The Defender (1988 film)
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Stephen Low |
| Produced by | Charles Konowal Ches Yetman (Executive producer) |
| Written by | Stephen Low |
| Narrated by | Cedric Smith |
| Music by | Eldon Rathburn |
| Cinematography | Charles Konowal |
| Edited by | Alfonso Peccia |
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Production
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| Distributed by | National Film Board of Canada |
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Release date
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Running time
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54 minutes, 54 seconds |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
The Defender is a 54-minute Canadian documentary film, made in 1988 by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and directed by Stephen Low. The film depicts the building of a strike fighter aircraft by Bob Diemert, an eccentric Canadian aviation engineer. His dream of building the next Canadian fighter aircraft to challenge the might of the Soviet Union was dependent on selling a restored warbird.
At Friendship Field, Carman, Manitoba, aircraft restorer and self-taught engineer Bob Diemert and his friend Chris Ball are working on an unusual project which had its origins in the late 1970s. Taking shape in one of the airfield hangars is a new type of close air support or COIN aircraft designed to take on Soviet Union tanks. Christened the "Defender", the unusual design is a throwback to the heavily armoured Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik close air support aircraft of the Second World War.
In order to raise the funds for the Defender, Diemert began to restore one of the rare Japanese aircraft he retrieved from Balalae, Solomon Islands, a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter, one of very few of the type still in existence. In the past, he had made his mark in the ranks of aircraft restoration when he rebuilt a Hawker Hurricane XII and flew it in the 1969 Battle of Britain film. The sale of the Zero to the Confederate Air Force in Texas has to await the painstaking restoration of the Japanese fighter aircraft. As it is readied for a test flight, Diemert runs afoul of Canadian aviation authorities, who refuse to allow him to fly the aircraft. Trucking the restored aircraft to Midland, Texas is the solution and after successful test flights, the Zero is passed over to its new American owners.
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