Angels One Five 1952

Classic British film of the Battle of Britain from the point of view of the operations in the control room.

There were a number of flying Hawker Hurricanes used in the film but for German aircraft, scenes of destruction and some near misses, miniatures were used. The miniatures were supervised by George Blackwell. For the most part the miniatures ( as well as the live action cockpit scenes) are composited over live action aerial plates using a traveling matte process which was supervised by Brian Langley.

The Junkers Ju88's as depicted in the film don't seem particularly accurate, having very strange shaped cockpit bubbles. They drop very fast falling animated bombs that are timed to line up with the explosions in the live action footage. The shots of the bombers in formation are very static, the camera and aircraft are rigidly positioned with respect to each other.

The last image of the film features a glass painting of the bombed out house at the end of the runway. The painting is so close to the camera at the beginning of the shot that the brush strokes are clearly visible. As the camera pulls back it starts to look much more convincing.

Hurricane on the ground is real, Hurricane hopping over the top is a model added via a traveling matte.

Bombs probably 2d artwork animated to coincide with the background explosions.

Odd looking Ju88's.

Hurricanes are real, The Me109 is a model added via a traveling matte.

The glass painting of the bombed out house. The camera is very close up.