Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11112 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-09-07
• Rating: Exempt
• Formats: Black & White, Colour, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 59 minutes

Synopsis
A unique record of the nightly air raids made on Germany during World War II. There are no actors - this is the real thing as it happened.

Customer Reviews

Historically crucial
The wartime colour film of Lancasters used in in this now re-mastered DVD is the only known to exist. It was de-classified under the "Thirty Year's Rule" in 1978 and so was not available for use in earlier documentary programmes such as "The World At War". Since release, parts of the film have appeared in other Video/DVD's and used on TV. For example, footage was shown by BBC TV last December in their "RAF at 90" programme.

Viewed as a whole, the film reflects a full day of activity at a front line RAF Bomber Base. It shows ground crew changing a Merlin engine, replacement of a rear turret with twin 0.50 inch machine guns rather than four 0.303 inch guns and then the fuelling and bombing up of aircraft. Bombs of various sizes are shown being manhandled on to trolleys then moved by tractor from the bomb dump to have fuses attached before being taken to aircraft and winched up into the bomb bay. Aircrew are shown being fully briefed and getting into flying gear prior to taking off "for a mission to Berlin". The latter section appears "staged" but still reveals what it was like to be in a Lancaster and the near impossibility of getting out if an aircraft was hit by shell or cannon fire from anti aircraft guns or night fighters.

The quality of the footage is astonishing given that the bulk was filmed using a 16mm camera. The interior shots of a fully operational Lancaster (and perhaps the reason for the ban on release until 1978) show the use of all the electronics that became available later in the war for navigation and early warning of night fighter attack.

The commentary is informative and the DVD also has some wonderful extra's that highlight the life of the late Air Commodore H I Cozens who made the film at his own initiative in 1944. In doing so, a moment of history was preserved for those involved and for future generations.

Essential viewing for those seeking to better comprehend the sheer scale of effort and resources behind the RAF's bombing campaign against Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Preperation and Execution of a Raid on Berlin, 1944
This is all orginal colour film taken mostly at RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire in 1944, home of 150 and 170 Squadrons flying Lancasters.

It is based around the preperation and execution of a raid on Berlin. We see Lancs being repaired, refuelled and bombed up. We also see some of the admin behind the planning of an operation, not just at Hemswell but at Group HQ. We then meet one particular pilot, called Flight Lieutenant Harris (later we find his real name is Bob Chandler) and his crew as they attend the pre-flight briefing.

The film then goes with Harris/Chandler in his Lanc on the Berlin raid and his return, late, and de-briefing.

At the end, it is revealed that Harris/Chandler was 22 years old at the time of this raid. I am always stunned at how young these fellows were.

It's a bit polite perhaps but if you want to get a small feel of what it was like to go on a bombing raid in WW2 this film is as good as any (I doubt us land lubbers can ever fully comprehend the experience).

Fascinating!

Utterly Astonishing
An utterly astonishing account of a day in the life of a Lancaster Bomber base, this DVD contains only footage taken at the time. Utterly real, utterly gripping, utterly terrifying. Lancaster bombers lasted just 40 hours in the air. Each mission lasted 7. Brave or crazy? You decide.