Trivia for Battle of Britain (1969)

Trivia for
Battle of Britain (1969)

The large number of aircraft collected for this production made it the 35th largest air force in the world.


27 Spitfires in various degrees of repair were found for the film, 12 of which could be made airworthy. Only six Hurricanes where found, three of which were made flyable. The Messerschmitt 109 where all retired from the Spanish Air Force. The production company bought them all, about 50 of them, and put 17 of them back in flying condition. They are in the movie flown by Spanish Air Force pilots, and crop-dusters from Texas. The 32 Heinkels, with crews, were on loan for free from the Spanish Air Force, where they still were used for transport and target towing. Two of them were eventually bought by the production company and flown together with the 17 Messerschmitts to England for further shooting. The two Junkers 52 were also on loan from the Spanish Air Force.


According to the book written about the making of the movie the production crew used more ammunition (blanks of course) to film the movie - due to the fact that directors re-shoot scenes numerous times - than were actually used in the real battle.


Adolf Galland, the Luftwaffe pilot who fought during Battle of Britain, who later became the youngest German general at the age of 29, was hired as a technical advisor.


American special effects creator John P. Fulton was going to do the special effects for this film. However, he died in England before principal photography began.


There were to have been scenes featuring Lord Beaverbrook. Alec Guinness was hired to play Lord Beaverbrook, but these scenes were cut from the script shortly before filming.


Towards the end of the film, a British Spitfire flyer shoots down a German bomber, which then falls over central London before crashing into a railway station. This actually happened, (although the fighter used in the real incident was a Hurricane, not a Spitfire). The RAF pilot didn't shoot the bomber down, though; he had run out of ammo when he spotted the bomber apparently trying to attack Buckingham Palace. In desperation, he rammed the bomber which split in two and crashed into Victoria Station. Incredibly, he managed to parachute to safety. His own plane rammed into the ground at 350 mph. It was buried so deep that the authorities just left it there. In May 2004 the former RAF pilot was on hand as the remains of his aircraft were unearthed to make way for a new water main.


Over 60% of RAF Fighter Command aircraft during the Battle of Britain were Hawker Hurricanes. Due to the lack of Hurricanes in flying condition when the movie was filmed, the bulk of the air-to-air combat scenes use the more famous (and better fighter) Supermarine Spitfire. During the actual battle, whenever possible squadrons flying the Spitfire would engage the German fighters escorting bomber formations while the lower-performance (but better gun platform) Hurricanes engaged the bombers. Shooting down German bombers was the critical key since the bombers were attacking RAF airfields in the first phase of the battle and cities after the Luftwaffe changed target priorities. The film accurately depicts the British need (and desire) to destroy bombers to protect their air defense infrastructure and later protect civilian targets. For similar reasons (the lack of working aircraft of the right type) Spitfires and Hurricanes are shown flying together in tactical formations whereas in reality RAF squadrons flew one or the other type of fighter exclusively. Due to different performance characteristics, the two aircraft would not fly and fight together.


In the real Battle of Britain, there were other German airplanes used, mainly Messerschmitt 110 fighters, Dornier 17 bombers and Junkers 88 bombers. At the time of making the film, there were no flying examples of these aircraft.


The Heinkel 111 bombers were in fact Spanish built CASA 2111 bombers, Heinkel 111 H constructed under license, but with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and many other modifications. The Rolls engines were more powerful than the original Junkers Jumo and so the planes had more performance. In fact, all the real airplanes used on the film, except the Junkers Ju 52 (also Spanish built CASA 352) had British-built Rolls Royce Merlin engines.


The Junkers 87 Stuka dive bombers used in the film are model airplanes, the only ones not real. Their dive-bombing is not very real: Stukas will usually dive to 60-90º and release their bombs while diving (not pulling up).


When Air-Marshal Göring asks what the two German Officers needed to win the battle, the second officer says, "A Squadron of Spitfires." That scene was based on Adolf Galland's request to Hermann Göring during the actual event.


Sir 'William Walton' was first hired to write the score, which would have been his last. Because of his advanced age, he turned to friend Sir Malcolm Arnold for assistance with the orchestrations (which Arnold supplied, as well as writing additional cues). Producer Harry Saltzman rejected the score, stating it wasn't long enough. Ron Goodwin was hired to write a new score, but when told he would be replacing one of Walton's, his first reaction was, "Why?" Goodwin eventually wrote the replacement score, but Laurence Olivier threatened to have his name removed from the credits if none of Walton's original was used. For this reason, Walton's original music was kept for the "Battle in the Air" sequence towards the end of the film.


Trevor Howard replaced 'Rex Harrison' at the 11th hour.


When Air Vice Marshal Park first visits Squadron Leader Harvey, a double was used in place of Trevor Howard for the shot of him jumping out of the Hurricane because, as Guy Hamilton said, "You don't have elderly actors jumping out of elderly planes".


The St Katherine's Dock area of East London was being demolished at the time of filming to make way for a new housing estate. Many of the partially demolished buildings were used to depict bombed out houses and factories. Ironically, St Katherine's Dock was one of the few areas of London's East End to survive the Blitz.


Most of the extras in the scenes filmed in East London and Aldwich underground station were survivors of the Blitz. Some of the extras pulled out because the scenes were "too real" and brought back painful memories.


The scenes at Fighter Command were filmed on location at RAF Bentley Priory, the actual headquarters of Fighter Command during WW2. Air Chief Marshall Dowding's original office complete with the original furniture were used.


Many mock-ups of Spitfires and Hurricanes were made in the months prior to filming. Some had lawn mower engines fitted and could be taxied around the airfield, but if they braked too hard they would flip up onto their nose. This happened several times in front of the cameras and some of the footage was eventually used in the film.


A B-25 Mitchell bomber, owned and piloted by Jeff Hawke and his co-pilot Duane Egli, was converted into a camera plane. Cameras were fitted into the nose, tail, dorsal and belly turrets, the nose being fitted with an optically perfect dome. The plane was painted in many bright colors so it would look different from all angles and would be easily seen by other planes. It was nicknamed the "Psychedelic Monster". Eventually flown back to USA it sat derelict for many years in New Jersey before being restored back to flying condition in Florida. Flown in air shows for many years as "Chapter XI", referring to the high cost of flying, but later repainted as "Lucky Lady".


The Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmitts and Heinkels were repainted into authentic 1940 colors, but were so perfectly camouflaged that they could not be seen against the ground or sky. Most of the aerial scenes were filmed with cloud in the background so the aircraft could be seen.


The white "smoke" from damaged engines was made by injecting cooking oil into the exhaust manifold.


The scene of Göring accusing Kesselring of betrayal as his train departed was based on a real event. In the actual event Göring had left in such a hurry that electrical and telephone wires between train and the station building were left connected. These were broken and left trailing from the carriage when the train departed. Director Guy Hamilton had wanted to include this in the scene but thought it would look too comic.


The character of Section Officer Maggie Harvey is based on Air Commodore Dame Felicity Peake, who was a young section officer at RAF Biggin Hill in 1940. The scene of Harvey being ordered to put her cigarette out, and Harvey yelling back Warrant Officer Warrick, was based on a real event.


The character that Harry Andrews plays is called Senior Civil Servant in PR and cast lists. He is called Sir Austin Stokes in paperwork regarding the film production.


The planes used as Me-109s were actually Spanish Hispano HA-1112 Buchons. Basically an Me-109 with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, the nose of the plane looks completely different that of a German 109.


Timothy Dalton auditioned for a minor part of a RAF Pilot.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064072/trivia

 

Don't believe that for a single second.

Do they give the amounts used by any chance ???

 

Nice story, but I think it's a load of 'Horlicks'.....the film aircraft weren't armed at all and certainly didn't fire 'blanks'. As with most movies, the gunfire was dubbed in later......

 

I would love to get ahold of the book to see if it really mentions that LOL.

 

Hmmmm.....more internet BS, I think.....

AFAIK there have only ever been two books written about the production of the movie ; Leonard Mosley's 'The Battle Of Britain - the making of a film' and Robert Rudhall's 'Battle Of Britain - The Movie'. I have both, and can find absolutely no mention in either about blank cartridges being used, or in fact any shots being fired at all.

When I went to the film's '30th Anniversary' event at Duxford in 1999, Production Manager John Blake stated that great care had to be taken that nothing fell out of the sky over Southern England when the film was made, for dear of lawsuits - a far cry from 1940.....

 

LOL. Wasn't there a documentary produced about how the movie was made? Or was that another Battle of Britain movie?

 

I did find this site for Battle of Britain mistakes, goofs and bloopers.

Battle of Britain mistakes, goofs and bloopers

 

Yes - it's on the special 2-disc DVD set.....

 

Thanks. I will have to see if I can find a copy .