First Light

[poliphilo]

First Light was a glum recreation of the life of a Battle of Britain fighter pilot. Budget constraints had thinned 92 Squadron down to the wing commander and four other blokes- two of whom didn't say very much. Geoffrey Wellum, characterised by a senior officer as "a cocky young bastard", went from being tongue-tied and gauche to tongue-tied and battle-weary. Maybe life in an RAF mess in 1940 was all clipped, callous one-liners and long brooding silences- when one thought about the dead it was bad form to name- but I'm not convinced. Somehow (this is where the budget went) they got hold hold of four or five Spitfires. The Spitfires were lovely.

Comments

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

My Dad's strongest memories of his wartime RAF service was trying to cook fried eggs with fried bread (known in our house as a "Binbrook Beauty") over the small heating stove in the centre of their Nissen hut. And Group Captain Leonard Cheshire throwing his weight about.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My instinct- for what it's worth- is that these young men wouldn't have spent their time mooning about, but would have alternated fighting with "larks". If they were all as miserable as the guys in this film I don't see how we'd ever have won the battle.