A Bomber
Command documentary filmed in Lincolnshire with Hollywood star Ewan McGregor
will be aired on BBC One.
Bomber Boys
sees the actor fly in a Lancaster Bomber with his pilot brother, Colin
McGregor, talk with veterans about their experiences in the Second World War
and visit Lincolnshire RAF stations. The film
focuses on men who fought and died in the skies above occupied Europe, while
highlighting the heroes of the time.
The 90-minute
show covers six years of wartime operations and traces the obstacles that were
overcome as the RAF developed and deployed the fighting force that was Bomber
Command.
Producer and
director Harvey Lilley from Lion Television, which made the show, said
Lincolnshire is "a central character" in the feature length
documentary.
"It felt
like something of a pilgrimage to some of those hundreds of air bases that
sprang up throughout the county in the Second World War," he said.
"They
were packed with thousands of young men – all volunteers – who took the fight
to Germany in the dark days of the Second World War when nobody else was
capable of striking at the Nazi War Machine.
"Colin
and Ewan met veterans in the Bluebell at Tattershall Thorpe and stayed at the
Petwood Hotel at Woodhall Spa, previously the officers mess of the Dambusters.
"And in
an unrepeatable experience for both, they got to fly in the BBMF's Lancaster,
the City of Lincoln, at last year's Lincolnshire Lancaster day.
"It all
helped paint a picture for them of what life was like for the 125 000 young men
who fought in the bombing campaign of the Second World War, many of whom – more
than 55,000 – paid the ultimate price."
The brothers
filmed at the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby and
the former bases of Faldingworth, Wickenby and East Kirkby, last summer.
Squadron
Leader Ian Smith, officer commanding the RAF BBMF, said: "We were
delighted to support this documentary and keen to help as much as we could with
the project. The documentary will highlight the courage the personnel of Bomber
Command had and the ultimate sacrifice that 55,573 of them made. Lest we
forget."
Other filming
was carried out in London, Afghanistan, Hamburg and the former wartime air base
of White Waltham in Berkshire.
The show will
air on Sunday, February 5, at 9pm, on BBC One. It will then be available on BBC
iPlayer for catch-up viewers.
Photo courtesy of Radio Times
