PIECE OF CAKE Hornet Squadron in Action.wmv 

One of the best series of its kind. We really care about each pilot, and when they die it is a gut blow. THANK you for sharing it

I can't understand why more people don't know about this brilliant series. I also don't get why more people aren't familiar with the works of Derek Robinson. It just isn't right! Oh well, at least some of us here are appreciative...

Stumbled across this series a week ago. Can’t believe I didn’t know it even existed, I’m a massive BOB fan too. Watched all 6 episodes over 2 days. Poor Moggy and Hart😢

As I recall, here in the States I watched this on Masterpiece Theater (PBS), introduced by Alistair Cooke. Pretty good show.

80 li yıların sonunda TRT de dakikasını kaçırmadan izlediğim diziydi..yıllar sonra izlemek ayrı bir heyecan oldu.

yeah, Moggy is something of a sod. But when the evil wind blows hard, and the shit hits the fan, you're probably better off with him than without him.

I watched this series while in U.S. Navy flight school at NAS Pensacola. Didn’t get the F-14 I dreamed of. Instead I got 35 years of rewarding work in helicopters. Great show that helped fire me up for the challenges of flight school.

The term "Piece Of Cake" was originally expressed by the Leader of the Canadian forces involved in the Dieppe Operation. Major-General John Hamilton-Roberts had said that it would be "a piece of cake" The Canadians were slaughtered. Every year until his death in 1962, on the anniversary of the Dieppe Raid on August 19th, Hamilton-Roberts received a package containing a piece of cake.

Is it really 13 years ago that I up loaded this? How time flies! (Pun intended!)

The Buchons (D-FEHD, G-BOML and G-HUNN) were owned by Hans Dittes, Nick Grace and Charles Church respectively at the time of filming. Only D-FEHD still flies today, albeit restored as a Bf109G-10. The Grace aircraft was, as you rightly say, the aircraft in which Mark Hanna later crashed in Spain. Spitfires were AR213, MH434, MK297 (USA sequences only), ML417, NH238 and PL983.

Hanna flying under the bridge. TOPS. He was a nice guy to boot.RIP Mark.

I remember this series so well. Well made and a good tribute to the RAF during the day's of the Battle of Britain. Always feel sad watching the main stars getting killed. Especially when Moggy gets taken out. Heart felt.

This is one of the best series ever made about the WW2 air war

After talking shit to him the entire episode, that look Moggy gives Zaddys exploding plane......

None of the pilots seem to follow Sailor Malan's principles of dogfighting.

I only watched this RU-vid clip because the name reminded me of one of the best paperback novels I ever borrowed from my highschool library. It was named "piece of cake" For the life of me I couldn't understand why the book was so unpopular, infact I was the first to read it in almost 40 years since the previous burrower. It was a marvelous piece of work, the dogfighting, the ground action, the planning, feeling each and every pilot's emotions and so much more, It quite literally fueled my interest into WW2 era aviation history. Now I hear it has a series in it's honour, I'm thrilled, I know what I'm going to be watching when I'm done with my exams Thank you 😂

This was a really impressive series, good to see this segment. Thank you for sharing 🤩

Just realised something. Moggy Catterpole’s line: “Watch the birdie, you bastard”, as he fires at a German aircraft, is also exactly what Timothy Dalton’s James Bond says as he tries to kill the villain in Licence to Kill.

Loved that series. Poor old moggy

All "Heinkel" formation scenes in "Piece of Cake" were borrowed from "Battle of Britain" film. And, yes, they were actually Spanish C.A.S.A 2111's with Merlin engines. There was one scene with a single "Heinkel" and a Spitfire filmed for "P o C" in USA, using Confederate Air Forces C.A.S.A.

I remember watching this as a kid. Now at 29 yrs old, i still remember this exact scene.

Why is it I cant watch some of these great shows today? You would think with over 100 channels, someone would be showing these.

Especially the part where Hart dies, so sad but such a great song

Great series!

This brings back memories. :)

Beautifull series, loved to watch it and didn't miss a single episode. The scene of flying underneath the bridge was copied many times later on! Most striking scene was the Christmas Dinner, with the table laid for everyone, but with many seats empty.

Saw part of this series on PBS many years ago. 👍👍👍

Wow, first I have heard of the series I shall endeavor to watch i. Thank you.t

Ya know, this is probably my most favorite flying movie. The music is superb, the characters are very believable and the flying is, at the worst, pretty decent. True, it used too many old scenes from the Battle of Britain movie but it also had some new stuff shot just for the series. Personally, I wish they'd redo some of the flying scenes (like when they constantly show the model of the Stuka exploding.....cheap, cheap....) and then it would be a true, true winner! Great series. I bought it and would buy it again if they'd redo some of those flying scenes. PS - I really hated it that Moggy and Hart die.

This was a great book! I did not see the series.

Thanks for the info!

i remembee this loved watching it

ffs that is my first movie I remember from childhood... sweet early or middle 90'

Excellent series and I love the music

I watched the series on PBS. Yeah, the acting is silly. My father was a ball turret gunner in WW2.487 Bomb group ,839 sqdn. Air base near Lavenham.I wonder if he signed the wall in the local pub, the Swan.

@Prs4ever111 They had to use Spitfires because there were only 2 airworthy Hurricanes available at the time - a plan to use scaled down Hurricanes was dropped because they had flat four engines, which gave an unrealistic nose shape.

To those who ask about the music: As far as I have been able to find, the main theme was written specially for this mini-series. It was written by Peter Martin (or perhaps by Chris Walker?) and was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T3mjKq6Kbcs.html

Thanks! Clearly, my memory slipped just a little... :) It's sad that so many Buchons have been lost in crashes.

I have some magazines listing all of the Spitfires and HA-1112's used in both Battle of Britain and Piece of Cake, unfortunately stored somewhere. Anyhow, the 2 seat HA-1112 was not in P o C. One of them was owned by a German (Dittmer, if I remember it right), one by the Old Flying Machines Company and one by Nick Grace. All three had been in B o B. The German plane had restored elliptical wingtips (they were cut for B o B). The OFMC's plane crashed some years later, killing Mark Hannah.

Great series

It def was a great series from the first episode to the end saw it years ago when it first on tv

Good series I watched it at the time 👍

I watched this series when I visited my Dad in England, in 1986.

Goosebumps...

That's all we had back then before VHS and Internet, but like _Call to Glory_ it was a very lacklustre TV series.

Good BBC TV series (have it on DVD) however in the book they flew Hurricanes (but not enough airworthy to make a squadron for the movie)

1990년 ....33년전 이 영상을 보았고...지금은 한 딸아이의 아버지요....한 여인의 아내가 되어 2023년에 봅니다....감개무량하네요.....from Seoul Korea

1 of my favorite shows,grew up watching this at my grandparents.so glad i have it on DVD, cant help but feel sad for haddy chris and moggy. (i was a Cockup) when ever i watch this,i go play il2 cliffs of Dover

The type has a reputation for tricky ground handling, something the Bf109 family was afflicted with throughout its history, due to factors of engine torque and undercarriage layout, among other things. Most have been damaged in ground-loops. Thankfully there hasn't been any in a good long while, and the airworthy Buchon population remains pretty stable!

Yes on both counts!

oooh, i started to cringe at 3:27 because the guy's parachute was on fire.

Anybody knows where I can get the main theme? Been seeking for a decade with no results. I remember this film from when I was a kid.

Some of them - I don't know which if any Bf-109s (HA-1112) 's out of G-AWHH, G-AWHT and 2 seater G-AWHC were used in Piece of Cake, but Spitfires AR213, MH434 and MK297 were definitely used in both.

Anyone know the title of the music used

A sad ending for CH3 in the TV adaptation and quite different to the book. I won't spoil the book ending for those who haven't read it but highly recommend picking up a copy. Author Derek Robinson.

@wombatftw I know it is tragic!! Especially because he survives in the Novel!

They are 109 used by the Spanish air force after ww2 which used the 109 frames and the Merlin engines of the spitfires.....funny coincidence isn't it.

What is this music?

Yep. Them waz the good old days.

Odd that the guy firing at the Messerschmitt, at 4.31, actually shoots down a Stuka !. Stock footage from The Battle of Britain, I guess. Fantastic film.

yer mate its preety hard to get hold of the show tho done a fair while ago

my dad worked on that show lol

Let it to me it ’s a piece of cake. Pierre Closterman

One of the big problems with this - is the poor resolution. This was created for Television - which didn't have such great resolution in the first place prior to HDTV. .

Whats the music called they use in the series?? Like the endingcredits etc?

Is he drunk. No sir he's been shot up the arse. I saw this when it first came out and that's the only line i can remember.

Aint that a pisser. I clicked on hoping to see a squadron of ME410 Hornets. Well bugger me blind.

Remeber the Story in Pearl Harbour of the halfdead Spitfire pilot that landed the Plane?

Anybody knows who made the music?

Not a bad says work, flying around the coast of England in a Spitfire at very low level.

Most of the things Robinson wrote about actually happened--they just didn't all happen to a single squadron, and that, in turn, gives something of a misleading picture of what life in an 11 Group Fighter Command squadron was like in the summer of 1940.

In the book Mogie is a Blue on Blue as they are in Hurricanes.

The same planes as were used in "Battle of Britain".

Magic noise

The Book was very good

I've never seen this.

@Tiberiotertio Better Bouchons than the 108

Pity that LWT changed the storyline which in turn made it very difficult to produce a TV version of the sequel “A Good Clean Fight”. Somehow I felt LWT didn’t have the budget to film in even America (say Nevada or Texas) to depict North Africa and P-40s in RAF markings.

why showboat.. why??

I want this song so badly

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!💥💥💥💥💥💥

The radiator and oil cooler tells me that this is not the mk1 spitfires from the battle of britain, but who cares?

gute Nacht tommy

Tienen un 109 sobre la base y nadie despega, todos se quedan viéndolo como pendejos y dejan morir a su compañero.

Hated when Moggie got it

oh si claro, como no, ellos ganaban todas las batallas.

Those are some weird ass looking 109s

You can tell this was produced back in the day when we treasured our past, and the sacrifices made by those who were caught up in the horror. A modern remake would have disabled black lesbians pilotting hornets fighters.

Moggy was my hero in this as a kid I was gutted when he got shot down! does he die in the book too????

Got everything he deserved for that victory roll

Bouchons.

During the Battle of Britain, they used spitfire MkI/MkIIs and they did not have 4 blade propellers, and the spitfires in this movie has 4 blade propellers. Supposedly converted from a MK9?

Yes to save money lets use battle of Britain clips

As far as i know no Spitfires were based in France at the start

Go Moggie

Loved the book. Wasnt happy when the series killed off CH3, because, reasons...?

How come we won then?

Hated the book and The Television series after I read the book Through it the rubbish were it be longs, also why did they use AEC O854 Fueling tanker at a Fighter Air Station when they were only used at Bomber Command and Transport Air Station's.

Great series for its time on a TV budget, nit picking about the wrong details is stupidity, they had to use what was available. There were still a few Battle of Britain pilots around when this was made and they weren't too happy how some of the pilots were portrayed, warts and all. I read the book which was very good, but it exagerated some of the pilots bad characteristics for dramatic effect.

1940 MkIX Spits I do not think so.