The Battle of Britain 1968

 

At Duxford in 1968 the grass and weeds had advanced over the concrete, but the married quarters were still in use, the hangars and other airfield buildings had been emptied and abandoned. The runway and perimeter tracks were used to race cars and motorcycle’s and the place had an air of disuse and abandonment. A vast contrast to 28 years previous when 19 squadron Spitfires under the command of 12 group took to the air to defend this island from the onslaught of the Luftwaffe. All this was all about to change!

 

During 1967 producers Harry Salzmann and Benjamin Fisz approached the Ministry of Defence for permission from to use Duxford as one of the locations for the film the Battle of Britain, the others being Kenley, Northolt and North Weald, the main reason Duxford being selected was that the airfield still had much of its war-time infrastructure.

 

The Secretary of State for Defence, Denis Healy agreed and in the spring of 1968 United Artists moved in and set about restoration. Nearly £40,000 was spent on tidying up the place, camouflage was reapplied to the hangars and other buildings, and grass was cut roads swept and so on. When the crews finished you would not have known it was 1968 there were slit trenches, revetments for aircraft dispersal and sand bags every where.

 

The Battle of Britain was to be a widescreen production, shot on 70mm colour film, so clips of flying from the actual Battle of Britain were unusable, the producers had always wanted to re-create the air battles using the same aircraft and simulating the same clashes which had been fought over the English Channel and Thames 28 years earlier.

 

The problem was obtaining the Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmitt Bf.109’s and Heinkel He.111’s that were to feature in the film, was contracted an Ex Second World War pathfinder bomber pilot Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie. His task was to track down the aircraft needed. Mahaddie now specialised in buying aircraft for film work. From a total of over 20,000 Spitfires that had been built by the time production ceased in the late 1940s, by the early 1960s just a handful remained that were capable of flying.

 

Mahaddie managed to obtain for the film 6 Hurricanes 3 which were flight capable 2 that could taxi and 1 for static use, There were only six complete Hurricanes left in the world and Mahaddie had them all! One of them was bought as scrap by an ex-Canadian Air Force pilot Bob Diemart who rebuilt it and later flew it across the Atlantic to appear in the film, sadly this was later destroyed in hangar fire Hamilton Canada in 1993.  The Spitfire population had faired better since the end of production and Mahaddie obtained 32 varying marks with a dozen able to fly and 7 in taxing condition the rest were used for set dressing and spares usage.

 

By the end of 1967 all potential Spitfires and the 5 Hurricanes were readied at RAF Henlow, serviced and cared for by Simpson aero services. Three Percival Proctors were to be modified to be look alike Junkers Ju-87, after a brief test flight in G-AIEY the only fully converted ‘Proctuka’ Vivian Bellamy decide that the conversion was deemed unsuitable for the film role and large scale radio controlled models made by Pinewood Studio’s model shop were used instead.

 

One Real Spitfire BM597 and Hurricane LF751 were firstly taken to the Battle of Britain filming unit at RAF Henlow and then shipped to Pinewood studios to be used as a mould model for replicas being built. Most of these were subsequently destroyed during filming noticeable in one scene where a Spitfire careered into a petrol browser both being engulfed in a fiery explosion.

 

For the aircraft of the Luftwaffe, Mahaddie turned to the Spanish Air Force who were still using Messerschmitt Bf.109s( Hispano HA.1112-M1L) and Heinkel 111s. (CASA 2-111D). These aircraft had been built under license in Spain and had Rolls-Royce Merlin engines instead of Daimler-Benz engines. Some 30 odd Heinkel’s were loaned to United Artists by the Spanish Air Force later United Artists donated £1000 to the Spanish air force widows fund, Mahaddie bought 28 Messerschmitt’s (17 flyers) that were being de-commissioned. Nearly all the pilots were Spanish, although 4 has been seconded from the Confederate air force in exchange for the use of their aircraft the pilots insisted that they flew them in the film. On March 13 1968 the cameras rolled and the Battle of Britain began. Tablada airfield in the suburbs of Seville was the location for the opening scenes where General Milch inspects the Luftwaffe.

 

It was around this time that General Adolf Galland made a visit to the set as the military advisor for the German side of the story.  Here he met with Pedro Santa Cruz an old friend from the Spanish civil war who was the chief Spanish pilot for the film, pointing to a Messerschmitt how long is it since you flew one of those he enquired? 26 six years replied the General, OK lets se what you can do as he ushered him over to a twin seater. The entire crew witnessed a display from the legendary Galland culminating in the famous victory roll. A few weeks after shooting the films opening credit sequence at Tablada, two Heinkel 111s and 17 Messerschmitt’s flew to Duxford England to join up with the Spitfires and Hurricanes for UK filming.

 

One amusing incident happened after the formation left Manston on 14 May 1968 en route Duxford the formation was due to land at Duxford, suddenly they disappeared out of the pattern and after a call to Duxford from Coltishall radar were spotted orbiting Cambridge’s historic university. A little later they were all safely on the ground. The following day Hispano G-AWHF was written off having ground looped on landing a common occurrence for narrow tracked aircraft such as the Hispano and Spitfire.

 

Filming was carried out at three airfields, Duxford, Kenley and North Weald, all of which were operational RAF stations during the actual Battle of Britain. Filming at Duxford took place on the main airfield itself and in the south-west corner of the airfield the props department built a 1/3 size château where it was used for the French evacuation scenes, this area was chosen because there is grass instead of concrete. Scenes shot in this area of the airfield included the opening shots of the film where the Hurricane squadrons evacuate from Northern France, the Luftwaffe at Pas de Calais and the one scene where a Polish airman is shot down and parachutes into a field to be captured by farm workers.

 

 

The aerial filming for the Battle of Britain was carried out using a B-25 Mitchell, belonging to and piloted by Ex RAF Lightning pilot John R Hawke. The B-25 had where cannon and machine-guns had been, camera positions. The front fuselage had been replaced by an optically pure plexiglass moulding big enough to allow a 70mm widescreen colour camera to shoot through. The end of the tail had been taken out completely and a camera rigged up in the rear-gunner's position. There were also places for cameras to shoot through the optically pure side windows; and when the bomb-bay doors were opened a stabilised camera could be lowered capable of shooting over a 360 degree field, controlled by a cameraman sitting just above it. A Sud Alouette G-AWAP two of the fighters one Spitfire and Hispano twin seater had cameras fitted as did CASA G-AWHB.

 

Unlike 1940 the weather in 1968 was atrocious and aerial filming was sporadic the decision was made to deploy 9 Spitfires and 3 Hispano HA.1112’s accompanied by the B-25 to Montpellier to take advantage of the clear blue skies to complete the aerial sequences.  The final aerial shots were completed at Duxford in late September 1968.

 

This completes my memories of this epic production I was privileged to be involved in a very small way, first introduced to the team by way of my father who was serving at RAF Henlow and repaired radiators for the non flyers.

 

On two occasions in July and later in September 1968 working mainly as a ‘gofer’ with the stills team, whilst on leave from the army. A couple of days before the destruction of the hanger at Duxford I had the privilege of getting up in the camera equipped CASA G-AWHB for an air test and the bombing run rehearsal, for the destruction of the RAF airfield and of course the total destruction of the hanger. It took two takes for that scene to be filmed the first they merely blew out the windows and dislodged the doors, the second take made sure the hanger was truly destroyed.

 

Another most memorable times were a press day at Henlow late 1967 where the ‘allied’ air force was unveiled and talking to Squadron Leader Bob Stamford-Tuck who was a guest with other veteran of the battle I still have a press cutting of showing Bob Stamford-Tuck with my late brother David who was a 9 year old standing on the wing of a Hurricane.

 

I can say without fear of contradiction that without Ben Fitz’s persistence and the dogged determination of Hamish Mahaddie in tracking down the aircraft the world would have been deprived of these historic items for good. The ‘60’s was and still is remembered as the time of peace and love and it is quite astounding that an epic war film was conceived and produced during those years, a true testament to those involved in the project.

 

After the filming was completed in 1968 the aircraft were returned to their respective owners or in the case of the Hispano HA.1112’s simply sold so started the ‘warbird’ movement 8 of the Hispano HA.1112’s and one Spitfire ended up with Wilson “Connie” Edwards at Edwards ranch in Big Spring Texas (allegedly some are still stored there) rest of then being bought by individuals in the US and Europe.

 

 

 

Below is the list of aircraft I know to have been used during the making of the film at the time the 35th largest air force in the world!

 

 

G-AWHA

CASA 2-111D

(FLYING)

G-AWHB

CASA 2-111D

(FLYING)

P2617

HAWKER HURRICANE I

(TAXI)

G-AMAU

HAWKER HURRICANE IIC

(FLYING)

LF363

HAWKER HURRICANE IIC

(FLYING)

LF751

HAWKER HURRICANE IIC

(STATIC)

G-AWLW

HAWKER HURRICANE XII (CCF)

(FLYING)

Z7015

HAWKER SEA HURRICANE IB

(TAXI)

C.4K-107

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(TAXI)

C.4K-111

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(STATIC)

C.4K-114

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(STATIC)

C.4K-121

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(TAXI)

C.4K-131

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(TAXI)

C.4K-134

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(TAXI)

C.4K-172

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(TAXI)

C.4K-30

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(STATIC)

G-AWHD

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHE

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHF

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHG

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHH

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHI

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHJ

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHK

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHL

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHM

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHN

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHO

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHP

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHR

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHS

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHT

HISPANO HA.1112-M1L

(FLYING)

G-AWHC

HISPANO HA.1112-M4L

(FLYING)

N6578D

NORTH AMERICAN B-25J

(CAMERA)

G-AIEY

PERCIVAL P.28 PROCTOR 1

(NOT USED)

G-ALOK

PERCIVAL P.34 PROCTOR 3

(NOT USED)

G-AIAE

PERCIVAL P.44 PROCTOR 5

(NOT USED)

G-AWAP

SUD AVIATION SE.318B ALOUETTE ASTAZOU

(CAMERA)

G-AIST

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 300 SPITFIRE I

(FLYING)

K9942

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 300 SPITFIRE IA

(SPARES)

G-AWIJ

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 329 SPITFIRE IIA

(FLYING)

BM597

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 349 SPITFIRE LF.VB

(STATIC)

G-AISU

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 349 SPITFIRE LF.VB

(FLYING)

BL614

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 349 SPITFIRE VB

(TAXI) reported in error as AB671

EP120

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 349 SPITFIRE VB

(TAXI)

G-AWII

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 349 SPITFIRE VC

(FLYING)

LA198

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 356 SPITFIRE F.21

(STATIC)

PK724

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 356 SPITFIRE F.24

(SPARES)

G-ASSD

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE IX

(FLYING)

MK356

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE IX

(STATIC)

G-AVDJ

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.IX

(FLYING)

G-ASJV

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.IXB

(FLYING)

RW382

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(STATIC)

SL574

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(STATIC)

SM411

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(TAXI)

TB382

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(TAXI)

TB863

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(SPARES)

TE184

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(SPARES)

TE311

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(TAXI)

TE356

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(TAXI)

TE384

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(TAXI)

TE476

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 361 SPITFIRE LF.XVIE

(TAXI)

G-ALGT

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 379 SPITFIRE FR.XIV

(FLYING)

NH904

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 379 SPITFIRE FR.XIV

(SPARES)

RM694

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 379 SPITFIRE FR.XIV

(SPARES)

PM631

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 390 SPITFIRE PR.XIX

(FLYING)

PM651

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 390 SPITFIRE PR.XIX

(STATIC)

PS853

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 390 SPITFIRE PR.XIX

(FLYING)

PS915

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 390 SPITFIRE PR.XIX

(STATIC)

G-AVAV

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 509 SPITFIRE T.9

(FLYING)

G-AWGB

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 509 SPITFIRE T.9

(FLYING)

162

VICKERS SUPERMARINE VS 509 SPITFIRE T.9

(PURCHASED BUT NOT USED ON SET)

 

 

 

 

 

The serials of the Spanish air force CASA 2-111D used in Spain are not known to me. The serials above are those which were current at the time of the filming.