All language subtitles for battle.of.britain.three.days.that.saved.the.nation.s01e01.1080p.web.h264-cbfm

CLOCK TICKS
The battle for France is over,

It's the summer of 1940.

Hitler's forces are poised
to invade Britain.

And all that stands in their way

are the men and women of the
Royal Air Force.

As wave after wave of enemy bombers
make their way towards Britain,

commanders desperately
try and figure out

where they will strike next.

But this isn't the familiar
story of the Battle of Britain,

one of tactics, machines
and famous names.

Over three nights, we're going
to explore the lost

and forgotten tales of the
operations room workers,

ground crews and pilots

who put their lives on the
line to defend Britain.

They've all heard
of the Battle of Britain,

but they've never
heard of Archie McKellar.

We'll uncover forgotten
documents that reveal the human

cost of the battle...

Hmm.

...and relive moments of heroism.

Even when my grandmother was
talking about it at the age of 94,

it always brought a tear to her eye.

Over the next three nights, we're
going to follow three pivotal

days from the Battle of Britain.

The first is August 15, 1940,

when Hitler's attacks
began in earnest.

The second is August 30, the
RAF's most intense day of fighting.

Britain's airfields are bombarded,
and defeat seems imminent.

And the third is September 15,

when Britain's exhausted defenders
gamble everything to win the battle.

We'll be telling the story
in minute-by-minute detail.

From Scotland to the West Country,
Kent to the North of England,

we'll discover what it was like as
the whole country came under attack,

as we retrace the
battle in the air...

If that was real, we'd have
been hit full-on.

...and on the ground.

It was the greatest battle
the RAF ever fought.

But at its heart were the people.

This is the story
of their Battle of Britain.

6am, the 15th of August, 1940.

The Battle of Britain began five
weeks ago, on the 10th ofjuly.

Up until now,

Hitler has mostly focused his air
raids on the South East of England.

But in just a few hours' time,
he will use his Luftwaffe air force

to try and crush the RAF
once and for all,

this time right across the country.

At a top-secret
location in West London,

19-year-old Joan Fanshawe is
arriving for the early shift.

I'm heading 18 metres, or 60 feet,

beneath the London
suburb of Uxbridge.

It's an unassuming location

but it would play a crucial
role in the Battle of Britain.

This is the operations room
for the South East of England.

It's known as the 11 Group Bunker
and it's one of four nerve centres

from which the
Battle of Britain was fought.

It was here that Fighter Command
were able to track

the course of the battle,
minute by minute,

and send aircraft into the skies
to meet the Nazi attacks.

Joan Fanshawe is one of around
50 RAF personnel

on the early shift in the bunker
on the 15th of August.

She's been secretly keeping a diary
of her hours in the ops room.

July 4th is when she joined,

and within two weeks
she is sent to Uxbridge.

So, was Joan one of the first
women who was a plotter?

They were the first group.

The week before she joins
up, this is July 5th,

"The whole day dominated by
my thoughts of having my hair..

VOICE OF ACTOR:

Intercept at...

Joan's diary also tells us
about life on the front line.

I didn't think that anyone was
allowed to keep a diary while...

They weren't.

She's fairly careful about what
information goes in there. Right.

You don't hear anything about
what's really going on in there,

but you know she's at Uxbridge
and you know she goes underground,

which maybe would be more
information

than you'd want to fall into other
people's hands, I don't know.

Joan is a member of the WAAF.

And according to the recruiting
brochure, her officialjob

title is "Clerk, Special Duties",
but she's actually a plotter.

She stood on this very spot
and her job was to look after

the space between
Dover and Calais on this map.

She would listen for
incoming intelligence

and then plot the position
of enemy aircraft using these

blocks which represented
Luftwaffe raids.

And this one here represented
British RAF squadrons.

Once it was all plotted, that
would give her commanders

a picture of what was
going on in the air.

We know about her
shift on the 15th of August

because she writes about
it in her diary.

Joan's shift started quietly -

the weather was poor, it was too
cloudy for the attacks to begin.

But that wouldn't last long.

Also playing a waiting
game early that morning

are hundreds of RAF pilots
up and down the country...

...including a 28-year-old
Scottish pilot at RAF Drem

in East Lothian, Scotland.

Flight Lieutenant Archie McKellar
has already

been in the RAF for four years.

Now he's trying to catch a
little sleep after getting

back from his night
patrol at 4:20am.

But Archie isn't a typical pilot.

I've come to Glasgow to
find out more.

So, tell me a little bit about him.

Well, there was john and Margaret.

That was his mother and father.

And they wanted him to go into the
family business of plastering

and construction, and
he didn't want to do that.

Archie wanted to fly.

Right, it was a
working-class family. Yeah.

So, sort of flying was quite a big
dream, really,

for a young man like this.

It was a dream, it's
something he wanted to do.

He decided, "l'm going to fly

"without my parents
knowing about this."

A typical kind of McKellar thing.

Is it? Were you the same?

Similar things, yes.

Archie grew up in this former
tenement building in Paisley -

not the normal background
of a pilot.

So, he became a plasterer's
apprentice with his dad.

Given that he did come from
this quite modest background,

how would he have been able
to afford flying lessons?

He saved his wages and
went off and secretly learned.

Snuck off to go and learn?

Learned to fly and then
neither of them were aware.

They didn't know
he was flying at all,

but he used to fly over the house
and waggle the wings of the plane.

Archie learned to fly
at the Scottish Flying Club.

In 1936, he was talent-spotted as a
promising pilot

and invited to join the RAF.

How much were you, as a family,
aware of Archie and what he did?

Well, I wasn't aware
until I was a wee bit older,

and then I found out and he
just became one of my heroes.

Archie's impact as a pilot
during the Second World War

was almost instantaneous.

Just weeks after the war began,
he was the first pilot to shoot down

a Nazi bomber over Britain.

This photo is the actual scene.

He later became an ace in a day,

destroying five enemy
aircraft in 24 hours.

But for now, on the morning
of the 15th of August,

Archie is waiting for the
enemy to arrive.

11:10am, the clouds clear and
there's a blue sky over Kent.

Then blips appear on the radar.

PHONE RINGS

The enemy are approaching
from over Calais,

around 20 miles away
from British shores.

They can be over targets
in South East England

in less than 20 minutes.

It's the first wave of an
enormous Luftwaffe raid.

The force includes 50 bombers, each
carrying up to 1,000lbs of bombs.

Their objective - to destroy
Britain's airfields.

Protecting the German bombers
are dozens of small,

fast and deadly fighter planes.

The RAF must intercept the raid
before it reaches its targets.

Every second counts.

The largest force seen in a battle
so far is about to hit Britain.

It's 11:10am on the
15th of August, 1940.

The Battle of Britain has
been raging for five weeks.

But today, a massive force
of Luftwaffe bombers is crossing

the Channel to wipe out the
RAF once and for all.

At airbases, young pilots are
waiting for the call to scramble.

Among them is William Hopkin of
54 Squadron at RAF Hornchurch.

His job is to patrol the
Kent Coast in his Spitfire.

I've tracked down their lost
airfield. It's just parkland today,

but that morning it was on the
front line of Britain's defence.

This was the airfield
at RAF Hornchurch.

On the morning of the
15th of August,

it's very possible that
William Hopkin

was waiting just over there
in the cockpit of his Spitfire,

ready for the signal to take off
and engage the enemy.

William is the son of a
vicar from Bedfordshire.

His story has never
been told before.

I'm meeting someone very close to
him - his son, Simon Hopkin.

How old was he?

Yeah.

Simon has a rare artefact -
the pilot's log book that

belonged to his father, where
he wrote up all his action.

SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY

But the two brothers would not be
flying together for long.

"Alan lost in Bristol Blenheim
in enemy territory, one-night

"bombing, Cherbourg."

William Hopkin has only been with
an operational squadron for

three months and he's never
shot down an enemy aircraft before.

I want to know what he must have
been feeling on that morning.

Fighter pilot
Air Marshal Cliff Spink,

who flew in the RAF for 30 years,
is giving me the chance to find out.

How did those young pilots
even get up out of their seats

and pick their parachutes up?

It's very difficult to
imagine or put

yourself in the position
of someone like that.

They would have not only known that
there were a lot of pilots not

coming back, but there's a level
of expectation -

he's not wanting to let
down either himself,

but particularly his comrades.

And of course, these
young men like William -

they either survive the next few
days and then would probably

survive a lot longer,

or actually got shot down
and killed very early on.

The task ahead weighs heavily on
19-year-old William

as he gets ready for action
on the 15th of August.

So I just slot myself in like that.

I'm going to take to the skies
in a Spitfire,

just as he would
have done on that morning.

Now, I'm feeling very secure
because you're so tightly in,

but what's protecting me?

There's no padding,

I'm seeing right into the inner
works of the aircraft.

It seems to me that
if somebody shot it,

it would just go straight through.

You're smack-on.

HE KNOCKS ON PLANE
This is relatively thin aluminium.

Normally, if anyone's going to
shoot at you,

he's going to come from behind.

So they had armour plate protecting
your head, on your back,

but in truth there was very
little protection for the pilot.

As William Hopkin straps in,
he knows what he is expected to do.

He would be flying with

either his flight commander
or his section leader... Yeah.

...in a support configuration.

They used to say "stick", "search"
and "report", in other words,

stick to your leader, search
around for other enemy aeroplanes

and then report what you've seen.

At 11:18, William is ready to take
off from his base in Hornchurch

with 54 Squadron.
It's going to be a long day.

Sitting here in the Spitfire,
I'm trying to imagine

what it must have been like for him
in that moment.

But for William Hopkin
and 54 Squadron...

...combat is just moments away.

11:30 - the Luftwaffe raiders
are nearing their first target,

the airbase at Hawkinge
on the Kent coast.

Amongst them are a group of
50 deadly dive-bombers.

54 Squadron, including
William Hopkin, meet the enemy

and are ordered to engage.

We're very lucky to have William's
personal account of the fighting.

He reports, "l followed Blue Leader
into the attack when we engaged some

"JU 87 dive-bombing between Dover
and Hawkinge.

VOICE OF ACTOR:

It's William's first successful
score against the enemy.

Not bad for a young man who's
relatively new to combat.

But for 54 Squadron,
the raid isn't over yet.

Leading the German fighter
planes engaging William

and his comrades on the 15th
of August is a formidable opponent -

Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland.

At 28 years old, Galland has been
in the Luftwaffe for over six

years and will stop at nothing
to take down the RAF.

COMMENTARY IN GERMAN

He is so successful,

the Nazi High Command make
propaganda films about him.

Here we have a set of pictures
which have never been

seen on television before, and which
display the character of Galland.

You get a sense of the
cocked hat there.

He always cocked it, and even when
he was told, "Straighten your hat,"

off it went again at a cock,
the moment he straightened it.

There's something of the maverick
about him, isn't there? There is.

Galland subscribed to the heroic
view of the German fighter pilot,

and he took that sense of deep
commitment, very personal pride,

but very independent viewpoint
into combat with him, with the

complete and utter conviction that
he could do what set himself to do.

By the morning of the 15th of
August, 1940,

Adolf Galland has already

shot down over 17 allied aircraft,
and now he's in the skies over Kent.

William Hopkin and the pilots of
54 Squadron are in his sights.

But they have their very own ace.

Al Deere is an extremely
experienced pilot.

He is only 22,

but he's already been decorated
by King George VI for his bravery.

Al Deere spots the fighter planes
in Adolf Galland's formation

and climbs steeply to engage them.

MACHINE GUN FIRE

But it's not Galland.

HE is now ready to make HIS move.

Galland swoops through
the aircraft of 54 Squadron.

Looping around, he gets on the tail
of one, spraying it with shells.

RAPID GUNFIRE

The Spitfire plummets to Earth.

It's flown by 25-year-old
Polish pilot Wojciech Klozinski.

He's only been in action
for three days.

He manages to bail out, but it will
take him over two years to

recover from his injuries and
he will never fly in combat again.

But Galland isn't finished yet.

He dives on a Spitfire belonging
to 23-year-old Norman Lawrence,

who's desperately trying to
regroup with 54 Squadron.

The plane bursts into flames.

Astonishingly, Lawrence survives.

For now, Galland has finished
and heads back to Calais.

William Hopkin and Al Deere
have come through,

but they have watched two of their
friends from 54 Squadron fall.

The life expectancy for an RAF
pilot in the Battle of Britain

was just four weeks.

It's been a morning
of intense fighting

for the pilots and ground crew,
but it's far from over.

The morning of the 15th of August,
1940 has seen high drama

over the South East coast of
England as Luftwaffe fighters

and bombers struck
in their hundreds.

William Hopkin and Al Deere of
54 Squadron have survived.

In the North, all is quiet

and pilot Archie McKellar is
waiting for action.

For WAAF Joan Fanshawe,

it's been a tense and
eventful end to her watch.

As the dust settles on
the morning's raid,

the commanders here in the Uxbridge
bunker survey the destruction.

The Luftwaffe has done
serious damage to two airfields

on the Kent coast -
Lympne and Hawkinge.

But all of their Spitfires

and Hurricanes were able to get
airborne before the enemy bombers

arrived, meaning not one British
fighter was destroyed on the ground.

For Hitler's air force, it's been
a disappointing morning.

Midday.

No sooner is the morning
raid over

than something even more sinister
is spotted on the radar.

Flying from a base in
Nazi-occupied Norway,

a huge enemy raid is approaching
from across the North Sea.

Hitler's planes
are heading for the North,

and Scottish pilot Archie McKellar
is in the firing line.

Luftwaffe commanders had
assumed that the RAF would send

all its fighter pilots down
south to protect the South Coast

against the Nazi raids
coming over from France.

They hoped that the North of
England would be left vulnerable.

And so they planned to launch a
surprise attack there

on the 15th of August.

At 12:30, over 100 German
planes appear in the skies

above Northumberland.

Despite the enormous
numbers of enemy aircraft,

the RAF spot the raids
nice and early

and are able to get their planes
into the sky in plenty of time.

When the enemy arrive,
the RAF are waiting for them.

Three RAF squadrons are in
the skies over the North,

including 605 Squadron.

28-year-old Archie McKellar
is their flight leader.

At 1:10, the enemy planes
are swarming over Newcastle.

Archie spots the formation
and orders his men to follow him

in a dive attack.

He gets on the tail of one German,

and using a quarter of his
bullets, sends it spiralling.

But he was too busy to notice
the enemy coming up from behind him.

It fires on Archie,
hitting him in the wings.

Archie keeps flying, diving
on the leader of the Luftwaffe

formation and shooting him down,
before streaking after a lone

straggler and sending him
crashing into the sea.

He later wrote to his
mother describing the raid.

It's an incredible result,

but not unusual for an
exceptional pilot such as Archie.

In fact, his talents are
so impressive that the RAF

actually feature him in a
booklet used to recruit new pilots.

So, each squadron would have
almost like a poster boy,

as somebody, you know,
"You need to be like him."

There he is, squadron leader
Archibald A McKellar.

But listen to this,
this is just wonderful.

"There's no room for the slacker,
the discipline is strict.

"Strive to emulate
the McKellar tradition."

You know, he was the person
they wanted everybody to be like.

He was just an incredible guy.

There's stories I've heard of
him going up into the skies

and looking for stray
planes before breakfast.

As if, "l've heard there's
stray planes around,

"l'm going up to see
if there's anything I can find."

But what's really lovely about this

booklet is it gives a real insight.

"Always he was immaculate.

"He shaved and groomed
himself every morning

"even during the Battle of Britain.

"He insisted on his squadron
following his example.

"'If I have to die, I want
to die clean,'

"he remarked to his colleague."

Was your dad like that?

My father's like that,
yes, to this day,

every morning and a shirt
and tie on.

For the McKellar family,

sharing Archie's story has
always been extremely important.

Do you feel proud of him?

Oh, very, very.

I always ask people, "Have you ever
heard of Archie McKellar?"

They've all heard of the Battle of
Britain

but they've never heard
of Archie McKellar.

It's just an amazing story to
achieve so much.

13:45 - Archie returns to base.

His actions over Newcastle that
afternoon are part of a strong

response from the RAF.

Destroyed German aircraft lie
strewn across the ground.

The Luftwaffe's attack on the
North is a disaster.

Despite having fewer planes,
the RAF fends off the enemy raids.

It's down to Fighter Command's
ingenious intelligence system,

and the bunker in Uxbridge,
where WAAF Joan Fanshawe works,

is a key piece of the puzzle.

In 1940, radar is a brand-new,
top-secret technology,

using radio waves to detect
aircraft over the Channel.

But it has a drawback.

Once the planes have passed
inland over the radar towers,

they become invisible.

The solution is distinctly low-tech.

So, now the commanders here can
see what the radar's telling them

and what all these
observers are telling them.

The details of the enemy
aircraft are phoned through to the

bunker and placed on wooden blocks,

marked H for "hostile", with
the number of aircraft in the raid.

It's Joan Fanshawe's job to plot
these enemy aircraft on the map.

So these women that are moving
the plots around, like Joan,

are kind of a critical
part of this machine.

Commanders then have a complete
picture of the situation

and can send the most appropriate
squadron to meet the enemy.

602, 213 squadrons to readiness.

So, the Germans had no idea
this was here

and no idea this system existed?

Forjoan, being part of this crucial
system is not an easy task.

On the 15th of August, after
her morning watch ends,

we can see from her diary
that she's flagging.

It was intense concentration when it
got busy and it sounds very tiring.

They were on four-hour watches,
but I think when they came off it,

they were extremely tired.

But despite the fatigue and seeing
some of the worst fighting

of the battle so far, Joan is still
able to find some light relief.

We should remember she'd only
been in the RAF, what, about six

weeks by then, so it was new,
and even how to salute wasn't

necessarily automatic stuff and
it was still very funny for them.

By mid-afternoon, Joan
is off her watch

and the early afternoon raids
on the North of England die down.

But the RAF isn't able to rest.

Raid upon raid of hundreds
of enemy aircraft

flood the skies in the South East.

Just after 3pm, William Hopkin
is in the air again to intercept

one of the multiple
incoming enemy attacks.

From his pilot's logbook,

we can see that it's the fourth
time he's been up today.

You're on call 16, 17, 18
hours a day, and within that day,

day in and day out, you're up three,
four, five, six missions a day.

So, just the tiredness,
but the strain of the fear

and of the fatigue must have
been absolutely extraordinary.

Despite the incredible strain
put on the pilots,

they keep flying day after
day, week after week.

And you look at some of them
relaxing in 54 Squadron here.

I think it's that bond, that
camaraderie that comes through,

that when you're part of a
fighting unit,

you haven't been born together, but
a lot of you have trained together,

you've fought together, you've
socialised together,

you've seen a lot of
tragedy together.

You look at the names of those
relaxing on the grass

and of the four
pilots mentioned there,

three were lost during the battle.

RIP, RIP. RIP, RIP, yeah.

16:00 hours.

William's movements
in the air are being

plotted in the Uxbridge bunker,

but not by 19-year-old
Joan Fanshawe,

who has now left the building.

It's been an exhausting day,

but looking at her diary, we can see
that Joan is somehow able to

forget about work.

"At four I dashed off down the
station and caught the tube

"and met Pat Wickins." Who was
a family friend. "We had tea...

ACTOR'S VOICE:

"And poorjocelyn running." And
then by the end of the day,

she's saying,
"Pretty much been on watch.

"We've done damn near over 16
hours today."

And that is this extraordinary
double life, isn't it,

of someone doing this
incredible job, really intense,

and then going for tea in London.

Going for tea and having a giggle
with her girlfriends.

Yeah, life went on and she
would say that,

and it definitely comes over
in her diaries.

It goes from these exhausted times
to...sometimes to boredom,

and you think, "Really? During the
Battle of Britain?"

There were calms between the storms.
Yeah.

One pilot who's so far managed to
avoid the storms today

is Peter Comely.

He's based at RAF Exeter in the
West Country with 87 Squadron.

His Battle of Britain has been spent
patrolling the South Coast,

protecting nearby bases from
any Luftwaffe attacks.

But as it's outside the main hot
spot of the South East of England,

the fighting has been less intense.

I'm meeting his Canadian
nephew, Richard Comely.

Teenager.

Peter was one of five siblings
growing up in rural Gloucestershire.

Sweet little picture.

They did not grow
up in the lap of luxury.

Peter spent his carefree summers
away from boarding school

playing cricket and fishing.

But it was his adventurous
personality that made

the RAF his natural calling.

S0, that is 13th of March, 1939.

So, it's just before his 18th
birthday, so he's 17 when he's...

So, he obviously had
an aptitude for flying.

So, Peter was a good pilot.

Despite the calm start
in the West Country,

for Peter Comely, the day won't
remain quiet for long.

17:20.

RAF pilots have
been in the skies fighting

the enemy for the past six hours,
but it's not over yet.

Suddenly a large raid appears,

heading for the Royal Navy base
at Portland on the coast of Dorset.

19-year-old Peter Comely is
scrambled with 87 Squadron.

He's about to find himself
right in the thick of the action.

17:25 on the 15th of August.

It's been a day of nonstop combat
across the whole of Britain,

but the action isn't finished yet.

Now the West Coast is under attack,

and 19-year-old pilot
Peter Comely is in the air.

He's heading to Portland
to defend the naval base

against Luftwaffe bombers.

The National Archives at Kew

hold the combat record
for Peter's flight.

I've come to find out exactly
what happened that evening,

with his nephew.

Let's look up the date
for the 15th of August.

This is in the afternoon
by this stage.

That's your uncle.

That's his fifth aircraft
destroyed in the war so far.

Peter destroys an enemy aircraft -
a huge boost to his squadron -

but the combat report also reveals
the details of the moment

that comes next.

And can you read this bit
over here?

CLEARS THROAT

VOICE CRACKS:

Hmm.

CLEARS THROAT

Shortly after the 15th of August,

Peter's friend and commander, F-Lt
Ian Gleed writes to Peter's father.

"Dear Mr Comely,
thank you for your letter.

"One of my pilots saw
Peter's plane hit

"the sea about ten miles
off Portland.

"He had not used his parachute.

"After the battle, two other planes

"and myself searched the area
but found nothing.

"It is with very deep
sympathy and sorrow that

"l must tell you that, in my
opinion, there is very little chance

"of Peter being still alive.

"L cannot tell you how much
we all miss him.

"Your sincerely,

"Gleed, Flight Lieutenant."

Yeah.

So, it's not an overstatement
when he says here

how much he missed him.

By 18:20, the raid
over Portland is over.

Several enemy planes are downed
but the RAF has suffered too.

They can't keep sustaining
these losses.

It's been the most intense
day of the Battle of Britain so far.

William Hopkin is probably in
the pub, unwinding

with his fellow pilots by now.

He's scored his first hit
against the enemy,

but 54 Squadron has been badly
shaken -

two pilots have been gunned down.

The man responsible is
Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland,

who is back in Calais,
awaiting another day of combat.

Elsewhere in Uxbridge,
Joan Fanshawe is returning to the

bunker for her night shift.

In Scotland, Archie McKellar
is celebrating

shooting down three Luftwaffe
bombers in one encounter.

He's been fortunate, but
others have not been so lucky.

"Dear Mr Comely, thank
you for your letter.

"One of my pilots saw Peter's
plane hit the sea about ten

"miles off Portland.
He had not used his parachute."

In the 11 Group Bunker at Uxbridge,
commanders take stock.

The Luftwaffe has
flown 2,000 sorties -

that's twice as many as the RAF -
but they've lost 78 aircraft.

It was their attack on the North
of England that was particularly

costly, with 88 of their aircrew
either missing or dead.

It would be the last time that
the Luftwaffe would attempt

such large-scale daylight
raids on the North.

The RAF have fared better, but
there have still been losses -

45 aircraft destroyed,
13 damaged and 17 pilots killed.

But the day's fighting has shown
that the squadrons of 11 Group,

controlled from this bunker,

have been able to hold their own

against superior numbers
of enemy aircraft.

Churchill has been watching
the day's events unfold

back at base,
12 miles away at Bentley Priory.

When Churchill left
Fighter Command HQ that evening,

he described the 15th
of August, 1940,

as one of the greatest
clays in history.

But for the Luftwaffe,
who had failed in their bid to

destroy the RAF, the 15th of August
become known as "Black Thursday".

The following day, Churchill
commented to a friend that

"never in the field of human
conflict

"had so much been owed by
so many to so few".

Four days later, he repeated that
phrase in Parliament,

in what would become his
most famous speech.

But had Winston Churchill
spoken too soon?

Tomorrow night,
we discover what happens

when Britain stands
on the brink of defeat.

The worst thing was seeing the
planes approaching but not knowing,

until the last minute,
what their target was.

We crash forward to
the 30th of August, 1940.

Can the nation survive the most
intense day of fighting?

I am seeing this Hurricane
heading, literally,

straight for our windscreen.

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