One of the Few….

 It may not have been the most artfully acted film ever made but bear in mind this was all pre CGI and at one point the film unit owned the world’s 35th largest Air Force! For me it is up there with Zulu, Waterloo and Lawrence of Arabia

One of the films that has had a huge influence on my gaming career is the 1969 offering of the Battle of Britain. As a young boy of the Airfix and Commando Comics generation and with an Uncle that was a Wellington bomber pilot during the war it was fair to say that I was RAF obsessed and I was desperately keen to see the film when it was released to my local cinema on the Isle of Sheppey. Funds were tight so an old school friend and I contrived to sneak into the cinema via the fire escape in the car park. This we managed with no problem at all and I remember being very nervous about being caught (there were only about half a dozen people watching the film) and absolutely enthralled by the film.

One of the things I am looking forward to tackling using the Wing Leader: Victories board game are the many Battle of Britain based scenarios. There is plenty of choice - Stuka raids, fighter sweeps and bombing raids with all the usual suspects from the era - Spitfires and Hurricanes, Bf109, Bf110, Ju87, Heinkels and Dorniers. I believe that Defiants feature in an expansion but would have to check.

By way of research I decided to take a quick look at the relevant section of my library with a view to reacquainting myself with the events of summer 1940. So without further ado, here we go.

Both of these are boot sale bargains. The Battle of Britain is interesting in that it was written by a Frenchman at the behest of the Air Ministry. It is quite anecdotal in approach and features the German view point as well. R.A.F Fighter Squadrons is a cracking read and concentrates on the squadrons individually and in some detail. I was interested to read about the trials and tribulations of No. 19 squadron testing the cannon armed variant.

The Hardest Day is one of my favourites as it covers a single day of operations from both sides and features some cracking ideas for scenarios. Spitfire Ace is the tie in to the Channel 4 documantary of the same name.

The book on the left, originally published by Salamander, is pretty much a ‘coffee table’ book but is useful for the diagrams of tactics etc as well pictures of artefacts etc. The book on the right is rather more detailed but more of an overview.

At the moment this is my ‘go to’ history and is a great account of the overall campaign.

Not specifically about the Battle of Britain although naturally this does feature, The Decisive Duel traces the development, evolution and operational use of the two protagonists throughout the war years. It is really good book for knowing what it must have been like to fly either plane.

Finally, and with grateful thanks to the redoubtable Mr Fox, a personal account of the Battle of Britain - and no, he was not a relation!

There are many other books about the battle and indeed, Mr Fox mentioned a recent Osprey title I shall need to keep an eye open for as it covers events from the German side. I remember reading The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary which was a moving experience as he described his shooting down and recovery from severe burns - a fate not uncommon for a fighter pilot, sat as they usually were on or around close proximity to a fuel tank.

I called this post One of the Few as for me this is one of the few films I can return to again and again - any resemblance to the famous speech by WSC is coincidental and not intentional. Well, maybe it is….