A movie from 1968 that puts the more recent Hollywood awful CGI crap like Pearl Harbor and Midway to shame.

I was 15 when the film came out. I went to see it at the Cinema about 8 times. ^ years later I joined the RAF. A brilliant film

This is easily my most watched film of all time. Even with its tiny mistakes it’s a classic. I love this movie!!!!

RIP Captain Federico Iglesias Lanzos of the Spanish Airforce. Died in Tablada Seville performing aerobatics practising before the filming started.

I saw this movie multiple times when I was 14. I own it on DVD and it is still one of my all time favourite movies. Twenty years later I was an officer in the RCAF in Goose Bay and met with members of some of the same squadrons that had been fighting each during the war, of course now allies. Fabulous.

I attended a talk given by Connie Edwards, the overall aerial coordinator for the film. The HE 111 bomb drop sequence was filmed by Gibraltar. With cameras rolling, the formation approached the bomb release point. They actually dropped concrete bombs made in France for the sequence. All cameras rolling and there was a count down in Spanish for the Spanish Air Force crews flying the German marked birds. At the last second, the run was aborted as the Russian navy was sailing below. Around the sky they went. Cameras reloaded, formations on their marks, another count down and another abort for the Russian fleet. The third time around and once again an abort for the same reason. At that point Connie said he’d have given any amount of money to know the Spanish words for,”Bombs away.”  He said think about it. Spanish Air Force planes in German markings dropping French bombs on the Russian fleet in international waters for a British war movie all under the control of a Texan. The authorities never have figured it out.

As a small boy, obsessed with aircraft and born in 1962, my cousins and I were taken on a day out to the then Southend Aircraft Museum. Alongside a hangar, parked on the grass, was one of the then retired ex Spanish Air Force Heinekel  He111 bombers that had been used in the film.
Finding I had managed to break free from my family group.... brilliant!....I began exploring this aircraft and soon discovered the main hatch was open.....what else was a young chap supposed to do? I carefully climbed aboard the aircraft and spent a very thrilling twenty or so minutes exploring the inside. I sat in the pilots seat, praying no one else would walk around and see me through that huge perspex front end! And I also climbed into the upper gunners position facing aft.
I still recall that extraordinary smell of oil, old military equipment and the wonderful aroma that all vintage aircraft have. It was a hot summer day in the 1970's and after about twenty or so minutes, I was cooking and realised it was time to go.
I slithered out and rejoined my family. But, I never told any of them what I had done. My special secret!
I love the film and of course, all true aviation fanatics and fans, forgive every detail inaccuracy in the film. It was a stunning achievement just to get such an epic made at all and the use of whatever mark of Spitfire was available was obviously all they had to work with. Likewise, the Me109's are all Buchon Spanish built versions with Merlin engines, as so few if any genuine and serviceable 109's existed.
Virtually all war films from the 1950's well into the early 2000's contain massive inaccuracies in terms of the vehicles and aircraft. It's part of the game!!
The Battle of Britain stands as an extraordinary achievement and is a very powerful and moving tribute to those who fought and gave their lives in the defence of this country at such a desperate time.
Perhaps it should have been compulsory viewing for every Prime Minister, once a month throughout their tenure......maybe they would never have allowed the appalling hollowing out of our armed forces that we face now.
History always repeats. Those who fail to pay constant heed to that fact are doomed to endlessly fall for it's worst examples to mankind.

I saw the film when it came out age 10 when our teacher took the class to it . I bought the booklet at the cinema that came with the film at the cinema , so fascinated with this film which I still have . I was determined I was going to be a pilot , a task in which I suceeded and it became a long enjoyable career . Later in 1991 on the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbour ,  I was fortunate enough  to get a ride on a B-25 in Florida , it was named Chapter XI . My impression of it was how solidly it was built , and how effortless the take-off was - and the view from the different gun positions was amazing in the Florida skies.

It wasn't until much later I found out that this B-25 was indeed the same B-25 that had filmed the aerial scenes of the Battle Of Britain when it was called the "Psychedelic Monster" . What a priviledge it was .

"Don't you yell at me Mr Warwick!"

At our school near Manston Airfield in Kent our teachers gave up umpiring a cricket match because all we boys were more interested in watching these wonderful aircraft ‘dogfighting’ in the sky.

Hugh Dowding's office in the movie wasn't a mockup. - It was his actual wartime office at Bentley Priory. In the final scene, Hugh walks out of his office, to overlook the stunning Italian-styled garden at the rear of the building. I would recommend that any aviation enthusiast visit the museum if you're visiting London. It's a short trip by train. You won't be disappointed.

I was 5 years old when i saw the film and was utterly spellbound-- got me hooked for life-- times were so different then

This film is my personal No.1 film of all time. Living on the East coast of Kent it has, since I was a boy, always resonated with me.

Almost 60 years on and it is still one of the better war films out there.
It is ironic that there is a randomness to some of the background stories to the making of the film. The actual events it depicts had a certain randomness to them as well.

This movie was also credited with the beginning of the warbird movement to preserve the WWII aircraft. Duxford, where some of the movie was filmed has quite the show of Spits and Hurricanes every year.  There are many more in existence now than in 1968 thanks to the movie.

The "Battle of Britain" was made just at the right time...if it had been made a year or so later, Spain would have scrapped all its Casa111s and Casa 109s.  They had been used in action against insurgents in the Sahara as late as 1962 (with Spanish made JU-52s dropping paratroops!).  All the Spanish aircraft had license built British engines.  There was a revolt among German cast and military advisers when the script told the Luftwaffe men to farewell the departing Goring with a Nazi salute - Galland and others were adamant the Luftwaffe didn't use this until ordered to after the 1944 bomb attempt on Hitler, and only then with reluctance....I'm in my late sixties, and I still have my full set of Battle of Britain trading cards!

I've another fact, the Chateau you see in the back ground a few times was just a façade behind it's just scaffold. I know I lived near Duxford where that scene was shot and through my parents was able to visit the set when filming had finished. The hanger you see being destroyed is just a patch of concrete use for various purposes during flying days.

The Battle of Britain is one of my favorite movies amongst war movies. I've been in England numerous times and the Battle of Britain museum along with the RAF Museum at RAF Hendon are world class aviation museums! Served the USAF and had the privilege to work with and serve along side RAF units during Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia (1990-1991).

I don't think they're 'Weird Facts' but interesting stuff.
Fantastic film too!    🇬🇧   👍

Guinness is pronounced “ginis”