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FLYING THE SECRET SKY: THE STORY OF THE RAF FERRY COMMAND
Produced and Directed by William VanDerKloot
“ Give us the tools, and we will finish the job !” –  Winston Churchill

In June 1940, Luftwaffe air strikes were pulling Britain to her knees.  The Royal Air Force was desperate for aircraft, after losing hundreds of planes to battles fought in the skies over Europe.   Their essential supply of US  aircraft, sent on ship convoys, was lost to the icy waters of the Atlantic by relentless attack by German U-boats. 

Desperate times demanded desperate action.  The only alternative left was to fly the planes across the unforgiving ocean.  The Ferry Command was born. 

The US was still a neutral country, so word went out through the “aviation grapevine” about a secret operation based in Montreal, that needed experienced civilian pilots.  They offered an irresistible combination – a vital and important job, the chance to fly the latest aircraft, and a very large paycheck.

This attracted a rowdy bunch of airline pilots, bush pilots, barnstormers, crop-dusters and daredevils -- men used to danger and risk.  But nothing could prepare them for the treacherous winter skies over the North Atlantic Ocean, that in1940, no one dared fly.   Meteorology was in its infancy: there was no way to predict the fierce winds, intense storms or dense fog that could suddenly pitch planes into darkness, fatally coating them with ice.

Flying the Secret Sky tells a story of passionate risk-taking, of young men braving dangerous flights in primitive conditions, in aircraft never built for the job.  These “cowboys of the air” are forgotten heroes of the air war, men who flew without guns and embodied an improvisational spirit that many historians agree was key to Allied victory.  In all they delivered over 10,000 planes for the British war effort.

Flying the Secret Sky is told by the flyers themselves, including Air Commadore Taffey Powell, Kirk Kerkorian, and Bill VanDerKloot, the American pilot who flew Winston Churchill during the war.  Included is never-before-seen home movie footage of Churchill flying in the American-built B-24 Liberator that safely delivered the him to vital war conferences and secret meetings.   Also included is rare footage of Ferry Command aircraft and crews from archives around the world, as well as modern footage and CGI. 

Before the U.S. had even entered the War, American pilots comprised over half of the civilian pilots that flew the experimental Ferry Command routes.   Theirs is one of the great unknown stories of the war and of aviation history. 

Their real-life stories remain untold, until now.

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