The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second World War. The BCATP remains one of the single largest aviation training programs in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war.
Robert Guy Newton was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for his hard-living life, he was cited as a role model by the actor Oliver Reed and the Who's drummer Keith Moon.
Will Fyffe, CBE was a Scottish music hall and performing artist on stage and screen during the 1930s and 1940s.
An Airman's Letter to His Mother is a 1941 documentary-style British propaganda short film directed by Michael Powell and narrated by John Gielgud and Powell.
Guy Middleton Powell, better known as Guy Middleton, was an English film character actor.
Leslie Arliss was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady during the 1940s.
Edward Black was a British film producer, best known for being head of production at Gainsborough Studios in the late 1930s and early 1940s, during which time he oversaw production of the Gainsborough melodramas. He also produced such classic films as The Lady Vanishes (1938).
Bonnie Prince Charlie is a 1948 British historical film directed by Anthony Kimmins for London Films depicting the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and the role of Bonnie Prince Charlie within it. Filmed in Technicolor, it stars David Niven, Jack Hawkins, and Margaret Leighton.
Night Boat to Dublin is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Robert Newton, Raymond Lovell, Guy Middleton, Muriel Pavlow and Herbert Lom. It was written by Huntington and Robert Hall.
Neutral Port is a 1940 British war comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Fyffe, Leslie Banks, Yvonne Arnaud, and Phyllis Calvert, with a supporting role for Wally Patch. It was produced and distributed by Gainsborough Pictures and shot at the company's Lime Grove Studios in West London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was one of several films Fyffe made for Gainsborough.
Owd Bob is a 1938 British drama film directed by Robert Stevenson. It stars Will Fyffe and John Loder. The film was released as To the Victor in the United States. It was based on the 1898 novel Owd Bob, previously filmed in 1924.
Chad Hanna is a 1940 American drama romance film directed by Henry King, and was adapted from a bestseller of sorts that was published that same year. The novel was written by Walter Dumaux Edmonds. It stars Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell and Dorothy Lamour.
They Came by Night is a 1940 British crime film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Will Fyffe, Phyllis Calvert and Anthony Hulme. It was made at the Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures and released by 20th Century Fox. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was based on the West End play of the same title by Barré Lyndon.
The Little Savage is a 1959 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin. It stars Pedro Armendáriz and Christiane Martel. It is loosely based on an 1848 novel of the same name by Frederick Marryat.
The Mind of Mr. Reeder is a 1939 British mystery crime film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Will Fyffe as Mr. Reeder, with Kay Walsh, George Curzon, and supporting roles for Chili Bouchier, John Warwick and Ronald Shiner.
Said O'Reilly to McNab is a 1937 British comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Will Mahoney, Will Fyffe and Ellis Drake. It was made at Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. Leslie Arliss and Marriott Edgar wrote the screenplay.
Rulers of the Sea is a 1939 American historical drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Margaret Lockwood and Will Fyffe. The film's story is based on the voyage of the SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the North Atlantic, from Britain to the United States. The film was made by Paramount Pictures, but featured Lockwood and Fyffe who were two of the leading stars of the British Gainsborough Pictures studios. The supporting cast features Alan Ladd.
Men of the Lightship is a short propaganda film produced by the Crown Film Unit for the British Ministry of Information in 1940, the year after the beginning of the Second World War. It dramatises the bombing of the East Dudgeon lightship by the Luftwaffe on 29 January 1940 and was designed to portray Germany as a barbaric enemy. An opening narration explains the traditional understanding of lightships as neutral vessels during war.
The Department of the Director of Underwater Weapons Materials originally known as the Torpedo Department was a former department of the British Department of Admiralty from 1917 to 1958 when it became the Underwater Weapons Division of the Weapons Department.
