198 Gun Camera

GUN CAMERA FILM OF 198 SQUADRON RAF

For relatives of those who served as pilots with 198 Squadron RAF one of the "must have's" is probably actual gun camera footage taken by that relative while serving with the Squadron during World War 2. These films would have been processed and titled by the RAF on the day they were taken of which two examples are shown at the top right of this page.

As previousely mentioned with film of the Squadron it is recommended to search the on-line film archives of the Imperial War Museum by entering the pilots name and 198 Sdqn but it should be noted that the quality of some of these films leave an awful lot to be desired in terms of quality, exposure, and duration, which can be a matter of seconds and of course are silent.
Unless the pilot concerned was of Squadron Leader rank or higher the chances were that his Hawker Typhoon would have been equipped with a poor quality 16mm film camera left over from the beginning of the war and also, being connected to the aircraft's gun button, recorded film in short few second bursts. This was something 198 veterans Tony Hallett and Arthur Bryant complained about in their memories of gun camera usage, Arthur going onto say that when he saw some the Squadron's results later on the same day they were taken, "Often a pilot's natural reaction on firing his rockets was to pull back the stick which led to a film full of sky".

However, from a general point of view there are some good examples of gun camera footage to be had although it is not always possible to identify the pilot and/or the Squadron who took them.
Providing you have "Windows Media Player" installed on your computer a short sequence of gun camera footage, with over enthusiastic soundtrack added by the RAF in 1945, can be viewed by clicking on the link below.