633 Squadron is a 1964 war film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris, and Maria Perschy. The plot, which involves the exploits of a fictional World War II British fighter-bomber squadron, was based on the 1956 novel of the same name by former Royal Air Force officer Frederick E. Smith, which itself drew on several real RAF operations. The film was produced by Cecil F. Ford for the second film of Mirisch Productions UK subsidiary Mirisch Films for United Artists. 633 Squadron was the first aviation film to be shot in colour and Panavision widescreen.O'Hara 1989, p. 86.Serpell, Nick. "Been and Gone: Acclaimed war film director and the man behind 'All Right Now'." BBC News, 2 April 2015. Retrieved: 2 April 2015.
Plot After the Norwegian resistance leader Royal Norwegian Navy Lieutenant Erik Bergman travels to Great Britain to report the location of a German V-2 rocket fuel plant, the Royal Air Force's No. 633 Squadron is assigned to destroy it. The squadron is led by Wing Commander Roy Grant, a former Eagle Squadron pilot (an American serving in the RAF before the US entered the war).
The plant is in a seemingly impregnable location beneath an overhanging cliff at the end of a long, narrow fjord lined with numerous anti-aircraft guns. The only way to destroy the plant is by bombing the cliff until it collapses and buries the facility, a job for 633 Squadron's fast and manoeuvrable de Havilland Mosquitos. The squadron trains in Scotland, where there are narrow glens similar to the fjord. There, Grant is introduced to Bergman's sister, Hilde. They are attracted to each other, despite Grant's aversion to wartime relationships.
The Norwegian resistance is assigned the task of destroying the anti-aircraft defences immediately before the attack. When unexpected German reinforcements arrive, Bergman returns to Norway to try to gather more forces. He is captured while transporting desperately needed weapons, taken to Gestapo headquarters and tortured for information. Since Bergman knows too much, he must be silenced before he breaks. Grant and newly married Pilot Officer Bissell are sent in with a single Mosquito to bomb the Gestapo building. Though they are successful, their shot-up Mosquito fighter-bomber crashes on its return; Bissell is wounded and becomes blind. A tearful Hilde thanks Grant for ending her brother's suffering.
Still worried, Air Vice-Marshal Davis decides to move up the attack to the next day. The resistance fighters are ambushed and killed, leaving the defences intact. Although Grant is given the option of aborting, he decides to press on. The factory is destroyed at the cost of the entire squadron, though a few crews are able to ditch in the fjord. Grant crash-lands; a local man helps Grant's navigator, Flight Lieutenant Hoppy Hopkinson, pull the wounded wing commander from the burning wreckage. Back in Britain, Davis tells a fellow officer who is aghast at the losses, "You can't kill a squadron."
Cast Character (novel) Role Character (film) Actor Squadron Leader Roy Grenville DSO DFC Wing Commander Wing Commander Roy Grant Cliff Robertson Lieutenant Erik Bergman Norwegian resistance leader Lieutenant Erik Bergman George Chakiris Hilde Bergman Sister of Erik Bergman Hilde Bergman Maria Perschy Air Commodore Davis Air Vice-Marshal Davis Harry Andrews Wing Commander Don Barrett DFC AFC Station Commanding Officer Group Captain Don Barrett Donald Houston Flight Lieutenant Hoppy Hopkinson Grant's Navigator Flying Officer Hoppy Hopkinson Angus Lennie The Brigadier Liaison with the Norwegian Resistance Squadron Leader Frank Adams Station Intelligence Officer Squadron Leader Frank Adams Michael Goodliffe Warrant Officer Gillibrand Pilot, B Flight, Canadian Flight Lieutenant Gillibrand, Australian John Meillon Jimmie Willcox Gillibrand's Navigator Squadron Leader Scott John Bonney Bissell Pilot Officer Bissell Scott Finch (as Scot Finch) Flying Officer Evans John Church Maisie Barmaid at Black Swan Inn Rosie Barbara Archer Flight Lieutenant Nigel Sean Kelly Flight Lieutenant Singh Julian Sherrier Flight Lieutenant Frank Geoffrey Frederick WAAF Sergeant Mary Blake / Bissell Suzan Farmer Flight Lieutenant Jones Johnny Briggs 'Teddy' Young Flight Commander, A Flight Sam Milner Flight Commander, B Flight Lieutenant Maner Peter Kriss (uncredited) Jan Ericson Norwegian resistance fighter Ericson Cavan Malone (uncredited) Johansen Norwegian resistance fighter Johanson Richard Shaw (uncredited) Goth Chris Williams (uncredited) Valerie Adams Kearns Landlord of the Black Swan Inn SS Interrogator Anne Ridler (uncredited)
Production Development Film rights to the project were bought by Walter Mirisch. The film was originally a project for director John Sturges, who initially worked on a script with Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame as early as 1958 and offered Jack Lord the leading role. After Sturges dropped out in favour of making The Magnificent Seven, Walter Mirisch put the project on the backburner.
The original drafts of the script were penned by The Great Escape scriptwriter James Clavell. When Robertson expressed reservations about the script just prior to shooting, producer Walter Mirisch engaged U.S. scriptwriter Howard Koch, resident in London, to rewrite the film to placate him.Mirisch 2008, p. 203.
George Chakiris had signed a multi-picture contract with the Mirisch Brothers after his success in west Side Story. This was the fourth and final movie he made for them.
Walter Mirisch decided to make the film in Britain, in part so it could qualify for the Eady Plan. He asked Lewis Rachmil to oversee the production, although the producting credit went to Cecil Ford - Mirisch says the film needed a British producer to qualify for the Levy. Walter Grauman, the director, had mostly worked in television but had a background as a pilot.Mirisch 2008, p. 201-202. Filming Filming took place between July and August 1963.
Authentic period aircraft were used instead of models or special effects to create many of the aerial sequences. In part, this was because 633 Squadron was the first film shot in colour in Panavision widescreen format, a choice that made the use of archival film (a common expedient and cost-saving measure in previous films) unfeasible.
RAF Bovingdon substituted for the fictional RAF Sutton Craddock bomber airfield. The first two weeks of filming were to be at Bovingdon, with the last filming planned for Inverness. But two weeks at Bovingdon became four weeks, due to bad weather. John Crewdson was the main pilot, from Film Aviation Services. On Friday 9 August 1963, 37-year-old John Crewdson filmed a crash of the HT-G Mosquito.
The scenes were shot in the Scottish Highlands near Glen Coe, with most of the attack sequences filmed above Loch Morar and Loch Nevis. A helicopter was stationed at the Market Stance at Kingussie, which flew up the Spey Valley. The helicopter was from Worldwide Helicopter at Biggin Hill, with filming on Skye and at Oban.Inverness Courier Tuesday 20 August 1963, page 3
Inverness Airport was used for filming purposes and aircraft were based there while filming in the Highlands. The distinctive outline of some islands can be seen behind some of the cockpit shots. While the spectacular aerial scenes used real aircraft, more dangerous sequences were created with models.
The Lairig Ghru pass in the Cairngorms was used for the training flight sequences and scenes with the Norwegian resistance. The film crew were on the side of Loch Morlich for filming at Lairig Ghru. A later scene was at the Ailnack gorge at Tomintoul.The Scots Magazine Tuesday 1 October 1963, page 41 The final main scene was at a loch in Skye, near a 2,700ft mountain, the Cuillin.
The riverbank where Robertson's character romances Maria Perschy was Hurley Lock on the River Thames and was also used in a similar early scene in From Russia with Love.
Some scenes were filmed at Staverton Airport in Gloucestershire and the nearby Churchdown Hill could be seen in some shots. The pub in which the aircrew relax was The Three Compasses in Aldenham, Hertfordshire, which still exists.
Aircraft Walter Grauman, the director, collected flying period aircraft, creating the "Mirisch Air Force" or M.A.F. as it was dubbed. Grauman's wartime experience as a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot helped create an authentic aviation epic.Schnepf 1964, p. 44. The three main Mosquitos were from Skyfame Ltd at Staverton Airport Gloucestershire,Lincolnshire Echo Friday 27 November 1964, page 8 with pilot 35 year old David Ogilvy (1928- July 2023).Gloucester Citizen Friday 11 October 1963, page 18
The film features eight De Havilland Mosquitos. As the Royal Air Force had retired the type in 1963, civilian operators mostly leased former converted bomber examples (TT Mk 35) to the RAF for target-towing.O'Hara 1989, p. 87. Scouring RAF airfields at Exeter, South Devon, Henlow, Shawbury and the Central Flying School at Little Rissington provided not only ten authentic aircraft but also vehicles and equipment from the war.Schnepf 1964, p. 50.
Eight Mosquitos were primarily used, five airworthy and others that could be taxied on runways or used as set dressing. The airworthy TT 35 Mosquitos were converted to resemble a fighter-bomber variant (FB Mk VI). The TT 35 models had their clear nosecones and side windows painted over and dummy machine gun barrels fitted. One airworthy Mosquito was a T3 with a solid nose, which only required the fitting of dummy gun barrels. It lacked the two-stage Merlin engines, V-shaped windscreen and bulged bomb bay of the TT 35s. At least one surplus Mosquito was destroyed in a simulated crash scene.Schnepf 1964, p. 45.
The Mosquitos used in the film were: RS709 – flown in the film (now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio) RS712 – flown (now owned by Kermit Weeks, on display at the EAA AirVenture Museum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin) RS715 – cockpit section only RS718 – written off in simulated crash sequence. TA639 – flown (now on show at the RAF Museum Cosford, Shropshire) TA719 – flown (now on show at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford) TJ118 – cockpit section only TV959 – at RAF Bovingdon Airfield, but not flown (now at the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, Everett, Washington) TW117 – flown (now on show at the Norwegian Aviation Museum, Bodø, Norway)
No German aircraft of the right type were available; consequently Nord Pingouin aircraft (French licence-built variants of the Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun) were used to represent the Messerschmitt Bf 109.Hardwick and Schnepf 1983, p. 68. At the beginning of the film, Lieutenant Erik Bergman's original escape from Norway is in a Miles Messenger.
The primary camera aircraft, a North American B-25 Mitchell set up as a camera ship by Greg Board (also appearing in The War Lover) and flown by him, also appears in the film, dropping Bergman back into Norway. The director and former Mitchell bomber pilot Walter Grauman flew the B-25 himself, acting as co-pilot in the right-hand seat. During filming, technical advisor Hamish Mahaddie, who had acquired the aircraft for the film, told Walter Mirisch he "commanded the 14th largest air force in the world".Mirisch 2008, p. 202.
Special effects Although the film made extensive use of real flying aircraft, special effects were needed to create the final attack scenes. Oscar winning special effects technician Tom Howard used miniatures, front and rear projection and matte paintings to make the sequences work.
Cliff Robertson enjoyed working on the film and stated that the atmosphere on set was very good, but was unhappy with the ambiguous ending. He noted that the movie was shot on a very tight schedule and budget. He regretted not being allowed to pilot a Mosquito, which he was forbidden to do for insurance reasons.
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