The Most Dangerous Enemy – Book Review

The Most Dangerous Enemy - Book Review

The Most Dangerous Enemy: An Illustrated History of the Battle of Britain. By Stephen Bungay. Zenith Press, 2010. 210 pages, hardcover. $40.00. For most British, the Battle of Britain holds a place of reverence similar to the esteem that many Americans have for defining moments of American history, such as the American War for Independence or the Alamo.

Colours of the Battle 3

The Blitz by Juliet Gardiner

What the Hurricane was up against is brought shockingly home in Juliet Gardiner’s The Blitz (Harper Press, £25), another 70th anniversary book that examines the impact of the greatest sustained assault that Britain has ever experienced. For 76 nights over the autumn and winter of 1940-41, British cities large and small were savagely battered by the Luftwaffe. Gardiner, a distinguished social historian who has made the war, as experienced by the civilian population, her specialist subject, is more interested in the Blitz’s effect on the fabric of civil society and ordinary men, women and children than the military aspects of the battle, and she comes up with some surprising conclusions.

Before the war, Stanley Baldwin had been reluctant to equip Britain with fighters, gloomily predicting: 'The bomber will always get through.’ Not only did the Hurricane prove that forecast wrong, the similarly pessimistic prediction that aerial bombing would kill more than half a million people and provoke a revolution (the actual figure was a still awful 43,000) proved similarly misplaced. The legend of British stiff upper lip stoicism may be a myth, but Gardiner shows that the Blitz did spark a surprisingly durable social solidarity extending from an East End brutalised by bombs to Buckingham Palace, which also took a hit. When it came to the crunch, Britain could (and did) indeed take it.

Hurricane by Leo McKinstry

The Battle of Britain had its own mystique – the legend of the 'Few’ – but it was won by the superbly engineered aircraft that flew in it, as much as by the pilots who flew them. In Hurricane: Victor of the Battle of Britain (John Murray, £20), Leo McKinstry restores the ugly sister of the two fighter aircraft involved to her rightful place in the pantheon alongside the more celebrated Spitfire (whose story McKinstry has already told).

In fact, as McKinstry convincingly argues, by rights the Hurricane should be the more celebrated aircraft: 1,715 Hurricanes fought it out in the blue summer skies over southern England 70 years ago – more than double the number of Spitfires engaged and, tellingly, four fifths of the enemy aircraft destroyed in the Battle of Britain were shot down by the Hurricane’s formidable array of eight Browning machine guns.

The Spitfire’s place in the spotlight was won by its sheer sex appeal: clean lines, all metal frame, speed, manoeuvrability and adaptability. Compared to it, the half-wooden and fabric-covered Hurricane seemed a clunky throwback to a bygone age. One of McKinstry’s greatest strengths as a writer is that he makes everything he writes about seem as important, interesting and exciting as the dogfights in the air. Yes, even the battles on the ground as the Hurricane’s forceful designer, Sydney Camm, strove desperately to persuade tight-fisted bureaucrats that the country needed defending.

The Battle Of Britain Season

The Battle Of Britain Season marks the 70th anniversary of The Battle Of Britain across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four.

Programmes in the season

1. Battle Of Britain

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   Ewan McGregor and his RAF pilot brother, Colin, find out what it was like to live and fight through the Battle of Britain.

2. Battle Of Britain - The Real Story

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   Writer and historian James Holland examines the tactics, technologies and intelligence during the summer of 1940.

3. First Light

   The extraordinary story of Geoffrey Wellum – one of the youngest pilots to participate in the Battle of Britain.

4. Spitfire Women

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   This documentary tells the story of the women who flew planes for the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War.

5. Wellington Bomber

   Can a Wellington Bomber be built from scratch in a single day? This fascinating film documents the amazing attempt bolt by bolt.

Also in the season

1. Battle of Britain Night: Aftermath

   Exploring how victory in the air was achieved, and why the Battle of Britain has such legendary status.

2. Battle of Britain Night: Gathering Storm

   Historians, Battle of Britain veterans and the modern RAF investigate how Britain prepared for a war in the sky.

3. Battle of Britain Night: The South Coast Trail

   Military historian Howard Tuck uncovers forgotten traces of one of the most terrifying planned invasions of the UK.

4. Battle of Britain Sunday from Westminster Abbey

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   A service of Thanksgiving and Rededication from Westminster Abbey, in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales.

Website: West End at War

Westminster's wartime story can now be told on the West End at War website, put together to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz.  The website will soon feature previously-unseen colour film, summaries of bomb incidents, eyewitness accounts and a large collection of contemporary art works commissioned to record the impact of the Blitz on this famous London Borough.
A large part of this website has been put together by volunteers. By registering with us you too can contribute to our growing website.

Bomb Incidents

 

War Artists

 

People

 

Rare Colour Film Footage

 

Learning Resources

 

Events

 

About Us

The Battle of Britain on Screen: 'The Few' in British Film and Television Drama.

S. P. Mackenzie. The Battle of Britain on Screen: 'The Few' in British Film and Television Drama. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. 181 pp. $90.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7486-2389-1; $34.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-7486-2390-7.

Reviewed by James Chapman
Published on H-Albion (October, 2008)
Commissioned by Mark Hampton

Film Representations of the Battle of Britain

 

Readers familiar with MacKenzie’s previous books, particularly British War Films, 1939-1945: The Services and the Cinema (2000) and The Colditz Myth: British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany (2004), will know what to expect from his latest work. They will not be disappointed. MacKenzie, professor of history at the University of South Carolina, specializes in media and cultural representations of the Second World War. The Battle of Britain on Screen is the first book-length study of the film and television representation of the air war over southern England fought between the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe in the late summer of 1940. This is an event that has become part of the popular mythology of the British experience of the Second World War, popularized in Winston Churchill’s famous (though oft-misquoted) remark: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”

MacKenzie maps the history of the visual representation of the Battle of Britain through a series of case studies. He begins with The Lion Has Wings (1939), the first British propaganda feature film of the war and one that anticipates the battle itself by nearly a year. The Lion Has Wings, which Alexander Korda rushed into production upon the outbreak of war, was a hodgepodge of newsreel footage, documentary extracts, and some studio-filmed sequences, intended as propaganda for the RAF. It was meant to reassure the British public that, contrary to Stanley Baldwin’s prediction of 1932, the bomber will not always get through; in fact it will not get through at all. The Lion Has Wings has been derided by most commentators for its class-bound social politics, which hark back to the British cinema of the 1930s rather than forward to the new democratic social realism that was to emerge during the war. It also includes a reconstruction of the Kiel Canal Raid--the first offensive operation undertaken by the RAF during the war--that grossly exaggerates its success. However, MacKenzie argues that in its staging of the battle for air supremacy--Fighter Command is shown repelling a fictitious German attack--the film accurately predicted many of the details, especially the chain of command.

The Lion Has Wings tried to predict what the Battle of Britain would be like. As soon as the battle itself was over the question became: how will it be remembered? Hollywood got there first with A Yank in the RAF (1941)--one of a cycle of "Hollywood British" films which in this case had a dashing young Tyrone Power as the all-American fly-boy who shows the stiff-assed Brits how to do it. Power was followed by Ronald Reagan in International Squadron (1942) and Robert Stack in Eagle Squadron (1942). Needless to say none of these films were particularly notable for their authenticity. 

The first British feature film focusing on the battle was Dangerous Moonlight (1941) which starred Anton Walbrook (an Austrian émigré actor) as a Polish concert pianist who escapes from Warsaw to join the RAF. These were merely preludes, however, to the definitive wartime treatment of the battle, Leslie Howard’s The First of the Few (1942). Howard directed and played R. J. Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, the sleek and elegant intercept fighter that had already become synonymous with the Battle of Britain. The First of the Few has already been thoroughly researched by Anthony Aldgate and Jeffrey Richards in their book, Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War (1986), but MacKenzie is able to offer some new insights. He shows how Howard transformed the character of Mitchell, in reality a highly practical engineer, into a romantic visionary whose revolutionary design for the Spitfire was supposedly inspired by watching seagulls in flight. This was consistent with Howard’s screen persona but was far from being an accurate representation of the man. Not that it mattered: The First of the Few was a resounding critical and popular success.

In the 1950s, as Britain faced up to its decline as a world power and the loss of its empire, reliving the Second World War became something of a national pastime for British film producers. Postwar films such as Angels One Five (1952) and Reach for the Sky (1956) offered new perspectives on the battle. The role of radar, which for security reasons had not featured in wartime films, could now be revealed. Angels One Five was an attempt to represent the battle as a national experience. It told the familiar story of a hot-headed young pilot (played by John Gregson) who has to learn the hard way the importance of teamwork rather than individual heroism. The film also looked beyond the pilots to show the role of ground crew and control room staff. Reach for the Sky, in contrast, focused very much on the role of the individual. This hagiography of Douglas Bader, the pilot who lost both his legs in a flying accident in the 1930s but returned to command a fighter wing during the Battle of Britain, was one of the most successful British films of the decade. It starred Kenneth More, who plays Bader in his best “good chap” persona. It was concerned to present Bader as an inspirational role model. MacKenzie shows how the film whitewashed Bader’s character and exaggerated his reputation as a fighter ace.

As the cinema-going audience declined in the late 1950s and 1960s, the film industry turned to “big” pictures to tempt them back. Battle of Britain (1969) was one of a cycle of epic international war movies that also included The Longest Day, Battle of the Bulge, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Midway, and A Bridge Too Far. MacKenzie documents how producers Harry Saltzman and Benjamin S. Fisz resisted the demands of Hollywood studio executives to make it another version of A Yank in the RAF and insisted on authenticity. Director Guy Hamilton said that his aim was to “destroy the myth” of the battle by showing it “the way it was” (p. 81). MacKenzie shows how, for the first time in the cinematic historiography, Battle of Britain explored the divisions within Fighter Command, particularly the debate between Keith Park and Leigh Mallory (commanders, respectively, of 11 Group and 12 Group of Fighter Command) over the “big wings” advocated by Mallory.

Following the epic treatment of Battle of Britain, most later representations have been on the small screen. London Weekend Television’s ironically titled Piece of Cake (1988) was the first true revisionist account of the battle. It followed the fortunes of the fictitious “Hornet Squadron” from September 1939 to September 1940. Piece of Cake portrayed the “knights of the air” as very human and fallible, in some cases even psychologically flawed, characters. It documents a catalogue of errors, bad tactics and personal rivalries. MacKenzie draws upon an extensive range of contemporary reviews to show how Piece of Cake divided critics. While some admired its boldness, others were outraged by what they regarded as a debunking of the heroic myth of “the Few”. More satisfying was A Perfect Hero (1991), another six-part drama that starred Nigel Havers as a pilot who has to come to terms with severe injuries and undergoes reconstructive surgery after his face is horribly burned. Clearly this story owed a debt to Richard Hillary’s posthumously published The Last Enemy (1942), which had been adapted by the BBC in the 1950s--sadly no tapes of the production have survived. A Perfect Hero attracted significantly more viewers than A Piece of Cake, suggesting that the British public preferred its more melodramatic but less controversial take on the battle.

Each case study here is treated in the same manner. MacKenzie assembles a wealth of primary source material to document the production and reception of each film and tv series, including unpublished papers and diaries, studio records, scripts, the trade press, and a wide range of contemporary reviews. As in his book British War Films, he documents the close relationship between the filmmakers and the Air Ministry forged in the production of the wartime features but that also extended into the postwar period. This sort of official cooperation was important for the filmmakers in order to get the technical details right. One recurring issue that MacKenzie highlights is how difficult it was for filmmakers to get the right sort of aircraft for close-ups. Even in 1952, during the production of Angels One Five, there were only three serviceable Hurricanes available to represent an entire squadron. The producers of Battle of Britain recruited the Spanish air force, which flew Heinkel bombers that resembled the He-111s flown during the battle itself. The same sole Spitfire saw service in A Piece of Cake and A Perfect Hero--but that was a model from later in the war rather than the Mark II in service during the Battle of Britain. MacKenzie’s book will certainly make fascinating reading for those pedants who routinely complain that producers of war films and tv series invariably get the details wrong.

MacKenzie is alert to the methodological issues involved in using film and television as sources. The book is well informed by the relevant historiographical literature. What he demonstrates is how films “can tell us things about the time in which they were made and shown” (p. 3). Thus the propaganda imperative of films like The Lion Has Wings and The First of the Few determined how they represented the RAF. Battle of Britain, in contrast, reflects a revisionist perspective influenced not only by new historical knowledge about the battle itself but also by changing attitudes towards the British experience of war.

MacKenzie’s research is exceptionally thorough and his case studies of the films are always illuminating. There are one or two minor errors and typos: the 1942 Hollywood melodrama Mrs. Miniver becomes Mrs. Minerva (p. 43) and the 1969 Battle of Britain acquires a definite article not present in the on-screen title. I would have liked to see MacKenzie say more about the style of the films. He concentrates on documenting their production and reception but shies away from offering anything in the way of aesthetic analysis. Of course he is right to remind us that “What matters is not how the historian reacts to a particular piece but how people reacted at the time it appeared and afterwards” (p. 4). He feels that Battle of Britain is “rather good” (p. 4). So do I. Part of the reason, I would suggest, is the way in which the climactic dogfight is edited not in terms of conventional film grammar but rather to match William Walton’s music. The visuals of this film come closest to recreating what Angus Calder described as “the surreal topography of air war” in the paintings of war artists such as Paul Nash.[1] I would have liked to know MacKenzie’s take on this aspect of the film. That said, however, this is a most illuminating book that makes a valuable addition not only to the extensive historical literature on the Battle of Britain but also to the field of film and media history.

Note

[1]. Angus Calder, The People's War: Britain 1939-45 (1969; London: Pimlico, 1992), 511.

The Battle of Britain Monument

Scramble
That classic moment, when the signal to "Scramble" is given, had to take centre stage. It is the very symbol of the Battle. In this case, the pilots surge off the wall, out of their picture and onto the pavement, into our world, a reminder to say that these men really did exist and do those incredible things.

TheBattle of Britain Monument in London is a superb monument to The Few - commemorating those people who took part in this vital battle of the Second World War.

BOOK REVIEW: How Polish airmen succeeded

By Robert F. Dunn - The Washington Times - Tuesday, November 30, 2010

303 SQUADRON: THE LEGENDARY BATTLE OF BRITAIN FIGHTER SQUADRON
By Arkady FiedlerTranslated by Jarek GarlinskiAquila Polnica, $27.95, 217 pages, illustrated

This is a story not previously available in English about Polish airmen in England at the time of the Battle of Britain. It’s a story well known by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and those in England at the time who were literally saved from German invasion by them, but now mainly lost in the more popular histories of World War II. In August and September of 1940, as the Germans were pounding southeast England by air in preparation for landings and conquest, a small band of Polish pilots and their mechanics joined with the RAF to break the Nazi onslaught. Their success caused Hitler’s armies to disembark from their assault craft loaded on the shores of France thus saving England from invasion.

The Polish fighters did not break the German onslaught by themselves. They were just one element of the RAF and other Allied air forces that did that; but pilot for pilot, aircraft for aircraft, they were by far the most successful. This book tells how and why.

Poland actually had a quite respectable air force in 1939, although when compared with what the Germans and the Soviets had, their equipment was antiquated. So when Hitler invaded Poland from the west on Sept. 1, 1939, and Stalin did the same from the east on Sept. 17, not only the Polish air force but all Polish forces were overwhelmed. Refusing to surrender, a large number of Polish airmen made their way to then-neutral Romania and on to France where they flew for a short time with the French air force. Upon the fall of France, they moved to England and that’s what this story is all about.

The principal subject is, of course, the 303 Squadron, the pilots, mechanics and their British-provided Hurricane aircraft. Several Polish squadrons flying various types of aircraft, and individual Poles too, flew with the RAF, but 303 Squadron was by far the most successful. In the most crucial phase of the Battle of Britain, 303 Squadron downed three times as many enemy aircraft than the average of other RAF squadrons, yet its own losses were only one third those of the others.
In describing how that came about the author’s detailed descriptions of aerial combat, dogfights and other actions are superb. The reader can easily feel as though he’s in the cockpit. That’s probably because, as the author writes, “303 Squadron is written ‘live,’ under the direct influence of the events of 1940.” That’s about as close to oral history as one can get. The action scenes themselves are worth the read and the smooth flowing prose makes it easy to do so.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/30/how-polish-airmen-succeeded/#ixzz3Tx2Oov4s
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

The Blitz in the North - 70 Years On Plus Terry Deary book signing

Mark the 70th anniversary of the Manchester Blitz, meet Terry Deary, the famous Horrible Histories author, and get Christmas presents with a difference – all in one day at Imperial War Museum North. Visit anytime throughout December for more Blitz themed family events.

70 years after the intensive bombing of Manchester during the Second World War, rarely seen footage depicting the effects of the Christmas Blitz on Manchester city centre will be projected onto the Museum’s 27 foot Main Exhibition Space wall – at 1pm on Sunday 12 December. The film, called Manchester TookIt Too, was put together by the Co-Operative Society. It features remarkable scenes of Market Street and Manchester Piccadilly in the immediate aftermath of the bombings.

Watch as the dramatic film is projected above a Fire Fighting Trailer Pump that was used to combat the Blitz in Oldham. Discover more about the pump, a Fire Watcher’s Shelter and a barrage balloon through special Blitz themed Closer Looktours. These take place on Mondays and Fridays throughout December at 2.15 pm. Learn about the impact of air raids on local citizens and other British civilians including Robert Alexander, whose childhood collection of shrapnel is on show alongside a diary entry speaking of the dramatic effects of the Blitz.

Enjoy a range of Blitz themed family friendly events throughout December. Watch theatrical performances designed for younger visitors in What aPerformance, meet a charming rag doll evacuee in Billy’sWar family sessions and get hands on with real objects from the Blitz in TimeStack handling activities.

On 12 December you can also mark 70 years since the heaviest day of bombing on Sheffield during the Second World War. Meet TerryDeary, the acclaimed author of the stupendously successful Horrible Histories series, at the book signing for his new children’s novel, Put Out The Light, from 11.30am to 2pm. The book, which tells the tale of a child in Sheffield in 1940, will be available in the Museum shop, alongside a range of Horrible Histories titles.

Hundreds more nostalgic and quirky Christmas gifts are available from the shop, making the Museum perfect for a day out in December. Inspired and moved by tales from the Blitz on display in the Museum? Make the most of our Keep Calm and Carry On range and get the Hits From The Blitz CD of war time classics (£9.99) or take some no nonsense advice from The British Home Front Pocket book (£7.99).

Feeling cold this winter? Keep warm and carry on in the new Aviator Hat (just £20). Even better, splash out on the genuine RAF Irving Flying Jacket, available from £500. 1940s fashions are back in vogue. Ladies can learn how to put the look together by reading The 1940s Look by Mike Brown (£16.99), helping you recreate the fashions, hairstyles and make up of the Second World War.

From fun children’s gifts starting at 50 pence to £500 flying jackets, there is a Christmas gift for everyone at Imperial War Museum North. The Museum is a charity and all proceeds from sales of shop products support the work of the Museum.

Jim Forrester, Imperial War Museum North Director, said: ‘70 years since the Christmas Blitz on Manchester and on other northern cities, this is a great opportunity to see rare and remarkable footage of Manchester at its darkest hour. This, combined with the chance to meet Terry Deary and a wonderful series of family events, means this December is the perfect time to visit IWM North.’

Spitfire - Return to Flight

http://www.spitfirepv270.co.nz/

Spitfire: Return to Flight - Available Now
304 pages, 372 colour illustrations, 121 black and white illustrations; specially commissioned artwork - covering: 

	the history of the Spitfire and Spitfire PV270,
	the career of Alan Deere,
	the experiences of the pilots in the Battle of Britain and the modern pilots,
	a detailed look at the restoration of this Spitfire and
	a photographic view of this Spitfire in action.
	ISBN 978-0-473-16711-0

Available nationwide from Paperplus  - also Poppies, Capital Books, Fishpond.co.nz, Hotshots stores on RNZAF Bases and through all good bookshops 
"crammed full of gems, a visual delight and a wonderful narrative" - FLYPAST UK
Five Roundels and Book of the Month, November 2011 - AEROPLANE UK
Available from UK retailers direct  - from early June 2011
Available from Australian retailers direct - from late June 2011
TRADE contacts for Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand here
Sample Pages here    
Information sheet available here (PDF)