War stories

IT’S no surprise that events in war films have been altered to appeal to American audiences because without U.S. finance it is unlikely that they would have been made in the first place. The Great Escape features Americans even though they had all been moved from Stalag Luft III before this event occurred in 1944. Steve McQueen trying to jump the border wire on a motorbike is a myth.

Watching the film Dunkirk, I was surprised to see a Spitfire that had run out of petrol circle the beaches, shoot down an enemy fighter and land gently on the sand. You don’t have to be a pilot to know that’s impossible.

ALAN COOPER, Hailsham, e. Sussex. IN THE last scene of Dunkirk, a pilot burns his Spitfire to stop it being used by the Germans. As it is consumed by the flames, the cowling falls away to reveal not a RollsRoyce Merlin aero engine, but a length of timber!