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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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(dramatic music)

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- Shall we go and do it?

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- Yeah, let's do it.

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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- 2018 marks the centenary
of the Royal Air Force.

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In a hundred years, it's
evolved from primitive planes

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of wood and string

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to flying at twice the speed of sound.

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My name's Ewan McGregor and
this is my brother, Colin,

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and, since we were kids,
we've been fascinated

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by the Royal Air Force.

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- I went on to become one of its pilots

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and now I train the next
generation of the RAF's top guns.

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- We've always had a passion for the role

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of the RAF in World War II.

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Whoa!

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But now, we're going
to tell the whole story

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of the Royal Air Force's first 100 years

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by actually flying in some
of its greatest aeroplanes

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and recreating some of
its most iconic missions.

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We'll explore how planes
became fighting machines

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in World War I.

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It's right on our tail!

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Oh, my God!

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And the classic dogfight
from the Battle of Britain

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between the Spitfire and
the Messerschmitt 109.

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We'll meet the people who made the RAF,

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from the ground crew
to the fighter pilots,

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the few who saved the country in 1940.

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- I had to fight for self-control

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because their cockpits
were full of ghosts.

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- We'll explore how the Royal
Air Force waged secret wars.

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Oh, my God!

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- Can you see it?
- Yeah.

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And how it became a
vehicle for social change.

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- And I said, I am the pilot!

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- [Ewan] We'll meet the Cold
War flyers prepared to launch

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nuclear Armageddon.

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- We all knew there'd be
nothing to come back to.

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- And finally, I'll dogfight
at supersonic speeds

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in one of the RAF's latest
and most advanced jets.

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It's going to be quite an adventure.

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(plane engine roaring)

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This is RAF Lossiemouth
in the north of Scotland.

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It's where Colin was based

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for much of his 20 years in the RAF.

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He saw active service in Iraq

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and is now a civilian instructor here,

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using simulators to train
the RAF's front-line pilots.

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- [Colin] The RAF is giving
Ewan the chance to go up

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in one of their latest
supersonic jets, the Typhoon.

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So, first, I want to introduce him

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to this incredible machine.

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Built with European partners,

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it's the RAF's front-line combat aircraft.

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It intercepts planes
encroaching UK airspace

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and is currently in action
over Iraq and Syria.

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- [Ewan] Oh, my God, look at that.

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- [Colin] So, obviously,
this is a two-seat version

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of the Typhoon.

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- It costs a tidy 60 million
pounds, flies at almost twice

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the speed of sound, and
uses 200 state-of-the-art

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onboard computers to make it
a fearsome killing machine.

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They're weapons, they're flying weapons,

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and there's something a bit sobering

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about that I suppose.

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Also, there's black and
yellow levers and buttons

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that you're not meant to touch

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and there's that sort
of feeling, you know,

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when people talk about
standing on the edge

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of a great height and they
feel like they want to jump,

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there is a sort of feeling like that.

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You know, don't pull that handle

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and then you think, what if
I pull it, what if I pull it?

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That's the button that
you don't want to press

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and they're just quite close together.

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I just feel a bit serious about it

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and I feel responsible about
it and I feel very lucky

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to be given the opportunity to do it

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and I don't want to barf.

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That's a summary of my feelings.

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(plane engine roaring)

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But before I get my hands on the Typhoon,

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we're going back to the very beginning,

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to when the Royal Flying
Corps was the newest branch

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of the Army and there's
not a computer in sight.

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Wow!

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(dramatic music)

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The Great War of 1914 to 1918

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was the most destructive
conflict the world had ever seen.

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It claimed 30 million
lives and became infamous

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for industrial slaughter in the trenches.

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It also marked the birth of
flying as a weapon of war.

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But just six years before
the start of the conflict,

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no-one in Britain had
experienced powered flight.

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This is Army Aeroplane No 1,

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the first plane ever to fly in Britain.

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In October 1908, it remained
airborne for 400 meters.

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Few saw the military potential of flying.

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French General Ferdinand Foch said,

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aeroplanes are interesting
toys, but of no military value.

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To explore how the Air
Force proved him wrong,

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Colin and I are meeting
former RAF pilot Dave Linney

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of the Great War Display Team.

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He's showing us a replica

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of one of Britain's first warplanes.

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The BE2 was designed
purely for reconnaissance,

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to help the Army see beyond the horizon.

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It was unarmed and
flown from the back seat

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with an observer in the front.

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- [Colin] Just don't put
your foot through there.

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- No, I'm trying not to put
my foot through anything.

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Oh.

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- [Colin] Stand on the
seat, probably, first.

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- Oh, yeah, okay.
- Sit yourself down.

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If you jump in the back.
- Right, okay.

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- And then just swing your leg over.

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- [Ewan] Reconnaissance was soon improved

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by aerial photography.

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- [Dave] I'll show you
a very early camera.

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- Oh, my God.

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Look at the size of it though.

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It's the first generation

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GoPro, that is.

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You'd have to take the slides out.

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- [Dave] Take the plates
out, change the plates.

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- It's so clumsy.
- They got good results.

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- Right.

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- And later in the war
the photographic results

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were phenomenal.

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Most of the major battles were planned

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using the trench pictures that
they got with these things.

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- But it is extraordinary to
think that it's like a matter

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of six to eight years since flying started

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that they were using
aeroplanes in warfare.

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It's crazy, isn't it?

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But it wasn't long before
these unarmed sitting ducks

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were forced to protect themselves.

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- [Dave] The initial weapon was that.

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- [Ewan] Oh, yeah?

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- [Dave] I mean, trying
to shoot another aeroplane

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with that, when you're passing--

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- I'd take out a strut
or a wire or something.

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The engine.

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- I mean, thoroughly impractical.

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But they tried.

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But of course now, with this, they can...

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If you just slot that into that there.

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Now, you've got a pretty
good field of fire

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and you've got a machine gun.

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- Right.
- So, you're starting

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to become more effective.

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- Yeah.

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Flying offered an escape from
the horror of the trenches.

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Watch your head.

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But pilots soon confronted a new reality.

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Slaughter in the skies.

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- If you made the first
two weeks on a squad

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and you survived the first two weeks,

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then you stood a chance
of surviving longer,

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but up until then, it could be days,

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it could be your first mission.

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It was very, very poor.

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- Yeah.

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Pilots faced the enemy's lethal firepower

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but they also froze in open cockpits

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and flew without parachutes.

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- There's a big chance of fire in the air

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and that was probably the
biggest fear for these guys

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and I notice you've still
got the revolver in there.

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- I have, yeah.

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- A surprising number of
pilots would carry a revolver

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in the aeroplane, not to
shoot at other aircraft,

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but to finish it if they
were going down in flames.

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- Oh, my God.
- Horrific.

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- [Ewan] It's now time to get a sense

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of what it was like to fight

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in those rickety machines.

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I'll be in the observer seat

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in the front of the primitive BE2.

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Colin will do his observing
from a Tiger Moth.

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Our adversaries are
German Fokker triplanes.

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Agile and fast, the Fokker
changed aerial warfare forever.

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Dave will be in an SE5, the
Spitfire of World War I.

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The one thing these planes had in common

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was that they were incredibly hard to fly.

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More pilots died in
training than in combat.

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It's 1916.

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With each side vying for air supremacy,

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fighter aces dueled with the
enemy above the trenches.

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Whoo-hoo!

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This was the dawn of the dogfight.

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(dramatic music)

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- Oh, it's great, so good
to be airborne again.

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Brilliant.

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- Ah, so beautiful, the view is amazing!

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- [Colin] Great, isn't it?

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- Yeah, it's got good
visibility everywhere.

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Except directly ahead, of course.

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In the BE2, we've
reached its maximum speed

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of 70 miles an hour and it's clear to me

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how vulnerable and unprotected
the pilots and observers

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must have felt.

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And then, we spot the Fokkers.

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Here they come.

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They close in at a 110 miles an hour.

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We've fallen victim to
one of the classic tactics

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of dog-fighting, a surprise
attack from behind.

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Oh, my God!

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I can see them coming in
from behind, it's amazing.

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The Fokker had the new
weapon that revolutionized

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aerial warfare, the synchronized gun.

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It fired 500 rounds a
minute through the propeller

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without hitting it.

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All the pilot had to do was get the enemy

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in the cross hairs and fire.

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He's right on our tail.

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Oh, my God!

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In 1916, German dominance
of the air was so great

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that the BE2 was withdrawn
after 60 were shot down

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in one month.

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But the Fokkers didn't
rule the skies for long.

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In 1917, a new British plane,

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the SE5, changed the game again.

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At a 140 miles an hour, it
was faster, more maneuverable

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and it also had a synchronized gun.

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This one is in the colors

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of British flying ace Mick Mannock.

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Mannock went on to become
the archetypal fighter ace,

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shooting down 61 enemy planes.

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But he also broke the mold.

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Most recruits were rich cavalrymen

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who could afford to buy a pilot's license.

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He was working-class and Irish,

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with Republican sympathies.

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His diaries also revealed
the strain on this new breed

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of warrior, the fighter pilot.

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Over the lines today,
engine cut out three times.

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Wind up.

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Now I can understand
what a tremendous strain

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to the nervous system flying is.

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This one's from the 20th of July 1917.

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I had the good fortune to
bring a Hun two-seater down

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in our lines a few days ago.

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Luckily, my first few
shots killed the pilot

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and wounded the observer, a captain,

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besides breaking his gun.

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I hurried out at the first opportunity

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and I found the observer
being tended by the local MO.

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The journey to the trenches
was rather nauseating.

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Bits of bones and skulls
with the hair peeling off

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and tons of equipment
and clothes lying about.

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This sort of thing,
together with the strong

255
00:13:47,010 --> 00:13:49,580
graveyard stench and the
dead and mangled body

256
00:13:49,580 --> 00:13:53,663
of the pilot and NCO, combined
to upset me for a few days.

257
00:13:56,230 --> 00:13:57,490
- I think that's the thing about it,

258
00:13:57,490 --> 00:13:59,820
it was so close up as well and personal,

259
00:13:59,820 --> 00:14:04,480
you know, so he actually
saw that he killed the pilot

260
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:08,250
and injured the observer so
you're not detached from it.

261
00:14:08,250 --> 00:14:10,500
You're totally eyeball to eyeball

262
00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:12,760
almost as if you're on the battlefield.

263
00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,450
My experience is, I suppose,
in modern sort of warfare,

264
00:14:16,450 --> 00:14:18,170
certainly in the RAF, you're so detached

265
00:14:18,170 --> 00:14:21,430
from what you're doing and
you certainly don't land

266
00:14:21,430 --> 00:14:24,150
and go and have a look at the
results of what you've done.

267
00:14:24,150 --> 00:14:25,200
- No.

268
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:27,473
It combined to upset me for a few days.

269
00:14:28,430 --> 00:14:29,754
I bet it upset him for
a lot longer than that.

270
00:14:29,754 --> 00:14:31,004
- [Colin] Yeah.

271
00:14:35,277 --> 00:14:40,277
- Like many Great War pilots,
Mannock paid a terrible price.

272
00:14:41,210 --> 00:14:44,720
He was suffering from what we
now recognize as combat stress

273
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,593
and was haunted by nightmares
of his aircraft in flames.

274
00:14:50,460 --> 00:14:54,513
In July 1918, he went down
with his burning plane.

275
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,777
Pilots could soar through the skies,

276
00:14:58,777 --> 00:15:01,263
but they couldn't escape
the horrors of warfare.

277
00:15:02,350 --> 00:15:04,593
One in four of them did not survive.

278
00:15:06,890 --> 00:15:10,050
We walked off the playing
fields into the lines.

279
00:15:10,050 --> 00:15:12,720
We lived supremely in the moment.

280
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,510
Our preoccupation was the next patrol,

281
00:15:15,510 --> 00:15:17,773
Our horizon, the next leave.

282
00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:22,440
We were trained in one subject, to kill.

283
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,853
We had one hope, to live.

284
00:15:25,790 --> 00:15:28,833
And when it was all over,
we had to start again.

285
00:15:29,944 --> 00:15:33,170
(footsteps echoing)

286
00:15:33,170 --> 00:15:36,583
The Royal Air Force
was born in April 1918.

287
00:15:38,310 --> 00:15:39,760
By the end of the war, it had grown

288
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,763
from just 60 aeroplanes to 22,000.

289
00:15:44,870 --> 00:15:46,920
From the beginning, the
RAF was at the forefront

290
00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,443
of innovations in aviation.

291
00:15:50,726 --> 00:15:53,893
(marching band music)

292
00:15:59,306 --> 00:16:02,560
But in peacetime, the Army
and Navy wanted to kill off

293
00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,623
the new upstart rival service.

294
00:16:08,460 --> 00:16:10,540
One man was to save the infant RAF

295
00:16:11,670 --> 00:16:14,373
and shape it into a modern,
forward-thinking force.

296
00:16:19,780 --> 00:16:21,950
- [Colin] Hugh Trenchard, known as Boom

297
00:16:21,950 --> 00:16:24,880
because of his loud voice,
founded the air academy

298
00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:26,163
I attended at Cranwell.

299
00:16:30,460 --> 00:16:32,903
It became the RAF equivalent of Sandhurst,

300
00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:35,623
the home of Army officer training.

301
00:16:37,450 --> 00:16:40,930
But Trenchard also realized the
pyramid of technical support

302
00:16:40,930 --> 00:16:42,720
needed to get a pilot in the air

303
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:44,463
deserved the best training too.

304
00:16:47,580 --> 00:16:50,193
I've come to RAF Halton
to explore this legacy.

305
00:16:51,860 --> 00:16:56,100
In 1920, Trenchard introduced
an apprentice scheme here

306
00:16:56,100 --> 00:16:57,580
that encouraged ground crew cadets

307
00:16:57,580 --> 00:17:00,883
to rise to the top of the
service on merit alone.

308
00:17:03,740 --> 00:17:05,943
Ground crew are still trained here today.

309
00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,030
I'm meeting an old friend,
Air Marshal Cliff Spink,

310
00:17:12,030 --> 00:17:13,780
who trained me to fly the Spitfire.

311
00:17:16,830 --> 00:17:21,100
He was apprenticed here in 1963, aged 16,

312
00:17:21,100 --> 00:17:23,650
and benefited from the
systems set up by Trenchard.

313
00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,200
- Being, in my case, a farmer's boy

314
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,910
and suddenly being thrust
in amongst young lads

315
00:17:32,910 --> 00:17:34,980
from all parts of the country,

316
00:17:34,980 --> 00:17:37,270
from all sorts of backgrounds

317
00:17:37,270 --> 00:17:41,300
and so, yes, I can remember
suddenly the enormity of it all

318
00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:46,300
and almost saying to myself,
my goodness, what have I done?

319
00:17:46,650 --> 00:17:48,290
But it happened to be the
best thing I ever did.

320
00:17:48,290 --> 00:17:49,673
- Yeah.
- Partner!

321
00:17:50,610 --> 00:17:51,690
Last bit's a sprint!

322
00:17:51,690 --> 00:17:52,523
Let's go!

323
00:17:52,523 --> 00:17:53,860
Find your partner!

324
00:17:53,860 --> 00:17:56,410
- [Cliff] Something that
the Air Force always did,

325
00:17:56,410 --> 00:17:59,550
it really brought you into the fold.

326
00:17:59,550 --> 00:18:03,340
Sometimes it had to knock you
down before it built you up.

327
00:18:03,340 --> 00:18:05,660
And we weren't all of the same mold,

328
00:18:05,660 --> 00:18:08,190
but they brought you
into a corporate entity

329
00:18:08,190 --> 00:18:10,890
and teamwork and leadership.

330
00:18:10,890 --> 00:18:13,440
They seem like cliches but they're not.

331
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,530
They were real building blocks

332
00:18:15,530 --> 00:18:17,303
and Halton did it really well.

333
00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:21,530
- [Colin] Thousands who
passed through Halton

334
00:18:21,530 --> 00:18:22,730
owe a debt to Trenchard.

335
00:18:23,630 --> 00:18:26,553
Cliff himself went on to
rise to the top of the RAF.

336
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,650
- Having a vision for an Air
Force in the first place,

337
00:18:30,650 --> 00:18:33,810
an independent Air Force, was fundamental

338
00:18:33,810 --> 00:18:36,530
but he saw the building
blocks associated with that,

339
00:18:36,530 --> 00:18:39,320
yes, the officers
associated with Cranwell,

340
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,990
but Trenchard could see
the need for that core

341
00:18:42,990 --> 00:18:46,940
who were so well technically
trained to be able to take

342
00:18:46,940 --> 00:18:48,093
the Air Force forward.

343
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,390
- In the class-ridden society

344
00:18:51,390 --> 00:18:54,920
of the 1920s, Halton was unique.

345
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,620
Any apprentice who did well
enough could then go on

346
00:18:57,620 --> 00:18:59,133
to train as a pilot.

347
00:19:00,670 --> 00:19:02,230
It was a sort of meritocracy,

348
00:19:02,230 --> 00:19:03,420
I guess, wasn't it?

349
00:19:03,420 --> 00:19:04,950
- I think that's something
that the Air Force

350
00:19:04,950 --> 00:19:06,240
has prided itself on,

351
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,410
that you come from any walk of life

352
00:19:09,410 --> 00:19:13,240
and if you've got the
skill and the dedication

353
00:19:14,261 --> 00:19:17,090
you can make a success of it,

354
00:19:17,090 --> 00:19:19,270
at whatever level you want to go to.

355
00:19:19,270 --> 00:19:22,540
And I think that meritocracy
has been the lifeblood

356
00:19:22,540 --> 00:19:23,713
of the Royal Air Force.

357
00:19:24,821 --> 00:19:27,988
(marching band music)

358
00:19:29,150 --> 00:19:31,360
- [Colin] Trenchard's
innovations in the 1920s

359
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:32,903
helped the RAF survive.

360
00:19:33,820 --> 00:19:35,810
But just a few years later,

361
00:19:35,810 --> 00:19:37,930
they would be tested to the limit

362
00:19:37,930 --> 00:19:40,763
when Britain went to war
once again with Germany.

363
00:19:41,868 --> 00:19:44,680
(dramatic music)

364
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,000
When the Second World War began,

365
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,840
the RAF faced, in the German Luftwaffe,

366
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,610
the largest and most
technologically advanced air force

367
00:19:52,610 --> 00:19:53,810
the world had ever seen.

368
00:19:57,871 --> 00:20:01,250
In 1940, with the British Army routed

369
00:20:01,250 --> 00:20:04,343
and the Germans now only 20
miles away across the Channel,

370
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,890
Adolf Hitler launched an
all-out aerial assault

371
00:20:08,890 --> 00:20:10,593
to prepare the way for invasion.

372
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,803
Only the RAF stood in his way.

373
00:20:19,344 --> 00:20:20,177
Whoa!

374
00:20:23,110 --> 00:20:25,960
When the Battle of
Britain started in June,

375
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,960
just 640 RAF fighters
faced 2,600 German planes.

376
00:20:37,250 --> 00:20:39,360
But even though it was outnumbered,

377
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:41,883
this was a battle the RAF
had been built to fight.

378
00:20:44,530 --> 00:20:47,470
Its revolutionary air defense system

379
00:20:47,470 --> 00:20:50,463
used radar to detect
incoming enemy planes.

380
00:20:55,500 --> 00:20:57,570
It was then down to
its new fighter planes,

381
00:20:57,570 --> 00:20:59,220
the Hurricane and Spitfire,

382
00:20:59,220 --> 00:21:01,253
to scramble and intercept the enemy.

383
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,660
On the 13th of August,
the Luftwaffe launched

384
00:21:07,660 --> 00:21:10,430
its main offensive to
smash the RAF on the ground

385
00:21:10,430 --> 00:21:11,423
and in the air.

386
00:21:14,130 --> 00:21:16,160
As the Germans crossed the coastline,

387
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,660
dogfights on a scale never seen before

388
00:21:18,660 --> 00:21:20,243
raged above southern England.

389
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,750
There are just a handful
of pilots alive today

390
00:21:25,750 --> 00:21:28,220
who fought in the battle
and I'm privileged to meet

391
00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:29,830
the youngest of them all.

392
00:21:29,830 --> 00:21:33,150
Geoffrey Wellum was just 18 at the time.

393
00:21:33,150 --> 00:21:35,147
- I suppose the first
time I flew a Spitfire,

394
00:21:35,147 --> 00:21:37,327
the thing flew me more or less.

395
00:21:39,190 --> 00:21:41,550
It seemed to flow around the sky.

396
00:21:41,550 --> 00:21:42,900
It slipped through the air.

397
00:21:43,930 --> 00:21:47,700
The mere thought that you
wanted to do something

398
00:21:47,700 --> 00:21:51,507
conveyed thought to your hands and feet

399
00:21:51,507 --> 00:21:53,413
and the Spitfire seemed to do it.

400
00:21:54,470 --> 00:21:57,680
And it's just a wonderful feeling of,

401
00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,560
this is what I've always wanted to do,

402
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,143
this is where I want to be.

403
00:22:02,450 --> 00:22:06,060
- Up, up the long, delirious burning blue.

404
00:22:06,060 --> 00:22:09,430
I've topped the windswept
heights with easy grace.

405
00:22:09,430 --> 00:22:12,700
Where never lark or even eagle flew.

406
00:22:12,700 --> 00:22:15,740
And while with silent
lifting mind I've trod,

407
00:22:15,740 --> 00:22:19,400
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,

408
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,773
put out my hand and
touched the face of God.

409
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,360
In the summer of 1940,
there was little time

410
00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:29,760
for playing with the clouds.

411
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,613
By the end of August, the
RAF was in big trouble.

412
00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:39,683
On the 31st, they
suffered their worst day.

413
00:22:41,070 --> 00:22:42,823
41 planes were lost.

414
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,410
At this low point, Geoffrey found himself

415
00:22:49,410 --> 00:22:50,623
thrown into the battle.

416
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,010
On his first sortie, he ran into a force

417
00:22:56,010 --> 00:22:58,123
of 150 enemy planes.

418
00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:02,090
- I'd never seen so many aeroplanes.

419
00:23:02,090 --> 00:23:03,793
It was a mass coming towards us.

420
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:06,800
And I remember thinking,

421
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,330
good God, where do you
start in on this lot?

422
00:23:11,330 --> 00:23:13,440
I was spraying bullets all over Kent.

423
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,040
We went straight through
the middle of them,

424
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,110
one passed straight over
the top of my head about...

425
00:23:18,110 --> 00:23:21,110
Well, I don't know, but I
imagined I heard his engines

426
00:23:21,970 --> 00:23:24,270
and I thought, this is dangerous,

427
00:23:24,270 --> 00:23:26,920
and I broke away and I thought,

428
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:29,903
well, now go back and have another go.

429
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:32,957
- [Ewan] The deadliest enemy of all

430
00:23:32,957 --> 00:23:36,970
was the Messerschmitt 109.

431
00:23:36,970 --> 00:23:39,030
It's impossible to know how
frightening it must've been

432
00:23:39,030 --> 00:23:40,993
to fight for one's life in the skies.

433
00:23:45,940 --> 00:23:48,760
But today, I'm going up
in a two-seat Spitfire

434
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:50,500
to try and get a sense of what it was like

435
00:23:50,500 --> 00:23:51,983
to take on an ME109.

436
00:23:56,350 --> 00:23:57,810
What a feeling, taking off with two

437
00:23:57,810 --> 00:24:00,473
of the most iconic fighter
planes of all time.

438
00:24:03,516 --> 00:24:05,703
The 109 had superior firepower

439
00:24:06,740 --> 00:24:08,240
and its battle-hardened pilots

440
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,243
used surprise to deadly effect.

441
00:24:12,684 --> 00:24:14,870
- And in comes Jerry and
he just comes straight

442
00:24:14,870 --> 00:24:19,255
slashing past us, firing
his guns about there,

443
00:24:19,255 --> 00:24:20,637
about 50 to 100 yards.

444
00:24:20,637 --> 00:24:22,687
We wouldn't even have known he was there.

445
00:24:24,114 --> 00:24:24,970
- Whoo!

446
00:24:24,970 --> 00:24:26,360
Already I'm getting a real sense

447
00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,710
of just how different
this is from World War I.

448
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,300
The planes are so much faster.

449
00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:35,750
The reaction time just
has to be so much quicker.

450
00:24:44,180 --> 00:24:48,455
Both planes had a maximum
speed of 350 miles an hour,

451
00:24:48,455 --> 00:24:51,350
but the Spitfire had one great advantage,

452
00:24:51,350 --> 00:24:54,190
in a dogfight it could turn
tighter than the Messerschmitt

453
00:24:54,190 --> 00:24:57,163
to shake it off or get on
its tail to shoot it down.

454
00:25:00,710 --> 00:25:02,149
- [Pilot] We're gaining on him.

455
00:25:02,149 --> 00:25:03,100
He's not getting away.

456
00:25:03,100 --> 00:25:05,690
- Flying up to five sorties a day,

457
00:25:05,690 --> 00:25:07,700
pilots like Geoffrey had to learn quickly

458
00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:09,603
how to outwit this formidable foe.

459
00:25:11,770 --> 00:25:15,650
- Never, ever fly straight and level

460
00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:19,350
for more than 20 seconds
in the combat area

461
00:25:19,350 --> 00:25:21,060
because it was always the 109,

462
00:25:21,060 --> 00:25:26,060
the German that you did
not see that shot you down.

463
00:25:26,510 --> 00:25:29,303
Because I always felt
that, rightly or wrongly,

464
00:25:30,270 --> 00:25:32,303
if I could see my antagonist,

465
00:25:33,370 --> 00:25:35,170
I always felt that I had the ability

466
00:25:35,170 --> 00:25:36,573
to outfly him in a Spitfire.

467
00:25:39,710 --> 00:25:42,620
- [Ewan] In the air, the
Germans were losing two planes

468
00:25:42,620 --> 00:25:46,180
to every one of the RAF's
but constant attacks

469
00:25:46,180 --> 00:25:49,090
on British airfields had put RAF crews

470
00:25:49,090 --> 00:25:50,453
under intense pressure.

471
00:25:51,310 --> 00:25:56,310
- The worst part was sitting
in dispersal, waiting.

472
00:25:56,330 --> 00:26:00,040
The phone went, scramble base, 12 thou.

473
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,464
From there on, you ran
like mad for your aeroplane

474
00:26:03,464 --> 00:26:05,990
and you're supposed to be
airborne within four minutes.

475
00:26:05,990 --> 00:26:08,550
The ground crew had
already started the engine,

476
00:26:08,550 --> 00:26:11,760
your parachute was on the
wing, waiting for you.

477
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,010
You put it on, they helped
you into the cockpit.

478
00:26:14,010 --> 00:26:16,770
You were too busy and
dashing around too much

479
00:26:16,770 --> 00:26:18,400
to be all that apprehensive.

480
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,400
- Did you recognize how
fatiguing, how tiring it was?

481
00:26:23,550 --> 00:26:24,683
- Not at the time.

482
00:26:26,220 --> 00:26:27,053
You just carried on.

483
00:26:27,053 --> 00:26:28,603
You became an automaton.

484
00:26:30,014 --> 00:26:32,930
You managed to get into the mess

485
00:26:32,930 --> 00:26:37,370
or wherever you were after a heavy day

486
00:26:37,370 --> 00:26:41,533
and feel totally exhausted, drained,

487
00:26:42,530 --> 00:26:45,450
but then, you know, you
had a couple of pints

488
00:26:45,450 --> 00:26:48,533
and you had to snap out of it.

489
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,980
- [Ewan] But just when it looked
like the RAF might buckle,

490
00:26:53,980 --> 00:26:56,103
the Germans switched to bombing cities.

491
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,293
It was a tactical blunder
that allowed the RAF to rearm.

492
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:04,850
So, when the Germans
launched a massive attack

493
00:27:04,850 --> 00:27:07,593
on September the 15th to
finally break the RAF,

494
00:27:09,260 --> 00:27:11,460
they suffered some of
their heaviest losses.

495
00:27:14,834 --> 00:27:17,334
(guns firing)

496
00:27:19,170 --> 00:27:21,943
German high command had
failed to gain air supremacy.

497
00:27:24,820 --> 00:27:26,930
Attacks continued into October,

498
00:27:26,930 --> 00:27:29,053
but invasion was now no longer possible.

499
00:27:32,660 --> 00:27:35,793
Geoffrey's squadron suffered
some of the highest losses.

500
00:27:37,570 --> 00:27:40,950
- You were always aware of absent friends

501
00:27:42,220 --> 00:27:43,593
but you put it behind you.

502
00:27:45,051 --> 00:27:47,280
You'd go to the White Hart and
have a few pints and think,

503
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,793
well, last night John was here.

504
00:27:51,010 --> 00:27:52,490
He's not now.

505
00:27:52,490 --> 00:27:53,323
- Yeah.

506
00:27:53,323 --> 00:27:57,963
- And I can see it now, clearly.

507
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,510
In the evening, all the boys
there in their best blue,

508
00:28:02,510 --> 00:28:05,393
smoke rising to the ceiling,
pints knocking back.

509
00:28:07,410 --> 00:28:09,003
A fighter squadron.

510
00:28:10,410 --> 00:28:12,760
Survivors trying to relax.

511
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,760
And the boys enjoying and very much aware

512
00:28:19,380 --> 00:28:20,880
of one another's company.

513
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:21,980
- Yeah.

514
00:28:21,980 --> 00:28:24,640
- It was almost a love affair, really.

515
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,663
A love affair with one's fellow man.

516
00:28:28,230 --> 00:28:29,063
You know.

517
00:28:30,678 --> 00:28:32,800
And I think it took more out of us

518
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,670
than we realized at the time.

519
00:28:34,670 --> 00:28:36,380
And, of course, at the
end of my second tour

520
00:28:36,380 --> 00:28:38,390
I had a bit of a breakdown in health

521
00:28:38,390 --> 00:28:41,483
and was invalided home, as it were.

522
00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:46,300
- [Ewan] Recently, Geoffrey
was invited to witness

523
00:28:46,300 --> 00:28:47,513
a Spitfire display.

524
00:28:49,460 --> 00:28:54,050
- Watching those Spits getting
airborne and forming up

525
00:28:54,050 --> 00:28:58,710
into a battle formation,
a lump came into my throat

526
00:28:58,710 --> 00:29:00,920
and I had to fight for self-control

527
00:29:03,010 --> 00:29:05,413
because their cockpits are full of ghosts.

528
00:29:06,814 --> 00:29:09,397
(somber music)

529
00:29:12,510 --> 00:29:15,580
- [Ewan] The Royal Air Force
had won the Battle of Britain,

530
00:29:15,580 --> 00:29:18,210
the country's first
real victory of the war.

531
00:29:19,900 --> 00:29:23,200
It supercharged morale and
turned the atmosphere of defeat

532
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,323
into the potential for ultimate victory.

533
00:29:28,940 --> 00:29:30,093
But the cost was high.

534
00:29:30,970 --> 00:29:34,560
Of the 3,000 RAF pilots
who fought in the battle,

535
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,063
544 lost their lives.

536
00:29:40,130 --> 00:29:42,270
The young pilots' heroism was immortalized

537
00:29:42,270 --> 00:29:47,040
by Winston Churchill when he
stated that never in the field

538
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,943
of human conflict was so much
owed by so many to so few.

539
00:29:59,165 --> 00:30:02,500
(energetic music)

540
00:30:02,500 --> 00:30:05,220
Without the help of one
little-known organization,

541
00:30:05,220 --> 00:30:07,070
the battle might never have been won.

542
00:30:09,570 --> 00:30:11,680
Pilots were in such short supply

543
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,680
that the Air Transport
Auxiliary was created

544
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,373
to deliver combat aircraft
to front-line bases.

545
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,480
We've tracked down two
of the first women pilots

546
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:25,813
to fly in World War II.

547
00:30:27,090 --> 00:30:29,683
Mary Ellis and Joy Lofthouse.

548
00:30:35,290 --> 00:30:38,483
When filming took place,
Mary was 100 years old,

549
00:30:39,830 --> 00:30:41,403
and Joy, 94.

550
00:30:42,558 --> 00:30:45,513
The ATA's air taxi was
the de Havilland Rapide.

551
00:30:46,590 --> 00:30:47,610
- Art Deco.

552
00:30:47,610 --> 00:30:48,470
Yeah, the '30s.

553
00:30:48,470 --> 00:30:50,470
Everything looked beautiful in the '30s.

554
00:30:51,773 --> 00:30:53,343
There's the crosswind again.

555
00:30:54,780 --> 00:30:55,613
Oh.

556
00:30:56,670 --> 00:30:59,573
Their organization was made
up of a thousand pilots.

557
00:31:00,820 --> 00:31:03,200
In a remarkable breakthrough for equality,

558
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,083
born of necessity, 166 of them were women.

559
00:31:11,350 --> 00:31:12,183
Hello, ladies!

560
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:15,290
- [Woman] I'm dying to go to the loo.

561
00:31:15,290 --> 00:31:16,123
- [Ewan] Okay.

562
00:31:17,583 --> 00:31:18,416
Look at you.

563
00:31:18,416 --> 00:31:19,880
You'd get in there in
a flash, wouldn't you?

564
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:21,430
- [Mary] I'd better not get in.

565
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,240
- [Ewan] You'd love it,
though, if you could.

566
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,290
- I would not like to get in that,

567
00:31:26,290 --> 00:31:28,220
even with a pair of steps.

568
00:31:28,220 --> 00:31:29,053
- Oh.

569
00:31:29,053 --> 00:31:30,543
- [Joy] I'd rather hang onto my toy boy.

570
00:31:32,241 --> 00:31:34,880
- You said you didn't like toy boys.

571
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,490
- [Ewan] Well, he's quite a
mature toy boy, let's be honest.

572
00:31:37,490 --> 00:31:39,940
- [Joy] Who is my favorite toy boy?

573
00:31:39,940 --> 00:31:41,340
- Oh, Martin.
- Martin.

574
00:31:41,340 --> 00:31:42,190
- [Joy] Martin Shaw.

575
00:31:42,190 --> 00:31:43,680
- Shaw.
- Oh, yeah.

576
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:44,830
- He's a very, very good actor as well.

577
00:31:44,830 --> 00:31:46,440
- [Ewan] He wasn't available today, sadly.

578
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:47,370
Anyway.

579
00:31:47,370 --> 00:31:48,203
- [Joy] He wasn't available.

580
00:31:48,203 --> 00:31:49,270
- He wasn't available today, no.

581
00:31:49,270 --> 00:31:50,640
Martin Shaw.

582
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:51,473
Sadly.

583
00:31:51,473 --> 00:31:52,365
- [Joy] So, you're his stand-in.

584
00:31:52,365 --> 00:31:53,198
- [Colin] I'm his stand-in, yeah.

585
00:31:53,198 --> 00:31:54,031
I'm the stand-in.

586
00:31:54,031 --> 00:31:55,610
Exactly.

587
00:31:55,610 --> 00:31:59,180
Mary and joy share my passion for flying.

588
00:31:59,180 --> 00:32:00,110
- It's so wonderful.

589
00:32:00,110 --> 00:32:03,973
It's freedom, and you can more or less

590
00:32:03,973 --> 00:32:05,362
do what you want.

591
00:32:05,362 --> 00:32:07,530
- It's the next best thing

592
00:32:07,530 --> 00:32:09,860
to having wings yourself, you know?

593
00:32:09,860 --> 00:32:11,200
You might just as well have wings.

594
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,063
You're up there, nobody can tell you

595
00:32:13,063 --> 00:32:15,700
what to do or where to go.

596
00:32:15,700 --> 00:32:16,533
- [Colin] Yeah.

597
00:32:17,730 --> 00:32:19,530
- [Ewan] Joy had never flown before.

598
00:32:21,550 --> 00:32:23,463
Mary was an experienced pilot.

599
00:32:25,290 --> 00:32:28,090
She'd learned before the
war when flying was largely

600
00:32:28,090 --> 00:32:30,023
the glamorous hobby of wealthy men.

601
00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:36,700
- I flew 76 different
types and I flew a Meteor

602
00:32:38,660 --> 00:32:41,747
without any instructions at all.

603
00:32:43,650 --> 00:32:45,790
- [Ewan] Throughout the war,
the ATA delivered a total

604
00:32:45,790 --> 00:32:48,383
of 309,000 planes.

605
00:32:50,110 --> 00:32:52,880
Mary alone delivered 1,000 of them.

606
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,420
Summary for July 1945.

607
00:32:55,420 --> 00:33:00,420
Argus, Spitfire, Corsair,
Barracuda, Sea Otter,

608
00:33:00,430 --> 00:33:05,430
Vengeance, Tempest, Firefly,
Wildcat, Anson, Wellington,

609
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,000
Ventura and Mitchell.

610
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,120
- [Colin] And that's in one month?

611
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,293
- That's in, yeah, one month.

612
00:33:13,950 --> 00:33:16,110
Flying planes straight from the factory

613
00:33:16,110 --> 00:33:18,690
that had yet to be fitted
with navigational aids

614
00:33:18,690 --> 00:33:21,290
made this one of the most
dangerous jobs in the war.

615
00:33:23,910 --> 00:33:26,873
One in 10 of the ATA pilots were killed.

616
00:33:32,130 --> 00:33:33,990
One of their colleagues, Joan Hughes,

617
00:33:33,990 --> 00:33:35,363
was just five feet tall.

618
00:33:37,050 --> 00:33:39,700
She had to wear wooden
platforms to reach the pedals.

619
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,040
And what reaction would
you get when you landed,

620
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:47,830
as a female pilot stepping out

621
00:33:47,830 --> 00:33:49,390
of a Wellington bomber on your own?

622
00:33:49,390 --> 00:33:53,790
- I opened the door, you know,

623
00:33:53,790 --> 00:33:56,170
put down the steps and got out

624
00:33:56,170 --> 00:34:00,923
and I waited at the bottom
for the crowd of RAF people

625
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:05,100
with a car to take me to the control

626
00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:10,100
and I stood there for
some time and I said,

627
00:34:10,430 --> 00:34:13,050
can we go to control, please?

628
00:34:13,050 --> 00:34:15,410
And they said, we're
waiting for the pilot.

629
00:34:15,410 --> 00:34:18,260
And I said, I am the pilot!

630
00:34:18,260 --> 00:34:19,660
(Ewan laughs)

631
00:34:19,660 --> 00:34:23,800
They wouldn't believe me
and two of them were ordered

632
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,577
to go up in the Wellington and search it.

633
00:34:26,577 --> 00:34:29,220
So, finally, they came out and said, no,

634
00:34:29,220 --> 00:34:30,720
there's nobody else there.

635
00:34:33,810 --> 00:34:36,210
- [Ewan] The ATA girls were
the first women in Britain

636
00:34:36,210 --> 00:34:37,603
to gain equal pay.

637
00:34:39,050 --> 00:34:41,203
They led the way for female pilots.

638
00:34:42,830 --> 00:34:45,580
They became known as the
glamour girls of World War II.

639
00:34:47,604 --> 00:34:49,950
- We were never without an escort.

640
00:34:49,950 --> 00:34:50,800
- [Colin] Really?

641
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:57,400
- Some girls used to have racy
parties with Naval officers.

642
00:34:57,599 --> 00:34:58,500
- Boyfriends.

643
00:34:58,500 --> 00:34:59,333
- [Joy] Yes.

644
00:34:59,333 --> 00:35:01,613
- [Ewan] Ah, really?

645
00:35:01,613 --> 00:35:02,560
That sounds interesting.

646
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,650
- I was taken to it once and she said,

647
00:35:04,650 --> 00:35:07,550
I think you'd better go home now, Joy,

648
00:35:07,550 --> 00:35:09,170
whoever took me to the party.

649
00:35:09,170 --> 00:35:12,460
She thought I was too young
to get too involved in it

650
00:35:12,460 --> 00:35:15,293
by the time they started
chucking the keys on the table.

651
00:35:19,770 --> 00:35:22,573
- [Ewan] I found the courage
of these woman very inspiring.

652
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,410
75 years on, I'm about
to take my first flight

653
00:35:27,410 --> 00:35:30,503
in the Typhoon and I'm really nervous.

654
00:35:35,310 --> 00:35:38,290
It's so maneuverable and
exerts such huge stresses

655
00:35:38,290 --> 00:35:41,070
on the body that I have
to pass a strict medical

656
00:35:41,070 --> 00:35:42,663
to prove that I'm fit to fly.

657
00:35:44,570 --> 00:35:45,670
- Have you been up before?

658
00:35:45,670 --> 00:35:47,790
- I was up in a Tornado
once with my brother.

659
00:35:47,790 --> 00:35:48,623
- Okay.
- But some years ago.

660
00:35:48,623 --> 00:35:52,840
So, that's my only similar experience.

661
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:53,673
- [Iona] Yup.

662
00:35:55,130 --> 00:35:56,730
- And I was sick.

663
00:35:56,730 --> 00:35:58,940
- Yeah, you'll definitely
be sick, then, in a Typhoon.

664
00:35:58,940 --> 00:36:00,234
- Oh, do you think?

665
00:36:00,234 --> 00:36:01,067
- Yeah!

666
00:36:03,170 --> 00:36:05,070
- [Ewan] Corporal Iona
McDonald is checking

667
00:36:05,070 --> 00:36:06,850
that I can get out of the plane intact

668
00:36:06,850 --> 00:36:08,193
if I'm forced to eject.

669
00:36:10,330 --> 00:36:12,740
- This one here is buttock to knee,

670
00:36:12,740 --> 00:36:14,890
so if you just keep your bum
right up against the wall again

671
00:36:14,890 --> 00:36:16,290
and put your knees together.

672
00:36:17,180 --> 00:36:19,730
- So, if I can just get
you to lift up your T-shirt

673
00:36:19,730 --> 00:36:21,220
at the front for me.

674
00:36:21,220 --> 00:36:22,440
- [Ewan] Next, a thorough checkup

675
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:24,710
from Wing Commander Joanne Collins.

676
00:36:24,710 --> 00:36:26,190
- Just literally just going to have

677
00:36:26,190 --> 00:36:28,970
a listen to your heart sounds.

678
00:36:28,970 --> 00:36:29,803
When you're ready.

679
00:36:29,803 --> 00:36:31,170
- [Ewan] Because of the
rapid pressure changes

680
00:36:31,170 --> 00:36:34,960
in the Typhoon, my sinuses
and ears have to be clear.

681
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,090
- And relax.

682
00:36:36,090 --> 00:36:36,950
Did you feel that pop?

683
00:36:36,950 --> 00:36:37,783
- Yeah.

684
00:36:38,980 --> 00:36:40,570
I'm also given help on how to combat

685
00:36:40,570 --> 00:36:42,343
the G-forces I'll experience.

686
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,490
- [Joanne] Breathe in for one second.

687
00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:47,323
And then.

688
00:36:50,510 --> 00:36:51,343
And out.

689
00:36:51,343 --> 00:36:52,660
- [Ewan] The Typhoon can exert a force

690
00:36:52,660 --> 00:36:55,480
the equivalent of nine
times normal gravity.

691
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:57,150
- [Joanne] And that in
itself will make sure

692
00:36:57,150 --> 00:37:00,670
that you get enough blood
and oxygen to the brain

693
00:37:00,670 --> 00:37:02,900
and will reduce any chances of you

694
00:37:02,900 --> 00:37:04,010
losing consciousness up there.

695
00:37:04,010 --> 00:37:04,843
- Okay.

696
00:37:04,843 --> 00:37:06,490
- [Joanne] This one here
you'll need to just hand

697
00:37:06,490 --> 00:37:08,570
to the pilot that's going to be flying you

698
00:37:08,570 --> 00:37:10,280
just to confirm that
we've done the medical

699
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:11,840
and that you're fit to fly.

700
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:12,790
- Okay.

701
00:37:12,790 --> 00:37:14,340
So, you're letting me go?

702
00:37:14,340 --> 00:37:16,160
- Gonna let you fly.

703
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:17,123
- Great.

704
00:37:17,123 --> 00:37:17,956
Damn.

705
00:37:22,190 --> 00:37:25,270
In World War II, after
the Battle of Britain,

706
00:37:25,270 --> 00:37:27,120
thousands of new recruits were undergoing

707
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,193
slightly less rigorous medicals.

708
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:34,330
If the few had saved the country in 1940,

709
00:37:34,330 --> 00:37:37,130
it was the many who would
now take the war to Germany

710
00:37:37,130 --> 00:37:38,633
and bomb it into submission.

711
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,410
The man behind this campaign
was the head of Bomber Command.

712
00:37:44,410 --> 00:37:47,680
Arthur Harris was ruthless, relentless,

713
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:49,053
and convinced he was right.

714
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:52,740
He believed that under the
weight of high explosive

715
00:37:52,740 --> 00:37:56,523
and incendiary bombs, German
morale would collapse.

716
00:37:57,939 --> 00:38:01,250
- There are a lot of
people who say that bombing

717
00:38:01,250 --> 00:38:02,563
can never win a war.

718
00:38:03,420 --> 00:38:07,958
Well, my answer to that is that
it has never been tried yet,

719
00:38:07,958 --> 00:38:11,860
and we shall see.

720
00:38:11,860 --> 00:38:14,770
- [Ewan] In 1942, Harris
put together the first

721
00:38:14,770 --> 00:38:16,220
of the thousand-bomber raids.

722
00:38:19,583 --> 00:38:23,283
Its target was the
industrial city of Cologne.

723
00:38:26,570 --> 00:38:29,210
For the next three years,
RAF crews would wage

724
00:38:29,210 --> 00:38:31,303
a new and terrible form of warfare.

725
00:38:34,810 --> 00:38:38,253
Night after night, raids
targeted German cities.

726
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,050
The seven-man crews in the
new four-engined bombers,

727
00:38:42,050 --> 00:38:45,593
like the Lancaster, faced
formidable German defenses.

728
00:38:46,690 --> 00:38:48,000
- We were caught in searchlights,

729
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,090
and they had us for 35 minutes.

730
00:38:52,090 --> 00:38:55,440
Now, you can guarantee, basically,

731
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,960
that if you were caught in searchlights,

732
00:38:57,960 --> 00:38:59,700
you could say, goodnight, nurse.

733
00:38:59,700 --> 00:39:01,307
That was your lot.

734
00:39:01,307 --> 00:39:03,734
(plane engines roaring)

735
00:39:03,734 --> 00:39:07,370
(explosion booming)

736
00:39:07,370 --> 00:39:10,150
- You can view the target on flames

737
00:39:10,150 --> 00:39:14,570
and surrounded by
millions of shell bursts.

738
00:39:14,570 --> 00:39:15,520
It looks like hell.

739
00:39:17,470 --> 00:39:22,013
And you really think that
this is going to be it.

740
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:25,750
- [Ewan] To cope with the strain,

741
00:39:25,750 --> 00:39:27,850
many nurtured a live-for-the-day attitude.

742
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:32,580
It led to an unexpected medical problem

743
00:39:32,580 --> 00:39:34,893
that almost derailed the bomber campaign.

744
00:39:37,650 --> 00:39:40,060
- [Colin] I'm meeting
author Patrick Bishop,

745
00:39:40,060 --> 00:39:42,313
who's just uncovered this secret story.

746
00:39:43,860 --> 00:39:46,250
- I came across this extraordinary file

747
00:39:46,250 --> 00:39:48,620
in the National Archives.

748
00:39:48,620 --> 00:39:50,030
In amongst this bundle of papers,

749
00:39:50,030 --> 00:39:55,030
someone's written on the
margin of one document,

750
00:39:55,100 --> 00:39:57,810
this is an extraordinary story!

751
00:39:57,810 --> 00:39:58,790
And it really is.

752
00:39:58,790 --> 00:40:03,790
It's about this outbreak of VD in the RAF,

753
00:40:04,330 --> 00:40:06,460
towards the end of 1942.

754
00:40:06,460 --> 00:40:09,770
And it's particularly
marked in Bomber Command.

755
00:40:09,770 --> 00:40:10,910
The Bomber Command incidence,

756
00:40:10,910 --> 00:40:13,661
I think, it's four times
higher than it is in the other

757
00:40:13,661 --> 00:40:14,661
branches of the RAF.

758
00:40:16,380 --> 00:40:18,040
- [Colin] Veterans of Bomber Command

759
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:20,960
told us about the warnings
they'd received on the dangers

760
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:22,793
of sexually transmitted diseases.

761
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,510
The late Squadron Leader Tony Iveson

762
00:40:27,510 --> 00:40:30,100
relished recounting a dirty ditty.

763
00:40:30,100 --> 00:40:32,273
- If she's easy, she's got it.

764
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:35,763
If she's got it, you'll get it.

765
00:40:36,968 --> 00:40:40,941
And remember, a blob on
the knob slows demob.

766
00:40:40,941 --> 00:40:43,524
(men laughing)

767
00:40:44,518 --> 00:40:46,787
- I haven't heard that one before.

768
00:40:48,177 --> 00:40:49,880
- [Colin] Arthur Harris offered

769
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:52,990
a typically blunt response to the problem.

770
00:40:52,990 --> 00:40:56,040
- Normally, Harris was quite
indulgent about hijinks

771
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:58,820
and, you know, booze-ups
and all the rest of it.

772
00:40:58,820 --> 00:41:02,120
But in this case, he
was far from indulgent

773
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:04,350
and his response is quite chilling.

774
00:41:04,350 --> 00:41:09,350
He issues this instruction
that anyone who is discovered

775
00:41:11,150 --> 00:41:14,420
to have contracted VD
will be made to start

776
00:41:14,420 --> 00:41:17,330
their whole tour of operations over again

777
00:41:17,330 --> 00:41:20,790
no matter what point
they've actually reached.

778
00:41:20,790 --> 00:41:25,613
As you know, a tour is 30
ops, so what he's saying is,

779
00:41:26,650 --> 00:41:28,450
even if you're on your 29th op,

780
00:41:28,450 --> 00:41:29,980
and you've caught a dose of the clap,

781
00:41:29,980 --> 00:41:31,829
you have to go back to square one.

782
00:41:31,829 --> 00:41:32,662
- Back to square one.

783
00:41:32,662 --> 00:41:35,650
- At this time, you've
got a one-in-five chance

784
00:41:35,650 --> 00:41:37,770
of surviving your tour of 30 ops,

785
00:41:37,770 --> 00:41:40,540
so what this amounts to really,

786
00:41:40,540 --> 00:41:43,790
if you're in this situation,
at the end of your tour,

787
00:41:43,790 --> 00:41:45,270
and you have to start all over again,

788
00:41:45,270 --> 00:41:48,010
it's more or less a sentence of death.

789
00:41:48,010 --> 00:41:49,610
- Wow, that's pretty horrendous.

790
00:41:52,950 --> 00:41:55,190
- [Ewan] The grueling
tours of 30 operations

791
00:41:55,190 --> 00:41:58,080
in highly vulnerable
bombers meant the campaign

792
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,830
produced the highest British
casualty rates of the war.

793
00:42:02,155 --> 00:42:06,963
Out of a force of 125,000
men, 55,000 never came home.

794
00:42:12,550 --> 00:42:14,440
- No, I had never flown before.

795
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:16,340
Hadn't even driven a motor car before.

796
00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:21,770
- Never ever, ever was I ever comfortable.

797
00:42:21,770 --> 00:42:23,150
No.

798
00:42:23,150 --> 00:42:24,340
No.

799
00:42:24,340 --> 00:42:25,343
Frightened to death.

800
00:42:26,930 --> 00:42:29,764
And anybody who says he wasn't,
well, he's a bloody liar.

801
00:42:29,764 --> 00:42:30,847
- [Man] Fire!

802
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:33,475
- [Man] He's right in there, isn't he?

803
00:42:33,475 --> 00:42:35,157
- [Man] He's very quick, isn't he?

804
00:42:36,003 --> 00:42:38,510
- [Ewan] For us, no-one
better represented the courage

805
00:42:38,510 --> 00:42:40,410
of this band of brothers in the air

806
00:42:40,410 --> 00:42:42,143
than tailgunner Dave Fellows.

807
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:45,640
When we met him a few years
ago, he even showed us

808
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:47,433
how a gunner got target practice,

809
00:42:48,650 --> 00:42:49,853
clay pigeon shooting.

810
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:52,230
- We winged it.
- You winged it.

811
00:42:52,230 --> 00:42:54,640
You definitely winged the last one there.

812
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,710
He was once asked to
bail out of his Lancaster

813
00:42:56,710 --> 00:42:58,010
after a mid-air collision.

814
00:42:59,690 --> 00:43:01,560
- The skipper said to me, David,

815
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:04,383
you can bail out if you wish.

816
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,163
But we could have still been
attacked by enemy aircraft.

817
00:43:10,060 --> 00:43:11,853
My turret was still operational.

818
00:43:13,140 --> 00:43:14,900
So, why should I jump out?

819
00:43:14,900 --> 00:43:15,950
What, leave my mates?

820
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:24,273
- [Ewan] We'd been looking forward

821
00:43:24,273 --> 00:43:25,503
to catching up with Dave.

822
00:43:26,940 --> 00:43:28,990
But, sadly, he passed away

823
00:43:28,990 --> 00:43:30,763
a few days before we began filming.

824
00:43:44,300 --> 00:43:47,170
The plane Dave flew, and
the most potent symbol

825
00:43:47,170 --> 00:43:50,133
of the bomber campaign, is the Lancaster.

826
00:43:51,450 --> 00:43:53,110
Britain's last flying Lancaster

827
00:43:53,110 --> 00:43:55,083
has just undergone a major service.

828
00:43:58,520 --> 00:43:59,810
We're being shown round the plane

829
00:43:59,810 --> 00:44:01,840
by its present-day guardian,

830
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:03,633
Squadron Leader Andrew Millican.

831
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:06,440
- Wow.
- Wow, wow.

832
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:07,273
- Look at that.

833
00:44:09,337 --> 00:44:12,910
So, this is painted up in
the colors of 460 Squadron,

834
00:44:12,910 --> 00:44:15,850
which was a Royal Australian
Air Force squadron aeroplane.

835
00:44:15,850 --> 00:44:16,683
- [Colin] Okay, all right.

836
00:44:16,683 --> 00:44:18,320
- And the reason we wanted
to paint it up in 460

837
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:21,380
was to commemorate not only
what the Australians did,

838
00:44:21,380 --> 00:44:22,690
'cause of course young men from all round

839
00:44:22,690 --> 00:44:24,840
the dominions came to join Bomber Command,

840
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:26,810
but also it was Dave Fellows' squadron,

841
00:44:26,810 --> 00:44:28,420
who sadly passed away just
a couple of weeks ago.

842
00:44:28,420 --> 00:44:29,430
- Yeah, yeah.

843
00:44:29,430 --> 00:44:30,263
We loved hanging out with David.

844
00:44:30,263 --> 00:44:31,340
- He was a lovely, lovely man.

845
00:44:31,340 --> 00:44:33,830
But he got a chance to see
it before he passed away?

846
00:44:33,830 --> 00:44:34,663
- He did, yeah.

847
00:44:34,663 --> 00:44:36,520
He did see the aeroplane
before he passed away,

848
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:38,580
so he saw it in his colours,
which is absolutely brilliant.

849
00:44:38,580 --> 00:44:39,413
Yeah.

850
00:44:41,450 --> 00:44:43,750
- [Ewan] The bomber campaign
and the Battle of Britain

851
00:44:43,750 --> 00:44:46,150
are defining episodes in
the history of the RAF.

852
00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:51,980
But one largely unsung effort
made perhaps just as great

853
00:44:51,980 --> 00:44:54,697
a contribution to the defeat of Hitler.

854
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,130
To uncover how the
humble aerial photograph,

855
00:45:05,130 --> 00:45:07,070
first used in World War I,

856
00:45:07,070 --> 00:45:08,883
became a formidable secret weapon,

857
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:11,893
I'm meeting Wing Commander Mike Mockford.

858
00:45:13,660 --> 00:45:15,160
So, Mike, what are we looking at here?

859
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:18,250
- Well, have a look at that,
because that is a typical

860
00:45:18,250 --> 00:45:20,940
three-dimensional image,
which was absolutely vital

861
00:45:20,940 --> 00:45:22,320
to the gathering of intelligence

862
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:24,190
during the Second World War,

863
00:45:24,190 --> 00:45:26,080
and all the way up to today, actually.

864
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:27,030
- [Ewan] Oh, my God!

865
00:45:27,030 --> 00:45:27,863
- Can you see it?

866
00:45:27,863 --> 00:45:29,130
- Yeah!
- Yeah, well, if you say,

867
00:45:29,130 --> 00:45:30,290
oh, my God, I know you can.

868
00:45:30,290 --> 00:45:31,470
- Yeah.
- Because that means--

869
00:45:31,470 --> 00:45:32,940
- [Ewan] The two flat images?

870
00:45:32,940 --> 00:45:34,350
- Yeah, you're seeing...

871
00:45:34,350 --> 00:45:36,570
You're merging the images
and you're seeing buildings

872
00:45:36,570 --> 00:45:40,630
have height, hills and
valleys have height and holes,

873
00:45:40,630 --> 00:45:41,463
as they say.

874
00:45:41,463 --> 00:45:43,840
'Cause you improve your
intelligence collection

875
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:48,840
from 3-D photography
by probably 17% or 20%.

876
00:45:49,730 --> 00:45:50,850
- [Ewan] The photographs were taken

877
00:45:50,850 --> 00:45:53,293
by specially adapted
Spitfires like this one.

878
00:45:56,300 --> 00:45:59,020
Unarmed, and carrying extra fuel,

879
00:45:59,020 --> 00:46:01,920
they could conduct seven-hour
sorties at heights and speeds

880
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,823
that outstripped any enemy plane.

881
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:08,940
They carried two cameras that took photos

882
00:46:08,940 --> 00:46:11,780
that were slightly offset from each other.

883
00:46:11,780 --> 00:46:14,533
Combining the two made the 3-D image.

884
00:46:16,294 --> 00:46:17,520
- [Mike] That's what you've got there.

885
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:18,353
- [Ewan] And then?

886
00:46:18,353 --> 00:46:19,700
- [Mike] You're looking at Colditz.

887
00:46:19,700 --> 00:46:21,650
- Oh, is that right?
- Colditz Castle.

888
00:46:23,170 --> 00:46:25,280
- [Ewan] The HQ for this
top secret operation

889
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,353
was a country house on
the Thames, RAF Medmenham.

890
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:33,800
The highly-skilled
photographic interpreters

891
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:35,720
identified some of the greatest threats

892
00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:37,163
to the Allied war effort.

893
00:46:41,130 --> 00:46:42,900
- There is an interesting
story of a professor

894
00:46:42,900 --> 00:46:45,980
at RAF Medmenham, who'd
been working all night,

895
00:46:45,980 --> 00:46:47,390
and he came running down the stairs

896
00:46:47,390 --> 00:46:49,660
at breakfast time in the
morning, and said, I've done it!

897
00:46:49,660 --> 00:46:51,810
I've done it, I know what it is,

898
00:46:51,810 --> 00:46:52,883
in his underpants.

899
00:46:55,060 --> 00:46:56,250
He'd forgotten to dress.

900
00:46:56,250 --> 00:46:57,420
- Fantastic.
- And then they said to him,

901
00:46:57,420 --> 00:46:58,550
you'd better get back and get dressed

902
00:46:58,550 --> 00:47:00,910
before you go and tell everyone.

903
00:47:00,910 --> 00:47:02,600
- Such passion, it's great.
- Absolutely, yeah.

904
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:03,810
I mean, they were...

905
00:47:03,810 --> 00:47:04,900
I think that's a good word.

906
00:47:04,900 --> 00:47:06,950
They were passionate about what they did.

907
00:47:09,181 --> 00:47:11,970
- [Ewan] RAF Medmenham's
greatest intelligence coup

908
00:47:11,970 --> 00:47:15,080
was uncovering the secret
V weapons that Hitler

909
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:18,053
hoped would turn the tide of
war back in Germany's favor.

910
00:47:19,380 --> 00:47:23,953
The most dangerous was
the V1, the doodlebug,

911
00:47:23,953 --> 00:47:26,210
a pilotless drone that
started to rain down

912
00:47:26,210 --> 00:47:28,163
on London in 1944.

913
00:47:30,460 --> 00:47:33,323
The first of the V1s was
spotted in this photograph.

914
00:47:35,430 --> 00:47:37,443
A tiny cross on a launch ramp.

915
00:47:39,340 --> 00:47:42,750
Their launch sites were
notoriously difficult to find.

916
00:47:42,750 --> 00:47:45,600
Mike is putting me to the test
by getting me to find one.

917
00:47:47,350 --> 00:47:50,680
- This is a Dutch sugar
factory on the Dutch coast.

918
00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:52,550
You're looking for a ramp.

919
00:47:52,550 --> 00:47:54,352
- A ramp, like a ski-shaped thing?

920
00:47:54,352 --> 00:47:55,185
Yeah, slope ramp.

921
00:47:55,185 --> 00:47:57,140
Yeah, because they were
launched from a ramp.

922
00:48:01,620 --> 00:48:04,170
- [Ewan] For the photo
interpreters, it was like looking

923
00:48:04,170 --> 00:48:06,233
for a deadly needle in a haystack.

924
00:48:07,170 --> 00:48:09,330
They became masters at spotting the clues

925
00:48:09,330 --> 00:48:11,210
that were as small as a millimeter

926
00:48:11,210 --> 00:48:13,053
across on the photographic prints.

927
00:48:14,290 --> 00:48:15,830
- Telltale signs.

928
00:48:15,830 --> 00:48:18,170
In the open ground here
is ground scarring.

929
00:48:18,170 --> 00:48:19,003
- [Ewan] Yes.

930
00:48:19,003 --> 00:48:20,570
- Now, that is where the
V1, when it was launched,

931
00:48:20,570 --> 00:48:23,800
carried a booster motor,
which was a small rocket.

932
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:27,050
When it got airborne, the
booster motor dropped off.

933
00:48:27,050 --> 00:48:29,740
And that ground scarring is
where they fell to the ground.

934
00:48:29,740 --> 00:48:31,350
- I see.
- Follow that back,

935
00:48:31,350 --> 00:48:33,150
on the roof of that building,

936
00:48:33,150 --> 00:48:37,490
is some light toned damage
where bits have hit the roof.

937
00:48:37,490 --> 00:48:40,490
The ramp is just alongside
the building, there.

938
00:48:40,490 --> 00:48:41,887
See that dark shape alongside of it?

939
00:48:41,887 --> 00:48:42,887
Have a look.

940
00:48:43,979 --> 00:48:44,940
- The dark shape here?

941
00:48:44,940 --> 00:48:47,330
- It's a dark line alongside the building.

942
00:48:47,330 --> 00:48:49,010
Yes, just there.

943
00:48:49,010 --> 00:48:51,180
- Oh, I see it.
- Yeah, see it?

944
00:48:51,180 --> 00:48:54,100
And they had 238 sites, I think it was.

945
00:48:54,100 --> 00:48:58,200
Had they ever launched 2,000
V1s in every 24-hour period,

946
00:48:58,200 --> 00:48:59,720
they would probably have destroyed London.

947
00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:00,720
- [Ewan] Yeah, yeah.

948
00:49:02,450 --> 00:49:04,340
Once the target was identified,

949
00:49:04,340 --> 00:49:07,273
the RAF was able to put their
bombing skills into action.

950
00:49:08,530 --> 00:49:11,640
- [Announcer] Day and night,
many targets are being hit.

951
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:14,927
In the occupied countries,
in the Nazi Reich itself.

952
00:49:18,050 --> 00:49:19,350
- [Ewan] Throughout the war,

953
00:49:19,350 --> 00:49:21,933
more than 30 million
photographs were taken.

954
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,850
3-D photography provided as much as 80%

955
00:49:25,850 --> 00:49:27,163
of British intelligence.

956
00:49:30,100 --> 00:49:32,060
- The general intelligence
gathered by Medmenham

957
00:49:32,060 --> 00:49:36,279
was, beyond question, a huge
contribution to our victory

958
00:49:36,279 --> 00:49:37,112
at the end of the war.

959
00:49:37,112 --> 00:49:37,945
- Yeah, yeah.

960
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,410
The RAF's role had now grown
beyond fighters, bombers

961
00:49:43,410 --> 00:49:45,483
and secret intelligence gathering.

962
00:49:46,690 --> 00:49:48,890
It was also crucial to
the clandestine work

963
00:49:48,890 --> 00:49:51,300
of the Special Operations Executive,

964
00:49:51,300 --> 00:49:52,973
working behind enemy lines,

965
00:49:54,230 --> 00:49:56,330
and they had the perfect tool for the job.

966
00:49:58,890 --> 00:50:01,683
The Westland Lysander is
one of my favorite planes.

967
00:50:02,610 --> 00:50:07,610
It's slow and unarmed, but
an ideal covert air taxi.

968
00:50:07,830 --> 00:50:10,703
It could land in a rough
field just 150 yards long.

969
00:50:16,730 --> 00:50:19,293
It's the 16th of April, 1943.

970
00:50:20,550 --> 00:50:22,700
I'm playing the agent Nick Boddington,

971
00:50:22,700 --> 00:50:24,950
waiting to be picked up
from occupied France.

972
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:30,500
My first job is to lay a flare path,

973
00:50:30,500 --> 00:50:33,300
three torches in a prearranged pattern,

974
00:50:33,300 --> 00:50:36,393
so the Lysander can find our
temporary runway in the dark.

975
00:50:42,580 --> 00:50:43,920
- [Colin] Up in the Lysander,

976
00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:45,860
I'm playing Ewan's replacement.

977
00:50:45,860 --> 00:50:49,070
It's giving me a sense of
just how brave they were.

978
00:50:49,070 --> 00:50:53,270
Flights could last seven
hours and penetrate 600 miles

979
00:50:53,270 --> 00:50:55,183
into the heart of occupied France.

980
00:51:00,130 --> 00:51:02,070
I'm in good hands.

981
00:51:02,070 --> 00:51:04,670
The pilot that night was Hugh Verity,

982
00:51:04,670 --> 00:51:07,993
who flew 30 clandestine
missions behind enemy lines.

983
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:15,510
- [Ewan] Okay, I think I hear them, now.

984
00:51:15,510 --> 00:51:18,450
The golden rule was just
three minutes on the ground,

985
00:51:18,450 --> 00:51:21,420
because, at any moment, this
field could be full of Germans,

986
00:51:21,420 --> 00:51:22,893
so every second counted.

987
00:51:34,470 --> 00:51:37,830
- [Ewan] I've got to Morse code
a letter that's prearranged,

988
00:51:37,830 --> 00:51:40,650
and the plane sees that Morse code letter,

989
00:51:40,650 --> 00:51:43,950
and if it's the right Morse
code letter, he replies one.

990
00:51:43,950 --> 00:51:44,783
- [Man] Right.

991
00:51:46,860 --> 00:51:49,940
- [Ewan] And if those letters
are not the right letters,

992
00:51:49,940 --> 00:51:50,773
the game's off.

993
00:51:50,773 --> 00:51:53,798
He buggers off and we bugger off.

994
00:51:53,798 --> 00:51:55,860
There, look, the red light.

995
00:51:55,860 --> 00:51:56,693
Yep.

996
00:51:58,730 --> 00:51:59,914
Quite a brilliant sight, isn't it?

997
00:51:59,914 --> 00:52:00,997
Look at that.

998
00:52:11,580 --> 00:52:15,400
Boddington wasn't just any old
agent, he was an SOE chief,

999
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,120
returning with valuable intelligence

1000
00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:20,693
about compromised agent networks.

1001
00:52:24,170 --> 00:52:27,170
He was relieved to be rescued,
as the Gestapo were onto him.

1002
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:40,140
Three hours later, Boddington
was safely back in Britain

1003
00:52:40,140 --> 00:52:41,953
with his invaluable intelligence.

1004
00:52:53,403 --> 00:52:55,730
The Lysander didn't just
ferry hundreds of agents

1005
00:52:55,730 --> 00:52:57,793
in and out of enemy territory in Europe.

1006
00:52:59,070 --> 00:53:02,053
It also played a vital role
in the war in Southeast Asia.

1007
00:53:06,750 --> 00:53:10,583
Fred Bailey, now aged 96,
was a wireless operator.

1008
00:53:12,970 --> 00:53:16,110
In 1945, he was dropped behind enemy lines

1009
00:53:16,110 --> 00:53:18,913
in the Burmese jungle, to
harass the Japanese army.

1010
00:53:23,340 --> 00:53:25,840
Fred's job was to call in air strikes

1011
00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:27,280
and to get the local tribes people

1012
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:29,623
to revolt against their
Japanese oppressors.

1013
00:53:30,830 --> 00:53:32,850
- We had to carry all the food we needed,

1014
00:53:32,850 --> 00:53:35,614
and explosives and ammunition.

1015
00:53:35,614 --> 00:53:39,787
And, in fact, we got fed up
carrying it around in the jungle

1016
00:53:39,787 --> 00:53:41,420
and we bought an elephant.

1017
00:53:41,420 --> 00:53:42,930
- Oh, really?
- Yes.

1018
00:53:42,930 --> 00:53:46,780
And we loaded all the
gear onto the elephant.

1019
00:53:46,780 --> 00:53:50,510
But what we didn't know was that elephants

1020
00:53:50,510 --> 00:53:54,030
needed a day's rest after
about three days' walk.

1021
00:53:54,030 --> 00:53:55,050
- I'm a bit like that.

1022
00:53:55,050 --> 00:53:56,660
- Yeah.

1023
00:53:56,660 --> 00:53:58,680
Well, there was no way we could rest.

1024
00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:00,640
We had to keep on the move

1025
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:03,080
because the Japs were
after us, and in the end

1026
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:04,960
the elephant got fed up and pushed off.

1027
00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:06,323
- Yeah?
- Yeah.

1028
00:54:07,340 --> 00:54:09,670
- [Ewan] Fred looks friendly enough now,

1029
00:54:09,670 --> 00:54:12,480
but back in the day,
he was trained to kill.

1030
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:14,190
Is that what your were?

1031
00:54:14,190 --> 00:54:15,570
- Yeah, a fighting knife, yeah.

1032
00:54:15,570 --> 00:54:16,403
- [Ewan] That's from the front

1033
00:54:16,403 --> 00:54:17,236
of the Commando magazine, isn't it?

1034
00:54:17,236 --> 00:54:18,963
- Yes, that's right, yeah.

1035
00:54:19,950 --> 00:54:20,783
Yes, I had one of those.

1036
00:54:20,783 --> 00:54:22,550
- Were you quite tasty with one of these?

1037
00:54:22,550 --> 00:54:23,383
- Yes, yes.

1038
00:54:23,383 --> 00:54:24,350
Do you want a demonstration?

1039
00:54:24,350 --> 00:54:25,780
- Yes, go on.

1040
00:54:25,780 --> 00:54:26,640
Yes.

1041
00:54:26,640 --> 00:54:27,690
- Well.

1042
00:54:27,690 --> 00:54:28,890
- [Ewan] Not a real one.

1043
00:54:30,760 --> 00:54:34,480
With the Japanese closing
in, Fred and his team needed

1044
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:38,883
to be rescued fast so
they called in a Lysander.

1045
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:42,500
- Very relieved to see it.
- I'll bet, yeah.

1046
00:54:42,500 --> 00:54:46,480
- There were five of us
crammed in it, with the pilot.

1047
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:47,380
- [Colin] Five?

1048
00:54:47,380 --> 00:54:49,670
- We had a Burmese agent with us.

1049
00:54:49,670 --> 00:54:51,280
And he was a little fella.

1050
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:53,530
He sat in the front with the pilot.

1051
00:54:53,530 --> 00:54:58,530
And we three crammed
ourselves in the rear cockpit.

1052
00:54:59,548 --> 00:55:00,603
I was on the floor.

1053
00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:02,393
I didn't see much.

1054
00:55:02,393 --> 00:55:05,990
But it was quite a tight, tight fix.

1055
00:55:05,990 --> 00:55:08,660
- [Colin] But I guess
you didn't really care?

1056
00:55:08,660 --> 00:55:09,493
- No, no.

1057
00:55:10,365 --> 00:55:11,282
- [Colin] You were desperate to get out.

1058
00:55:11,282 --> 00:55:12,834
- No, we had to get out, yeah.

1059
00:55:12,834 --> 00:55:15,570
And I always think it's an
amazing credit to the pilot

1060
00:55:15,570 --> 00:55:18,510
that, in the middle of the
jungle, in this tiny airstrip,

1061
00:55:18,510 --> 00:55:20,740
he could find it from
just a map reference.

1062
00:55:20,740 --> 00:55:22,580
But find it, he did.

1063
00:55:22,580 --> 00:55:25,810
And he came down and in about 10 minutes

1064
00:55:25,810 --> 00:55:27,544
we were airborne again.

1065
00:55:27,544 --> 00:55:30,294
(dramatic music)

1066
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:36,800
- [Ewan] By the time
of the Allied invasion

1067
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:38,460
of mainland Europe on D-Day

1068
00:55:39,950 --> 00:55:42,930
the RAF with the US Air
Force had achieved dominance

1069
00:55:42,930 --> 00:55:44,553
of the skies of Western Europe.

1070
00:55:45,500 --> 00:55:49,590
With 1.2 million personnel
on the ground and in the air,

1071
00:55:49,590 --> 00:55:52,173
it was proving a highly
effective organization.

1072
00:55:58,820 --> 00:56:01,950
It was capable of carrying
out precision attacks,

1073
00:56:01,950 --> 00:56:03,590
like the legendary bouncing bomb

1074
00:56:03,590 --> 00:56:05,283
used in the Dam Busters raid.

1075
00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:10,670
But the vast majority of bomber crews

1076
00:56:10,670 --> 00:56:13,220
were still relentlessly
attacking German cities

1077
00:56:13,220 --> 00:56:14,293
night after night.

1078
00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:20,840
And final victory left the RAF

1079
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:22,843
facing its greatest controversy.

1080
00:56:26,290 --> 00:56:28,150
Throughout the bombing campaign,

1081
00:56:28,150 --> 00:56:31,363
it dropped more than a million
tons of bombs on Germany.

1082
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:37,830
But the firestorms created
by the carpet bombing

1083
00:56:37,830 --> 00:56:39,810
of cities like Hamburg and Cologne

1084
00:56:40,660 --> 00:56:42,160
killed thousands of civilians.

1085
00:56:43,790 --> 00:56:46,030
Even Churchill described
the bombing of Dresden

1086
00:56:46,030 --> 00:56:50,563
in February 1945 as a step too far.

1087
00:56:52,810 --> 00:56:55,330
Questions about the morality
of bombing whole cities

1088
00:56:55,330 --> 00:56:58,320
still echo today and have overshadowed

1089
00:56:58,320 --> 00:57:00,020
the sacrifice of the bomber crews.

1090
00:57:02,860 --> 00:57:06,453
It took 75 years for the bomber
boys to receive a memorial.

1091
00:57:12,180 --> 00:57:15,210
But for many, the RAF made
an extraordinary contribution

1092
00:57:15,210 --> 00:57:16,703
to victory over the enemy.

1093
00:57:18,650 --> 00:57:20,680
Historian Patrick Bishop
has been weighing up

1094
00:57:20,680 --> 00:57:21,623
its achievements.

1095
00:57:23,470 --> 00:57:27,370
- I think it's fair to say that
the RAF was the pre-eminent

1096
00:57:27,370 --> 00:57:30,307
of the three services
during the Second World War.

1097
00:57:31,470 --> 00:57:33,760
It saved Britain in 1940,

1098
00:57:33,760 --> 00:57:35,230
it took the war to the Germans

1099
00:57:35,230 --> 00:57:37,820
when we had no other means of doing it

1100
00:57:37,820 --> 00:57:41,900
and you can see that in the respect

1101
00:57:41,900 --> 00:57:44,970
it's held in by our allies,
particularly by the Americans.

1102
00:57:44,970 --> 00:57:47,030
They're the people you
really had to impress,

1103
00:57:47,030 --> 00:57:48,760
and they were more impressed by the RAF

1104
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:51,220
than they were by the Army and the Navy.

1105
00:57:51,220 --> 00:57:53,330
They made the best use of technology.

1106
00:57:53,330 --> 00:57:54,260
They were modern minded.

1107
00:57:54,260 --> 00:57:55,730
They were forward-looking.

1108
00:57:55,730 --> 00:58:00,730
The ethos of the thing was
meritocratic and egalitarian.

1109
00:58:00,930 --> 00:58:03,960
So, it was very much a
reflection of Britain

1110
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:07,570
as it was going to be
or how it wanted to be

1111
00:58:07,570 --> 00:58:09,910
rather than Britain as it had been.

1112
00:58:09,910 --> 00:58:14,060
So, I think that the RAF and
its achievements during the war

1113
00:58:14,060 --> 00:58:18,030
did quite a lot to shape the attitudes

1114
00:58:18,030 --> 00:58:20,763
and, indeed, the politics
of post-war Britain.

1115
00:58:22,317 --> 00:58:25,290
(dramatic music)

1116
00:58:25,290 --> 00:58:28,270
- [Ewan] Post-war peace meant
facing an unfamiliar world

1117
00:58:28,270 --> 00:58:29,863
and unfamiliar roles.

1118
00:58:32,710 --> 00:58:37,380
In 1948, the RAF took on a
massive and unexpected mission

1119
00:58:37,380 --> 00:58:40,923
that arose from the new
world order, the Cold War.

1120
00:58:44,210 --> 00:58:47,900
After the war, the four victorious
powers divided up Germany

1121
00:58:47,900 --> 00:58:49,693
and its former capital, Berlin.

1122
00:58:51,800 --> 00:58:54,790
With the Russians determined
to dominate Eastern Europe,

1123
00:58:54,790 --> 00:58:57,290
Berlin found itself surrounded by hostile

1124
00:58:57,290 --> 00:58:58,933
Soviet-controlled territory.

1125
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:06,313
In 1948, the Russians cut off
all land access to Berlin.

1126
00:59:07,430 --> 00:59:09,640
The only option left
was to fly in supplies

1127
00:59:09,640 --> 00:59:11,223
along three air corridors.

1128
00:59:13,210 --> 00:59:14,890
- [Announcer] As the red
noose is drawn closer

1129
00:59:14,890 --> 00:59:16,850
about the western sector of the capital,

1130
00:59:16,850 --> 00:59:18,830
switches are pulled on generators

1131
00:59:18,830 --> 00:59:21,950
and the fuel famine
forces drastic power cuts.

1132
00:59:21,950 --> 00:59:23,923
Berlin becomes a city of darkness.

1133
00:59:29,730 --> 00:59:31,570
- [Ewan] This is the Dakota,

1134
00:59:31,570 --> 00:59:33,473
one of the workhorses of the airlift.

1135
00:59:36,800 --> 00:59:39,473
Two million West Berliners
had to be kept alive.

1136
00:59:40,370 --> 00:59:43,060
Supplies ranging from
powdered milk to coal

1137
00:59:43,060 --> 00:59:44,283
had to be flown in.

1138
00:59:46,290 --> 00:59:47,200
At the height of the mission,

1139
00:59:47,200 --> 00:59:49,283
planes were landing every 90 seconds.

1140
00:59:56,380 --> 00:59:58,370
- To get a sense of what RAF ground crews

1141
00:59:58,370 --> 01:00:01,263
were up against, we're
going to unload a Dakota.

1142
01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:06,180
So, we're going to have three
and a half tons of supplies

1143
01:00:06,180 --> 01:00:07,013
we're going to have to move.

1144
01:00:07,013 --> 01:00:07,846
- Three and half tons?

1145
01:00:07,846 --> 01:00:09,210
- Three and half tons in 10 minutes.

1146
01:00:09,210 --> 01:00:10,700
- All right, cool.
- So, we're up for it?

1147
01:00:10,700 --> 01:00:11,940
- Yeah.
Excellent, let's give it a go.

1148
01:00:11,940 --> 01:00:12,863
- [Ewan] Good luck.

1149
01:00:18,370 --> 01:00:21,100
Over the 12 months of the
airlift, the RAF delivered

1150
01:00:21,100 --> 01:00:26,100
a total of 394,000 tons of
cargo in 66,000 sorties.

1151
01:00:29,543 --> 01:00:30,850
That's us.

1152
01:00:30,850 --> 01:00:32,190
- [Colin] Geoff Smith worked

1153
01:00:32,190 --> 01:00:34,163
at Gatow Airfield during the airlift.

1154
01:00:35,490 --> 01:00:37,690
It backed onto a Russian base

1155
01:00:37,690 --> 01:00:39,340
and they weren't overly friendly.

1156
01:00:40,290 --> 01:00:43,810
- Used to come on the
airfield at night initially

1157
01:00:43,810 --> 01:00:46,100
and start putting rocks on the
runway and things like that.

1158
01:00:46,100 --> 01:00:47,800
- Really, really?
- Yeah.

1159
01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:50,870
They used to try and flash
searchlights in the pilots' eyes

1160
01:00:50,870 --> 01:00:52,020
as they were coming in.

1161
01:00:52,901 --> 01:00:56,238
All sorts of tricks like that.

1162
01:00:56,238 --> 01:00:58,430
- [Colin] I'll get the next one.

1163
01:00:58,430 --> 01:01:00,520
10 minutes to empty a full Dakota

1164
01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:02,170
shouldn't be too tricky for Ewan.

1165
01:01:03,010 --> 01:01:05,913
He used to have a proper job
in a potato packing shed.

1166
01:01:06,790 --> 01:01:08,929
- It's good, there's
lots more, isn't there?

1167
01:01:08,929 --> 01:01:10,913
Oh, my God, there's ties all the way up.

1168
01:01:17,510 --> 01:01:19,020
Four minutes.

1169
01:01:19,020 --> 01:01:20,223
Six minutes left, lads.

1170
01:01:21,180 --> 01:01:22,830
So, we were trying to do our exercise,

1171
01:01:22,830 --> 01:01:25,430
unloading the Dakota in 10 minutes.

1172
01:01:25,430 --> 01:01:27,370
Is that a sort of accurate?

1173
01:01:27,370 --> 01:01:29,400
- That was the sort of target
that we aimed for, yes.

1174
01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:31,140
- Right, 10 minutes to unload.

1175
01:01:31,140 --> 01:01:32,410
- [Geoff] And then we would back load

1176
01:01:32,410 --> 01:01:36,200
if there was a load going back
down into the British zone.

1177
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:38,060
- [Colin] And then you'd be
straight onto the next aircraft

1178
01:01:38,060 --> 01:01:38,893
after that, would you?

1179
01:01:38,893 --> 01:01:40,140
- Well, there'd be a queue.

1180
01:01:40,140 --> 01:01:41,920
- A queue.
- A queue of aircraft.

1181
01:01:41,920 --> 01:01:44,500
- [Colin] Are you proud
of the part you played?

1182
01:01:44,500 --> 01:01:45,633
- Absolutely.

1183
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:51,630
We've always considered that
we did help a lot of people,

1184
01:01:51,630 --> 01:01:54,460
people who were in desperate need as well.

1185
01:01:54,460 --> 01:01:55,293
- Oh, shit.

1186
01:01:56,870 --> 01:01:58,070
That's going everywhere.

1187
01:02:00,930 --> 01:02:01,763
Well done.

1188
01:02:02,638 --> 01:02:03,971
Okay, that's it.

1189
01:02:05,650 --> 01:02:08,270
Oh, yes, nine minutes!

1190
01:02:08,270 --> 01:02:09,103
Whoo!

1191
01:02:16,890 --> 01:02:19,380
I had nine minutes on my watch.

1192
01:02:19,380 --> 01:02:21,010
I don't know what the
official timekeepers say,

1193
01:02:21,010 --> 01:02:21,983
but I had nine.

1194
01:02:24,043 --> 01:02:24,923
- Good job.

1195
01:02:26,008 --> 01:02:27,260
You're absolutely dripping.

1196
01:02:27,260 --> 01:02:30,300
- I tell you what, 'cause
you're stooped over,

1197
01:02:30,300 --> 01:02:32,090
everything's right in
the small of your back.

1198
01:02:32,090 --> 01:02:35,053
I lifted all of those
bags badly, you know?

1199
01:02:36,300 --> 01:02:39,391
- Should have gone back to
your days in the tattie shed.

1200
01:02:39,391 --> 01:02:40,287
- I know.

1201
01:02:40,287 --> 01:02:42,290
I know but we had a hydraulic lift

1202
01:02:42,290 --> 01:02:43,960
that put them on your shoulder.

1203
01:02:43,960 --> 01:02:45,340
I think this is 'cause
everything's like that

1204
01:02:45,340 --> 01:02:46,187
so all the weight's there.

1205
01:02:46,187 --> 01:02:47,480
That's really sore.

1206
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:49,041
- We've got another aircraft
coming in in a minute, though,

1207
01:02:49,041 --> 01:02:49,874
that's the other thing.

1208
01:02:49,874 --> 01:02:50,707
- Yeah.

1209
01:02:50,707 --> 01:02:52,890
Look at all the spuds under the plane.

1210
01:02:52,890 --> 01:02:54,507
Spuds everywhere.

1211
01:02:54,507 --> 01:02:57,507
(explosion booming)

1212
01:02:59,810 --> 01:03:02,220
The Cold War was made
all the more chilling

1213
01:03:02,220 --> 01:03:04,163
by the advent of the atomic bomb.

1214
01:03:06,950 --> 01:03:10,880
By 1949, both the US and
Russia possessed weaponry

1215
01:03:10,880 --> 01:03:13,403
capable of wiping
humanity from the planet.

1216
01:03:18,160 --> 01:03:20,280
When the RAF tested hydrogen bombs

1217
01:03:20,280 --> 01:03:22,510
on Christmas Island in 1956,

1218
01:03:22,510 --> 01:03:25,823
it announced Britain's
membership of the nuclear club.

1219
01:03:27,100 --> 01:03:30,360
- [Announcer] Like a man-made
sun, the fireball glows high

1220
01:03:30,360 --> 01:03:31,560
above the Pacific Ocean.

1221
01:03:34,770 --> 01:03:37,330
- [Ewan] The RAF was now
primed to drop nuclear weapons

1222
01:03:37,330 --> 01:03:42,330
on the Eastern Bloc, a role
that continued until the 1980s.

1223
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:48,730
- [Colin] This is the Avro Vulcan,

1224
01:03:48,730 --> 01:03:51,230
made by the same company
that built the Lancaster.

1225
01:03:53,060 --> 01:03:54,950
It entered service just 14 years

1226
01:03:54,950 --> 01:03:58,690
after its iconic predecessor
and became the linchpin

1227
01:03:58,690 --> 01:04:00,543
of Britain's nuclear bomber force.

1228
01:04:02,940 --> 01:04:06,540
I'm really excited to meet
two veteran Vulcan pilots,

1229
01:04:06,540 --> 01:04:08,833
Jonny Tye and Martin Withers.

1230
01:04:09,830 --> 01:04:14,830
Jonny joined in 1962 and Martin in 1971.

1231
01:04:20,960 --> 01:04:23,440
The Vulcan was a bomber but had something

1232
01:04:23,440 --> 01:04:24,690
of the Spitfire about it.

1233
01:04:26,380 --> 01:04:30,160
- It certainly could outmaneuver
any fighter of its era.

1234
01:04:30,160 --> 01:04:33,560
The early missiles, heat-seeking missiles,

1235
01:04:33,560 --> 01:04:36,860
all they had to slow down and
turn and it would lose its...

1236
01:04:36,860 --> 01:04:39,550
It really was superb.

1237
01:04:39,550 --> 01:04:41,473
So, yeah, and it's a joy to fly.

1238
01:04:46,753 --> 01:04:49,220
- [Colin] The Vulcan was
armed with a nuclear missile

1239
01:04:49,220 --> 01:04:52,643
60 times more powerful than
the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

1240
01:04:54,560 --> 01:04:56,013
It was called Blue Steel.

1241
01:05:00,380 --> 01:05:01,880
- They were not pleasant times then.

1242
01:05:01,880 --> 01:05:02,767
- Mm-hm.
- Yeah.

1243
01:05:02,767 --> 01:05:04,450
- And the Blue Steel was a pretty nasty

1244
01:05:04,450 --> 01:05:05,490
bit of kit, wasn't it?

1245
01:05:05,490 --> 01:05:07,360
- Oh, it was a horrid thing.
- To be sitting on top of?

1246
01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:08,410
- [Colin] Yeah, yeah.

1247
01:05:09,660 --> 01:05:12,350
Deterrence relied on
letting the Russians know

1248
01:05:12,350 --> 01:05:14,730
that if they launched a nuclear strike,

1249
01:05:14,730 --> 01:05:17,643
the RAF was immediately ready to hit back.

1250
01:05:19,520 --> 01:05:23,740
- We'd go from 15-minute readiness
to five-minutes readiness

1251
01:05:23,740 --> 01:05:27,150
and then, on occasions, we'd
go to three minutes' readiness

1252
01:05:27,150 --> 01:05:30,650
and we'd start the engines
and actually taxi these things

1253
01:05:30,650 --> 01:05:33,650
and in the middle of
the night in the winter,

1254
01:05:33,650 --> 01:05:36,060
when we taxied them, you
know, you began to wonder

1255
01:05:36,060 --> 01:05:38,793
whether it was for real or
whether it was an exercise.

1256
01:05:38,793 --> 01:05:40,448
- All right, so you didn't know

1257
01:05:40,448 --> 01:05:41,281
it was going to be an exercise?

1258
01:05:41,281 --> 01:05:43,920
You were scrambled, in effect?

1259
01:05:43,920 --> 01:05:45,250
- [Jonny] They were the nervous times,

1260
01:05:45,250 --> 01:05:49,843
when you actually fired the
old bomber up and taxied it.

1261
01:05:51,670 --> 01:05:54,360
- [Colin] Each crew
had two secret targets,

1262
01:05:54,360 --> 01:05:57,233
usually airfields and towns
within the Soviet bloc.

1263
01:05:58,610 --> 01:06:01,690
- I did meet a girl from one
of those towns on holiday

1264
01:06:01,690 --> 01:06:03,440
and that did shake me.

1265
01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:06,480
- Really?
- Yeah, it really shook me.

1266
01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:08,720
I couldn't continue to talk to her.

1267
01:06:08,720 --> 01:06:09,553
- Wow.

1268
01:06:10,700 --> 01:06:13,930
Were you fully expecting
it to be a one-way mission?

1269
01:06:13,930 --> 01:06:15,840
- Well, I think we knew that.

1270
01:06:15,840 --> 01:06:18,020
We hadn't the fuel to get back.

1271
01:06:18,020 --> 01:06:22,010
We had alternate airfields
proposed in Norway

1272
01:06:22,010 --> 01:06:24,543
but they probably
wouldn't have been there.

1273
01:06:25,380 --> 01:06:26,980
But it was just one of those things,

1274
01:06:26,980 --> 01:06:28,187
you had to accept it.

1275
01:06:28,187 --> 01:06:30,904
- But we all knew there'd
be nothing to come back to.

1276
01:06:30,904 --> 01:06:32,510
We never wanted it to happen, obviously,

1277
01:06:32,510 --> 01:06:35,210
but there was no doubt that
we would have carried out

1278
01:06:35,210 --> 01:06:36,350
this mission in the knowledge

1279
01:06:36,350 --> 01:06:38,913
that there was going to be
nothing to come home to.

1280
01:06:40,020 --> 01:06:44,580
- I always felt that the
UK would never go to war

1281
01:06:45,970 --> 01:06:47,280
on its own without...

1282
01:06:48,140 --> 01:06:52,190
It would only be a
retaliation, if you like.

1283
01:06:52,190 --> 01:06:55,151
So, I had to put that in my mind

1284
01:06:55,151 --> 01:06:59,390
and just think that way
and that way I was able

1285
01:06:59,390 --> 01:07:00,730
to cope with the stress.

1286
01:07:00,730 --> 01:07:01,780
- [Colin] Yeah, yeah.

1287
01:07:03,260 --> 01:07:05,340
- [Ewan] It was a grim business.

1288
01:07:05,340 --> 01:07:07,280
Pilots were issued with an eye patch

1289
01:07:07,280 --> 01:07:09,840
so even though they might be
blinded by the nuclear flash,

1290
01:07:09,840 --> 01:07:11,590
they would still have one good eye.

1291
01:07:19,840 --> 01:07:22,880
The moment when the Cold War
got closest to boiling over

1292
01:07:22,880 --> 01:07:26,283
was the Cuban Missile
Crisis in October 1962.

1293
01:07:28,830 --> 01:07:31,590
The US demanded that Russia
remove newly installed

1294
01:07:31,590 --> 01:07:33,143
nuclear missiles from Cuba.

1295
01:07:35,460 --> 01:07:36,753
The Soviets refused.

1296
01:07:40,120 --> 01:07:43,760
When the crisis reached its
peak on the 27th of October,

1297
01:07:43,760 --> 01:07:46,070
the threat of nuclear Armageddon

1298
01:07:46,070 --> 01:07:48,170
put the bombers on a three-minute warning.

1299
01:07:49,810 --> 01:07:53,730
- I think there was
something like 160 warheads

1300
01:07:53,730 --> 01:07:55,710
at that sort of time in the early '60s.

1301
01:07:55,710 --> 01:08:00,710
So, there could've been 160 V
bombers, Victors and Vulcans,

1302
01:08:01,330 --> 01:08:05,333
taking off, carrying
this huge hydrogen bomb.

1303
01:08:06,240 --> 01:08:07,740
- Yeah, they were ready to go.

1304
01:08:11,380 --> 01:08:13,100
- [Colin] Both sides
eventually backed down

1305
01:08:13,100 --> 01:08:14,493
from the nuclear endgame.

1306
01:08:15,860 --> 01:08:19,743
For the V-force pilots, it
justified nuclear deterrence.

1307
01:08:20,880 --> 01:08:23,010
- It was very important.

1308
01:08:23,010 --> 01:08:25,690
Certainly, I'm proud to
have been part of that,

1309
01:08:25,690 --> 01:08:28,440
even though I might not have
been terribly keen on it

1310
01:08:28,440 --> 01:08:29,610
at the time.

1311
01:08:29,610 --> 01:08:32,214
But, in retrospect, I'm extremely proud

1312
01:08:32,214 --> 01:08:35,720
of what the aircraft and what the RAF did

1313
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:37,253
to keep the country safe.

1314
01:08:41,650 --> 01:08:44,170
- [Colin] Throughout its
history, the RAF has adapted

1315
01:08:44,170 --> 01:08:46,123
to changing roles and technologies.

1316
01:08:47,570 --> 01:08:49,190
Today, the Chinook helicopter

1317
01:08:49,190 --> 01:08:51,450
is its most versatile workhorse,

1318
01:08:51,450 --> 01:08:53,710
ferrying troops and
heavy loads, of course,

1319
01:08:53,710 --> 01:08:57,273
but also dropping special
forces behind enemy lines.

1320
01:08:59,410 --> 01:09:00,920
I'm going on a training flight with

1321
01:09:00,920 --> 01:09:02,633
Squadron Leader Iain MacFarlane,

1322
01:09:03,630 --> 01:09:06,763
the most decorated of
all post-war RAF pilots.

1323
01:09:12,170 --> 01:09:14,300
What is it actually like to fly?

1324
01:09:14,300 --> 01:09:15,966
- [Iain] It's like a sports car.

1325
01:09:15,966 --> 01:09:16,957
It looks big and cumbersome

1326
01:09:16,957 --> 01:09:20,090
but actually it is like a sports car.

1327
01:09:20,090 --> 01:09:21,127
- [Colin] So, Iain, we're
dropping into low level now.

1328
01:09:21,127 --> 01:09:24,650
This is a skill you guys
obviously had to practice a lot.

1329
01:09:24,650 --> 01:09:25,640
It was your bread and butter, wasn't it?

1330
01:09:25,640 --> 01:09:28,330
- [Iain] This was where we felt safest.

1331
01:09:28,330 --> 01:09:30,480
We regularly would train down to 50 feet

1332
01:09:30,480 --> 01:09:32,810
and that's what kept us safe

1333
01:09:32,810 --> 01:09:34,813
throughout a number of campaigns, really.

1334
01:09:36,930 --> 01:09:38,700
- [Colin] Iain undertook
special operations

1335
01:09:38,700 --> 01:09:40,463
in the Gulf War and Afghanistan.

1336
01:09:41,430 --> 01:09:43,610
But perhaps his most dangerous mission

1337
01:09:43,610 --> 01:09:45,773
was in Sierra Leone in West Africa.

1338
01:09:50,170 --> 01:09:53,570
In 2000, special forces
were tasked with rescuing

1339
01:09:53,570 --> 01:09:56,870
six British soldiers
held by a rebel group,

1340
01:09:56,870 --> 01:09:58,023
the West Side Boys.

1341
01:10:01,630 --> 01:10:03,283
The RAF was called in to help.

1342
01:10:06,070 --> 01:10:09,020
Surprise was essential, as
the rebels had threatened

1343
01:10:09,020 --> 01:10:12,333
to kill the hostages if they
heard approaching helicopters.

1344
01:10:13,790 --> 01:10:16,610
- The preferred option
was a silent approach

1345
01:10:16,610 --> 01:10:20,470
by the SAS on foot and the most
definite bottom of the pile

1346
01:10:20,470 --> 01:10:22,550
was an all-out helicopter assault

1347
01:10:22,550 --> 01:10:24,173
to the front door of the enemy.

1348
01:10:25,090 --> 01:10:26,457
But because of the terrain involved

1349
01:10:26,457 --> 01:10:28,840
and the difficulties that
the reconnaissance patrols

1350
01:10:28,840 --> 01:10:32,270
had getting into position,
that's exactly how it turned out.

1351
01:10:32,270 --> 01:10:34,600
We expected to lose my aircraft

1352
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:37,020
and that went to ministerial level

1353
01:10:37,020 --> 01:10:39,040
for permission to mount the assault,

1354
01:10:39,040 --> 01:10:40,670
based on that assumption,

1355
01:10:40,670 --> 01:10:44,860
and I selected my crew based
on people that were not married

1356
01:10:44,860 --> 01:10:48,200
or didn't have any children,
with the exception of myself.

1357
01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:50,120
- Wow, that's some decision to make.

1358
01:10:50,120 --> 01:10:50,953
Yeah.

1359
01:10:53,515 --> 01:10:55,780
The Chinook's 100 mile
an hour down draught

1360
01:10:55,780 --> 01:10:57,663
is normally seen as a disadvantage,

1361
01:10:58,740 --> 01:11:00,193
but not in this operation.

1362
01:11:01,640 --> 01:11:04,490
- We decided to use down
draught as a weapon.

1363
01:11:04,490 --> 01:11:06,870
I sat in as steady a
hover as I could manage

1364
01:11:06,870 --> 01:11:09,580
under the circumstances and
watched the roof of the building

1365
01:11:09,580 --> 01:11:11,400
peel off from front to back.

1366
01:11:11,400 --> 01:11:12,630
- And that was due to your
downwash that you'd planned?

1367
01:11:12,630 --> 01:11:14,130
- Exactly, exactly that.

1368
01:11:14,130 --> 01:11:16,520
And watched one chap get out of bed,

1369
01:11:16,520 --> 01:11:18,820
pick up his AK-47 assault rifle,

1370
01:11:18,820 --> 01:11:21,130
run out into the corridor,
run down the corridor,

1371
01:11:21,130 --> 01:11:23,630
run out of his front door
and raise the weapon,

1372
01:11:23,630 --> 01:11:25,420
point it straight at me.

1373
01:11:25,420 --> 01:11:28,710
And at that point, the
decision to remove the windows

1374
01:11:28,710 --> 01:11:30,210
on the side of the aircraft was vindicated

1375
01:11:30,210 --> 01:11:32,930
'cause a small hole appeared
in the middle of his forehead

1376
01:11:32,930 --> 01:11:34,710
and he went down like a sack of potatoes.

1377
01:11:34,710 --> 01:11:36,810
- So, he was shot from the Chinook itself?

1378
01:11:36,810 --> 01:11:37,643
- [Iain] Yeah.

1379
01:11:37,643 --> 01:11:38,476
- Before the guy's had a chance...

1380
01:11:38,476 --> 01:11:39,493
Wow, that's amazing.

1381
01:11:40,710 --> 01:11:42,480
Iain had a lucky escape,

1382
01:11:42,480 --> 01:11:45,840
but one SAS soldier lost his life.

1383
01:11:45,840 --> 01:11:47,873
- And within 19 seconds of the first troop

1384
01:11:47,873 --> 01:11:52,010
hitting the ground, all but
one of the hostages were safe.

1385
01:11:52,010 --> 01:11:52,960
- 19 seconds?

1386
01:11:52,960 --> 01:11:53,793
- [Iain] Yeah.

1387
01:11:53,793 --> 01:11:54,950
So, they didn't waste any time.

1388
01:11:54,950 --> 01:11:55,783
- Wow.

1389
01:11:59,580 --> 01:12:01,990
The Chinook has already
been in service with the RAF

1390
01:12:01,990 --> 01:12:06,543
for 50 years and will
probably serve another 50.

1391
01:12:09,650 --> 01:12:11,770
- If ever you have to go
to war in a flying machine,

1392
01:12:11,770 --> 01:12:14,123
this is the flying machine
that I'd want to go to war in.

1393
01:12:14,123 --> 01:12:18,930
It's just so capable and
looks after its crew so well.

1394
01:12:24,117 --> 01:12:26,790
- [Ewan] It's the morning
I've been waiting for.

1395
01:12:26,790 --> 01:12:29,863
Today is my Typhoon flight
and I'm incredibly nervous.

1396
01:12:33,170 --> 01:12:35,810
Having breakfast at Colin's
house with our mum and dad,

1397
01:12:35,810 --> 01:12:39,040
I can't help but feel disappointed
Colin's not coming too.

1398
01:12:39,040 --> 01:12:42,950
Well, I won't be flying with
Colin, so that's a shame.

1399
01:12:42,950 --> 01:12:45,790
But the other two were...

1400
01:12:47,570 --> 01:12:49,570
He made me barf on both of them.

1401
01:12:50,660 --> 01:12:53,210
- [Colin] Ewan thinks
he's leaving me behind,

1402
01:12:53,210 --> 01:12:54,810
but I've got a surprise for him.

1403
01:12:56,980 --> 01:12:58,160
- Sort of talking myself into it, almost.

1404
01:12:58,160 --> 01:12:59,120
- [Mrs McGregor] Oh you'll be fine.

1405
01:12:59,120 --> 01:13:02,270
- The truth is it's the most
extraordinary opportunity.

1406
01:13:02,270 --> 01:13:03,103
- [Mrs McGregor] Of course.

1407
01:13:03,103 --> 01:13:04,331
Yeah, quite amazing.

1408
01:13:04,331 --> 01:13:06,770
Oh, oh!

1409
01:13:06,770 --> 01:13:08,590
- [Ewan] What are you up to?

1410
01:13:08,590 --> 01:13:09,717
- You know you said it
was a bit of a shame

1411
01:13:09,717 --> 01:13:10,740
that we weren't going
to be flying together

1412
01:13:10,740 --> 01:13:11,573
in this program?

1413
01:13:11,573 --> 01:13:12,406
- [Ewan] Yeah.

1414
01:13:12,406 --> 01:13:14,030
- Well, we are, 'cause I'm going to be up

1415
01:13:14,030 --> 01:13:16,227
in another Typhoon next to you.

1416
01:13:17,110 --> 01:13:18,410
- Are you going to be up as well?

1417
01:13:18,410 --> 01:13:19,753
- Yeah.
- Oh, fantastic!

1418
01:13:20,871 --> 01:13:24,020
- Two such different professions

1419
01:13:24,020 --> 01:13:26,030
and you're both top of each profession,

1420
01:13:26,030 --> 01:13:30,300
I think, to be able to work
together, to me, is amazing.

1421
01:13:30,300 --> 01:13:33,810
- You are, obviously, going to be that.

1422
01:13:33,810 --> 01:13:35,300
That's your call sign today.

1423
01:13:35,300 --> 01:13:36,300
- [Mrs McGregor] Oh!

1424
01:13:37,220 --> 01:13:38,477
Oh, that's very funny.

1425
01:13:38,477 --> 01:13:40,133
- [Colin] And I'm going
to be your wingman.

1426
01:13:46,550 --> 01:13:47,960
- [Ewan] Like any other RAF mission,

1427
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:49,563
the next step is the briefing.

1428
01:13:51,220 --> 01:13:54,170
Colin's pilot, Wing Commander
Chris Hoyle of 1 Squadron,

1429
01:13:54,170 --> 01:13:55,570
takes us through the sortie.

1430
01:13:57,983 --> 01:13:58,917
- Some of the quick reaction alert.

1431
01:13:58,917 --> 01:14:00,640
- [Ewan] His squadron
is about to be deployed

1432
01:14:00,640 --> 01:14:01,473
in the Middle East.

1433
01:14:01,473 --> 01:14:03,780
- I want to give you a sense
of the performance of Typhoon

1434
01:14:03,780 --> 01:14:05,830
'cause that's the bedrock
of its capability.

1435
01:14:05,830 --> 01:14:08,610
On most sorties, we would
look, where possible,

1436
01:14:08,610 --> 01:14:11,973
to use a tanker just to
extend our ability to train.

1437
01:14:13,020 --> 01:14:15,440
- [Colin] My pilot is
Group Captain Paul Godfrey,

1438
01:14:15,440 --> 01:14:17,430
the station commander.

1439
01:14:17,430 --> 01:14:20,610
Even the boss needs to
keep up his flying hours.

1440
01:14:20,610 --> 01:14:21,790
- We might get a little bit more.

1441
01:14:21,790 --> 01:14:24,950
- [Ewan] We'll refuel, simulate a dogfight

1442
01:14:25,990 --> 01:14:28,720
and experience some pretty
uncomfortable G-forces.

1443
01:14:28,720 --> 01:14:31,030
- It's not a particularly
pleasant environment often

1444
01:14:31,030 --> 01:14:32,793
and it's quite claustrophobic.

1445
01:14:38,360 --> 01:14:40,860
- Then it's time to put
on our survival equipment.

1446
01:14:42,690 --> 01:14:45,070
The most important part
are the hi-tech suits

1447
01:14:45,070 --> 01:14:47,203
that combat the dreaded G-forces.

1448
01:14:50,780 --> 01:14:54,628
So, now what I'm doing is I'm
putting a set of G trousers on

1449
01:14:54,628 --> 01:14:58,490
and they'll be connected to the aircraft.

1450
01:14:58,490 --> 01:14:59,970
So, air supply.

1451
01:14:59,970 --> 01:15:03,290
And whenever we pull any
G, they'll inflate around

1452
01:15:03,290 --> 01:15:05,050
all my major muscle groups

1453
01:15:05,050 --> 01:15:07,473
and force the blood up into my head.

1454
01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:11,770
Without the hi-tech suits,

1455
01:15:11,770 --> 01:15:15,093
our brains would be starved
of oxygen and we'd pass out.

1456
01:15:21,470 --> 01:15:22,820
- [Ewan] Relationship, mum.

1457
01:15:24,010 --> 01:15:25,270
- [Man] And then there's
just two signatures.

1458
01:15:25,270 --> 01:15:26,970
So, the first one is.

1459
01:15:26,970 --> 01:15:28,040
You've already had your medical anyway,

1460
01:15:28,040 --> 01:15:30,470
but you haven't got a
cold, I can hear that.

1461
01:15:30,470 --> 01:15:32,560
So, if you sign there and then.

1462
01:15:32,560 --> 01:15:35,210
- [Ewan] I'm not sure who's
more nervous, me or my mum.

1463
01:15:35,210 --> 01:15:36,090
Thank you very much.

1464
01:15:36,090 --> 01:15:37,400
- [Man] Right, won't
prolong the pain any more.

1465
01:15:37,400 --> 01:15:38,750
- [Ewan] Yeah, let's do it.

1466
01:15:45,628 --> 01:15:46,461
- [Man] How are you feeling, Ewan?

1467
01:15:46,461 --> 01:15:47,900
- Good.

1468
01:15:47,900 --> 01:15:51,300
Yeah, I'm excited, sort
of excited about it.

1469
01:15:51,300 --> 01:15:53,310
I'm glad it's, like, we're doing it now

1470
01:15:53,310 --> 01:15:56,100
and, you know, we're
almost about to get going,

1471
01:15:56,100 --> 01:15:57,440
which is good.

1472
01:15:57,440 --> 01:16:00,320
The hanging around is less comfortable

1473
01:16:00,320 --> 01:16:01,970
than the just about to do it bit.

1474
01:16:05,760 --> 01:16:07,033
- Ready?
- Yeah.

1475
01:16:08,044 --> 01:16:12,802
Okay.

1476
01:16:12,802 --> 01:16:14,015
See you later.

1477
01:16:14,015 --> 01:16:14,911
- I think we to come out as well

1478
01:16:14,911 --> 01:16:15,744
- [Ewan] I'm just saying goodbye.

1479
01:16:15,744 --> 01:16:17,397
- It is my day job but, hey.

1480
01:16:19,060 --> 01:16:19,893
All right?

1481
01:16:26,975 --> 01:16:29,725
(dramatic music)

1482
01:16:43,003 --> 01:16:45,240
Although I train a lot of
Typhoon pilots in the simulator,

1483
01:16:46,260 --> 01:16:49,150
this amazing plane was
introduced after I left the RAF

1484
01:16:51,020 --> 01:16:52,960
so I've never flown in one.

1485
01:16:52,960 --> 01:16:55,097
I can't wait to get up there.

1486
01:16:56,375 --> 01:16:57,564
- Ready in the back, Colin?
- Yeah, I'm ready

1487
01:16:57,564 --> 01:16:58,814
for this, mate.

1488
01:17:00,194 --> 01:17:01,111
Here we go.

1489
01:17:05,647 --> 01:17:07,220
I'm first to experience

1490
01:17:07,220 --> 01:17:09,273
the Typhoon's near-vertical take-off.

1491
01:17:14,784 --> 01:17:15,617
10 seconds.

1492
01:17:15,617 --> 01:17:18,060
- [Ewan] It looks like such a steep climb.

1493
01:17:18,060 --> 01:17:20,483
Even on take-off, the
G-forces are immense.

1494
01:17:21,870 --> 01:17:23,010
- Happy in the back, Ewan?
- Yes.

1495
01:17:23,010 --> 01:17:24,410
Let's hope my trousers work.

1496
01:17:26,043 --> 01:17:28,793
(dramatic music)

1497
01:17:35,247 --> 01:17:38,080
- [Pilot] Head up, head down, 135.

1498
01:17:39,340 --> 01:17:41,160
- [Ewan] The reality is astonishing,

1499
01:17:41,160 --> 01:17:43,200
like nothing I have ever felt before.

1500
01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:44,033
It's so smooth.

1501
01:17:45,428 --> 01:17:48,095
(Ewan laughing)

1502
01:17:56,764 --> 01:17:59,931
(chattering on radio)

1503
01:18:02,558 --> 01:18:05,300
- All good in the back?
- Yes.

1504
01:18:05,300 --> 01:18:06,990
- [Computer] Bingo one.

1505
01:18:06,990 --> 01:18:07,830
- [Man] Bingo.

1506
01:18:07,830 --> 01:18:09,350
- [Man] Bingo one.

1507
01:18:09,350 --> 01:18:11,173
- [Ewan] That was just so smooth!

1508
01:18:12,319 --> 01:18:15,486
(chattering on radio)

1509
01:18:16,647 --> 01:18:19,763
And before we know it, we've
broken the sound barrier.

1510
01:18:21,630 --> 01:18:23,630
We're travelling at 1,000 miles an hour

1511
01:18:24,760 --> 01:18:26,460
and it feels like I'm in a bubble.

1512
01:18:29,630 --> 01:18:30,854
- [Colin] Our first rendezvous

1513
01:18:30,854 --> 01:18:33,053
is with a tanker over the North Sea.

1514
01:18:36,810 --> 01:18:39,180
- [Ewan] At 20,000 feet, we
have to connect with the tanker

1515
01:18:39,180 --> 01:18:42,473
to refuel at a speed of 500 miles an hour.

1516
01:18:45,040 --> 01:18:47,690
For Typhoon pilots, this
has to become second nature.

1517
01:18:49,770 --> 01:18:51,093
First up is Colin's plane.

1518
01:18:54,280 --> 01:18:56,740
- [Colin] Once we've attached
ourselves to the fuel hose,

1519
01:18:56,740 --> 01:19:01,013
taking on 1,200 litres of fuel
a minute, it's Ewan's turn.

1520
01:19:06,490 --> 01:19:09,910
- [Ewan] The Typhoon has a
maximum range of 3,300 miles

1521
01:19:11,120 --> 01:19:13,273
but, with refueling, that can be extended.

1522
01:19:19,864 --> 01:19:23,031
(chattering on radio)

1523
01:19:26,306 --> 01:19:30,274
- [Man] Are you able to take
them to Delta 613 Alpha?

1524
01:19:30,274 --> 01:19:31,274
- [Man] We can head down that way, yeah.

1525
01:19:31,274 --> 01:19:32,798
The weather's okay.

1526
01:19:32,798 --> 01:19:36,139
As you head further
south, it starts to build.

1527
01:19:36,139 --> 01:19:38,210
- [Colin] And now the moment
I've been waiting for,

1528
01:19:38,210 --> 01:19:40,520
I'm handed the controls of a military jet

1529
01:19:40,520 --> 01:19:43,907
for the first time since I
left the RAF 10 years ago.

1530
01:19:47,044 --> 01:19:47,877
It's good.

1531
01:19:54,280 --> 01:19:56,030
The planes I flew were from a completely

1532
01:19:56,030 --> 01:19:57,900
different generation.

1533
01:19:57,900 --> 01:20:00,850
They did the job, but they
were heavy and cumbersome.

1534
01:20:00,850 --> 01:20:02,793
This is just so light and agile.

1535
01:20:08,270 --> 01:20:10,350
- [Ewan] Then it's my turn
to take over the controls

1536
01:20:10,350 --> 01:20:12,493
of this awesome, cutting-edge aeroplane.

1537
01:20:15,723 --> 01:20:17,310
- [Man] Now you have control.

1538
01:20:17,310 --> 01:20:18,143
- Okay.

1539
01:20:19,110 --> 01:20:20,490
- [Man] Just confirm
you've got control, Ewan.

1540
01:20:20,490 --> 01:20:22,190
- I do have control.
- Excellent.

1541
01:20:24,350 --> 01:20:26,310
- [Ewan] I know 200 computers and Paul

1542
01:20:26,310 --> 01:20:29,173
can take over at any moment,
but this is astonishing.

1543
01:20:31,186 --> 01:20:33,936
(dramatic music)

1544
01:20:39,430 --> 01:20:41,200
And what I can't believe
is it's all happening

1545
01:20:41,200 --> 01:20:42,543
at supersonic speed.

1546
01:20:45,380 --> 01:20:48,073
Can I tell my mates I
flew a Typhoon, then?

1547
01:20:48,073 --> 01:20:48,933
- [Man] Of course you can.

1548
01:20:48,933 --> 01:20:50,580
It's not me.

1549
01:20:50,580 --> 01:20:53,970
- [Ewan] Now, we're ready to
practice air-to-air combat.

1550
01:20:53,970 --> 01:20:56,370
These days the enemy is
usually over the horizon

1551
01:20:58,350 --> 01:21:01,050
but the RAF still has to
train for close-up dogfights.

1552
01:21:02,295 --> 01:21:05,045
(dramatic music)

1553
01:21:22,400 --> 01:21:23,810
Who'd have thought it?

1554
01:21:23,810 --> 01:21:26,643
My brother and I taking each
other on at 20,000 feet.

1555
01:21:34,370 --> 01:21:35,993
The technology may have changed,

1556
01:21:37,625 --> 01:21:38,760
but the techniques would be familiar

1557
01:21:38,760 --> 01:21:40,260
to Mick Mannock in World War I

1558
01:21:40,260 --> 01:21:42,060
and Geoffrey Wellum in World War II.

1559
01:21:46,330 --> 01:21:47,380
That was pretty good.

1560
01:21:52,870 --> 01:21:55,380
The last time an RAF pilot
took part in a dogfight

1561
01:21:55,380 --> 01:21:57,143
was during the Falklands conflict.

1562
01:22:02,240 --> 01:22:06,240
In 1982, Argentina invaded
the Falkland Islands,

1563
01:22:06,240 --> 01:22:08,340
a British territory in the South Atlantic.

1564
01:22:12,570 --> 01:22:15,920
The British sent a force
to recapture the islands

1565
01:22:15,920 --> 01:22:17,610
and when the troops from the task force

1566
01:22:17,610 --> 01:22:19,600
landed to reclaim the territory,

1567
01:22:19,600 --> 01:22:20,980
they found themselves under attack

1568
01:22:20,980 --> 01:22:22,653
from the Argentinian Air Force.

1569
01:22:28,140 --> 01:22:31,120
RAF pilot David Morgan was
patrolling in a Sea Harrier

1570
01:22:31,120 --> 01:22:33,733
when he saw Skyhawks
attacking a landing craft.

1571
01:22:36,720 --> 01:22:39,350
- I saw the first Skyhawk hit the back

1572
01:22:39,350 --> 01:22:41,173
of the landing craft with a bomb.

1573
01:22:42,060 --> 01:22:46,190
A large explosion, and I knew
that some of the guys there

1574
01:22:46,190 --> 01:22:48,770
had died and that made me more angry

1575
01:22:48,770 --> 01:22:50,870
than I've ever been in my life

1576
01:22:53,610 --> 01:22:57,100
and I decided, at that stage,
that guy was going to die.

1577
01:22:57,100 --> 01:22:58,719
I wasn't shooting down aeroplanes.

1578
01:22:58,719 --> 01:23:01,520
You know, people say it's just
shooting down bits of metal.

1579
01:23:01,520 --> 01:23:02,890
It wasn't on this occasion.

1580
01:23:02,890 --> 01:23:05,660
I was going to kill
the guy in the cockpit.

1581
01:23:05,660 --> 01:23:09,020
As I was converting onto him,
out of the corner of my eye

1582
01:23:09,020 --> 01:23:11,330
I saw another aircraft to the south of me

1583
01:23:11,330 --> 01:23:12,780
by a couple of hundred yards.

1584
01:23:13,930 --> 01:23:17,000
So, I locked my missile onto him

1585
01:23:17,000 --> 01:23:20,861
and fired it right in at minimum range,

1586
01:23:20,861 --> 01:23:24,490
300-400 yards with a lot of overtake,

1587
01:23:24,490 --> 01:23:26,270
and the missile came off the port wing

1588
01:23:26,270 --> 01:23:28,030
and went straight up his jet pipe.

1589
01:23:28,030 --> 01:23:31,460
I can remember seeing it actually
disappear up the jet pipe

1590
01:23:31,460 --> 01:23:33,060
before the thing vaporized,

1591
01:23:33,060 --> 01:23:34,763
the whole aircraft just vaporized.

1592
01:23:36,290 --> 01:23:38,760
- [Colin] David's speed
of 700 miles an hour

1593
01:23:38,760 --> 01:23:42,250
and the force of the missile
flipped his Harrier on its back

1594
01:23:42,250 --> 01:23:43,963
at 50 feet above the ground.

1595
01:23:45,650 --> 01:23:47,540
- Wrenched the aircraft back up again

1596
01:23:48,440 --> 01:23:50,600
and found myself pointing at the guy

1597
01:23:50,600 --> 01:23:53,860
I'd seen actually hit the landing craft.

1598
01:23:53,860 --> 01:23:57,030
Locked the second Sidewinder onto him.

1599
01:23:57,030 --> 01:23:59,070
The missile came off the starboard wing,

1600
01:23:59,070 --> 01:24:03,120
took a big lead to the left across my nose

1601
01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:05,400
and took him out at 90 degrees,

1602
01:24:05,400 --> 01:24:08,010
went bang just behind the cockpit

1603
01:24:08,010 --> 01:24:10,850
and the whole of the back-end
of the aircraft disappeared,

1604
01:24:10,850 --> 01:24:14,490
just left the cockpit and
about two foot of wing stub,

1605
01:24:14,490 --> 01:24:16,130
I suppose, and that was it,

1606
01:24:16,130 --> 01:24:17,730
when, all of a sudden, a parachute opened

1607
01:24:17,730 --> 01:24:20,910
right in front of my face
and it was the second guy

1608
01:24:20,910 --> 01:24:23,030
who'd actually managed to eject

1609
01:24:23,030 --> 01:24:25,380
before the cockpit hit the water.

1610
01:24:25,380 --> 01:24:28,030
And I went underneath him so close

1611
01:24:28,030 --> 01:24:29,913
that I actually instinctively ducked.

1612
01:24:32,110 --> 01:24:37,110
And my hatred then flipped completely to,

1613
01:24:38,640 --> 01:24:39,760
this is another pilot.

1614
01:24:39,760 --> 01:24:41,290
- Yeah.

1615
01:24:41,290 --> 01:24:43,260
- Huge empathy with him.

1616
01:24:43,260 --> 01:24:44,870
And then flipped right back again

1617
01:24:44,870 --> 01:24:47,853
to engaging the next guy with guns.

1618
01:24:50,810 --> 01:24:53,400
- [Colin] When he returned
to his aircraft carrier,

1619
01:24:53,400 --> 01:24:56,923
David wrote out a poem by a
pilot from the Second World War.

1620
01:24:58,520 --> 01:25:01,750
- Did Michelangelo aspire
painting the laughing cumulus

1621
01:25:01,750 --> 01:25:03,543
to ride the majesty of air?

1622
01:25:04,470 --> 01:25:07,140
He was a trier, I'll give this Jerry that.

1623
01:25:07,140 --> 01:25:09,420
I let him have a sharp four-second squirt,

1624
01:25:09,420 --> 01:25:13,140
closing to 50 yards, he went on fire.

1625
01:25:13,140 --> 01:25:15,860
Your deadly petals painted.

1626
01:25:15,860 --> 01:25:18,400
You exist, a simple stature.

1627
01:25:18,400 --> 01:25:20,600
Man high without pride.

1628
01:25:20,600 --> 01:25:23,440
You pick your way through
the heaven and the dirt

1629
01:25:23,440 --> 01:25:24,730
He burnt out in the air.

1630
01:25:24,730 --> 01:25:26,403
That's how the poor sod died.

1631
01:25:28,360 --> 01:25:29,891
I thought that was particularly apt.

1632
01:25:29,891 --> 01:25:31,460
- Yeah, absolutely.

1633
01:25:31,460 --> 01:25:32,293
Yeah.

1634
01:25:35,250 --> 01:25:38,200
- And it screwed me up for a long time.

1635
01:25:38,200 --> 01:25:42,010
I had classic symptoms of PTSD

1636
01:25:42,010 --> 01:25:46,780
and I'm sure I can pin it down
to those couple of minutes

1637
01:25:46,780 --> 01:25:51,780
of incredibly, incredibly intense emotions

1638
01:25:52,660 --> 01:25:56,817
switching 180 degrees two or three times.

1639
01:25:56,817 --> 01:25:59,400
(somber music)

1640
01:26:02,670 --> 01:26:05,210
- [Ewan] David's story has so
many echoes of the dogfights

1641
01:26:05,210 --> 01:26:07,420
of World War I and II.

1642
01:26:07,420 --> 01:26:10,363
The immense bravery and
the terrible personal cost.

1643
01:26:12,990 --> 01:26:14,260
- [Man] Yeah, we'll probably
go out to the West Coast,

1644
01:26:14,260 --> 01:26:16,110
then pull up and do some of that G8.

1645
01:26:16,110 --> 01:26:16,943
- [Ewan] Okay.

1646
01:26:19,064 --> 01:26:20,200
Wow.

1647
01:26:20,200 --> 01:26:21,053
Bonnie Scotland.

1648
01:26:22,580 --> 01:26:25,680
On the way back, we're
going on a high-speed trip

1649
01:26:25,680 --> 01:26:27,630
down memory lane through the Highlands.

1650
01:26:28,930 --> 01:26:30,220
My parents used to live in Ullapool.

1651
01:26:30,220 --> 01:26:32,150
Colin was conceived in Ullapool!

1652
01:26:32,150 --> 01:26:34,060
- Oh, my good God!
- Yeah!

1653
01:26:34,060 --> 01:26:35,810
- [Colin] Bit too much information.

1654
01:26:44,090 --> 01:26:47,070
- [Ewan] Flying in the Typhoon
has been such a privilege.

1655
01:26:47,070 --> 01:26:49,573
It's brought together all
we've learnt about the RAF.

1656
01:26:51,400 --> 01:26:52,270
- [Colin] That was astonishing.

1657
01:26:52,270 --> 01:26:54,493
That was just really, really beautiful.

1658
01:26:56,100 --> 01:26:58,130
- [Ewan] The Typhoon and its pilots

1659
01:26:58,130 --> 01:27:00,950
feel like worthy
successors to the Spitfire,

1660
01:27:00,950 --> 01:27:03,003
the Lancaster and their crews.

1661
01:27:03,003 --> 01:27:03,836
There he goes.

1662
01:27:03,836 --> 01:27:04,669
Oh-ho-ho!

1663
01:27:06,865 --> 01:27:07,782
Oh, my God!

1664
01:27:12,069 --> 01:27:13,140
- The Royal Air Force has always been

1665
01:27:13,140 --> 01:27:15,600
at the cutting edge of
technology and innovation,

1666
01:27:15,600 --> 01:27:17,799
but you've always got to
come back to the people

1667
01:27:17,799 --> 01:27:19,875
'cause that's what the
RAF's all about, really.

1668
01:27:19,875 --> 01:27:20,708
It's about the people.

1669
01:27:20,708 --> 01:27:23,640
And you find a commonality
between all of them

1670
01:27:23,640 --> 01:27:25,440
that ties everybody together.

1671
01:27:25,440 --> 01:27:28,010
You know, it's that ethos
and spirit of the RAF

1672
01:27:28,010 --> 01:27:30,950
that lasted throughout
its 100-year history

1673
01:27:30,950 --> 01:27:34,140
and everybody's got a chunk
of that in them that's served.

1674
01:27:34,140 --> 01:27:35,840
- Cheers.
- Yeah, cheers, cheers.

1675
01:27:38,880 --> 01:27:39,880
- Couple of weeks have been, yeah,

1676
01:27:39,880 --> 01:27:41,830
a real journey of understanding

1677
01:27:41,830 --> 01:27:44,050
about this incredible organization,

1678
01:27:44,050 --> 01:27:45,300
starting at the very beginning

1679
01:27:45,300 --> 01:27:49,240
with those amazingly beautiful and iconic

1680
01:27:49,240 --> 01:27:50,290
paper airplanes.

1681
01:27:50,290 --> 01:27:51,130
They look like, don't they?

1682
01:27:51,130 --> 01:27:53,900
Little, rickety little machines.

1683
01:27:53,900 --> 01:27:55,470
Right through to flying the Typhoon

1684
01:27:55,470 --> 01:27:57,760
and meeting all the people
we've met along the way

1685
01:27:57,760 --> 01:28:00,923
who've been involved in
this Royal Air Force.

1686
01:28:00,923 --> 01:28:04,560
It's a special organization
and, you know, ultimately

1687
01:28:04,560 --> 01:28:09,560
saved our lives from invasion
in the Second World War

1688
01:28:10,109 --> 01:28:12,467
and still protect us to this day.

1689
01:28:12,467 --> 01:28:15,300
(dramatic music)