For John Preece and his fellow Battle of Britain film pilots, mixing with stars like Caine and Susannah York on set was a fascinating experience…
“We used to drive around in cars that were 20 years old – RAF pilots weren’t terribly well paid in those days.” John Preece laughs as he recalls the reality of being a pilot in the 1960s – which was brought into sharper focus during filming on the Battle of Britain, and regularly bumping into Michael Caine in his brown Rolls-Royce.
“We were green with envy,” smiles Preece, who admitted that it was a shock for RAF pilots to suddenly be mixing with film stars and extras. “Michael Caine wanted to know quite a lot about what it was like to be an RAF officer and a pilot. Some of them would just go back to their trailers after filming but he would often like to have a chat.”
John would also get a shock during one day’s filming when it transpired that he had to step in to help Susannah York, as you’ll discover in the video below…