Hurricane review – all guns blazing in the Battle of Britain skies

by Guest Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:43 pm

Perhaps partly inspired by the success of Dunkirk, this based-on-a-true-story, second-world-war drama contains the required guns blazing and handsome chaps being heroic, stoic and panic-stricken.It’s a much more conventional work than Christopher Nolan’s epic that verged at times on abstraction. Take out the swearing and the one (not explicit) sex scene and you would believe this was filmed at any time in the last 30 or 40 years. Though the moderate antipathy towards posh people and officers wouldn’t have been so pronounced in a British film made immediately after the war.

The prejudiced English come off badly in this story about the 303, an RAF unit manned mostly by Polish pilots. The airmen came to help fight off the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain and the squadron ended up with one of the best kill rates. It’s mostly an ensemble piece, but much of the story revolves around part-Swiss flying ace Jan Zumbach, played by Iwan Rheon, best known for his memorable turn as the sadistic Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones.

Rheon rattles off dialogue in English and Polish, and the latter sounds reasonably persuasive to untrained ears. He makes for an engaging, pugnacious lead, although given how many fine Polish actors there are, it’s a bit of a mystery why the producers chose to cast a Welshman in this role. He has good chemistry with love interest Stefanie Martini as a feisty female soldier.

The lack of budget, relative to Dunkirk at least, is glaring in the aerial dogfights, and the score is too maudlin and on the nose, but director David Blair navigates the whole thing through the storm with watchable competence.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/06/hurricane-review-david-blair-battle-of-britain

Just watched this film today and its brilliant. Highly recommend and am sure Fred would love it.

by Vintage Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:08 pm

Looking forward to watching this. I knew a man who flew with a Polish squadron he said they could be completely wild and he never knew what they may do including if they ran out of ammo they'd aim their plane at a German aircraft, usually a bomber and bail out.
Although this usually destroyed the enemy craft the airforce also of course lost another valuable aircraft in a time of shortages, at least the Polish pilot usually survived to fly again, even if when they landed they might be mistaken for a German by the locals.

by Guest Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:39 pm

Vintage wrote:Looking forward to watching this. I knew a man who flew with a Polish squadron he said they could be completely wild and he never knew what they may do including if they ran out of ammo they'd aim their plane at a German aircraft, usually a bomber and bail out.
Although this usually destroyed the enemy craft the airforce also of course lost another valuable aircraft in a time of shortages, at least the Polish pilot usually survived to fly again, even if when they landed they might be mistaken for a German by the locals.

I have actually read quite a bit about the 303 squadron and yes some were very gun ho, but extremely experinced pilots at a time when Britain lacked experince pilots. You are very correct that they had so many of them come back from combat. Even though the number of kills attributed in the Battle of Britain is argued over. To me they clearly had the highest. What is beyond any doubt. Is the squadron had the highest kill-to-loss ratio; of 2.8:1.

Which is a massive credit to their skill and ability in air to air combat. Where even more they were flying Hurricanes and not the Spitifre in the Battle of Britain. The ME109 was superior in performance compared to the Hurricane. Which further adds to the skill of the men that flew in this squadron. With how they were so succesful. Its remarkable, that the best US piston engine fighter, had the same british Merlin engine that was used in the Spitfire. That shows the extent of British inginuity in WW2. Where many american fighter pilots all agree who flew the Spitfire Mk XIV in combat. That it was superior to the P-51 Mustang.

You will love the film Vintage, which also centers a great deal on the ladies serving at the battle control rooms.

by Vintage Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:56 pm

I watched a documentary regarding the British areo industry during and after WW2, it was eye opening, how the ingenuity of the Brit engineers were so far ahead of anyone else, with the possible exception of the Germans that is.
The de Havilland Comet, the world's first jetliner was impressive to say the least, it was unfortunate that metal fatigue caused crashes that meant the UK industry never really recovered, so America took on the mantle. It's a shame the UK never seems to have the money to develop ideas, with so many inventive people hailing from Britain.

by Guest Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:11 pm

Vintage wrote:I watched a documentary regarding the British areo industry during and after WW2, it was eye opening, how the ingenuity of the Brit engineers were so far ahead of anyone else, with the possible exception of the Germans that is.
The de Havilland Comet, the world's first jetliner was impressive to say the least, it was unfortunate that metal fatigue caused crashes that meant the UK industry never really recovered, so America took on the mantle. It's a shame the UK never seems to have the money to develop ideas, with so many inventive people hailing from Britain.

I have not watched that, do you have a link Vintage or name to the documentary?

I think the Germans were slightly ahead technically on aircraft and if not for Hitler and Goering's incompetance with strategy and interference on new fighter projects. The Luftwaffe could have caused real problems for the Allies. The ingenuity of German designers was revoluntionary. Espcially with the Horten Ho 229. If this had seen mass production. The allies would have been hard pressed. It was from this very design that modern stealth technology was formed. One of the most interesting German piston engine fighters was the Dornier do 335. The fastest pistol engine fighter in the entire war. It had a piston engine at the front and rear of the plane

Still, even though the Allies had to face the intrdocution of the ME 262 Jet fighter, the Spitfires, Tempist and Mustang held their own against them. Its such an interesting time in aviation.

To me the best plane after the Spitfire, produced by the British, produced in WW2, was the De Havilland Mosquito. An amasing fighter bomber.

The first British Jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor was impressive to say the least and the only allied Jet fighter to see combat in WW2.

by Vintage Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:25 pm

I don't have a link I'm afraid, it was last year I think it had all the info you've just mentioned in it. I'll see if I can find it.
It was a close run thing with German engineering genius

by Guest Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:32 pm

Vintage wrote:I don't have a link I'm afraid, it was last year I think it had all the info you've just mentioned in it. I'll see if I can find it.
It was a close run thing with German engineering genius

Be cool if you do remember Vintage, as would be interested to watch

I agree it was very close tehcnology wise between Britain and germany and this is the saddest aspect of war. How it accelerates technology exponentially

At the end of the day the British Spitfire was superior to any other pistol engine German fighter and even German fighter pilots admit they would rather face a Mustang than the Spitfire. That says everything about the ability of the Spirfire

Here are some quotes on how people rated the spitfire compared to the Mustang

William Dunn (US fighter ace who flew Spitfires, P-51s, Hurricanes, and P-47s): "Now, if I had to make the choice of one fighter aircraft above all the others - one that I'd rather have tied to the seat of my pants in any tactical situation - it would be, without any doubt, the world's greatest propeller driven flying machine - the magnificent and immortal Spitfire."

Eric Brown (RN test pilot and holder of the world record for number of types of aircraft flown): "I have flown both for many hours, and would choose the Spitfire [over the Mustang] if given a choice in a fight to the death."

Writer Jerry Scutts, quoting German pilots in his book JG 54: "The Jagflieger had to keep a wary eye out for enemy fighters, particularly Spitfires, a type JG 54's pilots had developed a particular aversion to...Pilot reflections do not, surprisingly enough, reflect over-much respect for the Mustang or Lightning, both of which the Germans reckoned their Fockes were equal to - unless they were met in substantial numbers."

Gordon Levitt, Israeli fighter pilot, comparing the Spitfire, Mustang, and Avia S-199 (Jumo-engined Bf 109), all of which the Israelis flew: "Despite the pros and cons, the Spitfire was everyone's first choice."

Karl Stein, Luftwaffe Fw 190 pilot (who served mainly on the Eastern front): "English and American aircraft appeared on the scene in those closing days of the European war. Spitfires were the most feared, then Mustangs..."

USAAF 31st FG War Diary (when transferring from Spitfires to P-51s): "Although pilots think that the P-51 is the best American fighter, they think the Spitfire VIII is the best fighter in the air."

USAAF pilot Charles McCorkle (who flew both in combat), reporting on a mock combat between a Spitfire and Mustang in 1944: "Now we could see which was the better aircraft...a Mustang and a Spit took off for a scheduled 'combat', flown by two top young flight commanders. When the fighters returned, the pilots had to agree that the Spitfire had won the joust. The Spit could easily outclimb, outaccelerate, and outmaneuver its opponent..."

Like i say, the fact the Mustang had a British engine speaks volumes to the technological superiority the British had here in aviation over the americans

by Vintage Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:41 pm

I think this is it:
BBC -Future - The British airliner that changed the world.

by Guest Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:43 pm

Vintage wrote:I think this is it:
BBC -Future - The British airliner that changed the world.

Thanks Vintage

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Hurricane review – all guns blazing in the Battle of Britain skies

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