Lancaster

PROPELLING from their previous feature-length documentary Spitfire, filmmakers David Fairhead and Ant Palmer return to the skies to chart a wartime history of the famed Lancaster bomber. Telling the story of the notorious WWII aircraft, this engrossing piece is punctuated by reminisces from the last surviving veterans who took part in many campaigns and operations.

Starting with ‘The Blitz’, 38 pilots are followed as they join-up, learn to fly and go to war. With the enemy strong and Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command badly equipped, the tide eventually turned with the introduction of the ‘Lanc’. Designed to take the war to the enemy – and to win it – the Lancaster was both loved and feared. From the firestorms of Hamburg to the infamous Dambuster raids and the controversial bombing of Dresden, these emotional testimonies tell of courage, fear, friendship and moral ambiguity.

Comprised of rare and newly remastered archival film from the Imperial War Museum and other sources, the heart of the film is the extraordinary recollections of the veterans who risked it all for the sake of history.