My favourite piece of laconic RAF banter came from a veteran who was asked what he'd thought, at the time, about Churchill's iconic, "Never ... has so much been owed by so many to so few." "We thought he was talking about our Mess bill." 🤣🤣🤣
@@mariuszmichaek5586 Being British is hardly not a compliment. You speak one of our languages, so do the most people in the world, we begun the industrial revolution, alongside a powerful history, the most powerful ever seen. I love being a Brit.
My favourite film. Watched it with my grandson. He's plane mad. I only have to say "you can" and he chips in with " teach monkeys to fly better than that ". I am ex RAF
Excellent Noel Snowden. My late-dad RAF ,flew Spitfires in Battle of Britain with 92 Sqn. D-Day on Typhoons in tank and train- busting to hamper German supplies to the beaches. Hope I can be half the man he was...
True that.. Same here in India.. SNCOs run the show.. though pilots r kinda considered fancy.. there is often the NCOs who make things happen.. There is not much written by NCOs in Indian armed forces..Hence often we dont get many stories unless u r an insider
Remember going to see this film with my family when it came out. So brilliant, and remember reading how the director scoured the world to bring as many original airworthy planes into the film as he could. Some of the flying sequences have never been surpassed, and the film stands as a great historical record for future generations. The music's not bad either!
We watched it at Boarding School when it was released for free because on of the pupil's father worked in the cinema / film industry !! Fantastic for a 11/12 year old then !
At the start of the film there is some rivalry between the upper-class officer played by Fox and the more grammar-school NCO played by McShane. But here the two experienced pilots are revelling in their superiority over the luckless Simon.
Steve Kaczynski yep. The EF at the beginning in France interpreting for the “uneducated among us” certainly plays to that rivalry in the beginning. I can tell you from being former military that once the bullets start flying those rivalries disappear.
I saw this as a child. It was so cool to know RAF pilots basked in the sunlight on comfy chairs and traded witty barbs before heading into battle. So years later I moved to London to get a job, gain citizenship, and join the RAF. Well, turns it its always overcast, traffic is a bitch, and most of the people I met to trade witty barbs with were Indian. So it was France instead.
The part where he walks back to the hut has that cricket feel to it - where you’ve just been castled and you have to walk past your mates in the sheds and you know they’re laughing there arses off at you.
He called his wife a silly bitch for being bored after her husband sent her on vacation. That would cause an absolute riot if it was put in a move now, lol.
I remember watching this film in the early 1970's. Later thru the years as I worked on military aircraft I always remembered this scene. New pilots would damage aircraft, some just didn't make the fit. We would often cover for a student and log it in as some part failed which give them another chance. I never allowed a plane to fly unless I was willing to fly in it myself. That's how it is between Pilots and crew chiefs, then and now nothing has changed.
My uncle did the exact same thing in the military. He said he couldn't remember the number of times he would put in a false request that could have gotten him into such trouble but he did it because he knew "the lads just needed some help ta' get their wings on straight and true".
Watched this Apple rubbish called Masters of the Air.. Jesus not a patch on this film. This is the best WW2 air film ever produced, best actors, best in air filming with real planes and incredible crews. Such a shame we cannot make a decent film or series these days.
Yes I listened to this album over and over for years. Then one night while working on my model of a HE111. Listenesting to the song and that part comes on. It hits me what that is from. The Battle of Britain. One of my all time favorite movies. 👍👍👍
Brilliant script... and this clip is so funny. There's an organic look and feel to this film, its so real and crispy and the music..the real planes...its so fresh. It makes Dunkirk look dull and plasticky.
Have you watched "A man for all seasons"? A Brilliant film, Shaw plays Henry VIII and appears for probably 20 minutes tops throughout the film, but his scene where he visits Thomas More (Paul Schofield.... ALSO excellent) at home in his garden is epic acting. Jovial and playful one second, then deeply menacing and intimidating the next. The whole film is well worth a watch.
Kudos to the stunt pilot who deliberately bounced a Spitfire over and over while landing. A hard landing can make landing gear collapse, but the pilot knew how much the plane could take and still look good on film. No CGI when "Battle of Britain" was made.
The Hurricane's undercarriage was the best by far of the BoB fighters. The wheels opened outwards, giving the Hurri a wide and stable track. The Bf109's very narrow undercarriage was worst of all when used on the bumpy airfields of France. 5% of all 109s were written off due to take off and landing accidents.
@tigerarmyrule Hurricanes shot down a lot of Bf109s too, including no doubt many whose pilots thought "Not a Spitfire, so this will be easy" 😊. The Spit and Hurri complimented each other beautifully.
@tigerarmyrule Indeed. Hurricanes were better against bombers than Spitfires. The Hurri was more stable when its pilot fired its guns, which were all positioned just outside its prop arc, concentrating their power. Also the Hurri was easier for a novice or simply average pilot to handle.
@tigerarmyrule And God only knows how much closer the result would have been if Park had not been in charge of the 11 Group squadrons which flew from the critical South East corner of England including London. His colleague Leigh-Mallory in charge of 12 Group just north of London was an egghead who wasted time assembling "Big Wings", multiple squadrons which took too much time and fuel to form up prior to steering to meet the Luftwaffe, if it hadn't turned for home already. Leigh-Mallory played a disgusting political game to have Park removed so he could steal his job. Luckily for everyone, Park won the Battle first.
I knew a battle of Britain pilot he forgot to drop the undercarriage on his first flight in a spitfire because he was rushed into service after only flying fixed undercarriage aircraft - made up for it downing 3 109's and 4 heinknels before being shot down over the channel picked up by a german boat - hard luck for him 5 years POW
Some future aces had a rough start to their flying careers, sometimes even writing off aircraft. Some aces were crack shots, others fantastic pilots, but not necessarily both. And they all had a steep learning curve.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Johnnie Johnson, who became Britain's highest scorer, nearly didn't get started all. He pranged two Spitfires on landing during training and was told one more and he would be off fighters.
According to the book "Tail End Charlies", after a British bomber finished its tour without being shot down, a drunken tail gunner confessed to the pilot that on one of their earlier ops, he forgot to switch off the tail light and a German night fighter saw the light and attacked, nearly shooting the plane down. The gunner said he had not mentioned it earlier because he was worried that the potentially fatal error would get him thrown off the crew.
@@stevekaczynski3793 my dad served in bomber command his A/C was attacked by a fighter the rear gunner got it , the gun turret had to be hosed out back at base bits of him everywhere even teeth , not a pretty sight he told me
@@alanjones6359 According to the same book I cited earlier, they had to bury a lot of aircrew but not much was left of them and much of what was left was not identifiable, so the coffins would have to be filled with sandbags.
@@markfryer9880 There were only 3 working flyable Hurricanes available for the shooting of this film, that's why there is so few footage of the aircraft in the film.
@@markfryer9880 Although the more numerous Hurricane did get slightly more kills, the Spit performed better on a one-for-one basis and has become a symbol Britain could rally behind. It didn't help its perception that after 1940 the use of the Hurricane declined, while Spitfires became the backbone of the force and were constantly upgraded to remain competitive with their Luftwaffe counterparts.
@@JustinianPrvni No offence at Hurricanes, they were the workhorses of the RAF. I just like the look. Hurricane's had a more rugged look to them. Both in the hands of a good pilot would do very well.
I really feel for that rookie pilot - he's exactly what I would have been in his shoes! You get the feeling that they've spoken the "monkeys" bit to many a clueless recruit over the past few weeks!
And, like so many rookie pilots, he didn't survive his first combat flight. New pilots were literally thrown in at the deep end - some with less than ten hours on the aircraft that they were to fly in action - and, with the battle raging, the front-line squadrons simply didn't have the time to give them on-the-spot training.
@@cpj93070 I remember that the next thing that happened, after the CO and the Simon the Shitehawk were back on the ground, was a squadron scramble with the airfield under attack. Simon, the rookie pilot got separated from the rest of the formation and was killed by a 109 that came out of the sun. This was a long time before Eagle Day. You are possibly thinking of the two other rookie pilots who didn't survive that battle.
And, for too many of them, dead in their first mission. But that was the cold-blooded way of it then: the new pilots were, in effect, cannon fodder to keep the Germans off the tails of the more experienced pilots. If a new pilot, fresh out of Operational Training Unit, survived his first five missions he could count himself fortunate.
@@MarsFKA On the Eastern Front, despite some key German aces racking up dozens and even hundreds of kills, I read that three-quarters of German fighter pilots were shot down and killed, captured or seriously enough injured to remove them from flying duties before they had even shot down their first enemy aircraft. Fuel shortages and reduced training programmes meant the number of "Simons" on the German side increased as the war went on, on all fronts.
@@stevekaczynski3793 This is as you say. I read once that Luftwaffe fighter policy seemed to be that of promoting the stars and increasing their score cards at the expense of the newer, less experienced pilots. As I said, cannon fodder.
Many thanks to the brave British soldiers who fought against Hitler between 1939 and 1945. As a German, I would have to spend a victory in the German Reich as a crew soldier in rainy England, would drink there lukewarm beer and run me in fog in the moor. Thank you!
Well according to many Americans ' if it wasn't for us you limeys would be talking German now'. So we'd probably have learned to drink your tasteless lager, never tell a joke and reeaally learn how to follow a rule.
@Damo "Show the world the meaning of freedom and humanity" ? Lol!!!!!!!!!! You only have to look at the results of today, you can't walk around London without getting stabbed, look at what happened to those girls at Rotherham......London has one of the highest murder rates in Europe. If the men who stormed the beaches like they did over 70 years ago knew the end result today, they would had told their respective commanding officers to shove it.
@@Desertduleler_88 bit of an overreaction mate given over 9million people walk around London on a daily. Crime rates are high and unacceptable I grant you, but thank the tory government and their cuts to the services for that not multiculturalism. Biggest scumbags I know are white chavs who'd rob you blind without giving a toss and don't know the meaning of work.
I think it would be cool to do a movie on a squadron of German Pilots. We already have what feels like a hundred American and British films. I mean there’s 2 movies on Mosquitos!!!!! 1964 movie 633 Squadron and 1969 Mosquito Squadron. Wouldn’t mind a newer movie on a guy like Erich Hartman or a fictional character. WWI movies have the 2008’s Der Rote Baron and 1966 The Blue Max. 1957 did have Der Stern von Afrika (The Star of Africa)
@@grahampayne6221 great movie....just for respect reasons if nothing else....i watched this with my father when it came out....he was with the royal Sussex Regiment....
I imagine many of them lived through it and had family members lost to the Germans. It took my Grandfather a long time (the 70s) to forgive the Germans. Ironically, one of his best friends in later life was a former Wehrmacht soldier who had fought against him in Holland.
@@barbaradyson6951 . Yes I do believe they were. The credits should show this, but I believe the hanger was blown up actually on the Bigging Hill aerodrome. Several B of B veterans gave advice and contributed to thus film, 'Ginger Lacy' being one of them. He taught a friend of mine to fly long ago, in the Sixty's. Perhaps, (And I know there will be others who might disagree), this is probably the finest film about our wartime history that has ever been made. The flying scenes took a great deal of areal choreography. Most of it filmed from a B25 Mitchell converted into a flying camera ship. Good credits at the end. Thumbs up all round. The Boys in Royal Air Force, Fighter Command, gave our enemy a bloody nose & thereby secured our freedoms we enjoy today. What a shame that our miserable, limp wristed, pathetic government have 'Pissed it all away', excuse my French. But yes, much of the film was taken at Duxford, (Home of the Big Wing). Respects to you.
@@stevenholton438 For the filming of the movie? I'm talking in real life. In real life the Hurricane was FAR more used in the BoB than the Spitfire was.
Brilliant movie ... made even better because it doesn't portray the Americans winning it all by themselves. My father was in the R.A.F. & served during the war, so I can relate to this movie so well.
I am an American and anyone that knows anything about the war knows that we needed each other to win the war. I am curious to what movies you might be referring to specifically. I am not doubting what you are saying, but I would like to know which movies. I really liked The Longest Day where the Brits used Rupert to fool the Germans. There is no doubt that the English were very inventive in their methods of warfare. The Barrage balloon was even somewhat effective against various attacks such as the V1 flying bombs.
I think if you looked at the ROH you will find that there were some American pilots in the Battle of Britain as well polish the checks and Israelis they all did there bit to defend this country I for one am truly grateful for their efforts and sacrifice
@@grahampayne6221 Nobody's denying that. I was sarcastically referring to one particular Hollywood movie. And by the way, it's Czechs, not checks. Checks are what we should use to make sure we've spelled words correctly before posting.
Ummm, Spitfires and Hurricanes had "lower your undercart" warning buzzers for just such an occasion. They were just coming out of fixed gear biplanes after all.
I remember watching that movie, and if Im not mistaken, then it is also where I have one of my own favourite scene. When the squadron that had some of the polish pilots attacked some german planes, and when one of those polish pilots need to jump out of his plane, then he landed in a field where some farmers took him as "captive" because they thought it was a german one. Later in the movie we see the same guy reading a book which was a dictionary to translate polish to english
"And welcome home sir, undercarriage lever a bit sticky was it sir, well as a matter of fact it was, well I wouldn't tell the CO that sir, not if I were you"
Barbara Dyson true. My dad 92 Sqn Spitfire pilot in Battle of Britain admitted Hurricane much more stable gun platform than the Spit. Did the heavy lifting. Just didn't have the sexy lines...ie,a Jeep versus a Ferrari lol.
I remember seeing Alex Henshaw talk on this subject: "The fact of the matter is that, had the RAF been equipped with nothing but Spitfires, we could still have won the Battle of Britain. But had the RAF been equipped with nothing but Hurricanes, we could NOT have won. It's as simple as that". Of course Henshaw was a civilian. But he was also a crack pilot, the Chief Test Pilot at the Castle Bromwich plant where most wartime Spitfires were built, and therefore holds the record for the greatest number of Spitfires flown by one man.
@@yahulwagoni4571 There's a documentary on the making of Battle of Britain on youtube somehere. The ME 109's and HE 111's came from Spain as they were still in service with the Spanish air force, but the HE 111's had Merlins for engines
@@stevekaczynski3793 The undercarriage of the 109 was especially hard to land with; the 190 had much more stable landings, with that wider undercarriage.
A lot of voice procedure came from those long-winded exchanges... Received and understood....became Roger Will Comply....became Wilco And if you roger a message you should wilco....you get a head slap
Great idea! Set a Spitfire down on a soft surface, then have a crane on standby to pick it up after the aircraft, landing at around 85 miles per hour, digs the wheels into the soft surface and flips on its back.
ronald pollard ... please, please tell me you weren't serious with that comment ... because if you were, I would ask you not to drive a car, vote or breed. smh :-(
@@rutabagasteu Some veterans like the commander helped the rookies like Simon, but quite a few either looked down on them like here, or avoided them as being bad luck. And that behaviour was found in all armed forces, certainly in WW2.
It was somewhat more complex than that.. Early on the RAF Tactics were lousy, flying in close formation & that cost more lives than inexperienced Pilots. They soon followed the Luftwaffe system of ‘finger four’ which is still used by every Air Force Today. Also many Novices proved excellent in Combat, essentially good Killers, whereas a lot of experienced blokes were not very effective.. A fact not covered in the film, is that a few Pilots would follow a damaged Bomber back across the Channel, keeping out of range of the tail gunner ~ then & in sight of the Germans, close in & shoot it down in plain view. Just to give them an example of the mentality they faced. Question: Do we still have that mentality in UK now, in view of the Threat from Within..
Andy B. Trouble with following a enemy plane back across the Channel is the limited fuel supply and the risk of running out on the return flight. From a psychological point of view shooting down the in sight of home can work for you or against you. Seeing planes taking off never to return leaves a lot to the imagination which can often be more dangerous.
Mark Fryer I remember reading about an entire squadron of Spit Mk5s failing to return from a trip across the Channel. Nobody knew what happened to them until after the war, when survivors told a chillingly brave story of being engaged by a large force of FW 190s as they were turning for home, and low on fuel. They could run for it and risk being shot down by the speedy FWs or ditching in the Channel out of gas, or they could stand and fight and try to take some of the bastards with them. They choose to fight and gave a good account for themselves until one by one, they were all shot down. Survivors served as POWs until freed and their story was quietly told. If they had been American, I'm sure there would have been a movie.
The Czech pilot Josef Frantisek was prone to lone wolf attacks - he liked to hang out in a patch of sky close to the southern English coast and pick off German stragglers passing that way, often damaged and low on fuel.
Mk 1spitfire...hurricane is half metal half fabric.. but can endure very heavy battle damage but spitfire cannot..hurries not agile as spits ..armament is same..
They only had 1 Spifire Mk 1 and 1 Mk 2 in the movie. Most Spits were of later, inaccurate Marks. 12 flyable, but only 5 or 6 were ever shown.. 3 hurricanes were made flyable. 17 flyable Buchons ”Bf 109’s”.
Boompsydaisy ! It's enough to make you weep. Poor Simon, Jerry had him for his breakfast ! Trouble is, this was reality. 500 Royal Air Force pilots died in the Battle of Britain. Don't know how many Luftwaffe aircrews were killed ? .
One of my favorite movies of all time. But I have never understood the character of "Simon" the very bad pilot. He was obviously not up to snuff as a pilot, so I can't understand why he simply wasn't "washed out" instead of kept on. He is later killed in combat for his carelessness. Perhaps one of the British viewers can explain why he was treated so badly by everyone in the squadron when he was obviously in over his head and not allowed to leave. It seems like the guy was trying to serve his country but just didn't have it as a pilot. The squadron mates seem cruel (to this American anyway). Since the movie is very British, is there something I am missing here?
@fliegeroh The main problem was the RAF at that time was in a 'damned if you do; damned if you don't' kind of situation. It wasn't the lack of Spitfires which was the major problem, but rather the lack of trained, and, more crucially, combat ready pilots. Even by modern day standards, as the commenter above correctly stated, the Spitfire is a pretty complex plane to fly, so ~10hrs Operational Training is barely scratching the surface. Thus the reason why the other, vastly more experienced, combat, pilots treated him with distain verging on contempt is that, having had 'green' pilots in combat with them before, he was seen as being just a big a menace to them, and himself, unless/until he was able to prove himself. If, and that was a big if, he managed to survive the first five missions, without being shot down, killed, or, worse, shooting one of his fellow squadron members, only then would he be accepted; until he had reached that point, it would be a case of 'keep to the rear, and don't bloody well get in the way ...' Harsh ...? Well, yes ... But one could say that the Battle of Britain was the aerial equivalent to the trench warfare of WWI, viz. one of attrition, with heavy losses on both sides. Ironically, had the decision to switch from attacking RAF airfields, to British cities, not been made, it wouldn't have taken much longer, in order of perhaps 6-8 more months, or even less, for the Luftwaffe to have completely decimated the RAF, meaning them achieving total aerial superiority. But, as history shows, that decision was made, which although resulted in untold number of civilian casualties, possibly ranging in the tens of thousands, nevertheless it gave the RAF the breathing space it desperately needed to rebuild, regroup, and counter-attack. Hence, the stakes were pretty damn high during the Battle of Britain, which meant that, to the more combat experienced, deploying, almost literally, a kid barely out of Boot Camp straight into combat, with zero additional training, was just asking for trouble; sadly, a large portion of operational losses were due to inexperienced pilots being shot down ... Put simply, until/unless the new pilot proved himself, he was seen as a liability, and not a asset; however, without the constant induction of new pilots, and especially not 'washing-out' even the bad ones, given the level of attrition the RAF was experiencing, they faced the struggle of keeping up with operational losess. They could ill-afford 'washing out' any bad pilot (unless he was exceptionally bad ...), as, to paraphrase a quote from 'Platoon', they needed every swinging dick in the air in the struggle to keep the Germans at bay ...
fliegeroh They really should have posted Simon to a squadron further North in 12 Group to give him time to get used to flying and more training in combat flying. However RAF doctrine at the time was wrong with line astern attacks and other such follies.
![CAMPปลิ้น | EP.77[1/2] ก็ไม่ได้ชอบเอาชนะ แต่เรื่องอะไรต้องแพ้!!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JraaBYOd7I0/mqdefault.jpg)
This is proper leadership. No bollocking. ‘Keep your jacket on son!’ - Paternal and practical. Task focused. No
point destroying him. Build him
Up.
Robert Shaw
@@NormAppleton Lord Randolph Churchill in the Winston Churchill film!
Ye unfortunatelly he get killed right in the next scene.
Leader not a boss....but difference. Today we have a lot of boss people telling the stuff what to do but never done it their own.
@@NormAppleton Shaw supported IRA terrorism.
My favourite piece of laconic RAF banter came from a veteran who was asked what he'd thought, at the time, about Churchill's iconic, "Never ... has so much been owed by so many to so few."
"We thought he was talking about our Mess bill." 🤣🤣🤣
That is the greatest joke about this I've ever heard.
You know that everyone saying "taka taka taka" had been on the end of it before.
lol, the sarcasm is brilliant in this scene..and so British.:)
69 likes😏
@@brandonseto4524 yes British, but not a compliment.
@@mariuszmichaek5586 I’d say it is
@@mariuszmichaek5586 Being British is hardly not a compliment. You speak one of our languages, so do the most people in the world, we begun the industrial revolution, alongside a powerful history, the most powerful ever seen. I love being a Brit.
@@Hyype Yes, but it is only last 150 years. A sense of superiority has been lost in many cultures, beacause everything is change, look arround;).
Bumps-a-daisy, its enough to make you weep.
One of the best parts 😂😂
Loved that line up our can teach monkys to fly better than that
My favourite film. Watched it with my grandson. He's plane mad. I only have to say "you can" and he chips in with " teach monkeys to fly better than that ". I am ex RAF
Excellent Noel Snowden. My late-dad RAF ,flew Spitfires in Battle of Britain with 92 Sqn. D-Day on Typhoons in tank and train- busting to hamper German supplies to the beaches. Hope I can be half the man he was...
Huge respect to you from across the pond, sir! What squadron did you serve in?
1:29 "Well I wouldn't tell the CO that sir". Gotta love crusty, veteran NCOs lol.
True that.. Same here in India.. SNCOs run the show.. though pilots r kinda considered fancy.. there is often the NCOs who make things happen.. There is not much written by NCOs in Indian armed forces..Hence often we dont get many stories unless u r an insider
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Remember going to see this film with my family when it came out. So brilliant, and remember reading how the director scoured the world to bring as many original airworthy planes into the film as he could. Some of the flying sequences have never been surpassed, and the film stands as a great historical record for future generations. The music's not bad either!
We watched it at Boarding School when it was released for free because on of the pupil's father worked in the cinema / film industry !! Fantastic for a 11/12 year old then !
This film was garbage, which is why it flopped so badly.
@@MarkHarrison733 can't please everybody, now, can they?
@@chpman2013 Nobody in 1969 was interested in a racist film about an imperialist war.
2:33 is the best moment of the whole thing
You can teach monkeys to fly better than that
At least he figured out what the flare meant.
I read that happened quite often being trained on fixed landing gear airplanes.
@@forrestry He probably had many more hours training on a biplane or something like that.
this is my second favourate scene, after 'repeat please' awesome film
I liked the "thanks awfully old chap" scene where the pilot bails out and lands in the glasshouse.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN".
"Learning to swim...."
***** at last someone got it right, you here a lot of 'attack attack attack' and the like
I love what Squadron Leader Canfield said:
'The engine's overheating and so am I. Either we stand down or blow up. Now which do you want?'
XDDD
+Commander Xorph Indeed old chap, what!
"Spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson." Classic!!
At the start of the film there is some rivalry between the upper-class officer played by Fox and the more grammar-school NCO played by McShane. But here the two experienced pilots are revelling in their superiority over the luckless Simon.
Steve Kaczynski yep. The EF at the beginning in France interpreting for the “uneducated among us” certainly plays to that rivalry in the beginning. I can tell you from being former military that once the bullets start flying those rivalries disappear.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Fox tends to get a few quips in! "Spring chicken to shite hawk in one easy lesson"
DakakakakakA
I saw this as a child. It was so cool to know RAF pilots basked in the sunlight on comfy chairs and traded witty barbs before heading into battle. So years later I moved to London to get a job, gain citizenship, and join the RAF. Well, turns it its always overcast, traffic is a bitch, and most of the people I met to trade witty barbs with were Indian. So it was France instead.
"He's calling you names again Arnold."
"Bomps-a-daisy, it's enough to make you weep."
The part where he walks back to the hut has that cricket feel to it - where you’ve just been castled and you have to walk past your mates in the sheds and you know they’re laughing there arses off at you.
"Silly bitch! He's calling you names again Arnold". My absolute favorite scene, thanks for uploading it.
Arnold bitch slapped that stuck up pilot later that day.
If they got shot down, it was unlikely to be a major emotional event for Arnold...
He called his wife a silly bitch for being bored after her husband sent her on vacation. That would cause an absolute riot if it was put in a move now, lol.
@@Vikingr91That wasn’t a vacation that was evacuation 😊
I remember watching this film in the early 1970's. Later thru the years as I worked on military aircraft I always remembered this scene. New pilots would damage aircraft, some just didn't make the fit. We would often cover for a student and log it in as some part failed which give them another chance. I never allowed a plane to fly unless I was willing to fly in it myself. That's how it is between Pilots and crew chiefs, then and now nothing has changed.
My uncle did the exact same thing in the military. He said he couldn't remember the number of times he would put in a false request that could have gotten him into such trouble but he did it because he knew "the lads just needed some help ta' get their wings on straight and true".
Now that's something i never knew. Guess that's where the famous bond between pilots and ground crew really comes into play.
animelovers000 p
Watched this Apple rubbish called Masters of the Air.. Jesus not a patch on this film. This is the best WW2 air film ever produced, best actors, best in air filming with real planes and incredible crews.
Such a shame we cannot make a decent film or series these days.
"never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"
"Simon where the hell are you?" was used as a sound bite in the Pink Floyd "The Wall" movie.
Yes I listened to this album over and over for years. Then one night while working on my model of a HE111. Listenesting to the song and that part comes on. It hits me what that is from. The Battle of Britain. One of my all time favorite movies. 👍👍👍
@@timmosca3043 There is also a sound bite from the Dambusters in there as well
Really ! ! ! Y A W N
Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? Remember how she said that we would meet again?
Brilliant script... and this clip is so funny. There's an organic look and feel to this film, its so real and crispy and the music..the real planes...its so fresh. It makes Dunkirk look dull and plasticky.
"Spring Chicken to Shitehawk in one easy lesson."
As a child I remember the filming at Duxford with dog fights above happy memories 😀
Thanks for this. How annoying when tv companies chop this bit. Its ridiculous.
Spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson! ...brilliant dialogue, what a classic film
"You can teach monkeys to fly better than that!"
Dakka dakka dakka
Billiant!
I was on a Robert Shaw watching binge one weekend and came across this movie...it's bee a favorite ever since.
Have you watched "A man for all seasons"? A Brilliant film, Shaw plays Henry VIII and appears for probably 20 minutes tops throughout the film, but his scene where he visits Thomas More (Paul Schofield.... ALSO excellent) at home in his garden is epic acting. Jovial and playful one second, then deeply menacing and intimidating the next. The whole film is well worth a watch.
th-cam.com/video/yHtg9eWvg3c/w-d-xo.html
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 It's been on my todo list for while.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Shaw's overacting ruined that film.
Did you know he supported the IRA?
Kudos to the stunt pilot who deliberately bounced a Spitfire over and over while landing. A hard landing can make landing gear collapse, but the pilot knew how much the plane could take and still look good on film. No CGI when "Battle of Britain" was made.
The Hurricane's undercarriage was the best by far of the BoB fighters. The wheels opened outwards, giving the Hurri a wide and stable track. The Bf109's very narrow undercarriage was worst of all when used on the bumpy airfields of France. 5% of all 109s were written off due to take off and landing accidents.
@tigerarmyrule Hurricanes shot down a lot of Bf109s too, including no doubt many whose pilots thought "Not a Spitfire, so this will be easy" 😊. The Spit and Hurri complimented each other beautifully.
@tigerarmyrule Indeed. Hurricanes were better against bombers than Spitfires. The Hurri was more stable when its pilot fired its guns, which were all positioned just outside its prop arc, concentrating their power. Also the Hurri was easier for a novice or simply average pilot to handle.
@tigerarmyrule And God only knows how much closer the result would have been if Park had not been in charge of the 11 Group squadrons which flew from the critical South East corner of England including London. His colleague Leigh-Mallory in charge of 12 Group just north of London was an egghead who wasted time assembling "Big Wings", multiple squadrons which took too much time and fuel to form up prior to steering to meet the Luftwaffe, if it hadn't turned for home already. Leigh-Mallory played a disgusting political game to have Park removed so he could steal his job. Luckily for everyone, Park won the Battle first.
@@neilpemberton5523 And Trafford Leigh-Mallory got what was coming 4 years later.
Helps pitch in for the Battle of Britain by being a fighter pilot, retires and enjoys freedom...
BECOMES OWNER OF THE CONTINENTAL 😎👌❤️
The squadron leader got eaten by a shark.
@@raypurchase801 Only after he'd survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945.
The best scene in this movie... among many others!
I knew a battle of Britain pilot he forgot to drop the undercarriage on his first flight in a spitfire because he was rushed into service after only flying fixed undercarriage aircraft - made up for it downing 3 109's and 4 heinknels before being shot down over the channel picked up by a german boat - hard luck for him 5 years POW
Some future aces had a rough start to their flying careers, sometimes even writing off aircraft. Some aces were crack shots, others fantastic pilots, but not necessarily both. And they all had a steep learning curve.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Johnnie Johnson, who became Britain's highest scorer, nearly didn't get started all. He pranged two Spitfires on landing during training and was told one more and he would be off fighters.
According to the book "Tail End Charlies", after a British bomber finished its tour without being shot down, a drunken tail gunner confessed to the pilot that on one of their earlier ops, he forgot to switch off the tail light and a German night fighter saw the light and attacked, nearly shooting the plane down. The gunner said he had not mentioned it earlier because he was worried that the potentially fatal error would get him thrown off the crew.
@@stevekaczynski3793 my dad served in bomber command his A/C was attacked by a fighter the rear gunner got it , the gun turret had to be hosed out back at base bits of him everywhere even teeth , not a pretty sight he told me
@@alanjones6359 According to the same book I cited earlier, they had to bury a lot of aircrew but not much was left of them and much of what was left was not identifiable, so the coffins would have to be filled with sandbags.
Perfect true heroes every single one of them!
Spitfires are so beautiful.
leftcoaster67 Amazing how many Germans were shot down by Spitfires but never Hurricanes. Are they Spitfire Snobs perhaps?
@@markfryer9880 There were only 3 working flyable Hurricanes available for the shooting of this film, that's why there is so few footage of the aircraft in the film.
@@markfryer9880 Although the more numerous Hurricane did get slightly more kills, the Spit performed better on a one-for-one basis and has become a symbol Britain could rally behind. It didn't help its perception that after 1940 the use of the Hurricane declined, while Spitfires became the backbone of the force and were constantly upgraded to remain competitive with their Luftwaffe counterparts.
@@JustinianPrvni No offence at Hurricanes, they were the workhorses of the RAF. I just like the look. Hurricane's had a more rugged look to them. Both in the hands of a good pilot would do very well.
Can we have this shown in cinemas again since cinemas are showing older films now
Omg the sarcasm is spot on in this scene 😅 when I first watched this movie it had me rolling when they said that and still has me busting out laughing
I really feel for that rookie pilot - he's exactly what I would have been in his shoes! You get the feeling that they've spoken the "monkeys" bit to many a clueless recruit over the past few weeks!
And, like so many rookie pilots, he didn't survive his first combat flight. New pilots were literally thrown in at the deep end - some with less than ten hours on the aircraft that they were to fly in action - and, with the battle raging, the front-line squadrons simply didn't have the time to give them on-the-spot training.
@@MarsFKA If you remember he lasted till "eagle day" god know's what he was doing for a month?
@@cpj93070 I remember that the next thing that happened, after the CO and the Simon the Shitehawk were back on the ground, was a squadron scramble with the airfield under attack. Simon, the rookie pilot got separated from the rest of the formation and was killed by a 109 that came out of the sun. This was a long time before Eagle Day. You are possibly thinking of the two other rookie pilots who didn't survive that battle.
@@MarsFKA No, remember, go back and watch the film, he gets killed on eagle day, that's when the airfields come under attack.
@@cpj93070 I guess we saw different versions of the film. The attack on the airfields scene was long before Eagle Day.
Before landing check lists are terribly useful old boy , especially before you land!
True. My Favorite part of the Movie. 10 hrs of basic then sent to squadron. spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson (motion picture).
And, for too many of them, dead in their first mission. But that was the cold-blooded way of it then: the new pilots were, in effect, cannon fodder to keep the Germans off the tails of the more experienced pilots. If a new pilot, fresh out of Operational Training Unit, survived his first five missions he could count himself fortunate.
@@MarsFKA On the Eastern Front, despite some key German aces racking up dozens and even hundreds of kills, I read that three-quarters of German fighter pilots were shot down and killed, captured or seriously enough injured to remove them from flying duties before they had even shot down their first enemy aircraft. Fuel shortages and reduced training programmes meant the number of "Simons" on the German side increased as the war went on, on all fronts.
@@stevekaczynski3793 This is as you say. I read once that Luftwaffe fighter policy seemed to be that of promoting the stars and increasing their score cards at the expense of the newer, less experienced pilots.
As I said, cannon fodder.
We must remember pilots had no more then ten hours flight training , the rest was either learned as you faced combat or died learning .
To relaxed like nothing happend. 🥺
Can’t believe the Dark Haired guy with the red socks that sends his wife and kids around the country is Winston from John Wick
Ian Mc Shane.
Thank you I knew it was Ian just not Mc Shane! What a sick badass name for a badass actor! 🇨🇦❤️✌️👌Cheers brother for that!
The squadron leader got eaten by a shark.
Not to mention, Lovejoy, a series from the same name, he was also in Deadwood. A very versatile actor
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 He is a far left extremist who openly admits hating Britain.
Excellent
Many thanks to the brave British soldiers who fought against Hitler between 1939 and 1945. As a German, I would have to spend a victory in the German Reich as a crew soldier in rainy England, would drink there lukewarm beer and run me in fog in the moor. Thank you!
Gerd Gerhard well done sir. It was just a flick of fates whim. History now x
Well according to many Americans ' if it wasn't for us you limeys would be talking German now'. So we'd probably have learned to drink your tasteless lager, never tell a joke and reeaally learn how to follow a rule.
@Billy the dog If Germany had won, there would not had been muliticulturalism....A hollow victory to where the Empire's sun will now set.
@Damo "Show the world the meaning of freedom and humanity" ? Lol!!!!!!!!!! You only have to look at the results of today, you can't walk around London without getting stabbed, look at what happened to those girls at Rotherham......London has one of the highest murder rates in Europe. If the men who stormed the beaches like they did over 70 years ago knew the end result today, they would had told their respective commanding officers to shove it.
@@Desertduleler_88 bit of an overreaction mate given over 9million people walk around London on a daily. Crime rates are high and unacceptable I grant you, but thank the tory government and their cuts to the services for that not multiculturalism. Biggest scumbags I know are white chavs who'd rob you blind without giving a toss and don't know the meaning of work.
My dad was ex WW2 RAF ground crew, he loved this film but said the actors were all far too old to play fighter pilots....." it was a youngster's job"
oldest pilot in action was 43 years old... but granted average age was low 20s
A very young lan McShane (Lovejoy )at the beginning !!
"...Check six, palley..."
2:54 minutes of perfect British sarcasm
Love the Chief Mechanic, "It's enough to make you weep." Must've hurt to get them all fixed up, only to have them come back shot up again.
These scenes were filmed at North Weald airfield; somewhat changed now, and the airfield is smaller.
Thanks
Actually, it was filmed at Duxford, for the precise reason that a lot of the older buildings were still there.
Talk about a walk of shame!
My favorite war film
I think it would be cool to do a movie on a squadron of German Pilots.
We already have what feels like a hundred American and British films.
I mean there’s 2 movies on Mosquitos!!!!!
1964 movie 633 Squadron and 1969 Mosquito Squadron.
Wouldn’t mind a newer movie on a guy like Erich Hartman or a fictional character.
WWI movies have the 2008’s Der Rote Baron and 1966 The Blue Max.
1957 did have Der Stern von Afrika (The Star of Africa)
you can teach... :D
Monkeys to fly better than that! ◠‿◠
My mother saw the premier showing in London in '69. She said the Brits went nuts every time Jerry bought it!
This film flopped, losing $10 million worldwide.
But did you see the picture and did you think it was a flop
@@grahampayne6221 great movie....just for respect reasons if nothing else....i watched this with my father when it came out....he was with the royal Sussex Regiment....
I imagine many of them lived through it and had family members lost to the Germans. It took my Grandfather a long time (the 70s) to forgive the Germans. Ironically, one of his best friends in later life was a former Wehrmacht soldier who had fought against him in Holland.
Lest we forget!.
The film was quite like a documentary.
Well its presenting what actually happened.
@@oldgitsknowstuff most of those scenes we shot at Duxford.
@@barbaradyson6951 .
Yes I do believe they were. The credits should show this, but I believe the hanger was blown up actually on the Bigging Hill aerodrome.
Several B of B veterans gave advice and contributed to thus film, 'Ginger Lacy' being one of them. He taught a friend of mine to fly long ago, in the Sixty's.
Perhaps, (And I know there will be others who might disagree), this is probably the finest film about our wartime history that has ever been made.
The flying scenes took a great deal of areal choreography. Most of it filmed from a B25 Mitchell converted into a flying camera ship.
Good credits at the end.
Thumbs up all round.
The Boys in Royal Air Force, Fighter Command, gave our enemy a bloody nose & thereby secured our freedoms we enjoy today.
What a shame that our miserable, limp wristed, pathetic government have 'Pissed it all away', excuse my French.
But yes, much of the film was taken at Duxford, (Home of the Big Wing).
Respects to you.
@@oldgitsknowstuff no the other side of duxford.
No, it was piece of s***. A little too tally ho.
Too bad that there were very few Spitfires... Need more Hurricanes.
There were relatively plenty just not enough pilots is my understanding!
@@stevenholton438 For the filming of the movie? I'm talking in real life. In real life the Hurricane was FAR more used in the BoB than the Spitfire was.
@@EvilMerlin Thier were more Hurricanes then Spitfires in RAF service at the time
@@treerat7631 That was my point.
Brilliant! (Taka taka taka taka taka)
God bless all the WWII pilots of the RAF.
They were on the wrong side.
Wow, Lovejoy Swearengen's voice must've changed at some point
Brilliant movie ... made even better because it doesn't portray the Americans winning it all by themselves.
My father was in the R.A.F. & served during the war, so I can relate to this movie so well.
I am an American and anyone that knows anything about the war knows that we needed each other to win the war. I am curious to what movies you might be referring to specifically. I am not doubting what you are saying, but I would like to know which movies. I really liked The Longest Day where the Brits used Rupert to fool the Germans. There is no doubt that the English were very inventive in their methods of warfare. The Barrage balloon was even somewhat effective against various attacks such as the V1 flying bombs.
@@gdblackthorn4137 Evidently, you haven't seen Pearl Harbor--Ben Affleck joins the RAF and shows the British how to fly Spitfires.
I think if you looked at the ROH you will find that there were some American pilots in the Battle of Britain as well polish the checks and Israelis they all did there bit to defend this country I for one am truly grateful for their efforts and sacrifice
@@grahampayne6221 Nobody's denying that. I was sarcastically referring to one particular Hollywood movie. And by the way, it's Czechs, not checks. Checks are what we should use to make sure we've spelled words correctly before posting.
@@grahampayne6221 The American pilots served in Eagle Squadrons, combined with RAF
Keep right!
The cabbage Crates were heavy that day
"Spring chicken To shitehawk, in one easy lesson" xD
Ummm, Spitfires and Hurricanes had "lower your undercart" warning buzzers for just such an occasion. They were just coming out of fixed gear biplanes
after all.
The Hurricanes was triggered by closing the throttle with the undercarriage still in the up position, and sounded like a doorbell.
Y heart pumps when I here throttle up after a go around better than sex I wud give my life for these guys
lol Spring chicken to shyte hawk in one easy lesson
I remember watching that movie, and if Im not mistaken, then it is also where I have one of my own favourite scene. When the squadron that had some of the polish pilots attacked some german planes, and when one of those polish pilots need to jump out of his plane, then he landed in a field where some farmers took him as "captive" because they thought it was a german one. Later in the movie we see the same guy reading a book which was a dictionary to translate polish to english
I love the scene where the same farmers (called the Home Guard) line up in front of a pub, salute their officer and then go in for a drink!
My fav part was when foem got down from his messer after shooting down pilot officer Lambert over the channel.
T-5? What's that?
They're a training squadron, sir. The Poles. Get them out of it. Get them down.
Spring Chicken to Shitehawk one easy less.
Not enough RAF banter!
"And welcome home sir, undercarriage lever a bit sticky was it sir, well as a matter of fact it was, well I wouldn't tell the CO that sir, not if I were you"
Attakattak a tack😊
Attack attack attack attack attack attack attack attack attack
Its a smashing film but it was the HURRICANE that did most of the fighting but gets little or no credit. Shame.
@James Henderson i suppose you think 'A Bridge Too Far' is an awful film too...
Barbara Dyson true. My dad 92 Sqn Spitfire pilot in Battle of Britain admitted Hurricane much more stable gun platform than the Spit. Did the heavy lifting. Just didn't have the sexy lines...ie,a Jeep versus a Ferrari lol.
I remember seeing Alex Henshaw talk on this subject:
"The fact of the matter is that, had the RAF been equipped with nothing but Spitfires, we could still have won the Battle of Britain. But had the RAF been equipped with nothing but Hurricanes, we could NOT have won. It's as simple as that".
Of course Henshaw was a civilian. But he was also a crack pilot, the Chief Test Pilot at the Castle Bromwich plant where most wartime Spitfires were built, and therefore holds the record for the greatest number of Spitfires flown by one man.
Robert Shaw's character based on Sailor Malan.
My favourite film.. shame they use later mks of Spit in the film.
Simons Spit is a Mk IX. Of course, Mk I's were rather limited in numbers.
Good job the Spanish airforce had a handy supply of He 111's
Many were teardrop hood mk16s converted to mk9s. Engineer in charge of conversion for movie was McHaddie - hence called mk McHaddie!
Spanish seemed to buy alot of WW2 surplus, but I didn't know about the Spitfires.
@@yahulwagoni4571 There's a documentary on the making of Battle of Britain on youtube somehere. The ME 109's and HE 111's came from Spain as they were still in service with the Spanish air force, but the HE 111's had Merlins for engines
Always imagine James Hunt being a BoB pilot.
Or Graham Hill perhaps.
Michael Schumacher would've been a multiple ace
Boombs a daisy.thats enough to make him weep!
Spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson!
Simple pitch problem that.
Another You Tube video cut at the best bit Don't just look search for the Bastards Robert Shaws Character
Britain is next father lands for Poland
Undercarriage lever a bit sticky sir, well yes as a matter of fact it was. You'd be better off in the Luftwaffe lad. oh right.
The Luftwaffe had their share of novices, and even experienced pilots sometimes had landing difficulties (the 109 could be tricky to land).
@@stevekaczynski3793 The undercarriage of the 109 was especially hard to land with; the 190 had much more stable landings, with that wider undercarriage.
English chit-chat
A lot of voice procedure came from those long-winded exchanges...
Received and understood....became Roger
Will Comply....became Wilco
And if you roger a message you should wilco....you get a head slap
Repeat please!
230
to raf,ghost of dowding et al.For bad landings why don't they have a sand runway to absorb some of damage.
Great idea! Set a Spitfire down on a soft surface, then have a crane on standby to pick it up after the aircraft, landing at around 85 miles per hour, digs the wheels into the soft surface and flips on its back.
ronald pollard ... please, please tell me you weren't serious with that comment ... because if you were, I would ask you not to drive a car, vote or breed. smh :-(
The narrow undercarriage of the Spitfire made landings on grass runways dicey enough.
@@williama.walker2287 The 109 had the same problem. The FW190 had wider undercarriage and was easier to land.
Sorry if I'm dumb, but what's a CO?
@Michael Evans ohhh, thanks!
commanding officer
1940s version judging the hell out of someone.
The judgment is if he doesn't improve quickly he will soon be dead.
@@rutabagasteu Some veterans like the commander helped the rookies like Simon, but quite a few either looked down on them like here, or avoided them as being bad luck. And that behaviour was found in all armed forces, certainly in WW2.
Repeat please......
So Orks won the battle of Britain?
It was somewhat more complex than that.. Early on the RAF Tactics were lousy, flying in close formation & that cost more lives than inexperienced Pilots. They soon followed the Luftwaffe system of ‘finger four’ which is still used by every Air Force Today. Also many Novices proved excellent in Combat, essentially good Killers, whereas a lot of experienced blokes were not very effective..
A fact not covered in the film, is that a few Pilots would follow a damaged Bomber back across the Channel, keeping out of range of the tail gunner ~ then & in sight of the Germans, close in & shoot it down in plain view. Just to give them an example of the mentality they faced.
Question: Do we still have that mentality in UK now, in view of the Threat from Within..
Andy B. Trouble with following a enemy plane back across the Channel is the limited fuel supply and the risk of running out on the return flight.
From a psychological point of view shooting down the in sight of home can work for you or against you. Seeing planes taking off never to return leaves a lot to the imagination which can often be more dangerous.
Mark Fryer
I remember reading about an entire squadron of Spit Mk5s failing to return from a trip across the Channel. Nobody knew what happened to them until after the war, when survivors told a chillingly brave story of being engaged by a large force of FW 190s as they were turning for home, and low on fuel. They could run for it and risk being shot down by the speedy FWs or ditching in the Channel out of gas, or they could stand and fight and try to take some of the bastards with them.
They choose to fight and gave a good account for themselves until one by one, they were all shot down. Survivors served as POWs until freed and their story was quietly told.
If they had been American, I'm sure there would have been a movie.
@@falconeaterf15 I believe they were American pilots flying with an Eagle Squadron.
Steve Jauncey
Why do you believe that?
The Czech pilot Josef Frantisek was prone to lone wolf attacks - he liked to hang out in a patch of sky close to the southern English coast and pick off German stragglers passing that way, often damaged and low on fuel.
Хулидэй сор? Шо? Я Тоби казав Мыкола! Шэ разы , и усе , поняв? Та и ды , вже сало исты Сэээррр
Check the score of 303 squadron you boys.
Thanks to all the brave Polish flyers (and the Polish soldiers.)
Hurricane? Spitfire?
Giovanni Carpinetti Spitfires Mark I or II
Mk 1spitfire...hurricane is half metal half fabric.. but can endure very heavy battle damage but spitfire cannot..hurries not agile as spits ..armament is same..
They only had 1 Spifire Mk 1 and 1 Mk 2 in the movie. Most Spits were of later, inaccurate Marks. 12 flyable, but only 5 or 6 were ever shown.. 3 hurricanes were made flyable. 17 flyable Buchons ”Bf 109’s”.
Why does this have an anamorphic squeeze? You don't really care about this movie, do you?
Boompsydaisy ! It's enough to make you weep.
Poor Simon, Jerry had him for his breakfast !
Trouble is, this was reality.
500 Royal Air Force pilots died in the Battle of Britain. Don't know how many Luftwaffe aircrews were killed ? .
2,585 German aircrew killed or missing, 925 captured (Wikipedia)
How i wish i was 20 something in the 40’s !!
Proud to fight for my country!!!
Now in 2019 i am ashamed of the way it is !!!
Howard you need to get out more! The sea air will do you good after your trip to London to see the sights
Ivor-do you have any relatives who lived through that time? The Pride came with an incredible amount of Heartbreak.
You should see it now !!!!!
Polacy wyladowali
One of my favorite movies of all time. But I have never understood the character of "Simon" the very bad pilot. He was obviously not up to snuff as a pilot, so I can't understand why he simply wasn't "washed out" instead of kept on. He is later killed in combat for his carelessness. Perhaps one of the British viewers can explain why he was treated so badly by everyone in the squadron when he was obviously in over his head and not allowed to leave. It seems like the guy was trying to serve his country but just didn't have it as a pilot. The squadron mates seem cruel (to this American anyway). Since the movie is very British, is there something I am missing here?
Your taste is wonderful.....not
@fliegeroh
The main problem was the RAF at that time was in a 'damned if you do; damned if you don't' kind of situation. It wasn't the lack of Spitfires which was the major problem, but rather the lack of trained, and, more crucially, combat ready pilots. Even by modern day standards, as the commenter above correctly stated, the Spitfire is a pretty complex plane to fly, so ~10hrs Operational Training is barely scratching the surface.
Thus the reason why the other, vastly more experienced, combat, pilots treated him with distain verging on contempt is that, having had 'green' pilots in combat with them before, he was seen as being just a big a menace to them, and himself, unless/until he was able to prove himself. If, and that was a big if, he managed to survive the first five missions, without being shot down, killed, or, worse, shooting one of his fellow squadron members, only then would he be accepted; until he had reached that point, it would be a case of 'keep to the rear, and don't bloody well get in the way ...'
Harsh ...? Well, yes ... But one could say that the Battle of Britain was the aerial equivalent to the trench warfare of WWI, viz. one of attrition, with heavy losses on both sides. Ironically, had the decision to switch from attacking RAF airfields, to British cities, not been made, it wouldn't have taken much longer, in order of perhaps 6-8 more months, or even less, for the Luftwaffe to have completely decimated the RAF, meaning them achieving total aerial superiority.
But, as history shows, that decision was made, which although resulted in untold number of civilian casualties, possibly ranging in the tens of thousands, nevertheless it gave the RAF the breathing space it desperately needed to rebuild, regroup, and counter-attack.
Hence, the stakes were pretty damn high during the Battle of Britain, which meant that, to the more combat experienced, deploying, almost literally, a kid barely out of Boot Camp straight into combat, with zero additional training, was just asking for trouble; sadly, a large portion of operational losses were due to inexperienced pilots being shot down ...
Put simply, until/unless the new pilot proved himself, he was seen as a liability, and not a asset; however, without the constant induction of new pilots, and especially not 'washing-out' even the bad ones, given the level of attrition the RAF was experiencing, they faced the struggle of keeping up with operational losess. They could ill-afford 'washing out' any bad pilot (unless he was exceptionally bad ...), as, to paraphrase a quote from 'Platoon', they needed every swinging dick in the air in the struggle to keep the Germans at bay ...
fliegeroh They really should have posted Simon to a squadron further North in 12 Group to give him time to get used to flying and more training in combat flying. However RAF doctrine at the time was wrong with line astern attacks and other such follies.
@@markfryer9880 Some inexperienced pilots were sent up north. A case in point was Sargent Pilot Jimmy Corbin of 66 Squadron.
@@markfryer9880 The Hurricane was reputedly easier to fly than the Spitfire - perhaps he should have been flying one of those.
DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!