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Calling WWII Veterans

Lion TV is an independent production company (www.liontv.co.uk) and we are producing a 3 part series for BBC 2 to be screened in late 08 called Britain from the Air. The focus of the series is to use the unique perspective of aerial view to see how radically Britain’s urban, agricultural and industrial landscapes have changed since the end of the second World War, and continue to change today.

Each of the 3 half hour films will have a specific geographical, or regional focus, bringing to light the processes and personal experiences on the ground that mirror the bigger changes seen from above.

The first film in the series will look at London, and particularly East London, following the devastation of the Blitz.

For this reason I am very interested in finding personal experience of the aerial destruction wrought in the 40s, perhaps from the perspective of a night-fighter crew member, defending the capital at the time.

The other possibility I wanted to explore was finding aircrew who took part in the reconnaissance flights that filmed the aftermath of the raids. I know this was a process that continued after the war, so would not want to restrict the appeal to wartime crews only.

I have also heard anecdotally that there were such things as ‘camera girls’ who loaded and maintained the cameras on reconnaissance flights and I would very much like to find one to talk to about their perspective on the whole laborious process of getting these precious images.

We are in early pre-production on the series and will not be filming until late winter, early spring ’08. At this stage I am trying to make contacts and find out what and who might potentially help tell the story.

If you can help, please contact me at:

Nic Young
Britain from the Air
Lion TV
London W6 OUB

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