''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' is a 1941 American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Henry King and starring

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James'', ' ...

and

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

. Released three months before the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

plunged the United States into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, it is considered a typical early-World War II production. Originally titled ''The Eagle Squadron'', it is based on a story by "Melville Crossman", the pen name for 20th Century Fox studio chief

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

. It follows an American pilot who joins the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF), during a period when the United States was still neutral.

Plot

In 1940, American-built

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

training aircraft are flown to the border with Canada, where they are towed across the frontier for use by Britain. (The procedure is necessary to avoid violating the Neutrality Acts, as the United States is still neutral.) Cocky American pilot Tim Baker (

) decides to fly across the border to

Trenton, Ontario Trenton (2001 population 16,770) is a large unincorporated community in Central Ontario in the municipality of Quinte West, Ontario, Canada. Located on the Bay of Quinte, it is the starting point for the Trent-Severn Waterway, which continues n ...

, and winds up in trouble with the military authorities, unconvincingly claiming he was looking for

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and p ...

bomber to Britain, pocketing $1,000 for his work. In London, he runs into his on-again off-again girlfriend Carol Brown (

), who works in the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

by day and stars in a nightclub by night. She is none too pleased to see him, calling him a "worm" for his womanizing ways, lying, and long absence, but he is confident she still harbors strong feelings for him. He decides to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Meanwhile, Brown attracts the appreciative attention of two RAF officers,

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

John Morley ( John Sutton) and Flying Officer Roger Pillby (

Reginald Gardiner William Reginald Gardiner (27 February 1903 – 7 July 1980) was an English actor on the stage, in films and on television. Early years Gardiner was born in Wimbledon, England, and he was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Katz, ...

). Morley persists in seeing Brown, despite being told at the outset that there is another man. Pillby is unable to persuade either Baker or Morley to introduce him. After completing training, Baker is disappointed to be assigned to Morley's bomber squadron, rather than one equipped with fighters. He becomes further disgruntled when his first mission is to "bomb" Berlin with propaganda leaflets as Morley's co-pilot during the

Phoney War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

. Pillby pilots another bomber in the raid. When Baker is late for their date (sidetracked by meeting an old buddy from America), Brown accepts Morley's invitation to spend a weekend at his country estate. There, Morley asks her to marry him. When she tells Baker about it (without revealing who her suitor is), he offers to marry her himself, but in an insultingly casual way. She tells him that they are through. Back at the base, the two rivals learn of each other's involvement with the same woman. Before they can do anything about it, however, the Germans invade the Netherlands and Belgium, and they are given an urgent mission to bomb Dortmund, Germany, this time with real ordnance. During the nighttime raid, their bomber is hit, disabling one of their two engines. Pillby descends to their aid, knocking out searchlights, but is shot down in flames and perishes. Morley orders his crew to bail out, but Baker disobeys and lands the aircraft on a Dutch beach. Spotting a line of advancing German soldiers, they hide in a nearby building, only to be taken prisoner by a German officer there. A crewman sacrifices himself, enabling the other two to dispatch the German and escape by motorboat. Baker wakes up in a British hospital, the victim of exposure. Once discharged, he goes to see Brown, pretending to have a broken arm, but shows himself to be a liar once more. Nonetheless, he produces an engagement ring and forces it onto her finger. After receiving a telephone call from Morley breaking their date, Brown informs Baker that all leaves have been canceled. Reserves are called up to make up fighter pilot losses, and Baker is reassigned to a

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

for the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on t ...

. He downs two ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' fighters before being shot down. Carol cannot hide her distress when she cannot find out whether he is alive or not. Morley takes her to the docks, where ships returning from the Dunkirk beaches are bringing back survivors. When Baker debarks, Carol rushes to him and shows him she is still wearing his ring.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):Credits: ''A Yank in the RAF (1941)''
IMDb. Retrieved: January 14, 2012. *

as Tim Baker *

as Carol Brown * John Sutton as Wing Commander John Morley *

as Flying Officer Roger Pillby * Donald Stuart as Corporal Harry Baker *

Ralph Byrd Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television. Early life and career The son of George and Edna ...

as Al * Richard Fraser as Thorndyke * Denis Green as Flight Lieutenant Redmond *

Bruce Lester Bruce Lester (6 June 1912 – 13 June 2008) was a South African-born English film actor with over 60 screen appearances to his credit between 1934 and his retirement from acting in 1958. Lester's career divided into two distinct periods. Betwe ...

as Flight Lieutenant Richardson * Gilchrist Stuart as Wales *

Lester Matthews Arthur Lester Matthews (6 June 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English actor. In his career, the handsome Englishman made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was erroneously credited in later years as Les Matthews. Matthews pla ...

as Group Captain *

Frederick Worlock Frederick Worlock (December 14, 1886 – August 1, 1973) was a British-American actor. He is known for his work in various films during the 1940s and 1950s, and as the voice of Horace in '' One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961). Career On st ...

as Canadian Major *

Ethel Griffies Ethel Griffies (born Ethel Woods; 26 April 1878 – 9 September 1975) was an English actress of stage, screen, and television. She is remembered for portraying the ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic '' The Birds'' (1963). Sh ...

as Lady Fitzhugh *

Morton Lowry Morton Lowry (born Edward Morton Lowater;Lancashire Birth Records, Volume 8c, pg. 1257. 13 February 1914 – 26 November 1987) was a British actor. He is best known for his film roles as John Stapleton in ''The Hound of The Baskervilles'' (1939 ...

as Squadron Leader Macbeth *

Fortunio Bonanova Fortunio Bonanova, pseudonym of Josep Lluís Moll, (13 January 1895 – 2 April 1969) was a Spanish baritone singer and a film, theater, and television actor. He occasionally worked as a producer and director. According to Lluis Fàbregas Cuixar ...

as Headwaiter * James Craven as Instructor *

Dennis Hoey Dennis Hoey (born Samuel David Hyams, 30 March 1893 – 25 July 1960) was a British film and stage actor, best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in six films of Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Early life Hoey was born Samuel David ...

as Intelligence Officer *

Claud Allister Claud Allister (born William Claud Michael Palmer, 3 October 1888 – 26 July 1970) was an English actor with an extensive film career in both Britain and Hollywood, where he appeared in more than 70 films between 1929 and 1955. Life and ...

as Officer-Motorist (uncredited) * Charles Irwin as Uniformed Man (uncredited)

Production

With principal photography shot from April to July 1941, ''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' leaned heavily on the headline news of the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. The film begins with U.S.

trainers arriving very near the U.S./Canada border at the

Emerson, Manitoba Emerson is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in south central Manitoba, Canada, located within the Municipality of Emerson – Franklin. It has a population of 678 as of the 2016 Canada census. Location and transpo ...

crossing, as a means of complying with provisions of the Neutrality Acts prohibiting aid to combatants. The depiction of R.C.M.P. and R.C.A.F. officials meeting the aircraft as they were towed across the border is a bit of Hollywood license, but the incident is mainly accurate, although aircraft were usually towed by a team of horses rather than motor vehicles.Orris 1984, p. 31. The sequence showing the Dunkirk evacuation was filmed at

Point Mugu, California Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian te ...

, and involved more than 1,000 extras.Orris 1984, p. 33. The film was shot entirely on Hollywood sound stages, Twentieth Century-Fox back lots, and locations in California. With complete cooperation from the RAF, including extensive use of RAF stock footage, the studio was allowed to film actual aerial battles shot by a camera-equipped aircraft. Arnold, Jeremy
"A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)."
TCM.com''.'' Updated: August 27, 2021. In the original version of the film, the hero (Power), died at Dunkirk, but after the RAF expressed concerns that morale would be jeopardized, the scene was re-shot, with Baker surviving.

Herbert Mason Samuel George Herbert Mason (1891 – 20 May 1960) was a British film director, producer, stage actor, army officer, presenter of some revues, stage manager, theatre director, stage director, choreographer, Production manager (theatre), produc ...

, a recipient of the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

for his gallantry in the Battle of the Somme, directed the RAF flying sequences. He was credited onscreen as Major Herbert Mason. In order to stage some of the airfield scenes realistically, the prop department turned out a group of accurate Spitfire and Messerschmitt replica fighters to go along with actual

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and p ...

bombers built in the nearby Lockheed factory at Burbank, California. All the flying sequences were under the direction of long-time Hollywood pilot

Paul Mantz Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races. Early years Ma ...

, whose team of stunt pilots included Frank Clarke.Orris 1984, p. 31. The screen credits read "Tyrone Power with Betty Grable". The pairing of Twentieth Century-Fox's two leading stars was an opportunity to cash in on the studio's bankable star-power and to promote Grable in more serious roles. In reality, ''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' was a mélange of light romantic musical and wartime drama. According to

Robert Osborne Robert Jolin Osborne (; May 3, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American film historian, television presenter, author, actor and the primary host for more than 20 years of the cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Prior to hosting at TCM, Os ...

, Power felt that Grable's song-and-dance numbers were out of place in the film, but Grable, believing her popularity was based on her singing, dancing, and well-known bare legs, got her way, and the scenes remained.

Reception

Despite the studio's insistence that it was a light-hearted look at war and not a

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

, ''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' joined the ranks of films that focused on the activities of Americans who had already gone to war, including Warner Brothers' ''

Captains of the Clouds ''Captains of the Clouds'' ( ''Shadows of Their Wings'') is a 1942 American war film in Technicolor, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney. It was produced by William Cagney (Cagney's brother), with Hal B. Wallis as executive p ...

'' and the British/American production, ''

Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

''. It gave Grable dramatic scenes that expanded her range; a crying scene reportedly took more than six hours to film. When released in September 1941, ''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' was popular with audiences and critics alike. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reviewer

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

considered it a, "... thoroughly enjoyable show ... thrilling" and filled with "pulsing action". It was 20th Century Fox's second-most successful film of 1941, after the Academy Award-winning ''

How Green Was My Valley ''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own persona ...

''. Some contemporary reviewers are more critical, decrying the unrealistic portrayal of Britain at war. Recent re-releases on video and the 2002 DVD also brought negative reviews citing its content and the filmmaker's approach to such a serious subject. Other modern reviews remains positive. '' Allmovie'' notes that: "The action sequences are quite gripping and very well done. The special effects work for the time is top notch, and the cinematography is very effective." ''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' was nominated for the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Special Effects ( Fred Sersen, Edmund H. Hansen) at the

14th Academy Awards The 14th Academy Awards honored film achievements in 1941 and were held at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony is now considered notable as the year in which ''Citizen Kane'' failed to win Best Picture, losing to John F ...

Home media

''A Yank in the R.A.F.'' was released on DVD on May 21, 2002 in the U.S. and May 3, 2004, in the U.K. (followed by another release on March 12, 2012). It was also released on September 4, 2000, in the U.K. as part of a Tyrone Power Collection box set.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Dolan, Edward F. Jr. ''Hollywood Goes to War''. London: Bison Books, 1985. . * Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Buff's Guide to Aviation Movies". ''Air Progress Aviation'', Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 1983. * Mackenzie, S.P. ''British War Films, 1939–45''. London: A & C Black, 2001. * Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II''. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. . * Parish, James Robert. ''The Great Combat Pictures: Twentieth-Century Warfare on the Screen''. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1990. . * Reid, John Howard. ''Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties''. Raleigh, North Carolina:

Lulu.com Lulu Press, Inc., doing business under trade name Lulu, is an online print-on-demand, self-publishing, and distribution platform. By 2014, it had issued approximately two million titles. The company's founder is Red Hat co-founder Bob Young. Lu ...

, 2005. .

External links

* * * *
A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941) at Rotten Tomatoes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yank In The RAF, A 1941 films American black-and-white films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Henry King American aviation films Royal Air Force mass media Battle of Britain films American World War II propaganda films Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck 1940s English-language films