Documentary detailing the activities of American fighter escort pilots during bombing raids over Germany.Documentary detailing the activities of American fighter escort pilots during bombing raids over Germany.Documentary detailing the activities of American fighter escort pilots during bombing raids over Germany.
Photos
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAs someone mentioned, there is an extended 41minute version of Fight for the Sky that is far superior to the one reviewed here. That one is narrated by sometimes actor Reed Hadley who did several other WWII era documentaries including The Last Bomb, which chronicles a B-29 daylight raid over Japan in 1945. Hadley also covered an A-bomb test that was documented sometime after WWII.
- Alternate versionsThe long complete version runs 41 minutes and is narrated by Reed Hadley. The shorter version is narrated by Ronald Reagan.
- ConnectionsEdited into History of Air Combat: Fight for the Sky: Air War Over Germany (1997)
Featured review
Victory Lap.
I saw the fleshed-out ~40 minute version on YouTube, I think. The first third shows us pilots of a Thunderbolt unit in England horsing around, sleeping, and generally enjoying themselves until the early-morning briefing, when everyone is serious. The remainder of the film consists almost entirely of gun camera or other combat footage. It was probably a novelty at the time, but much of it will be familiar now. Every time I see that same stick of bombs plowing through the same orchard, I begin to feel sorry for apples.
The uncredited narrator with the sonorous baritone is Reed Hadley, who also narrated "Guadalcanal Diary" and a number of other films in the post-war period. He had some minor roles on the screen as well. For the most part, the narration avoids flag waving and name calling The Germans may be "Jerries" but only once are they "the Hun." By the time of this release the war was virtually over and there was little need for that sort of thing.
The viewer gets to see a multitude of enemy targets being strafed and blown apart. The one gun camera shot that is almost always missing is the one in which a French farmer in a little dog cart is racing his horse along a dirt road and farmer, carriage, and horse disappear in a cloud of dust as the target is peppered with .50 caliber bullets. Locomotives okay. Horses no. There's no need to suggest that any innocent animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture.
Motion pictures of combat are always exciting. What we're witnessing, after all, is a life or death struggle. But some of the most amazing incidents were never captured on film. The German pilot, for instance, who bailed out of his disabled airplane and whose body smashed into the spinner and propeller of the P-51 behind him, splashing his inner organs all over the American's windshield. (He vomited after landing.) And the German pilot who bailed out and zipped past his American pursuer in an upright position, holding a salute.
The most thorough and candid book I've read about these pilots is "Thunderbolt" by Robert S. Johnson. The most personal and honest documentary I've ever seen is "A Fighter Pilot's Story," by Quentin Annensen, who flew P-47s on ground attack missions. It exhumes emotions that "The Fight For The Sky" only touches on.
The uncredited narrator with the sonorous baritone is Reed Hadley, who also narrated "Guadalcanal Diary" and a number of other films in the post-war period. He had some minor roles on the screen as well. For the most part, the narration avoids flag waving and name calling The Germans may be "Jerries" but only once are they "the Hun." By the time of this release the war was virtually over and there was little need for that sort of thing.
The viewer gets to see a multitude of enemy targets being strafed and blown apart. The one gun camera shot that is almost always missing is the one in which a French farmer in a little dog cart is racing his horse along a dirt road and farmer, carriage, and horse disappear in a cloud of dust as the target is peppered with .50 caliber bullets. Locomotives okay. Horses no. There's no need to suggest that any innocent animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture.
Motion pictures of combat are always exciting. What we're witnessing, after all, is a life or death struggle. But some of the most amazing incidents were never captured on film. The German pilot, for instance, who bailed out of his disabled airplane and whose body smashed into the spinner and propeller of the P-51 behind him, splashing his inner organs all over the American's windshield. (He vomited after landing.) And the German pilot who bailed out and zipped past his American pursuer in an upright position, holding a salute.
The most thorough and candid book I've read about these pilots is "Thunderbolt" by Robert S. Johnson. The most personal and honest documentary I've ever seen is "A Fighter Pilot's Story," by Quentin Annensen, who flew P-47s on ground attack missions. It exhumes emotions that "The Fight For The Sky" only touches on.
helpful•00
- rmax304823
- Sep 2, 2013
Details
- Runtime20 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content