13 Hours that saved Britain (documentary)

The value of radar at the time of the B of B has been vastly exaggerated in places. British radio direction finding was very crude and limited at this stage in the war. Wobbly flickers on cathode ray screens, unable to distinguish friend from foe. Mercifully we had good management of vigorous airmen, sufficient to rattle Hitler’s invasion ambitions. But once the Luftwaffe commenced night-time blitz raids, there was no effective means of deterrence.
Robert Arley, Of sons and skies

The clarity of film from the Bof B in that u tube docu is surprisingly good. In relation to its content i have just read Gun Button to fire by Tom Neil..revised edition. He flew Hurricanes in the battle and laments the poor co ordination of the control. Many times he flew with several formations of his squadron and failed to be guided to any enemy aircraft. Has the portrayal of radar as an important plus factor in the battle been exagerrated? Or were flights of fighters sent to patrol set lines just in the hope that they would be in the right place to intercept when an attack came over the channel? Perhaps the powers that be had little confidence in the radar and fell back on reliance of the idea of a standing patrol.?

Out takes

The reason they are out takes is because the film editor and director discovered that each of those particular shots did not drive forward the narrative or understanding of a particular sequence, and/or would not ‘cut in’ (i.e. blend in) with the preceding or following shot. This fine-tuning sees off many great images in all types of film-making. Be glad they got some exposure (albeit clunky, at times) elsewhere.
Robert Arley, Of sons and skies

I’ve seen quite a lot of unused footage from “Battle Of Britain” now and I have to say that a lot of it, had it been used in the final cut, I personally feel would have greatly enhanced the dynamics of the dogfights. Specifically the fighter vs fighter duels. This isn’t meant as criticism by any means. It’s just that I watch these out takes and I think “Wow! Wish they’d used that bit”.