Don Durbridge

RAF Coastal Command is perhaps the lesser known of Britain's wartime RAF Commands, with the Fighter and Bomber Squadrons making most of the headlines. The tasks faced by Coastal Command however were gigantic. These ranged from submarine hunting to convoy protection; attacks on enemy shipping and U-boat pens to reconnaissance; mine laying to air-sea rescue. The maritime air War called for men of unusual skills and rare patience, often spending 20 hours or more on a mission. It has been said that without the destructive power of the bombers and fighters, the Allies might not have achieved victory. Without the patient, dogged devotion to duty of the coastal crews, Britain would never have survived to achieve that victory.

Since 1945 aircraft carriers have proved that they have an unrivaled ability to deliver massive firepower against the enemy, at the same time as possessing the traditional flexibility of a navel force. Carriers and more particularly the aircraft they support have been subject to constant development. This colour documentary traces that development from its very beginnings in the First World War.