The Coastal Command Flying Boats at War

The Coastal Command Flying Boats at War Review

While air battles raged over the European continent, a different kind of war was fought over the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea by the aircraft of Britain's Coastal Command.

Giant Sunderland and Catalina flying boats conducted constant patrols against enemy surface raiders, submarines and aircraft.

Across the globe in the Pacific, U.S. Navy Catalinas took on another role. Painted black, the planes flew nighttime bomb raids against Japanese shipping, harbors and shore installations. These Black Cats proved an effective, if unlikely, weapon.

Featured on this DVD is The Coastal Command, a British documentary with narrative flair produced in 1942. The film presents an account of the Shorts Sunderland and PBY Catalina flying boats. The film includes an attack on a major enemy ship by Hudson and Halifax bombers based in Iceland. Later, the film depicts a routine sea patrol, in which a Sunderland flying boat flies over a convoy and bombs a German U-boat. The movie was made under the supervision of writer/producer Ian Dalrymple, with the full cooperation of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. The participants of the movie were active RAF officers, NCOs and aircrew, and RN officers, and included pilot Roger Hunter and Flight Sergeant Charles Norman Lewis; both were later killed in World War II. Coastal Command is also notable for its famous score by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Long out of release, the film is presented here on DVD for the first time.

Also included is The Story of the Black Cats, a U.S. Navy film about America s top secret weapon: the Catalina raiders. The Navy's long range flying boats, "Cats," play the lead in this authentic film combat report from the South Pacific. From the same harbors where Pan Am Clipper flying boats flew passengers on their way from San Francisco to Tokyo, the Navy's Catalinas embark on missions of death and destruction.

Digitally remastered and restored from