1943 Berlin Blitz

Publisher: BBC · Studio: BBC Northern Ireland, Immersive VR Education · Creator: Catherine Allen (productrice exécutive)

Anecdote

A production by the British studio Immersive VR Education in partnership with the BBC and the British Library's archive department, 1943 Berlin Blitz was released free of charge in May 2018 on Oculus and Steam VR. The experience, approximately twelve minutes long, immerses the viewer aboard a Lancaster bomber from Bomber Command during the night raid of 3 September 1943 on Berlin, drawing on the historic audio recording made by Australian war correspondent Wynford Vaughan-Thomas for the BBC. Director David Whelan and his team reconstructed every detail of the Lancaster — the stations of the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, radio operator, flight engineer, tail gunner, and dorsal turret gunner — from original Avro technical drawings and the wreck preserved at the RAF Museum in Hendon. The viewer moves freely from station to station, observes the reddish glow of the instrument panels, experiences the pressure of German searchlights sweeping the sky, and hears the bursts of Flak exploding around the aircraft. Vaughan-Thomas's narration, broadcast live on the BBC the day after the raid, takes on a new dimension in this immersive context. The three-dimensional modelling of the anti-aircraft searchlights, the accompanying bombers, and Berlin in flames below — based on Bomber Command operational reports — conveys the visual scale of the raid involving more than three hundred and twenty aircraft. The project was screened at several British museums, including the Imperial War Museum in London. It marks an important milestone in historical documentary VR. It also pays tribute to the crew of Lancaster F for Freddie, who did not survive the war.

Popularity & reception

Awards — BAFTA – British Short Animation nominated (2019) · Webby Awards – Best VR Documentary nominated (2019) · Sheffield DocFest – Best Immersive nominated (2018)

🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇩🇪 Germany