All language subtitles for battle.of.britain.three.days.that.saved.the.nation.s01e02.1080p.web.h264-cbfm

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.

Over three nights, we're exploring
the lost and forgotten tales

of the operations room workers,

ground crews and pilots
who put their lives on the line

to defend Britain.

We're uncovering forgotten documents

that reveal the human cost
of the battle.

I guess he takes one out before...

And reliving moments of heroism.

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

it always brought a tear to her eye.

We've already seen how the RAF
held out against superior enemy

numbers on August 15th.

Now we're jumping ahead
two weeks to August 30th.

In tonight's episode, we discover
what happens when Britain stands

on the brink of defeat as the
country faces its most intense

day of fighting in the whole battle.

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

as we retrace August 30th
in the air...

If that was real,
we'd been 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.

In Nazi-occupied northern France...

...160 Luftwaffe aircraft
are about to take off.

Their targets, RAF airfields
in the southeast of England.

The Luftwaffe needs to destroy
the Royal Air Force

if the German invasion of Britain
is to go ahead.

In just 30 minutes, these planes
will be over the Kent coast.

After weeks of fighting, Luftwaffe
commanders are under pressure

from Hitler to deliver results,

so they're planning
a final knockout blow -

a huge attack designed to eliminate
Britain's air force

once and for all.

It's a day that will push fighter
command to the absolute limit,

and have profound consequences
for people on the ground.

There are 21 RAF airfields
in the southeast of England.

That morning, around 20 squadrons
are ready and waiting

to protect them.

When the scramble bell rings,

these pilots will have
five minutes to get airborne.

Over the past two weeks,
this part of the country

has seen the worst of the fighting.

But squadrons all over the country
are also ready.

One is 64 Squadron at RAF Leconfield
in East Yorkshire.

Amongst the ground crew
is Ronald Poundton.

Of the thousands
who served in the battle,

99-year-old Ronald is one
of only a handful who survives.

He had the critical
ground crew job of armourer.

An armourer looks after guns, bombs
and everything that goes bang.

That day, Ronald prepared
his Spitfire for action,

then waited for the scramble bell.

As soon as you hear the sound,
of course you're up and running.

The pilot comes running
like an Olympic sprinter

up the wing.

The rigger helps him strap in.

And the pilot taxies out
at terrifying speeds.

All the pilots are doing the same.

And why there was never a crash
I've no idea!

And they then form up in pairs.

And they come roaring up.

And they're airborne.

Gone.

The first attack
approaches the Kent coast,

over 200 miles south of
Ronald's base in Yorkshire.

Nine squadrons are scrambled
to intercept the enemy.

At RAF Tangmere, Tony Woods-Scawen
takes off in his Hurricane.

Tony is already an incredibly
experienced pilot.

Although he's only 22 years old,
he's shot down six enemy aircraft.

In the skies above Dungeness,
his older brother Patrick,

also a Hurricane pilot,
is already airborne.

At 24, he has nine
enemy kills to his name.

In just a few minutes,

the brothers will be engulfed
in a huge air battle.

I'm meeting their relative,
Tristan Woods-Scawen,

in their childhood home
of Farnborough.

Hi, Tristan.

The brothers grew up just a stone's
throw from the Air Force base,

which once occupied this very spot.

They did everything together.

They were riding around
on motorbikes around Farnborough,

and everywhere they went,

it was all about aviation.

I think it was almost inevitable
that they joined the RAF.

In 1937, they could see that there
was another war on the way,

so Patrick signed up for short
service commission with the RAF.

Patrick was the older one. I think
he was about 22 when he joined,

and progressed really well -
he was a really great pilot.

Younger brother Tony was keen
to follow in Patrick's footsteps.

Tony had a bit of a struggle
getting in at the start. Why?

He was pretty much blind in one eye.

So how did he get
his pilot's licence?

Well, he queued up for the eye test,

and someone came out
and told him all the letters.

So he memorised them, went in,
and passed the eye test.

And then he got some
prescription goggles made,

which was totally not regulation
for the RAF, but Tony managed

to get them done on the sly,
and up in the air he went.

They sound like
extraordinary characters. Yeah.

I think they were
larger-than-life characters.

They lived fast,
and enjoyed life to the full.

Over 160 enemy aircraft
have crossed the Kent coastline.

Patrick's Hurricane squadron
dives out of the sun

to attack the bombers.

Minutes later, Tony's squadron
joins the fray.

A series of sprawling dogfights
quickly develops

in the skies over southern England.

For eyewitnesses below,
the noise is deafening...

...as swarms of British fighters
swoop on the tails of the enemy.

And the Woods-Scawen brothers
are in the middle of it all.

August 30th, 1940.

In the skies over Kent,

ten RAF squadrons
are battling it out

with 160 German aircraft.

The fighting covered such a huge
area that one report says,

no matter where you were across
Kent, Surrey and South London,

all you could see were fighters
and bombers fighting it out.

Hurricane pilot Patrick Woods-Scawen

shoots down enemy aircraft
near Dover.

A few minutes later,

Tony destroys another.

The brothers now have
17 enemy kills between them.

But this is just
the beginning of a long day.

Inside the plotting room
at RAF Biggin Hill,

members of the Women's Auxiliary
Air Force monitor the action.

One of those on duty here
is Corporal Elspeth Henderson.

The 27-year-old from Edinburgh
volunteered early in the war.

Now she's in the thick of it.

In December 1939, she went
to her cousin's wedding.

Her cousin was a young lawyer
who was in the process of enlisting

and she felt it was morally wrong

that he, just married,
should be joining up,

while she, a single woman,
continued to enjoy civilian life.

That's really interesting.

So for her, it felt completely wrong
that she should be able

to sort of really
carry on as normal. Yes.

Right. And she volunteered
the following day.

Elspeth is posted to Biggin Hill
in January 1940,

after just two weeks of training.

When she arrived at Biggin Hill,
it was quiet.

The runways were being extended,

so they had time
to introduce her to radar,

and what the job entails.

As the Battle of Britain begins,
Biggin Hill becomes a prime target.

Elspeth is the senior WAF
on duty in the plotting room.

From here, she follows the flight
paths of approaching enemy bombers,

including those
heading for the airfield itself.

She was in charge of the telephone
line to headquarters in Uxbridge.

My mother used to say that
the worst thing about it

was seeing the planes approaching,

but not knowing until the last
minute what their target was.

That must've been terrifying.
Yes, it was.

Today, Biggin Hill is top
of the Luftwaffe's hitlist.

It's now 11:45am.

Patrick Woods-Scawen has been
in the air for over an hour.

He's running low on fuel
and returns to RAF Croydon.

Somewhere over Kent,
Patrick's younger brother, Tony,

is still surrounded by the enemy.

A total of ten RAF squadrons
are now battling it out

with the Luftwaffe.

Meanwhile, in their hometown
of Farnborough,

one young woman anxiously
awaits news of the brothers.

This is a photo with my granny,

and Patrick.

And this would be Tony, there.

Bunny Lawrence is in love
with both brothers.

Her grandson Ben is showing me some
of the letters they wrote to her.

Granny always said how much fun
they all had,

and they'd all go out on
the back of the motor bikes

and play the guitar on the beach.

And they both came to sort of
fall in love with your granny.

They grew up all very good friends.

And I presume, obviously,
once they were

into their late teens, they fell
in love with Granny, both of them.

Patrick wrote this letter
to Bunny from flying school.

There's a great letter here.

"Darlingest, I've flown a Hurricane,
so I've reached the eighth heaven.

"The seventh, sixth and fifth
heavens are you,

"but my God, what an aeroplane.

"When you write to me, don't forget
to enclose a wee lock of your

"hair to bring me
all the luck in the world.

"Please write soon."

I think there was a lot of badgering
possibly from the boys for a photo.

And then one of the letters does
say, "Thank you for the photo."

It must have been
a pretty intense summer,

because they're fighting
for their lives,

they're fighting
for King and country,

they're also both falling in love

with one of their
great childhood friends.

It's all happening. Yes. Well,
it must have been August, at the...

Yeah, the peak of the
Battle of Britain,

and my granny and Tony got engaged.

So she chose the younger brother.

She chose the younger brother, yes.

It's almost midday.

The RAF is defending airfields
from waves of enemy attacks.

But one squadron is being held back.

The pilots of 303 squadron,
based at RAF Northolt,

are preparing for a training flight.

The squadron is made up
almost entirely

of highly experienced Polish pilots.

They'd survived the Nazi invasion
of their homeland,

and fought the Germans again in
France before escaping to Britain.

The Sikorski Museum in London
keeps a collection of rare artefacts

from this squadron.

This is a chronicle of the
303 squadron.

You have so many different stories,

priceless stories.

This record documents the lives
of the squadron's pilots,

including Flying Officer
Ludvig Paszkiewicz.

Is this him here? Yes.

Are we able to look at this?
Absolutely. Amazing,

that we've got a photograph of him.

This is actually Ludvig wearing
Polish Air Force uniform,

so this picture
was taken before the war.

So, how old would he have been here,
do we think?

I would say he's early 30s.

He got married in 1937,
and one year later,

his baby daughter was born.

The Battle of Britain gave Ludvig
a chance to continue the fight

against the Nazis.

For them, it was the island
of the last hope.

They knew if Britain
is going to be invaded,

they have no place to go.

But, because of the experience
from Poland,

they understood German tactics,
and they flew similar to Germans.

So does that mean that actually,
the Poles were more experienced

than their British counterparts?

In most cases, yes, because
many of the young British pilots,

they never experienced
combat before.

But, before they could fight
for the RAF,

the Poles need to train
on British aircraft.

British equipment was completely
different than any other equipment

on the Continent - different than
Polish, and from French aircraft.

Plus, you know, Poles, they didn't
know miles, they didn't know feet.

They didn't know yards.
They had to convert

into British measuring system.

On August 30th, Ludvig and
the rest of 303 Squadron

have been training
for almost a month.

Yet British commanders
are still reluctant

to send the Poles into battle.

And they were worried
about the Slavic temperament.

They thought that Poles,
regardless of the British commander,

will go for the Germans,
which was actually true.

They were there to kill the pilot
because what they experienced

in Poland - they saw German bombers
dropping bombs on civilian targets.

They saw civilians being killed.

They left their loved ones
in Poland,

like Ludvig, for example - he left
his wife and his children.

He must have been desperate.
Oh, yeah.

When he was in France
and then in Britain,

he knew what he was fighting for.
Right.

He was desperate to go back to his
country and to see his family. Yeah.

At midday, a group of Luftwaffe
bombers slipped through the net.

They evade the RAF defences,
and they head straight

for one of fighter command's
most important airfields.

Biggin Hill.

In the Biggin Hill operations room,
Corporal Elspeth Henderson plots

the raid as it approaches
her own airfield.

Just a few hundred yards away,

on Westerham Road, is the home
of the Greensmith family.

It's been a long, hot summer
and seven-year-old Jeff Greensmith

has spent his days hunting
for souvenirs around the airfield.

Growing up, I think Biggin Hill
was a bit of an adventure.

It was seriously in the thick of it.

This actually fell in our garden
down the road.

It's dated 1940.

Wow. That came from
a Hawker Hurricane.

They were trying to shoot down
a Dornier 17,

and actually shot the lock off
our front door.

Jeff and his family
have special permission

to enter RAF Biggin Hill.

His parents run the cafe
at the base.

It gave the airmen a taste
of regular civilian life.

It was a friendly place -
laugh and joke.

My dad was a bundle of fun.

There was a rule,
I think my dad did it,

that you did not talk about
the war.

Another unwritten rule of the cafe

was not to ask about regular
customers who didn't return.

Canadian airman came
into the cafe on his own.

He sat down, put his head
in his hands,

and he said to my father, "Bill,
customers are dying like flies."

My dad says, "How many?".

They did get shot down in handfuls.

And, of course,
you're in a squadron,

it's your mates, your friends.

12:30, August 30th, 1940.

Today, it's not just RAF pilots
who are in the line of fire.

At 12:30, 30 of these 250kg
bombs are dropped over Biggin Hill,

but the Luftwaffe bombers
are flying too high.

Nearly all of these bombs
miss their target

and land in surrounding villages.

Thankfully, the airfield
is still operational.

Luckily, Jeff and his family
have a bomb shelter

and are unharmed.

But this isn't the first time
bombers have missed Biggin Hill

and hit the village.

The fourth bomb landed 20 yards
behind our air-raid shelter.

A huge bang, and the back of the
shelter comes out of the ground.

It picked me up
and moved me through the shelter

and I hit the front wall
of the thing.

Couldn't breathe.

My mother's mouth is going
up and down.

I was convinced we were dead.

At 1:30pm on August 30th,
the smoke clears,

and the civilians around Biggin Hill
emerge to survey the damage.

But the brief respite in the bombing
will not last long.

Another huge enemy raid
is just about to begin.

It's August 30th, 1940.

The toughest day so far
in the Battle of Britain.

Fighter command has spent all day

fending off wave after wave
of enemy attacks.

But, unlike previous days,
there's been almost no respite,

no pause in enemy raids.

That means that many aircraft
have been lost

and the RAF's fighter pilots
are exhausted.

It's 1.35 in the afternoon.

More waves of Luftwaffe bombers
are crossing the Channel.

Their targets
are more RAF airfields.

But destroying the RAF
is proving more difficult

than Hitler anticipated.

Over 450 Luftwaffe aircrew
have died this month.

Another 800 are missing.

Many of those have been shot
down and taken prisoner in Britain.

One German pilot crashed
nearjeff Greensmith's house

in Biggin Hill village.

Jeff came face-to-face
with the wounded man.

There's a German in a flying suit,
and my dad is crouched over him.

My dad is actually giving
this badly wounded German

a sip of our brandy,

and then I'm standing
on the doorstep,

and the German goes to me...

What the German had
was a photograph of his two kids.

One is a bit older than me,

and the other one
is the German version of me.

And he cried.

Um...

I'd never actually seen a man cry.
Men don't cry.

He cried.

Anyway, two stretcher bearers
lifted this guy.

He reached out his hand to my dad.

Shake hands.

Which he did.

And away he went.

We heard afterwards that he
died in the ambulance, poor soul.

So, yeah...

Not good.

The high casualty rate
is affecting Luftwaffe morale.

German air crews
are demoralised and exhausted.

Luftwaffe commanders
are forced to use rookie pilots

to fill the gaps left by those
who've been shot down.

Most of the new pilots that were
coming in were complete novices

because the Germans
had been preparing

for essentially a blitzkrieg war.

Short, sharp, quick. job done.

So the Luftwaffe are running out
of experienced pilots.

How about aircraft?

They didn't have the spare aircraft,
and those aircraft were not

being produced in the factories
at the pace they needed

to replace those that were lost.

This is a war of attrition.

Propaganda films
shown back in Germany

paint a very different picture
of the battle.

Bomber crews are depicted as heroes
just days away from victory,

and on the afternoon of August 30th,
they're just getting started.

At 3.30pm, a third wave
of Luftwaffe aircraft

prepares to take off
from airfields in France.

It's a huge force
of over 600 planes,

and it's intended
to overwhelm the RAF.

Incredible, John.

Got the most amazing view.

I'm going to get a sense
of what it must have felt like

for the men piloting
one of the German aircraft

on the afternoon of August 30th.

I'm in the cockpit

of a World War ll
twin engine bomber.

This is a British one.
It's a Bristol Blenheim,

but it's very similar to the
enemy aircraft that were flying

over the southeast of Britain

on the afternoon of August 30th.

This incredible aircraft
is piloted by John Remain.

From here, I have an almost
identical view to that

of Luftwaffe air crews.

What is amazing
about being in the cockpit

of one of these planes
is the visibility.

All around me, there is glass.

I feel like I can see
at least 180 degrees.

Yeah, that's what you needed
because you needed to be able to see

anything that was coming
to attack you.

The German formations
are flying over southern Britain

to their designated targets.

Only then can they drop
their bombs and return home.

They have safety in numbers,

but any aircraft that get separated
can be easy prey for the RAF.

Bombers needed to stay together
so that their combined

machine gun armament could have
an effect against fighters. Right.

But when they were on their own,

everything was on the hunter's side
then, because a loan bomber

is so vulnerable to a fighter.

Just after 4pm, 120 Nazi planes
turn north, and head for Luton.

Their target is the
Vauxhall Motor Works,

a factory making tanks
for the British army.

One aircraft falls behind.

The crew doesn't know it yet,

but they are about to be spotted
by one of the RAF's hunters.

At RAF Northolt, Polish pilot
Ludvig Paszkiewicz

of 303 Squadron,
is taking off in his Hurricane.

He turns north for what should be
another routine training flight.

At the same time,
the force of 120 German planes

is getting closer
to the target at Luton.

One of them is still flying
behind the main formation.

I'm in a plane similar to that
lone twin-engined Nazi aircraft.

They don't know it yet,

but they're about to run into
the Hurricane of 303 Squadron.

2O minutes into his training flight,

Ludvig Paszkiewicz spots the
lone German aircraft up ahead.

He reports it to his squadron
leader, but gets no reply.

So Ludwig takes matters
into his own hands.

He peels away from the squadron

and attacks the
German aircraft head on.

Oh, my goodness!
I am seeing this Hurricane

heading literally straight
for our windscreen.

It's a sensation
I can barely describe -

the terror he must have felt.

We can see the Hurricane
now coming towards us.

He would have been seeing
exactly the same thing.

Not being able to manoeuvre
and outpace the Hurricane,

knowing he was just
going to get shot down.

The Hurricane could just literally
run rings around the bomber.

Oh, my goodness!

The German pilot
takes evasive action,

but there's very little he can do
to escape Ludvig's fighter.

We're diving now.

Trying to evade the aircraft.

It's banking around me now.

But once the Hurricane is behind us,

I have no idea where he is.

My heart is absolutely thumping.

The fear of those pilots
must have been just unimaginable.

Ludvig closes in on his prey.

Unknown to the German crew,
he creeps up beneath them.

When he's just a few feet away,

he opens fire.

The aircraft's right-hand engine
bursts into flames.

If that was real, we'd be gone
by now because we have been hit

full-on with all
the machine-gun fire.

And that would have been
the end of it.

Remarkably, we know what happened
to the German crew,

thanks to an extraordinary account
from one who survived.

Radio operator Heinrich Nordmeyer.

That split-second decision
by the pilot saves Heinrich's life.

He parachutes to safety
and is taken prisoner.

The pilot, Georg Anthony,
goes down with his plane.

When Ludvig returns to RAF Northolt,

he receives a rapturous reception
from his countrymen.

Finally, 303 Squadron
is made operational.

The Polish pilots can officially
take part in the Battle of Britain.

It's 4.50pm on August 30th.

The enemy bombers reach Luton

and strike the Vauxhall tank
factory, killing 53 people.

RAF Detling near Maidstone is hit.

The airfield's oil tanks explode,
and the base is put out of action.

Five minutes later,

Tony Woods-Scawen prepares
to take off from RAF Tangmere.

He's been on the ground
just 12 minutes,

barely enough time
to rearm his Hurricane.

Meanwhile, his brother Patrick
is back in the air

for the fourth time today.

The fighting is relentless.

Some squadrons will see action
six or seven times

before the day is out.

It's 5.45pm on August 30th, 1940.

The RAF is reeling from a day
of almost constant attacks,

but there's more to come.

Unknown to Air Force commanders,
a small formation of enemy aircraft,

less than ten bombers,
has come up the Thames Estuary,

and has now turned south.

They're heading for RAF Biggin Hill.

It's the second raid
on Biggin Hill today.

The bombers are flying low and fast.

Corporal Elspeth Henderson
is still in the ops room.

This time, the bombers hit the base.

This is an aerial photograph
taken from onboard

one of the Luftwaffe bombers
during the raid.

You can actually see the bombs
exploding on the ground.

The barracks, the hangars
and the power station

have all been hit.

Three Spitfires have been destroyed
on the ground.

A trench, packed full
of ground crew,

men just like Ronald Poundton
who we met earlier,

takes a direct hit,

killing everyone inside.

39 people are dead.

RAF Biggin Hill, one of the
most important airfields

in the southeast, is out of action.

Elspeth survives the raid that day.

She's one of the first on the scene

to help dig survivors
out of the rubble.

But the next day,
the bombers hit again.

She was the senior WAF on duty
in the operations room

when Biggin Hill
came under attack yet again.

This time, the operations room
takes a direct hit.

The bomb came straight
through the roof,

bounced off the teleprinter
and exploded.

Elspeth's telephone is the only
line of communication

between Biggin Hill
and Fighter Command HQ.

She stays at her post

until the operations room
is engulfed in flames.

I can't imagine sitting
here with all that noise

and catastrophe,
and being able to carry on.

She said she felt very detached.
She was just doing her job.

But she survived.

She did, yes. They all survived.

August 30th, just after 6pm.

Luftwaffe bombers are returning
to their bases in northern France.

They leave a trail of destruction
behind them.

Much of RAF Biggin Hill,

critical for the defence of London,
has been reduced to rubble.

For RAF ground crews, expecting
the return of their pilots

who have been fighting the raids,
it's now an anxious wait.

6.05pm on August 30th, 1940.

The RAF is reeling from
a day of nonstop attacks.

The Luftwaffe have flown
over 1,300 missions.

At RAF airfields
across the southeast,

ground crew are watching
for returning aircraft.

It's an agonising wait.

This is the difficult period.

We sit waiting.

And we sit waiting,

and somebody will always say,

"Stone me,
they're cutting it ruddy fine."

Whoosh! Big roar, they're back.

Magic! They're back!

Oh! Suddenly you're alive again.

We jump to our feet and
you count them - one, two, three,

six, eight, nine...

Holy smoke.

Three missing.

And you stand there in the pen
with the three mates -

"ls it ours?

"Is it theirs?"

Then they taxi into the bay.

And eventually, you know.

It's yours.

Like so many ground crew, Ronald
had to cope with the loss of pilots

he served with during the
three months of the battle.

This is the awful, awful time.

There are two aircraft in a bay.

The aircraft next to you
is in the bay,

and they're working like smoke,

rearming, refuelling and...and
you stand there,

looking at nothing.

And nobody comes to say hard luck,
or anything.

And the three of you stand there...

...and you realise...

...the others are crying, as well.

It's an awful, awful feeling.

How many times
did your plane not come back?

We lost five.

And it's a...

It takes a lot of getting over.

You got to know
those pilots perfectly,

and they became part of the crew,

and suddenly,
they're not there any more.

And that's ever so difficult
to live with.

Brothers Tony and Patrick
Woods-Scawan are both safely back

at their bases.

Between them, they've flown
eight missions today,

and shot down two enemy aircraft.

But their story doesn't end there.

I've come to the village
of Ivychurch in Kent

to find out what happened
to the brothers next.

It must be amazing, Tristan,
meeting Ben,

and realising you've got
so much in common.

Yeah. I mean, it's... The two
families have always been connected

throughout the years.

With rne is Ben, grandson
of the brothers' sweetheart

Bunny Lawrence,

and Tony and Patrick's relative,
Tristan Woods-Scawan.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck.

First Patrick, on September 1st.

He bailed out too low.

And then, 24 hours later, Tony came
down. Again, bailed out too low,

flying a Hurricane,
just like his brother.

Neither knew about the other's fate.

Tony went down just a few
hundred metres from here.

The tragedy of it
is that they both died

within 24 hours of each other,
and the whole family was devastated.

Tony was found close to his plane

and carried here
to St George's Church,

where he died of his injuries.

Bunny Lawrence mourned the deaths
of both Patrick and Tony.

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

it always brought a tear to her eye.

So it's a very sad time
for the family and my granny.

In June 1941, Bunny accompanied
Tony and Patrick's father to

Buckingham Palace to collect their
Distinguished Flying Cross medals

from King George VI.

It's now early evening
on August 30th.

Flying Officer Ludvig Paszkiewicz
is safely back at RAF Northolt.

We suspect he's celebrating
his first victory of the battle.

Meanwhile, seven-year-old
Jeff Greensmith is at home

in Biggin Hill village.

The raid on the airfield
has cut off gas and electricity

to his family's house
in Westerham Road.

For their bravery
during the Biggin Hill raids,

Elspeth Henderson and two colleagues
are awarded the military medal.

They're the first women ever
to receive the honour.

In later life,
Elspeth wrote about the war.

"War is a dirty, dangerous
and sad way of solving problems

"and should be avoided.

"But it was the only language
that Hitler understood."

The same raid that Elspeth survived
killed dozens of RAF ground crew.

By the end of the battle,
more than 300 will be dead.

I'm afraid a lot of
Battle of Britain talk

is almost saying
it was great fun for the...

It wasn't great fun for the pilots,

and it certainly wasn't great fun
for the ground crews.

I mean, it was a war.

Heavens above, it was a war.

Do you consider yourself a hero?
No.

Why not? No, no, no, no.

I wouldn't use the word hero.
What would you use?

All I did was run around like
a mad young man on the ground.

Heroes? They were the lads up there.

They're the heroes.

Hitler's Air Force has failed
to deal the knockout blow

its commanders hoped for.

The RAF has stood its ground.

Just

British fighter pilots
have flown more missions on this day

than any other of the battles
so far - just over 1,000.

Ground crews have barely had time
to rearm and refuel aircraft

before they're scrambled
into action again.

Eight fighter pilots have been
killed, and 39 aircraft destroyed,

including eight from
just one squadron.

Ten airfields have been hit.

Some on multiple occasions.

RAF Biggin Hill, central
to the defence of London,

has suffered badly.

39 of its personnel
have been killed,

and civilians have
borne the brunt as well.

200 are dead.

The RAF can't take
many more clays like this.

The outcome of the Battle of Britain
is on a knife edge.

Tomorrow night, we reveal
what happens as Britain

faces the threat of a Nazi invasion
in just a few days' time.

Losses were huge.

They sent a squadron out,
not one would come back.

As the Battle of Britain reaches
its climax on September 15th, 1940,

the RAF risk everything

in the face of a final
Luftwaffe onslaught.

This is their finest hour.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media