Films of the Evacuation from Dunkirk and Fleet Air Arm Training (Reel 2 of 2)

Reel 1 can be viewed at    • Films of the Evacuation from Dunkirk and F...   A collection of black and white silent films, joined to make 2 reels, shot and subsequently edited by Lieutenant Philip Roderick Hall, notably while serving on the destroyer HMS Whitehall during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk in 1940, and during his subsequent training as a Fleet Air Arm pilot (prior to being killed in action on 14 June 1942). The films also include off-duty scenes relaxing in England, probably during the summer of 1941. Reel 2 (total length 12 mins 53 secs): Off-duty, men carry on playing with labrador on lilo in small pool. Scene changes to a larger pool near a large modern country house, with RN lieutenant and girls relaxing by a pool in the sun and diving from boards. Lieutenant with cigar and two young women. Young officers and women (one a WRAF Corporal). (3 mins 46 secs) Close-up of a hairy caterpillar crawling on the ground. (3 mins 56 secs) Mixed group of young men (Fleet Air Arm trainees?) in civilian clothes and RN and RAF uniforms outside a RAF-style hut. The camera lingers over a large number of empty spirit (whisky, bacardi, gin) and beer bottles, which have been artistically arranged on the grass, forming a pattern of letters: PDA F GCBH 1941; three FAA trainees, with Roderick Hall in the centre, demonstrate for the camera the pleasures of drinking, while a 2/6 Cheap War Edition copy of Dorothy Sayers's detective story Strong Poison points to the dangers. Servicemen and servicewomen drink more conventionally indoors. (5 mins 24 secs) Flying training scenes record Fairey Battle taking off, Hawker Hart or Ospreys and Fairey Battles in flight and on an airfield with large hangars in the distance. RN and RAF officers together; pilot and observer/instructor climb into a Fairey Battle which taxis and flies above the clouds. RAF and RN officers, the latter now with wings. (7 mins 44 secs) The partially burnt-out fuselage of a Fairey Battle (D 30 on fuselage) lies in a field, covered with fire-extinguishing white foam; a fellow officer holds up for the camera various parts of the German bomb which must have been dropped in a surprise Luftwaffe raid on the training station airfield. (9 mins 6 secs) A group of Fleet Air Arm officers, pending Deck Landing Training (768 Naval Air Squadron ?), wait on Glasgow Central railway station platform, then walk along a street outside the station where Rogano’s Oyster Bar is visible. The group piles out of a truck on a quayside and boards a vessel, with 4 camouflaged County Class cruiser and R Class battleship visible at anchor (Firth of Clyde?). (9 mins 47 secs) On board the aircraft carrier HMS Argus, steaming off Lamlash (Isle of Arran, Firth of Clyde), naval pilots in Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Fulmars practise Deck Landing Training using arrester hooks, the pilots being brought in by batman on deck [ 21-22 September 1941]. (12 mins 11 secs) On board a fast launch, returning to Ardrossan quayside. (12 mins 35 secs) Group shot of Fleet Air Arm lieutenants and sub-lieutenants standing outside a hangar, presumably before posting overseas. (12 mins 53 secs) Note: After Dunkirk, Lieut. Roderick Hall was posted to HMS Daedalus for Fleet Air Arm training, then No 14 Flying Training School at RAF Elmdon for elementary flying, then No 1 Flying Training School at RAF Netheravon for advanced flying, HMS Heron (Yeovilton) for a fighter course in July 1941, DLT on HMS Argus, then posting to 807 Squadron on HMS Ark Royal in October 1941. He was killed in action on 14 June 1942, flying a Fairy Fulmar Mark II from HMS Argus to provide air cover for a Malta convoy. His plane was damaged whilst engaging with Italian torpedo bombers, and as he attempted a forced land at sea, he was hit by ‘friendly fire’ from HMS Wrestler. The date and location of Deck Landing Training were derived from ADM 53/113621 (The National Archives), researched by Mrs Lauretta Harris. Original Film Format: 16mm, 2 reels; Original Dimensions: Footage: 611 ft; Running time: 15 mins. The films were digitised by the North West Film Archive in 2013, and the original reels subsequently transferred to the Imperial War Museum, London (ref. KAY 1974). DVD copies have been placed in the Heald-Hall Family Papers at the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester.