Spitfire Over Berlin | |
---|---|
Directed by | Callum Burn |
Written by | Andrew Burn Callum Burn |
Produced by | Andrew Burn Callum Burn |
Starring | Kris Saddler |
Cinematography | Sam Parsons |
Edited by | Callum Burn |
Music by | James Griffiths |
Production company | Tin Hat Productions |
Distributed by | Kaleidoscope Film Distribution (UK) [1] Shout Factory!(US) [2] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Language | English |
Box office | £51,931 (UK) $11,546 (worldwide) |
Spitfire Over Berlin is a 2022 British war film, focusing on an aerial spying mission during World War II. Like Burn's prior film, Lancaster Skies , it is a homage to the British war films of the 1940s and 1950s, and is inspired by true events.
Daredevil pilot Edward Barnes is recruited for a special mission: Operation Extreme Jeopardy, taking an unarmed observation plane over Berlin to photograph defence installations and prevent an American squadron from heading to certain death. [3]
The film was inspired by the RAF Photo Reconnaissance Unit, who provided photographic intelligence for the Allied Forces during World War II. The film was shot in Lincolnshire. [4]
Phil Hoard of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, writing: Spitfire Over Berlin’s ambition is laudable, and the flight sequences are precise and technically accomplished for a DIY production. But it needs to take a good hard look under the hood". [5] The Times also gave it two out of five stars, commending the Burns' efforts with limited resources, but stating: "The results, alas, in actual film-making terms, are punishingly poor and amount to little more than 80 minutes of bad acting inside a cardboard cockpit". [6]
The Dam Busters is a 1955 British epic war film starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave. It was directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in Nazi Germany with Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb.
John Gillespie Magee Jr. was a World War II Anglo-American Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and war poet, who wrote the sonnet "High Flight". He was killed in an accidental mid-air collision over England in 1941.
Battle of Britain is a 1969 British war film directed by Guy Hamilton, and produced by Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz. The film documents the events of the Battle of Britain. The film drew many respected British actors to accept roles as key figures of the battle, including Laurence Olivier as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Trevor Howard as Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, and Patrick Wymark as Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory. It also starred Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, and Robert Shaw as Squadron Leaders. The script by James Kennaway and Wilfred Greatorex was based on the book The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood and Derek Dempster.
The First of the Few is a 1942 British black-and-white biographical film produced and directed by Leslie Howard, who stars as R. J. Mitchell, the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft.
No. 303 Squadron RAF, also known as the 303rd "Tadeusz Kościuszko Warsaw" Fighter Squadron, was one of two Polish squadrons that fought during the Battle of Britain along with No. 302 Squadron, of 16 total Polish squadrons during the Second World War. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, the squadron claimed the largest number of aircraft shot down of the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain, even though it joined the fray two months after the battle had begun.
A Yank in the R.A.F. is a 1941 American black-and-white war film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power and Betty Grable. Released three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into World War II, it is considered a typical early-World War II production. Originally titled The Eagle Squadron, it is based on a story by "Melville Crossman", the pen name for 20th Century Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck. It follows an American pilot who joins the Royal Air Force (RAF), during a period when the United States was still neutral.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events commemorating the Second World War and upon British State occasions, notably Trooping the Colour, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday in 2006, as well as the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011 and at air displays throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
Alexander Adolphus Dumphries Henshaw, was a British air racer in the 1930s and a test pilot for Vickers-Armstrongs during the Second World War.
No. 452 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) air traffic control unit. It was established in 1941 as a fighter squadron, in accordance with Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme during World War II. The squadron flew Supermarine Spitfires for the entire war, initially over the United Kingdom and Nazi-occupied Europe. It was later based in Australia and the Netherlands East Indies, before being disbanded in 1945. It was re-raised in its current role in February 2011.
Royal Air Force Mount Farm, or more simply RAF Mount Farm, is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Dorchester, Oxfordshire, England.
Donald James Matthew Blakeslee was an officer in the United States Air Force, whose aviation career began as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force flying Spitfire fighter aircraft during World War II. He then became a member of the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons, before transferring to the United States Army Air Forces in 1942. He flew more combat missions against the Luftwaffe than any other American fighter pilot, and by the end of the war was a flying ace credited with 15.5 aerial victories.
Jeffrey Kindersley Quill, was a British test pilot who served on secondment with the Royal Air Force and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. He was also the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers Aviation's chief test pilot, Joseph "Mutt" Summers. After succeeding Summers as Vickers' chief test pilot, Quill test-flew every mark of Spitfire. Quill's work on the aircraft aided its development from a promising but untried prototype to become, with the Hawker Hurricane, an instrument of the Royal Air Force's victory in the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire later played a leading role in gaining Allied air superiority over Europe. Quill later wrote two books about the Spitfire.
Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain is a World War II combat flight simulation game by Lawrence Holland, released in October 1989 for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS systems. It was the second game in the trilogy of World War II titles by Lucasfilm Games, the others being Battlehawks 1942 (1988) and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (1991). The game was released with a 192-page manual written by Victor Cross, that provided a detailed historical overview of the battle and pilots' perspectives. An expansion pack, Their Finest Missions: Volume One, was released in 1989.
Diana Barnato Walker MBE FRAeS was a pioneering British aviator. In World War II, she became one of the first women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary, flying 80 types of aircraft and delivering 260 Spitfires. In 1963, she became the first British woman to break the sound barrier, flying at Mach 1.6, which also represented a world air speed record for women.
Various real-world aircraft have long made significant appearances in fictional works, including books, films, toys, TV programs, video games, and other media.
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts; around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world.
Flying Fortress is a 1942 British black-and-white war film drama from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by A. H. Soloman, directed by Walter Forde, that stars Richard Greene and co-stars Carla Lehmann, Betty Stockfeld, and Donald Stewart.
Edward Cyril Powles (1921–2008) was an English Royal Air Force pilot who set two notable records while flying Supermarine Spitfire photo-reconnaissance (PR) aeroplanes over the People's Republic of China.
Lancaster Skies is a 2019 British war film focusing on the British bomber campaign in World War II. It is a homage to the British war films of the 1940s and 1950s.
Spitfire is a 2018 British documentary feature film about the history of the Supermarine Spitfire and its last surviving pilots during World War II. The film was released in commemoration of the centenary of the Royal Air Force and features narration by Charles Dance.