RAF switched to night bombing. The USAAF had bigger formations and many more guns, so the tactic worked for them. Mostly.
Never seen this without subtitles before. Karl Otto Alberty there. Still alive at 89 years old.
I remember him in “ Kelly’s Heroes”. He was a Sergeant of a tank crew.
@@tieroneactual2228 He also arrested Richard Attenborough in 'The Geat Escape'.
absolute legend.....hope he lives another 20 years
@@4exgold : Amen 🙏
According to Wikipedia and IMDB, he passed away in 2015.
2:00 "Aah! I got tomato sauce in my eyes!!!"
He commited XD
How quintesentially British - ''Break it off, home for tea''😊
it was the war, times were hard, hence tea but no muffins. It was a hard life in the RAF.
00:07 - "Not even a Spitfire can be in the South _and_ the North at the same time!"...
...it's been 30+ years since I last saw this movie but I'm sure that snotty grin is gone when the casualty reports come in.
I have read in the actual battle the Hurricanes were usually sent against the bombers, the Spitfires
tackled the fighters.
Here they could well have been Spitfires since they were mainly sent there to rest and got a turkey shoot by chance.
Although to the Germans too often a fighter plane was always a Spitfire. We had the same mentality, hence a tank was often reported as a Tiger, I had a next-door neighbor who went into France 9 days after D-day, overnight the slit trench he was in was shelled and he then spent the next 12 months in hospital, the thing was he told me it was an 88 that hit his trench. It probably wasn't, likely a 75mm field gun, but legendary weapons get substituted in... In that way the film is completely correct with the Luftwaffe reporting Spitfires.
Yes, the Hurricanes were not quite as maneuverable as the Spitfires and didn't quite have the same power/performance, but they were a very steady gun platform. So they tended to hit the bombers, while the very agile Spitfires tended to take on the fighter escort. This division tended to develop as the differences in the two fighters were recognized. The Hurricane was a very steady aircraft, but the Spitfire was somewhat less stable, which made it a bit more of a handful to fly, but wonderfully agile. The Spitfire was also much earlier in its development than the Hurricane, and so had a lot more development in the airframe. The Hurricanes actually shot down more aircraft than the Spitfires in the Battle of Britain, but the Spitfires got all the glory! The Hurricane was only really developed into a fighter-bomber after 1940, at which it excelled in many theaters, but the next generation of fighters tended to outclass it as a fighter. The Spitfire, on the other hand, was developed to far greater capabilities during the course of the war, and was still a quality interceptor at the end of the war.
You''ll also notice that the RAF didn't send any Spitfires to France in 1940, only Hurricanes. At there start of the film, you can see the Hurricanes in action as the squadrons head west ahead of the Germans. The Spitfires were held back for Home defense, which is why they were something of a surprise for the Germans when they encountered them over England.
To pick the difference between the Spitfires and the Hurricanes, the Spitfire has a beautiful elliptical wing shape (seen from above or below) with pointed tips, as well as two coolers under the wings, while the Hurricanes have squared-off wingtips.
True but it's also a fact that the Hurricane took out as many if not more German fighters as the Spitfire.This is because there were twice as many Huricanes in the BoB
That was the theory, but of course it didn't work out as neatly as that in practise. In reality it was a free for all.
The poor bloke at 2:40, turns in his seat and sees THREE Spitfires coming towards him!!!
The victory roll, at the end, is one of the best scenes in movie. Great soundtrack too.
I recall in the same film the Squadron leader, played by Christopher Plummer, berating one of his pilots for doing the exact same thing on the pretext that possible battle damage to the controls of the fighter could lead to the pilot "being spread over his airfield like strawberry jam". In reality senior officers frowned on unneeded aerobatics in wartime flying as a waste of resources and a risk to precious airplanes but the junior pilots during peacetime training were encouraged to perform such stunts as good basis for acquiring the needed fluency in flying to avoid being easy targets.
The most effective pilots were those who quickly changed from showy aerobatics to using their aircraft in an economic and sparse way to shoot down as many enemies as possible and knowing when to avoid danger when that was needed. So-called "shoot and scoot" tactics.
I have read stories of RAF fighter pilots saying that they didn't have gun bursts any longer than 3-4 seconds. I have learned from this clip to count how long a gun burst lasted. The longest was 4 seconds, most gun bursts didn't last any longer than 2-3 seconds.
This is true. I read that The plane only had enough ammo for something like 15 seconds of continuous fire.
What is so unique about this film is that (a god forbid) Hollywood remake cannot do is these are real WW2 planes flying around in real mock dog fights no of that crappy CGI.
CGI would be okay if only the people who make the films took the trouble to appreciate what a WW2 aircraft and pilot could do ....they could not fly about the sky like a X wing in space, they had limited ammunition ....fighters anyway...and could not zip about firing a fifteen second burst in one go like Ben Affleck did in a later film. Who incidentally would not be able to be a RAF volunteer pilot whilst he was in the USAF, who were not in the war in 1940. Hollywood try to make such scenes more dramatic....which usually turns out to be crap...
@@williambodin5359 True. And I read that there are more Spitfires around now, than when the movie was made.
There were a lot of RC models used mind. The Stukas were models and so were some of the Spitfires and Heinkels.
The Spanish Air Force Heinkels and Messerschimitts in this film were powered by Merlins.
Sorry to say at the moment there are more Spitfires and Hurricanes flying in the world then 1969 the German fighters are in the process of flying again they were all part of the payment to the pilots who took part in this film.
As both a Spitfire and Heinkle 111 pilot in War Thunder, I can confirm this is bascially what happens when Heinkles fly low with no escort.
Alonzo Aldaba hahaha, I pilot the Blenheim, I always request a fighter escort but always get ignored 😂
enemies vanquished
It’s even worst for wellingtons.
you have to admire the amount of practical effects in this movie
Yes indeed. Having access to real aircraft and enthusiastic pilots helps, just do not be too fussy about the Mks and engines on show. In fact, at the time the producers were looking after one of the world's larger airforces albeit a little dated. I only wish they had been able to show the characteristic trails left by tracers, which was a feature of much earlier films c.f. The Dambusters.
@@TheArgieH Today all safety regulations wouldnt allow these kind of group scened with real planes.
@@topivaltanen4432 CGI just isn't the same.
@@TheArgieH we'll have to get used to it, we won't see this example of a huge dramatic aerial combat display, ever again. Nobody could afford it anyway. most of the actors are dead too.
How unlucky were that one crew to crash into the sea TWICE?!?!
The only tiny complaint I have about this epic scene is the use of Stuka noises for diving German aircraft that aren't Stukas. Other than that, brilliant. None of the easily-spotted fake animation done by animators who have never seen a real aeroplane, much less know how they really fly.
Considering they didn't have operational Stukas for the film and had to use RC models they did a pretty credible job.
Good point ..stuka screaming was part of the terror effect ... unique to it. Like fellow whose cars scream like they're going to tear the track apart and come up a whimper against the more silent menacing motors!!
@@josephselvaratnam3136 Something the Australin made Boomerang ground attack fighter managed to reproduce. ruclips.net/video/-9-luVivamY/видео.html
"Help yourselves everybody, there are no fighter escort" 🤣🤣🤣
This film was my most favorite film when I was a kid. Watching this film in VHS with my dad a thousand time (another one was TOP GUN). I still love the film from this era. No CG, All real planes (except some radio control that they blew up and some drawing plane into the film during post process). It gives a lot more realistic feeling than those "Red Tails" kinda film
PuFFie I agree. Red Tails had do much CGI it was practically a computer game.
Howard Halifax ,I totally agree. A Good air combat movie doesn’t need someone who act like he’s the best and know it all, good air combat movie doesn’t need every details accurate but built inside computer. Instead I prefer a bit less accurate (these spanish he-111 and bf109) but actually fly not something I could play in War Thunder
Architude ,Haha I understand you. If Top Gun was released only like 5 years ago I’d feel the same to you. But back in the day, I was a lil kid and there weren’t a lot of air combat film to watch so.. it was good enough for me. Forgot to mention because it’s not quite an air combat movie but.. “Air America” was another childhood fav. of mine too!
I mean back in the day.. say the late ‘80 we ain’t got a lot of aviation movie. If we can fast forward a bit to the early ‘90 we’d have “Flight of the Intruder” which I kinda love that film. “The Tuskegee airmen” which was 10,000 better than “Red Tails” and of course the “Memphis Belle” which was another favorite of mine. But in the late ‘80 we only got those films + the “Iron Eagle” which I think “Top Gun” does better than that film lol.
But man.. the “Battle of Britain” we got the young version of Michael Caine and also the young version of Ian McShane as “Andy” plus that film was release on 1969 but it featured a 21:9 ultra wide screen and most of them look so authentic (minus some Spitfire MK.Va/IX, Buchon and Casa which standing in for BF109E and HE-111) I really love that film and still watching through this days
This scene recreates the occasion when german bombers believing they were out of range of the RAF attacked targets in the north east of England although they were not unescorted they were accompanied by Me110's. Not as deadly as the Bf109 but still worthy of respect.
Hey, the german that sold his tank to Odd Ball!
Spitfire! Gotta love the sound of those Rolls Royce Merlin engines!
Ironically, the Spanish built German aircraft in this movie are using Merlins.
Major Kong have you seen dunkirk
Yes. I thought it was great. Your opinion?
Later in the war (when the Americans entered), the American P51 fighter was under-powered and under-performed until the Americans let the British install their Rolls Royce Merlin engine into it! As a result, it became one of the best (probably the best fighter, with the exception of the German ME 262 jet fighter) in the war! Chuck Yeager (the first man to break the sound barrier) flew a P51 during the war and shot down five ME 109s in one day with it.
And I'm pretty sure the P-51 Mustang was British designed and American built.
This was a brilliant film for 1968/9 . Not historically accurate in all areas, but considering what they DID achieve, very good. It could never be remade today, without CGI. I'm happy with this version.
I'm also pleased with the list of country's, also involved, who's FREE countrymen, risked their lives, and how many actually died.
0:12 - Last time I saw that German , he was in a Tiger helping blow up a bank for Sergeant Kelly !
"There's a Tiger coming down the street!"
That's right Baby, Woof woof!
Pretty wild that he got drummed out of the Luftwaffe and sent to the regular army. Must have been scapegoated for the northern air raid debacle. No wonder he was willing to go rogue when those crazy Americans told him about all that gold.
A Hienkel .. planted itself into our local Cricket pitch . My Nan who was the grounds keeper because Grandad after getting back from Dunkirk was sent straight away for reorganisation . Was so pissed off.
God bless her, fella.
Never get on the wtong side of someones Nan by ploughing up her cricket pitch
I mean that's just not cricket by jove
@@avictorbell2835 She was raging about it . But became the organiser when it was dug up to become a community allotment to grow veg .
One of the great aviation movies from that time period. Never again will we see aviation movies made to that scale. Because of movies like this and Tora, ToraTora I can't watch CGI made movies. Brings back memories of Model building .
one day CGI will be such that we can't see the difference between CGI and this movie shot in 70mm from an opening in a B25.
but not in our lifetime.
"Not even a spitfire can be in two places at once"
RAF Pilot
"Hold my cuppa tea good chap"
@Christine Ccolgate What???
@kyle presley I think you will find that was said by a senior Luftwaffe Officer
Another one said to Goering "Give us a squadron of Spitfires"
must have been a sight to see them fly these in 1968
😂😂😂
Galland and Dowding were still alive. Galland as an advisor and he flew one of the 109s once. Dowding for a pre-screening.
FUN FACT: Only two Heinkels came to Britain for this movie.
The massed shots of Heinkels were filmed above Spain.
The sky looks the same everywhere.
Clever intersplicing between the Spanish shots and the English shots mean you'd never know it.
Monday. RAF demonstrates how unescorted 111s in daylight face total carnage.
Tuesday: Sends out a squadron of unescorted Blenheims.
That's the RAF for ya
LOL. Followed by the USAF in 1942! It seems people rarely learn from others mistakes.
Oh wow tomato sauce in the eyes what a terrible way to go to the great beyond in the sky
When you see an unescorted group of bombers in your favorite ww2 games and that gIorious music theme starts playing in your head.
I would like to see a similar movie about the air defence of Malta; the final air raid had a similar ending.
There's some great documentaries on Malta including stories about Canadian ace and marksman extraordinaire George Beurling, but yeah... would love to see a major motion picture about it. Had an uncle who was a pilot there. He was actually knocked out of the war during an air raid in a bit of a freak accident jumping into a fox hole. Used a cane the rest of his life as a result.
Movie had subtitles. Second German officer said even a Spitfire cannot be in two places at once.
They don't make movies like this anymore :(
"Dunkirk" (2017) by Christopher Nolan ;)
Merlin Mustang75 yeah
Also, no bloody CGI back then. Once read an article on how they shot the flight scenes back then, was pretty interesting. Google it.
There's a whole book about it - Battle Of Britain by Leonard Mosley. Well worth a read.
Red Wings. Not the best film, but the dogfights were cool.
"Home and tea lads. FOR ONCE you deserved it, well done everybody!"
LOL
Isn't it "for once you deserve it"?
You're right, good ol' chap! Thanks for notifying me!
It’s comforting seeing Spitfires defending freedom. M.
What freedom, you cunt?
@@friedrichruff5357freedom against the tyranny of the third reich
@@owenmills3517 And what will the Brits send against the 4th Reich?
@@friedrichruff5357 Welsh human shield
@@owenmills3517 Minced meat, then.
Call me a vicious, brutal little-Englander, but I love this movie...
Yes , it is a good film . It's the music as well along with 633 Squadron.