WAR IN THE AIR NO 2 - BATTLE FOR BRITAIN [Main Title]

Second film in a series showing the story of air power and its impact on the world. This episode shows the battle over Britain.

The film shows: Churchill's voice over scenes of UK, England; Hurricanes and Spitfires hidden from German reconnaissance; the importance of radar; the Air Force waiting for action; women in the Air Force; preparation for attack; shots of newspapers, with voice-over giving our progresses and losses on the attack; how people in London are managing, including some scenes from the film 'Ordinary People' (COI 506); footage of aircraft and the attack; postponement of Operation Sealion; a Harvest Festival service, putting forward the idea of 'the harvest being safely gathered in'; Churchill visiting the people during the attack on Britain; the nightly siege of London; attacks on London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Plymouth, Southampton, Sheffield, Birmingham and Coventry, and the way that these cities still managed to get to work on time every day. The film concludes by saying that 'we have lost over one million houses, forty thousand citizens have died but our cities still live'.

35mm