QFT Player presents Tailwind (2009) by documentary filmmaker John T. Davis, screening to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Available to rent now for £1.99.

Tailwind documents the little known history of Northern Ireland’s crucial part in the war in the air between 1939 and 1945. At the outbreak of the Second World War there were just three airfields in Ulster - within 18 months there were 26. Aircrew and support staff from every Allied nation descended on the Province to prepare themselves, and their aircraft, for the conflict. The story is told by participants - in their eighties and nineties at the time of filming - from Ireland, England, Canada, the United States, Poland and New Zealand. Their personal accounts are intercut with archival footage, popular music from the 1930s and '40s, and Adrian Dunbar’s evocative narration.

Eloquent, poignant, dramatic and poetic, Tailwind pays moving tribute to the courageous airmen and women who served in Northern Ireland’s war effort.

John T. Davis is internationally recognised as Northern Ireland’s most distinctive documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. QFT hosted a full retrospective of John's work back in 2017. We are delighted to be able to host a selection of John's classic films on QFT Player.

Dir: John T. Davis | 2009 | UK | 1 hr 26 mins