Movies usually age like milk. Especially the ones made during a war to make people feel better about that war. Most of them are stiff, overly patriotic, and honestly pretty boring to watch eighty years later. But One of Our Aircraft Is Missing is different. It’s weirdly modern. Produced in 1942 by the legendary duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger—collectively known as The Archers—this isn't your standard "rah-rah" military flick. It’s a tense, grounded thriller that feels more like a precursor to The Great Escape than a piece of government-sanctioned messaging.
The story is simple. A Vickers Wellington bomber, "B for Bertie," gets shot down over the occupied Netherlands. The six-man crew has to bail out. Suddenly, they aren't pilots or navigators anymore. They’re just six English guys in the middle of a Dutch countryside crawling with Nazis.
The Archer’s Touch: Making Propaganda Feel Like Art
The Ministry of Information basically commissioned this. They wanted a movie that showed the RAF in a good light and highlighted the bravery of the Dutch resistance. Powell and Pressburger took that brief and decided to make it look like a documentary. There’s no musical score. Think about that for a second. In 1942, movies were usually drenched in orchestral swells. Here? You get the drone of engines, the whistling wind, and the terrifying silence of a Dutch forest at night.
It makes a huge difference. You feel the isolation.
Breaking the Mold of the War Hero
Most war movies of that era gave you a square-jawed lead who never broke a sweat. One of Our Aircraft Is Missing gives you a group of men who are visibly out of their element. You’ve got George Corbett, played by Godfrey Tearle, who is significantly older than the rest of the crew. He represents the "old guard" trying to keep up with a young man’s war. Then you’ve got Eric Portman as Tom Earnshaw, the Yorkshireman who is perpetually skeptical.
These aren't superheroes. They are technicians who lost their machine.
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When they land in the Netherlands, they don't immediately start blowing things up. They have to rely on civilians. This is where the movie gets interesting from a historical perspective. It highlights the role of women in the resistance long before it was fashionable to do so. Googie Withers steals the show as Jo de Vries, a Dutch woman who runs a bridge and helps the airmen. She’s tougher than most of the guys. She’s cynical, practical, and completely committed to the cause.
Realism Over Rhetoric
The detail in the cockpit scenes is what usually shocks modern viewers. Most 1940s films used shaky sets and blurry back-projections. Powell insisted on using a real Wellington bomber fuselage. He wanted the actors to look cramped. He wanted them to struggle with the gear. This commitment to realism is why One of Our Aircraft Is Missing holds up so well on 4K restorations today. You can see the sweat. You can see the genuine confusion on their faces when they try to communicate with Dutch villagers who don't speak a lick of English.
It’s about the language barrier. That’s a huge part of the tension.
The film doesn't treat the Dutch like a monolith. We see the "NSB-ers"—the Dutch collaborators. We see the fear in the eyes of the priest who wants to help but knows the cost. It portrays the occupation not as a grand battlefield, but as a series of whispered conversations and terrifying knocks on the door. It’s small-scale. It’s intimate.
The Missing Score
I mentioned the lack of music, but it bears repeating because it’s so radical for the time. The only "music" you hear is diegetic—meaning it exists within the world of the film. A radio playing in a house, or the sound of the crew singing a song to keep their spirits up. This was Pressburger’s idea. He felt that adding a dramatic orchestra would cheapen the reality of the airmen's plight.
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It works. It makes the sound of a distant German truck feel like a gunshot.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
We’re living in an era of CGI-heavy war spectacles. One of Our Aircraft Is Missing reminds us that tension comes from characters, not explosions. It’s a masterclass in pacing. The middle section of the film, where the crew is disguised and moved through the Dutch countryside, is incredibly slow by modern standards, yet it feels breathless. You’re waiting for them to slip up. You’re waiting for someone to notice their boots are British or their accents are off.
It also serves as a poignant companion piece to 49th Parallel, The Archers' previous film. While that movie was about Nazi sailors stranded in Canada, this is the inverse. It’s a study in how people behave when they are the ones "behind the curtain."
The film also captures a very specific moment in British history. This was the era of "Deep Bombing." The Wellington was the backbone of Bomber Command at the time. Seeing the technical aspects of the flight—the navigator plotting the course with a protractor, the rear gunner scanning the dark—gives us a window into a world that was gone within five years as jet engines took over.
The Legacy of the Wellington "B for Bertie"
The aircraft itself is a character. The Vickers Wellington was unique because of its "geodetic" construction, designed by Barnes Wallis (the guy who later did the Bouncing Bomb). This meant the plane could take an absolute beating and keep flying. In the film, we see that durability. When "B for Bertie" is struggling to stay in the air, it’s not just a plot point; it’s a tribute to the engineering that kept thousands of airmen alive.
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The crew includes:
- Sir George Corbett (The veteran)
- Tom Earnshaw (The skeptic)
- John Glyn Haggard (The pilot)
- Frank Shelley (The observer)
- Bobby Hopgood (The radio op)
- Geoff Hickman (The gunner)
Their chemistry is what sells the movie. They argue. They get annoyed with each other. They aren't a "band of brothers" immediately; they are coworkers trying to survive a nightmare shift.
Actionable Insights for Film Buffs and Historians
If you're planning to watch or study One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, keep these things in mind to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch the sound design: Pay attention to how the film uses silence. Notice how the absence of music forces you to focus on the ambient noise of the Dutch landscape.
- Look for the "Archers" motifs: This was early in the Powell-Pressburger partnership. You can see the seeds of their later masterpieces like The Red Shoes or Black Narcissus in the way they frame shots and use lighting to create a sense of dread.
- Check the historical context: Research the Dutch Resistance of 1941-1942. The film was remarkably accurate about the methods used to smuggle downed pilots back to the coast, involving hidden compartments and "safe" houses.
- Compare the versions: There are several restorations available. If possible, watch the British Film Institute (BFI) version. The contrast in the night scenes is essential for the mood, and lower-quality prints often wash out the "Noir" elements of the cinematography.
- Trace the influence: Watch Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk or 1917 after this. You’ll see exactly where the "minimalist war movie" DNA started.
The movie ends not with a victory parade, but with the men back in the air. They’ve returned to England, only to get right back into another bomber. It’s a cycle. It doesn't offer a "happily ever after," just a "back to work." That lack of sentimentality is exactly why it remains a pillar of British cinema. It respects the audience enough to tell the truth about how exhausting and un-glamorous war actually is.
To truly appreciate the film's impact, locate a copy of the original 1942 screenplay or the novelization written by Pressburger. It provides deeper insight into the internal monologues of the crew, particularly Corbett, whose perspective as an older man in a young man's conflict adds a layer of existential weight that the film hints at through Godfrey Tearle's nuanced performance.