Up There, Into The Wide Blue Yonder Quiz

Answer: The Dam Busters

Released in 1955, "The Dam Busters" portrayed the real life attack on a number of dams supplying water and power vital to Germany's war effort.
The film followed the development of Barnes Wallis' "Bouncing Bomb", the formation of 617 Squadron - armed with specially modified Avro Lancaster bombers - and the attack which successfully managed to destroy two dams.

Answer: Flight of the Intruder

Released in 1991, "Flight of the Intruder" was a film about the crews of Grumman A-6 Intruders, flying missions over Vietnam, and starred Brad Johnson as Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton, Willem Dafoe as Virgil "Tiger" Cole and Danny Glover as Frank "Dooke" Camparelli, the commanding officer.

When Grafton and Cole are grounded after bombing Hanoi against orders, they take to the air to help save Camparelli when he is shot down behind enemy lines. When Cole and Grafton are shot down themselves, Cole is mortally injured fighting a Vietnamese soldier, whilst Grafton helps Camparelli to escape.

Answer: The Battle of Britain

Filming "The Battle of Britain" was a tremendous task that started some years before filming commenced. Nearly 100 vintage aircraft were used for the film not only depicting planes flown by the RAF, but also the Luftwaffe. The film was more a historical film of the events during the summer of 1940; giving views from both sides of the conflict as well as depicting the heavy loss of lives to both the RAF and Luftwaffe.

Answer: The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Starring William Holden as Harry Brubaker, a navy reservist called back into action. "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" draws its story from a book written by James Michener, and his experiences during the Korean War, including an attack on rail bridges in North Korea. After Brubaker is shot down, he goes to Japan to be with his wife. Returning he then acts as wingman during a reconnaissance flight to photograph bridges at Toko-Ri. When it comes to the attack, Brubaker starts to lose his nerve until the helicopter pilot (played by Mickey Rooney) helps calm his nerves.

After the initial attack on the bridges, Brubaker heads to attack a secondary target but crashes when his aircraft gets hit. When a rescue attempt by Rooney's character fails, both Holden and Rooney's character die when surrounded by North Korean soldiers.

Answer: 633 Squadron

Released in 1964, "633 Squadron" received mixed reviews from film critics, despite its star cast. In an interesting side note, direct parallels from the film attack depicted in the film to the attack on the Death Star in the first "Star Wars" film can be drawn. Both had a pilot briefing. Both films had an attack down a heavily defended site - In "633 Squadron" a narrow fjord / in "Star Wars" a narrow trench -, with both pilots coming under attack from enemy pilots. Finally both sets of pilots had to attack a specific target which led to the destruction of their objective - in "633 Squadron and overhanging rock protecting the target / in "Star Wars" a small vent.

Answer: Reach for the Sky

Released in 1956, "Reach for The Sky" had Kenneth More playing Douglas Bader, a pilot determined to fly, even after he had lost both legs in an air crash. Finally, after getting back into the air, the film shows Bader on his way to becoming one of the RAF's top pilots during World War 2 until shot down over enemy territory. Even when captured Bader's exploits didn't stop as given a new pair of artificial legs - to replace those he lost when he bailed out - the film showed Bader trying to escape from hospital.

Answer: Aces High

Although the play it was based upon was set in the trenches during World War 1, "Aces High" still accurately follows the timeline of the play's narrative, but transposed to the Royal Flying Corps.

The plot of the film is set over a seven-day period of time when a new pilot (Firth) arrives at his squadron in France when the commanding officer (McDowell) is his former house captain at the school they attended. Portraying the horrors of air warfare during World War One, as the film unfolds McDowell's character tries to deal with the pressure by drinking alcohol, whilst Firth's character struggles to fit in before being tragically killed in the film's finale.

Answer: Angels One-Five

Released in 1952, "Angels One-Five" took its name for the RAF call sign indicating the height of an enemy aircraft, meaning "Enemy at 15,000 feet"
Despite his rocky start to squadron life, and incurring the wrath of his senior officer. "Septic" soon proves his worth, before losing his life at the end of the film.

Answer: Air America

Although "Air America" is not strictly a war film with combat scenes, it was set during the Vietnam War era, and based on the covert operations carried out by the CIA in Laos. When Downey's character (Billy Covington) loses his job flying helicopters in Los Angeles, he his hired to fly for a civilian company called Air America in Laos flying supplies to remote regions. There he meets Gene Ryack (played by Gibson).

Soon it becomes apparent everything is not as it seems when it is found that their operation is a cover for drug smuggling, led by a corrupt Laotian officer.

Answer: Target for Tonight

Released in 1941, "Target for Tonight" was a propaganda film designed to show the accuracy of RAF Bomber Command in an air raid on an enemy railway marshalling yard. Percy Charles Pickard was already a war hero at the time when cast to play Squadron Leader Dickson. Pickard was later to lose his life in the famous attack on Amiens prison in France, shortly before D-Day in 1944, when the Mosquito fighter-bomber he was flying was shot down.