A brilliant and exciting documentary

One of the best war documentaries I have ever seen with excellent photography and a stirring soundtrack with totally appropriate music by that great British composer, Ralph Vaughan-Williams. Sixty years on, the action does seem a little stilted in places but the participants are all serving RAF officers, NCOs and aircrew,plus the occasional RN officer. I don't think that much of this film was 'tarted up' but some of the language is a bit prim - not like it would have been. Definitely a morale booster for all of us who were alive at that time. There's lots of humour and one gets an excellent impression of the atmosphere both in the air and in the control rooms.

The film follows the work done my the Sunderland and Catalina flying boats in the north Atlantic and their spats with enemy planes and submarines busy trying to sink merchant ships bringing supplies to a desperate UK from the US and Canada. Wonderful photography and some great footage of attacks on a major enemy ship by Hudsons and Halifaxes from the air force base in Iceland. This shows how the personnel and planes of Coastal Command played such a vital part in the defence of the free world.



Runtime: 72 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Mono
plain packaging