''An Airman's Letter to His Mother'' (1941) is a documentary-style British propaganda short film based on an actual letter from a British bomber pilot to his mother published in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' in June 1940. Subsequently, the letter was published as a pamphlet and received wide distribution in the UK. "The letter in question had touched a nation's heart and made a popular film subject." In 1941,
Michael Powell
Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a serie ...
directed ''An Airman's Letter to His Mother'', based on a dramatization of the letter, and narrated by
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
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) and ...
(RAF) airman who dies during a mission has left a letter to be sent to his mother upon his death. The letter is delivered to his mother. As the letter is read out by his mother in the airman's room, she looks through his things and remembers him as a youth. The letter tells of his reasons for joining the air force and going to fight, knowing full well that he could die.
Production
Although ''An Airman's Letter to His Mother'' was not produced by the British Government, and was Powell's personal contribution to the war effort, the film had many of the hallmarks of "official" war films of the period. These films should explain: "What Britain is fighting for, including contrasting British values with Nazi Germany's values; how Britain fights and the need for sacrifice if the fight is to be won.""Useful notes: Extracts from a British Government document called ‘The Programme for Film Propaganda’ produced in January 1940." ''National Archives'', 2014. Retrieved: 26 December 2014.
British propaganda films in
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 opposin ...
also were in sharp contrast with the more racially tinged and strident examples from warring nations, especially Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. Most often, British films were topical, informative and "entertaining or amusing." In the case of ''An Airman's Letter to His Mother'', the subject was the reading of a real letter left by an airman for his mother.
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
reads the letter in a voiceover; the actress playing the part of the mother is unknown. Her face is not visible and she never speaks.
Historical accuracy
The author of the letter
The author of the letter has subsequently been revealed to be Flying Officer Vivian Rosewarne, the
co-pilot
In aviation, the first officer (FO), also called co-pilot, is the pilot who is second-in-command of the aircraft to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command o ...
of a
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
, stationed at
RAF Marham
RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia.
It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...
, Norfolk. The 23-year-old flyer was killed during 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 ...
in May 1940. Rosewarne's death notice was eventually published on 23 December 1940."Letter to Mother." ''Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum'' (Brandon, Manitoba, Canada). Retrieved: 25 December 2014.
Rosewarne was an only son whose early years were spent in Brentwood where he attended Brentwood School.
On 30 May 1940, a force of 17 Wellington bombers from RAF Marham took off to provide close ground support to the British Expeditionary Force as they withdrew from the beaches of
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.No. 38 Squadron RAF was shot down near the town of
Veurne
Veurne (; french: Furnes, italic=no, ) is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Veurne proper and the settlements of , , , , , Houtem, , , Wulveringem, and .
History
Origins up ...
in Belgium and the six-man crew were killed. On 31 May 1940, the co-pilot, Flying Officer Vivian Rosewarne, was reported missing, believed killed.
This is the text of the loss report and crew disposition:
Rosewarne and his crew were laid to rest at Veurne Communal Cemetery Extension (West Vlaanderen Belgium).
Publication
His station commander,
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
Claude Hilton Keith
Group Captain Claude Hilton Keith (21 October 1890 – 18 November 1946) was a British-Canadian aviator who was an early pioneer of air gunnery, playing a central role in the preparation of the Royal Air Force (RAF) for the Second World War. His ...
, found a letter among the missing airman's personal possessions. It had been left open, so that it could be passed by the censor. Keith was so moved by the letter that, with the mother's permission, it was anonymously published in ''The Times'' on 18 June 1940.
The letter
Reaction to the letter
''The Times'' was inundated with over 10,000 requests for copies of the letter in the first few days after publication. The letter was subsequently published in a small book, illustrated by
Thomas Derrick
Thomas Derrick was an English executioner ''c.'' 1608.A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Francis Grose
In English history, executioner was not a commonly chosen career path because of the risk of friends and families of the deceased kno ...
, by ''The Times'' Publishing Company Ltd. (as ''An Airman's Letter to His Mother'') and reprinted three times. By the end of the year, over 500,000 copies had been sold.
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
wrote personally to the mother. In the United States the book was reprinted 12 times by E.P. Dutton & Co.
Suggestions that the letter was fictitious and a propaganda device eventually led to the identification of Flying Officer Rosewarne with his death notice finally published on 23 December 1940. A portrait of Flying Officer Rosewarne (painted from his mother's photographs) by Frank O. Salisbury was unveiled on 18 September 1941 and although his mother attended, she wished to remain anonymous desiring to be known only as "the mother of the young unknown warrior."Crook, Steve "A son's stirring words." ''The Powell & Pressburger Pages''. Retrieved: 25 December 2014.
Rosewarne's letter continues to inspire and his letter features in the RAF's publication ''Leadership''. His portrait is displayed at Brentwood School and a copy at Cranwell.
The following pictures of Rosewarne come from his Commanding Officer Group Captain C. H. Keith's personal copy of the published book and are published here for the first time.
File:Vivian Rosewarne.JPG,
File:V.Rosewarne2.JPG,
File:Rosewarne.3.JPG,
Reception
Film critic Tony Williams reviewed ''An Airman's Letter to His Mother'', characterizing the work as an example of Powell's creative style, "... this five-minute short contains several examples of supreme visual composition and touching narration. They often transcend its original purpose as a work of British wartime propaganda making it far more compelling and enduring than Powell’s contribution to the now dated and unwatchable ''
The Lion Has Wings
''The Lion Has Wings'' is a 1939 British, black-and-white, documentary-style, propaganda film, propaganda war film that was directed by Adrian Brunel, Brian Desmond Hurst, Alexander Korda and Michael Powell. The film was produced by London Film ...
'' (1939), which he does mention in his recollections."Williams, Tony "An Airman's Letter to His Mother." ''Sense of Cinema'' (originally published in ''Cinémathèque Annotations on Film'', July 2005. Retrieved: 25 December 2014.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Butler, Susan. ''East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart''. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1997. .
* Lazar, David, ed. ''Michael Powell: Interviews''. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2013. .