Target for Tonight

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Movie
Original title Target for Tonight
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 48 minutes
Rod
Director Harry Watt
script Harry Watt
production Harry Watt
music Leighton Lucas
camera Teddy Catford
Jonah Jones
cut Stewart McAllister
Alfred Hitchcock (US version)
occupation

Target for Tonight is a British short - documentary from the year 1941. It was directed by Harry Watt . The film is about the work of the Royal Air Force during World War II and was shot under real conditions. He received an honorary Oscar in 1942 and was named best documentary by the National Board of Review .

action

Before the actual film, information about bombers and the chain of command of the Royal Air Force is given. The film begins with a reconnaissance plane dropping undeveloped footage over headquarters. The RAF Bomber Command develops the film and analyzes the photographs. These show a massive strengthening of the German units in recent months. The film now shows the planning of the operation in various details. This also explains why which type of ammunition is used. The weather forecast is good and the pilots get their jobs. The film now mainly shows the crew of the bomber "F for Freddie" getting ready and taking off. The crew dropped a bomb over Germany and hit the target, but was then hit by an anti-aircraft gun from the Luftwaffe . The radio operator is injured in the leg and Freddie is the last aircraft of the season to return. Fog and the hit make landing difficult, but ultimately the "F for Freddie" makes it back and the mission is successful.

production

The film was shot at Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall and at the headquarters of the RAF Bomber Command in High Wycombe . Sir Richard Peirse , Supreme Chief of Bomber Command, appears in the film. In order not to provide any information to the enemy, RAF Mildenhall was given the fictional name Millerton Aerodrome and some aspects of routine operations were changed. Squadron Leader Dickson, captain of the "F for Freddie", was played by Percy Pickard , who would later lead Operation Biting and Operation Jericho . The second pilot was played by Gordon Woollatt. Even Constance Babington Smith , a journalist and writer, can be seen in the film. Her work for the IMINT , which can also be seen in this film, later made her famous and she was awarded the Order of the British Empire and the Legion of Merit . One scene also shows record racing driver John R. Cobb , who served as an officer.

In the film are Vickers Wellington to see, but on the movie poster Boulton Paul Defiant -Jagdflugzeuge. The US-American version was created by Alfred Hitchcock .

References in popular culture

Herman Wouk added a throwback to the documentary in his novel The Wind of War (filmed as the television series The Firestorm ). That's how he named a Wellington bomber "F for Freddie". The main characters of the novel fly aboard the bomber on a mission over Berlin and, like in the film, the plane is hit by an anti-aircraft gun. One of the crew members, here the shooter in the stern, is injured in the leg and the Wellington just manages to get back out of enemy territory.

literature

  • Johnston, John and Nick Carter. Strong by Night: History and Memories of No. 149 (East India) Squadron Royal Air Force, 1918/19-1937/56 . Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2002. ISBN 0-85130-313-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johnston & Carter 2002, p. 141.
  2. ↑ Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, p. 64
  3. ↑ http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1952/1952%20-%202897.html