Ships with Wings

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Ships with Wings is a 1941 British war film directed by Sergei Nolbandov and starring John Clements, Leslie Banks, and Jane Baxter. Set during the Battle of Greece in World War II, it follows pilot Dick Stacey, who is expelled from the Fleet Air Arm for imprudence but later gets a chance to redeem himself by fighting the Germans in Greece.

The movie was made by Ealing Studios and filmed at Fountain Studios in Wembley Park, London. It premiered in November 1941 and opened widely in January 1942. It was a commercial success, becoming the second most popular film in British cinemas that month behind It Started with Eve.

Some scenes reflect the sinking of the Ark Royal, giving the film topical relevance. It features a fictional Royal Navy carrier named HMS Invincible; in reality the RN did not use that name for a carrier until the 1970s, and the closest earlier Invincible was a battlecruiser sunk at Jutland in 1916.

The film received mostly positive reviews from the public, but drew criticism from some intellectuals who felt it lacked realism. Prime Minister Winston Churchill also objected to the high number of British casualties shown, worrying about morale. Producer Michael Balcon later tried to steer Ealing toward more realistic war films. Despite the shift, most of Ealing’s wartime releases did not match the earlier box-office success, though Ships with Wings remained popular. According to Kinematograph Weekly, it was one of the British box office leaders in January 1942.