This is no story of Uncle Sam putting the world to rights down the gun barrel of a helicopter gunship or snatching victory from the jaws of disaster at Pearl Harbour.

It's the understated, dignified account of how Czech airmen made their way to Britain during World War Two to fight for the Royal Air Force... and their little-documented treatment when hostilities ceased.

Pilot trainer Franta (Ondrej Vetchy) and rookie flyboy Karel (Krystof Hadek) flee Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939 to join the RAF's battle against the Luftwaffe.

Initially distrusted (the RAF insisted they formation trained on push-bikes), they soon win the respect of their fellow British pilots and particularly Wing Commander Bentley (Charles Dance).

On a routine sortie over Britain, Karel is shot down by a German bomber but manages to land safely and seeks help from a nearby house.

The house is occupied by apparent war widow Susan (Tara Fitzgerald), who takes in the injured airman and falls for his clumsy play for her.

Karel is smitten by his first-time love... but it is his colleague Franta who Susan finds herself drawn to and the love triangle tests the men's friendship to its limits.

This is a beautifully paced narrative, which ever lets one plot strand dominate the other - the love story is perfectly balanced by the fates of Karel, Franta and their Spitfire-flying colleagues.

Rather than completely rely on CGI effects, the makers have used out-takes from the 1969 epic Battle of Britain to bring a fresh scope and reality to the aerial sequences.

Oscar-winning Czech director Jan Sverak is equally at home with the romance and the action and rarely puts a foot wrong - telling the story in a sober, unsentimental manner.

Perhaps the most poignant revelation is the fact that returning pilots faced up to 15 years in Soviet labour camps in Cezechoslovakia as perceived "Enemies of the People".

Tim Evans