Reach for the Sky
Encyclopedia
Reach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film
of aviator Douglas Bader
, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill
. The film stars Kenneth More
and was directed by Lewis Gilbert
. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956.
, a hyperactive young man, joins RAF
Cranwell
as a cadet. Despite a schoolboy-like disregard for service discipline and flight rules, he successfully completes his training and is posted to No. 23 squadron at Kenley
. In 1931, he crashes his aircraft and despite nearly dying, survives, although both legs are amputated. During convalescence, he meets and starts to court Thelma Edwards. Refused flying duties and offered a desk job, he leaves the RAF and takes an office job with Shell Oil. On the strength of this, he and Thelma marry.
As the Second World War starts, Bader talks himself back into the Royal Air Force. He takes part in the Battle of Britain
, and is posted to take command of a squadron comprising mostly Canadians, vastly improving morale and discipline.
In 1941, Bader is shot down and taken prisoner, after being forced to bail out over France. He escapes and is moved to several POW camps, ending in Colditz Castle
.
Despite his disability, Bader makes many attempts at escape, and the Germans threaten to take his prosthetic legs away. The story continues to his release in 1945, when Bader is again able to lead his pilots in a flypast
commemorating the war's end.
bases, principal filming took place in Surrey at RAF Kenley
, and around the village of Bagshot. Studio work was completed at the Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. Available wartime combat aircraft including Hawker Hurricane
and Supermarine Spitfire
fighters were arranged to take on the aerial scenes.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
of aviator Douglas Bader
Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.Bader joined the...
, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill
Paul Brickhill
Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill was an Australian writer, whose World War II books were turned into popular movies.-Biography:...
. The film stars Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
and was directed by Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...
. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956.
Plot
In 1928, Douglas BaderDouglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.Bader joined the...
, a hyperactive young man, joins RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Cranwell
Cranwell
Cranwell is a village situated in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. It is part of the Civil Parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is located 3.95 miles north-north-west of Sleaford and 16.3 miles south-east of the county town of Lincoln...
as a cadet. Despite a schoolboy-like disregard for service discipline and flight rules, he successfully completes his training and is posted to No. 23 squadron at Kenley
Kenley
Kenley is a district in the south of the London Borough of Croydon. It borders Purley, Coulsdon, Riddlesdown, Caterham and Whyteleafe. Kenley is situated 13 miles south of Charing Cross. The 2001 census showed Kenley having a population of 13,525....
. In 1931, he crashes his aircraft and despite nearly dying, survives, although both legs are amputated. During convalescence, he meets and starts to court Thelma Edwards. Refused flying duties and offered a desk job, he leaves the RAF and takes an office job with Shell Oil. On the strength of this, he and Thelma marry.
As the Second World War starts, Bader talks himself back into the Royal Air Force. He takes part in the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
, and is posted to take command of a squadron comprising mostly Canadians, vastly improving morale and discipline.
In 1941, Bader is shot down and taken prisoner, after being forced to bail out over France. He escapes and is moved to several POW camps, ending in Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it gained international fame as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for...
.
Despite his disability, Bader makes many attempts at escape, and the Germans threaten to take his prosthetic legs away. The story continues to his release in 1945, when Bader is again able to lead his pilots in a flypast
Flypast
Flypast is a term used in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and other countries to denote ceremonial or honorific flights by groups of aircraft and, rarely, by a single aircraft...
commemorating the war's end.
Cast
As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):- Kenneth MoreKenneth MoreKenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
as Douglas Bader - Muriel PavlowMuriel PavlowMuriel Lilian Pavlow is a British actress. Her mother was French and her father was Russian.-Film career:She began work as a child actor with John Gielgud and the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Thelma Bader - Lyndon BrookLyndon BrookLyndon Brook was a British actor, on film and television.Born in York, Brook came from an established acting family. His father, Clive Brook, had been a star of the silent movies and had moved to Hollywood to play quintessential Englishmen in a host of films...
as Johnny Sanderson - Lee PattersonLee PattersonLee Patterson was a Canadian film and television actor.After attending Ontario College of Art, Patterson moved to England, where he specialized in playing virile American types in British films...
as Turner - Alexander KnoxAlexander KnoxAlexander Knox was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century.-Biography:...
as Mr. Joyce - Dorothy AlisonDorothy AlisonDorothy Alison was an Australian stage, film and television actress.She was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, and was educated at Sydney Girls High School. She moved to London, England in 1949 to further her career...
as Nurse Brace - Michael Warre as Harry Day
- Sydney TaflerSydney TaflerSydney Tafler , was a British film and television actor, first appearing in London's West End in 1936, after two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, with Sir Seymour Hicks in The Man in Dress Clothes....
as Robert Desoutter - Howard Marion-CrawfordHoward Marion-CrawfordHoward Marion-Crawford , the grandson of writer F. Marion Crawford, was an English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes...
as "Woody" Woodhall - Jack WatlingJack WatlingJack Watling was a British actor.-Early life:Watling trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child and made his stage debut in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire in 1936...
as Peel - Nigel GreenNigel GreenNigel Green was a South African-born English character actor. Because of his strapping build and commanding demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic sixties films as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.-Early life and...
as Streatfield - Anne Leon as Sister Thornhill
- Charles CarsonCharles Carson (actor)-Selected filmography:* The Loves of Ariane * Dreyfus * Many Waters * Marry Me * The Chinese Puzzle * Monsieur Albert * Men of Tomorrow * Leap Year...
as Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding - Ronald AdamRonald Adam (actor)Ronald Adam OBE , born Ronald George Hinings Adams, was a British RAF officer, an actor on stage and screen and a successful theatre manager.-Early life:...
as Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory - Walter HuddWalter HuddWalter Hudd was a British actor.According to the Filmgoer's Companion by Leslie Halliwell, in 1936 Hudd was cast as T.E...
as Air Vice-Marshal Halahan - Basil Appleby as Crowley-Milling
- Philip Stainton as Police Constable
- Eddie ByrneEddie ByrneEddie Byrne was an Irish actor. Outside Ireland he is probably best known for his minor role as General Vanden Willard in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but fans of cult sci-fi might also remember him as the skeptical Inspector Mulrooney in The Mummy and as the kindly Dr. Reginald Landers in...
as Flight Sergeant Mills - Beverley Brooks as Sally
- Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
as Warrant Officer West - Derek BlomfieldDerek BlomfieldDerek Blomfield was a British actor who appeared in a number of film and television productions between 1935 and his death in 1964.-Career:...
as Civilian Pilot - Avice LandoneAvice LandoneAvice Landone was a British actress who appeared in British television and film. She was born in Quetta, British India in 1908 and made her screen debut in the 1948 film My Brother Jonathon. Between 1970 and 1972 she played the role of Margaret Brown in the television series Man at the Top...
as Douglas Bader's Mother - Eric PohlmannEric PohlmannEric Pohlmann was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor.Born Erich Pollak in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was a classically trained actor who studied under the renowned director Max Reinhardt...
as Adjutant at Prison Camp (as Eric Pohlman) - Michael GoughMichael GoughMichael Gough was an English character actor who appeared in over 150 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences for his roles in the Hammer Horror films from 1958, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four movies of the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchise,...
as Flying Instructor Pearson
Aircraft
The following aircraft were used in the filming of Reach to the Sky.| Aircraft | Registration or serial |
Role | Fate | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avro 504K Avro 504 The Avro 504 was a World War I biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the War totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in World War I, in any military capacity, during... |
E3404 | Flying | Preserved at Shuttleworth Collection Shuttleworth Collection The Shuttleworth Collection is an aeronautical and automotive museum located at the Old Warden airfield in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of the most prestigious in the world due to the variety of old and well-preserved aircraft.- History :... , Old Warden Old Warden Old Warden is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, just west of the town of Biggleswade. It has a population of 275. The village grew up under the protection of the Cistercian Wardon or Warden Abbey nearby.... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... . |
 |
| Avro Tutor | K3215 | Static | Preserved at Shuttleworth Collection. | |
| Bristol F.2b Bristol F.2 Fighter The Bristol F.2 Fighter was a British two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War flown by the Royal Flying Corps. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter or popularly the "Brisfit" or "Biff". Despite being a two-seater, the F.2B proved to be an agile aircraft... |
D8096 | Camera ship | Preserved at Shuttleworth Collection. |  |
| Bristol Bulldog Bristol Bulldog |-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Andrews, C.F. The Bristol Bulldog . Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1965.* Barnes, C.H. Bristol Aircraft Since 1910. London: Putnam, 1964.... |
K2227 | Static | Preserved at RAF Museum, Hendon Hendon Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... . |
|
| Hawker Hurricane I | P2617 | Static | Scrapped in May 1956. | |
| Hawker Hurricane IIC | LF363 | Flying | Airworthy with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane... , RAF Coningsby RAF Coningsby RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England. It has been commanded by Group Captain Martin Sampson since 10 December 2010.-Operational units:... , United Kingdom. |
|
| Hawker Hurricane IIC | unknown | Static | Believed scrapped. | |
| Spartan Arrow Spartan Arrow -External links:** in Flight, November 7, 1930.... |
G-ABWP | Static | Airworthy, privately owned. | .jpg) |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | RW345 | Static | Scrapped May 1956 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | RW352 | Flying | Scrapped 1957 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | SL574 | Flying | Preserved at the Air & Space Museum, San Diego, United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... . |
|
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | SL745 | Static | Scrapped May 1956 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | TB293 | Static | Scrapped May 1956 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | TB885 | Static | Under restoration in United Kingdom to flying condition. | |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | TE288 | Static | Preserved at Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum The Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum or Air Force Museum of New Zealand as it is now known, is an air force museum located located at Wigram, the RNZAF's first operational base, in Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand... , Wigram Wigram Aerodrome Wigram Aerodrome is a former Royal New Zealand Air Force base located in the Christchurch suburb of Wigram. It is named after Sir Henry Wigram. Originally home to the RNZAF Central Flying School , it was decommissioned in 1995 following the CFS' relocation to RNZAF Ohakea two years earlier.Wigram... , New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... |
 |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | TE341 | Static | Scrapped at Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton... |
|
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | TE358 | Flying | Scrapped by Coley's Ltd, Feltham Feltham Feltham is a town in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is located about west south west of central London at Charing Cross and from Heathrow Airport Central... , United Kingdom in April 1957 |
|
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | TE456 | Flying | Preserved at Auckland War Memorial Museum Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history , natural history, as well as military history.The museum is also one of the most iconic Auckland buildings, constructed in the neo-classicist... , Auckland Auckland The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world... , New Zealand |
Production
In order to realistically depict the various Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
bases, principal filming took place in Surrey at RAF Kenley
RAF Kenley
The former Royal Air Force Station Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley was a station of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I and the RAF in World War II. It is located near Kenley, London, England.-History:...
, and around the village of Bagshot. Studio work was completed at the Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. Available wartime combat aircraft including Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
and Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
fighters were arranged to take on the aerial scenes.