Christopher Plummer in Battle of Britain (1969)
Vitals
Christopher Plummer as RAF Squadron Leader Colin Harvey
France and England, Spring to Summer 1940
Film: Battle of Britain
Release Date: September 15, 1969
Director: Guy Hamilton
Wardrobe Credit: Bert Henrikson
Background
Battle of Britain Day is commemorated in England on September 15th and in Canada on the third Sunday of September. Both dates coincide this year, making it the perfect time to review the dashing style of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer’s portrayal of a Royal Canadian Air Force officer in Guy Hamilton’s 1969 war epic, Battle of Britain.
Plummer stars as Squadron Leader Colin Harvey, whom we meet while commanding Squadron No. 188’s retreat from France in May 1940. After finding out the following month that he’s been assigned to a position in Scotland, he joins his wife, Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Susannah York) at a country pub in Denton to discuss the opportunity. He enjoys a “large Scotch”, perhaps to get into the spirit of his upcoming command, but it’s hard for him to feel spirited rather than disappointed when he learns that Maggie can’t apply for a job near him, responding to her with “What have we got? What the hell is this? Is it a marriage or a flaming Air Force committee?”
Colin’s new command distinguishes itself in battle after Adlertag (“Eagle Day”), the first day of the Luftwaffe’s attempted air invasion of the United Kingdom, though he and Maggie fail to reconcile before he’s badly burned during the climactic air battle over London on September 15, 1940, 84 years ago today.
The resulting British victory that day likely prevented a full-scale German invasion of the UK, prompting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to famously declare:
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
What’d He Wear?
Prized for their warmth and durability in unpressurized cockpits at high altitudes, sheepskin jackets’ insulating properties made them essential gear for pilots facing freezing conditions. By the time World War II began, these jackets had become standard issue for military aviators, from the B-3 worn by American bomber crews to the Irvin jacket issued to English pilots.
As a Royal Canadian Air Force officer, Colin Harvey would have been authorized to wear the shearling Irvin flying jacket, though Christopher Plummer’s screen-worn jacket lacks many of the Irvin’s signature details, suggesting that Colin likely wears a privately acquired version instead.
Colin’s jacket shares similarities with the iconic Irvin, such as a supple brown leather shell, fleece lining on the collar and cuffs, and a leather throat-latch strap for securing the collar when turned up. However, it lacks the Irvin’s wide fleece storm flap, full fleece lining to the waist hem, and sleeve zippers. Additionally, Colin’s jacket features side-entry patch pockets—absent from original Irvins—and a half-belt at the waist, rather than the Irvin’s full belt.
Colin consults with a fellow Squadron Leader, known only as “Skipper” (Robert Shaw), during the opening scene set during their retreat from France in May 1940.
Colin always wears the light-blue cotton button-up shirt authorized with RAF uniforms, initially worn open-neck to present his brown, burgundy, and gold paisley-printed day cravat. The shirt has a spread collar, button cuffs, and front placket.
He tucks the shirt into the double forward-pleated trousers of his slate-blue wool No. 1 Service Dress uniform, tailored with a self-suspended waistband and styled with straight on-seam side pockets.
When in flight, he tucks the plain-hemmed trouser bottoms into his black leather 1936 pattern RAF flying boots. These ¾-length boots are fleece-lined for warm with a shallow front vent cut into the top of each shaft that closes with a short leather belted strap that adjusts the fit over the wearer’s calves.
Colin occasionally wears his blue-gray barathea wool side cap, known within the RAF as a “forage cap” and distinguished by its longitudinal “fore-and-after” cut and two functional metal buttons on the front that can be undone to pull down the scalloped side flaps to function as ear flaps in inclement weather. Introduced in the mid-1930s, the forage cap was worn by all RAF ranks through World War II, though the wool varied between barathea for commissioned officers and serge for other ranks (ORs) to match their respective uniforms. Officers also wore two gilt badges—one crown and one eagle with outstretched wings—pinned to the left sides of their forage caps.
Colin commends Peter (Myles Hoyle) on a job well done before warning him against another “idiotic victory roll”.
When the situation requires it, Colin dresses in his full No. 1 Service Dress uniform, designated by the RAF for wear “in temperate regions”. Cut like a lounge suit like many military service uniforms, No. 1 Service Dress consists of a single-breasted jacket with the aforementioned trousers, both made from a matching blue-gray wool—smooth barathea for officers and a coarser serge for ORs. In full uniform, he wears the regulation peaked officer’s cap with a blue-gray barathea cover and brim, detailed on the front with the RAF officers’ badge of a gilt crown, eagle, and oak leaf embroidery.
In addition to the full belt around the waist that closes through a tall gold-toned double-prong buckle, the jacket has four gold shank buttons—designed with the “wings and kings” crest of a crown and eagle. Colin follows the unofficial RAF tradition of fighter pilots keeping their top button undone, a practice later mentioned in a scene between FS Andy Moore (Ian McShane) and a young boy questioning his credentials.
The jacket has notch lapels and four flapped patch pockets; the two box-pleated chest pockets are covered with scalloped single-button flaps while the larger bellows pockets over the hips close with single-button rectangular flaps. Above the left breast pocket, Colin wears the silk aircrew brevet badge with the letters “RCAF” embroidered in white inside a brown wreath with a white King’s crown embroidered atop it, all flanked by white embroidered swift’s wings on each side. As an RCAF officer, he adorns the top of each sleeve with a narrow tab embroidered with “CANADA” in blue-gray to match the uniform fabric and following the arc of his set-in shoulder seams. His sleeves are detailed with the rank insignia for a Squadron Leader: two narrow sky-blue rings flanking a thinner sky-blue band, all placed against black bands.
Dressed in his full service uniform, Colin correctly wears a black matte silk tie, black leather cap-toe oxford shoes, and black socks rather than his day cravat and flying boots.
“I must say, you look a damn sight better out of uniform,” Colin tells Maggie, who responds “I hardly remember you out of yours.”
In flight, Colin wears the requisite RAF-issued dark-brown leather flight helmet, goggles, gloves, and orange life preserver vest known as the “Mae West”.
The Car
When not flying in the air above it, Colin cruises through England in his sporty dark-green 1934 MG PA roadster, one of less than 2,000 produced by the British marque MG between March 1934 and February 1936.
Evolved from the earlier J-type, the PA was powered by the same 847 cc four-cylinder engine that generated 36 bhp, but the improved camshaft and twin OM-model SU carburetors pushed the 131-inch-long PA from 0-60 mph in approximately 32 seconds, with a top speed of approximately 75 mph, considerably faster than the J-type. The PA’s three-bearing crankshaft also improved upon the two-bearing crankshaft in the J-type that was prone to breaking if over-revved. The four-speed synchromesh manual transmission was strengthened from the J-type’s transmission to handle the PA’s increased power output.
In 1935, MG introduced the PB with a larger 939 cc engine that increased the power to 43 bhp. Aside from the vertical grille slats that would become an MG signature, the PB was cosmetically similar to the PA.
Two-seat open roadsters were the predominant body style for P-types, though limited numbers were also produced in the streamlined “Airline” coupé style as well as some equipped to seat four. MG ceased production of all P-types after the 1936 model year, succeeded by the T-type “Midget” series that would be manufactured through the mid-1950s.
How to Get the Look
Christopher Plummer in Battle of Britain (1969)
Colin Harvey’s dashing airfield attire of a sheepskin flying jacket and day cravat is de-badged enough that it can provide sartorial inspiration for wearers seeking to pay tribute to the valiant legacy of the Royal Air Force without stealing valor.
- Brown shearling sheepskin waist-length flying jacket with brown fleece collar and cuffs, straight-zip front, side-entry patch hip pockets, and half-belted waist
- Light-blue cotton shirt with spread collar, front placket, and button cuffs
- Brown, burgundy, and gold paisley-print day cravat
- Blue-gray wool serge RAF uniform trousers with fitted waistband, double forward pleats, straight/on-seam side pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black RAF 1936 pattern flying boots with plain toe and buckle-tab top strap
- White ribbed-knit wool knee-high socks
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie. You can read more about the actual battle in James Holland’s book The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History and more about the making of the film in Robert J. Rudhall and Dilip Sarkar’s volume Battle of Britain: The Movie.
Nearly a decade later, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York would reunite on screen on opposing sides of Elliott Gould’s affection in Daryl Duke’s Canadian-made Christmas thriller The Silent Partner (1978).
The Quote
Oh, for god’s sake, Jamie, give your brain a chance!
The post Battle of Britain: Christopher Plummer’s RCAF Uniform and Flying Jacket appeared first on BAMF Style.