Last Flight to Berlin: The Search for a Bomber Pilot

An informative and also highly personal documentary by Robert Linnell, Last Flight to Berlin follows the filmmaker's quest to learn about the death of his father in 1944 during World War II. Lloyd Linnell was a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot flying extremely dangerous missions in a heavy bomber over Germany, part of a squadron with a high casualty rate. Linnell was an infant in Canada when his dad was shot down during a raid on Berlin; his mother, practically a newlywed, never remarried. The pilot's Halifax aircraft—too underpowered, too easily detected by the enemy—crashed in a wooded area that today does not grow grass where the shattered plane spilled its fuel and burned (incredibly, some 60 years later, Linnell discovers small pieces of the airplane in those woods). Linnell employs excellent archival materials to tell the story of Lloyd's doomed squadron, while also interviewing several surviving pilots who knew the lost man. Last Flight to Berlin reaches a narrative and emotional peak with Linnell's conversation with Hauptmann Friedrich Tober, the German veteran who actually shot Linnell's father down. DVD extras include a photo essay. A powerful documentary, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)