''Flying Fortress'' is a 1942 British

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 ...

drama from

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...

, produced by A. H. Soloman, directed by

Walter Forde Walter Forde (born Thomas Seymour Woolford, 21 April 1898 – 7 January 1984) was a British actor, screenwriter and director. Born in Lambeth, south London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era through to 1 ...

, that stars

Richard Greene Richard Marius Joseph Greene (25 August 1918 – 1 June 1985) was a noted English film and television actor. A matinée idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series ' ...

and co-stars Carla Lehmann, Betty Stockfeld, and Donald Stewart. During

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, an arrogant American pilot becomes increasingly committed to the Allied cause after ferrying

B-17 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 ...

bombers from Canada to England. After joining the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

and being assigned to an

RAF 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) and ...

squadron, he finally takes part in a

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 ...

bombing raid on

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Plot

Pilot William "Sky" Kelly ( Donald Stewart) is held responsible for an aircraft crash in which a passenger is killed; however, his friend, wealthy playboy James "Jim" Spence (

), was actually piloting the aircraft. Kelly's sister Sydney ( Carla Lehmann), a newspaper reporter, vows to clear her brother and identify Spence as the actual culprit. Spence and Sydney later meet amicably, but when a scandal photographer reveals Sydney's profession, Spence suspects her motives and ends their budding relationship. Spence reads an appeal from the

RAF Ferry Command RAF Ferry Command was the secretive Royal Air Force command formed on 20 July 1941 to ferry urgently needed aircraft from their place of manufacture in the United States and Canada, to the front line operational units in Britain, Europe, North Af ...

for experienced pilots to fly US Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to England. Wanting a new adventure, he flies to Canada and volunteers. After a RCAF officer berates him for his irresponsible flying, Spence changes his mind. Just before leaving, however, he learns that "Sky" Kelly is training the ferry pilots. Determined to prove himself to be as good a pilot as Kelly, Spence volunteers. Spence makes his first flight to London with Kelly, who reveals his sister is now working there. During the long Atlantic flight the two pilots reconcile their past. After they land, Kelly and Spence hitch a ride into

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

-ravaged London with the beautiful Lady DeBorah "Debbie" Ottershaw ( Betty Stockfeld), and Kelly makes a dinner date with her. Kelly suggests that Spence come along and bring Sydney as his date; when the reluctant Spence arrives at Sydney's office, she refuses him. DeBorah invites Kelly to her palatial home, where Kelly meets her brother, Lord "Squeakum" Ottershaw ( Sidney King). The two men immediately dislike each other; Kelly assumes that Ottershaw is a

malingering Malingering is the fabrication, feigning, or exaggeration of physical or psychological symptoms designed to achieve a desired outcome, such as relief from duty or work. Malingering is not a medical diagnosis, but may be recorded as a "focus of c ...

fop Fop is a pejorative term for a foolish man. FOP or fop may also refer to: Science and technology * Feature-oriented positioning, in scanning microscopy * Feature-oriented programming, in computer science, software product lines * Fibrodysplasia ...

, and Ottershaw thinks Kelly is a brash, uncouth American. That evening while Sydney, Kelly, and Lady DeBorah have dinner in London, Spence sits at a nearby table until he successfully apologizes to Sydney. A German air raid abruptly spoils the rest of their evening. Impressed by the courage of British resolve, upon returning to Canada for another B-17 ferry assignment, Spence and Kelly decide to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. Following their return flight to London, both men reunite with Sydney and Lady DeBorah. After reporting for duty, they discover Lord Ottershaw is their RAF Wing Commander. Kelly's opinion of him changes when Ottershaw announces he will be leading the Wing's bombing missions; the new commander requests both Spence and Kelly join the aircrew of his Flying Fortress. German night fighters attack a flight of B-17s after they bomb a Berlin

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

. Lord Ottershaw's bomber is hit, but an emergency repair keeps it airborne. Another fighter attack badly wounds Ottershaw and sets an engine ablaze. Making light of his injury, Ottershaw keeps the B-17 flying level while Spence, with Kelly's help, crawls out onto the wing and extinguishes the engine fire. When Kelly returns to his co-pilot station, Ottershaw collapses from his wound. The battered Flying Fortress and her surviving crew return safely to base to fight another day for England and the Allied cause.

Cast

as James "Jim" Spence Jr. * Carla Lehmann as Sydney Kelly * Betty Stockfeld as Lady DeBorah "Debbie" Ottershaw * Donald Stewart as William "Sky" Kelly *

Basil Radford Arthur Basil RadfordAdam Greaves, "Radford, (Arthur) Basil (1897–1952)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201available online Retrieved 3 August 2020. (25 June 189720 October 1952) was an English charac ...

as Captain Wilkinson * Charles Heslop as Herrington * Sidney King as Lord "Squeakum" Ottershaw *

Edward Rigby Edward Coke MC (5 February 1879 – 5 April 1951), known professionally as Edward Rigby, was a British character actor. Early life Rigby was born at Ashford, Kent, England, the second son of Dr William Harriott Coke and his wife, Mary Elizabe ...

as Dan Billings *

Joss Ambler Joss Ambler (23 June 1900 – 1959) was an Australian-born British film and television actor. He usually played somewhat pompous and irascible figures of authority, particularly in comedy films. He was an effective foil to George Formby in both ...

as Sheepshead *

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of ...

as Connor *

Jack Watling Jack Stanley Watling (13 January 1923 – 22 May 2001) was an English actor. Life and career The son of a travelling scrap metal dealer, Watling trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child; and made his stage debut in ''Where ...

as Rear Gunner *

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...

as Parker * John Stuart as Captain Harvey

Production

''Flying Fortress'' was made in the UK at

Teddington Studios Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky1 and others. The complex also prov ...

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

' British subsidiary. Teddington, one of the few British studios to operate during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, produced ''Flying Fortress'' as part of a series of patriotic films aiding the war effort.Fristoe, Roger
"Articles: Flying Fortress (1942)."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: 5 November 2014. Warner received co-operation from the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

, with facilities at

RAF Polebrook Royal Air Force Station Polebrook or more simply RAF Polebrook is a former Royal Air Force station located east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in Augus ...

being provided, along with a Supermarine Spitfire,

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

, and three early Boeing B-17Cs from

No. 90 Squadron RAF No. 90 Squadron RAF (sometimes written as No. XC Squadron) is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. History World War I No. 90 Squadron was formed as a fighter squadron of the Royal Flying Corps at Shawbury in Shropshire on 8 October 1917, movin ...

, released for use in the production. A number of shooting miniatures were also created, including the Boeing bombers. These early Boeing B-17Cs were not quite ready for heavy combat, having been provided to the RAF by the US Army Air Corps. for training and patrol purposes, the result of the America's

Lend-Lease Act Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

. Lacking anything else at the time, the RAF pressed the aircraft into high-altitude daylight combat missions, with poor results. Eight of the original twenty B-17Cs were lost for a variety of reasons, before how they were utilized was changed. The burning engine fire depicted at the conclusion of the film is based on an actual World War II incident. Sgt. James Allen Ward of the Royal New Zealand Air Force earned the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

after he climbed onto the wing of his burning aircraft on 7 July 1941 to smother an engine fire that would have otherwise proved fatal. ''Flying Fortress'' had its U. S.

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

premiere on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

, 14 September 2007, during TCM's festival of 13 films made by Warner Brothers at Teddington Studios.

Reception

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 ...

reviewed ''Flying Fortress'' for ''

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 ...

'' but considered the effort "sloppy". "Some of the actual glimpses of an R.A.F. field are interesting, and a few absorbing moments are achieved in the bombing raid. But even this section of the picture is a poor tracing of '' Target for Tonight'', and the big heroic climax is just old-fashioned screen bravado".Crowther, Bosley
"Flying Fortress (1942); The screen: Bombing raid."
''The New York Times'', 19 December 1942. Aviation film historian James Farmer also considered the film "... poorly conceived, dated Hollywood-style bravado (that) makes for a wholly forgettable screen effort".Farmer 1984, p. 308.

Box office

According to Warner Bros records, the film earned $604,000 from domestic exhibition and $300,000 from foreign exhibition for the studio.

Home media

''Flying Fortress'' is not available for viewing in any home video format, including streaming.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation.'' Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Mackenzie, S.P. ''British War Films, 1939-1945: The Cinema and the Services''. London: Continuum, 2001. . * Murphy, Robert. ''British Cinema and the Second World War''. London: Continuum, 2000. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * {{Walter Forde 1942 films American aviation films British war drama films British black-and-white films 1940s war drama films Films directed by Walter Forde Films shot at Teddington Studios Warner Bros. films Films set in England World War II aviation films World War II films made in wartime Films with screenplays by Edward Dryhurst Films scored by Jack Beaver 1942 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films