One of Our Aircraft Is Missing was released in 1964 and is a British Black and White film that stereotypes a war between the Germans and the Dutch. It is an aerial warfare film that was set in the 1940’s. One of Our Aircraft was created by the famous British writer-director-producer duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. This was the fourth film made by the duo and it was the first film that they made when they opened the doors of their company, The Archers.
Like many of Powell and Pressburger’s films, One of Our Aircraft is also labeled as a form of propaganda. It was commissioned by the Ministry Of Information which allowed the duo to create films that raised the spirits of the citizens of the United Kingdom. It is because of these factors that the film is able to stand out and go beyond jingoistic banter. Currently, One of Our Aircraft is Missing is known as one of the best British films of the war era.
The people of Britain during WWII did not help their position by creating several propaganda films for the people of Britain. One Of Our Aircraft is the reverse of the film 49th Parallel which features the German team stranded in Canada. Instead of the Germans arguing and fighting within the standard, it showcases the British helping one another in times of need.
During a night assault on Stuttgart, one of the motors on an RAF Wellington bomber sustains damage, compelling the crew to eject over the Netherlands close to the Zuider Zee. Out of the six airmen, five manage to locate each other but the sixth is nowhere to be found. The initial Dutch citizens they come across, including school teacher Else Meertens who can speak English, are not overly trusting as there haven’t been any airplane accidents that had occurred in the Netherlands (the bomber got abandoned and bombed in England). After some deliberation, the Dutch people decide to extend their aid in spite of their anxiety over German retaliation.
The pilots lead the disguised airmen, who are cycled over the countryside by many Dutch, to a soccer game where they meet the local mayor. Astonishingly, the airmen find their lost crewman in one of the teams and are overjoyed. They manage to escape by hiding in a truck that’s transporting supplies for Jo de Vries.
De Vries poses as a German sympathizer and holds the British responsible for her husband’s death in a German bombing raid (when he is actually in England working as a radio announcer). She conceals them in her mansion, where she is aware the Germans are garrisoned. Covering for an air raid, she steers them to a rowing boat, and the men paddle to the sea unnervingly close to smugglers but are seen by a bridge sentry. The shot they fired severely wounds the oldest man, Sir George Corbett, but they manage to reach the North Sea.
The men seek refuge inside a German rescue buoy, capturing two enemy aviators who had been shot down. However, one of them manages to send a radio message. Fortuitously, two British vessels get there first. Due to Corbett’s inability to move, they are forced to tow the buoy back to England. After three months of recovery, he is finally ready to get on a new four-engine heavy bomber a Short Stirling.
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