''Coastal Command'' is a 1942 British film made by the

Crown Film Unit The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. Its remit was to make films for the general public in ...

for the Ministry of Information. The film, distributed by

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

, dramatised the work of

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

. ''Coastal Command'' is a documentary-style account of the

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North Ea ...

and

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wi ...

flying boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. The film includes real footage of attacks on a major enemy ship by Hudson and Beaufort bombers based in Iceland.

Plot

In 1942, a Sunderland flying boat including in its crew skipper Johnny Campbell, Roger Hunter and Flight Sergeant Charles Norman Lewis, set out on a convoy-guarding patrol, flying out of their Scottish air base. During the routine sea patrol, in which a convoy is spotted, the crew encounters and bombs a German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

. The Sunderland's crew returns to Scotland, mission accomplished, but with a wounded crew member aboard, who is in stable condition. After a visit to the hospital, the Sunderland crew is informed they will be re-deployed to West Africa, to begin a new mission.

Cast

* Jonny Hyde as Flight Lieutenant Campbell * Roger Hunter as himself * Charles Norman Lewis as himself

Production

''Coastal Command'' was made under the supervision of Ian Dalrymple, with the full cooperation of 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 ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 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 ...

. The participants in the film were active RAF officers, NCOs and aircrew, and RN officers. The film featured

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 ...

Johnny Hyde (RAF officer) DFC in the lead role, pilot Roger Hunter, and Flight Sergeant Charles Norman Lewis. Johnny Hyde (RAF officer) was killed in action over Norway on 29 April 1942. On 25 August 1942, Lewis was killed on a flight that

Prince George, Duke of Kent Prince George, Duke of Kent, (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942) was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and Geo ...

was undertaking as a morale-boosting mission to Iceland. Filming for ''Coastal Command'' took place at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire where an RAF Operations Room set was constructed for the Ministry of Information. Location photography also took place at RAF Bowmore and RAF Port Ellen, Glenegedale,

Isle of Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's capital i ...

, Argyll Scotland, where Short Sunderland units were operating. ''Coastal Command'' is notable for its score by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Reviews

The performances in ''Coastal Command'' were generally well received as they were real-life depictions of a coastal command unit in wartime. After the release of ''Coastal Command'' in the United States on 18 April 1944,

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 ...

, film reviewer 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 ...

'' wrote that it suffered in comparison with the similar '' Memphis Belle'' documentary. He did write, however, that: "Many of the individual glimpses in this film are intriguing to the eye, and the whole conveys an academic notion of the personal and organizational problems of the Coastal Command. But the obvious studio-staging of much of the action in which personnel is involved and the scattered arrangement of continuity drain the film of sharp immediacy and drive. Because it jumps its scenes from one plane to another, from shore to plane — and even a few times to the Nazi ship—without adequate definition, the spectator is forced to an objective point of view. A sense of artificial construction is plainly inevitable. Thus suspense and excitement are lacking. The mood becomes fitful and blasé."Crowther, Bosley
"The screen: 'Coastal Command' (1943); Wings over water."
''The New York Times'', 19 April 1944.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * Manvell, Roger. ''Films and the Second World War''. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1974. . * Owen, Neil. ''Royal Air Force Station Oban 1939-45: A History of Flying Boat Operations''. Self-published.

External links

Score
* {{IMDb title, id=0034603, title=Coastal Command 1942 films British documentary films British aviation films British World War II propaganda films British black-and-white films Crown Film Unit films Films scored by Ralph Vaughan Williams Films produced by Ian Dalrymple 1942 documentary films 1942 war films