Original subtitles

The Spitfire has really always been there in my life,

and the truth is, I think I never really grew up.

To sit here now talking about the possibility

of doing something so spectacular,

it fills me with an enormous amount of excitement

and pride at the same time.

You got family at home?

Yeah, I've got a girlfriend and two stepsons,

and we live together now in Devon.

In that respect, this is a bad time to do this.

I should have done it when I was younger,

but the opportunity wasn't there then and it is now.

I want him to go.

I know how much it means to him. I know how important it is to him.

I want him to be himself and fulfil his dreams.

The restoration, route planning permissions and specialist training,

it's not possible to do this on your own.

There's no-one else I could have called and said,

"Hey, Steve, should we do this?"

And he immediately said yes.

STEVE: How many people in the world

look to the Spitfire as a symbol of freedom for mankind?

It is something that touches the very soul of man.

We have a lot of work to do if we're going to be ready.

We're going to fly about 130 hours on the trip,

and we're going to be flying over stretches of water and mountains

that are pretty inhospitable.

We've got to get up through Alaska.

We've got to get over the Bering Strait before the winter sets in,

because if we leave that bit too late,

we're going to get ourselves in trouble.

There are huge hurdles. We can't get permissions through China.

The only other option is to go through Hong Kong,

but we're being told that's impossible.

WINSTON CHURCHILL: Never in the field of human conflict

was so much owed by so many to so few.

Wow.

Knowing what we're about to attempt to set off and doing it,

I'm...I'm really quite overwhelmed.

We're at Goodwood in the south of England,

and today is the launch day of the longest flight.

Smithy, I want to do it.

I want to see all the stuff go in. But these bits can go now.

We need a team.

A small number of exceptional individuals.

SMITHY: I'm ex Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight,

so I've flown lots of Spitfires over the years.

There's something spiritual, almost magical about this aeroplane.

Taking this beautiful piece of British engineering

around the world...

..the achievement for me is keeping the aeroplane flying

and keeping it safe and making sure everybody comes back in one piece.

Yeah, I've got to go and just have some water, sit down,

and say goodbye to you guys, and then...

Guys, can you stay up for this? Thanks, man.

I started filmmaking to tell inspiring stories.

And this is something that I just couldn't turn down.

Right, one minute, then chocks out, please.

MAN: No matter what paperwork we've got,

we may find that we're turned away based on somebody having a bad day.

That's going to be a huge challenge to overcome.

To be honest, it's the first time since I lived with my parents

I've ever felt settled in my life.

My biggest fear is something happening while I'm away

and not being there for them.

STEVE: Flying through the Highlands,

through the scenery that is out of this world.

Going to the Faroe Islands first.

Huh, we made it! Brilliant.

Where are we? Reykjavik.

Wow.

Started really bad. That feels... I tell you what...

It's quite emotional at times, isn't it?

It's hard work.

I'm very important, you know. This is my job.

I'm the guy who folds the Spitfire cover.

All the glory.

Who'd want to be a pilot when you can do this?

This sort of operation was going to be prone to the weather gods,

and at the moment, they're not shining on us.

I've been speaking to the MET people.

The trouble is this bit of water, which is called the Denmark Strait.

We've got models, computer models

that tell us that there's a lot of cloud and a lot of ice,

and that's...that's bad.

We're stuck here for two or three days.

Quite frustrating because it's still really near

the beginning of the trip,

and we want to get moving, want to cover some ground.

Today, we're going to get you boys to Greenland.

She was designed as a short-range interceptor.

This is completely outside her design brief.

If she gets too cold and we get any form of icing,

then, you know, she'll stop flying.

Make sure you change the oxygen level before he gets in.

Have you got your thermal undies on? Yes.

Your gloves with you. Yes.

Enjoy.

STEVE: Now, this was always going to be one of the hardest legs

of the whole journey.

The iceberg's out on our left wing tip,

and there's a massive one

that looked like it was the size of an oil tanker.

We're at -10 now. -11.

(OVER RADIO) Copy that.

SMITHY: Visual with the field.

Pilatus landing first, Spitfire landing 30 seconds later.

(OVER RADIO) Ground 2-0-9.

This is a big moment - the first major water crossing.

It looks nice up there, though. I think we need to fuel and go.

Not much out here, is there?

(OVER RADIO) No!

It's just vast, isn't it? I've never, ever seen anything like it.

It's a scale that you can't get your head around.

SMITHY: I've never been across Greenland before.

It's quite scary, actually.

Don't know what your survival options are

over that...over the top of that pretty remote, I would think.

The weather here is just as you see it.

It's absolutely beautiful.

It's a civil American base. They anchor here with their military.

MAN: Wow, she's beautiful. Yeah.

We were just in our dorms watching movies and he came by and he's like,

"There's a Spitfire coming in!"

I'm like, "I wonder if it's the guys that are taking the..."

No way! That's too cool. Yeah.

We spent a lot of time here in Kangerlussuaq.

If you make it down there, drinks will be on us.

(ALL TOAST)

Cheers, guys. Cheers.

STEVE: Everyone's saying how huge it is and how amazing it is.

That is all we did.

That tiny little crossing.

And THAT is Greenland.

We have seen a fraction of it,

and we thought it was the biggest thing imaginable.

Unbelievable.

SMITHY: Yeah, we're stuck in Iqaluit.

As a wise man said, it's much better to be down here

wishing you were up there

than up there wishing you were down here,

and never was a truer word spoken.

BEN: With these planes, particularly the Spitfire, if you get into cloud,

you can end up in whiteout and you don't know which way is up.

STEVE: Why don't we go for it?

If we don't like it, come back,

and if we do like it, carry on to the good weather?

That's...that's fine, but I don't think we're gonna get back in here,

or that would...that would be a worry.

Alright. Let's take a deep breath in.

So, we're up to 35 knots, the glide speed.

Gear up ideally onto land. If not, into the water.

If we do go into the water,

we'll try and make it as close to land as possible

so we don't have to swim far.

Matt, Smithy, are you airborne?

(OVER RADIO) Yeah, just head up, mate.

Copy that. I'm at low level.

The weather is...is appalling.

Stay off me. Stay off me.

Stand by.

But as you can see, it's bloody dangerous,

because you just don't know what you're doing.

Well, there's no horizon, is there? No.

Yeah, it's...you know, it's critically dangerous.

We're at 300 feet.

Stay at least level with me.

Intention is to go back to the field.

Yeah, I agree.

Tower, this is Spitfire.

Both aircraft in very poor weather to the south, the west of the field.

Matt, don't forget, mate, you've got a very heavy aeroplane,

very heavy tail.

Thanks for that. It's a good shout.

(STEADY BEEPING)

It's probably going to... (INDISTINCT RADIO COMMUNICATION)

OK, I've got plan of approach, 120, 125 miles an hour.

Yeah, copy that. We'll gear down about a mile final.

Copy that.

(INDISTINCT COMMUNICATION OVER RADIO)

Had MY heart rate up and all.

You alright? I'm quite emotional, actually.

Well done.

That was a little bit too close to the...to the wire for my liking.

Yeah, I agree.

I think... We all wanted to go. I agree.

We just...all of us take a step back.

You know, let's just get a risk assessment.

Yeah. We went... Totally agree.

..based on the intel that we had.

There is a huge amount of risk in what we're doing.

Back in the day, they were thinking about their enemies.

Now I have a far greater understanding

of what these veteran pilots think about.

Yeah, it was a fairly focusing moment,

and we will do our best not to have any more like that, that's for sure.

We're doing it day by day and trip by trip.

One day we'll have a flight where we can see our destination!

We had a good day yesterday -

we flew 1,000 miles, three sorties.

Five hours of flying.

(SPEAKS FRENCH)

We're coming back to civilisation.

We've seen our first road for five days through the Canada sky.

The lakes and the rivers everywhere.

Hi, Mike, how are you? Good.

It's unbelievable country.

We're in good shape. Yeah, we've made up time, we're on the line now.

But I think we all fully understand

that we're going to be behind the line again.

That's just the nature of the beast.

You guys are blessed, really, to be able to do this.

Give people the joy of seeing it.

Oh, just awesome.

You can't help but be totally in awe

of something that has just done so much

and accomplished so much in the war.

Are you going to stick around and watch the take-off?

Are you kidding me? (LAUGHS) Figured.

You'll be lucky if I'm not holding onto the tail.

(BOTH LAUGH)

There's some serious weather out there.

We were flying around these fantastic columns when I noticed

the temperature gauge suddenly drop from 80 to less than 40.

The aeroplane overheats at 120 degrees

and after that, the engine melts, so you have to shut down.

GERALLT: I can't think of anything it could be

other than that the gauges failed.

That's the...

To the back of the gauge? Yeah.

And the solution?

We're to warm up.

So the idea, we're then going to hide this deeper in the wing -

reasonably cool place - hoping that will then be able

to read the temperature in the aeroplane.

(LAUGHS) It's just like, whoa, guys! It's like that. It's all we've got.

Mwah!

I'm gonna sell everything and buy a Mustang.

(LAUGHS)

Everybody else is getting a bit of R&R.

I'm getting a bit of... bit of a sweat going.

Now the boys are polishing, which is nice to see.

She looks a million dollars.

STEVE: Two fantastic Mustangs and the Silver Spitfire

all flying closely together.

What an experience!

WOMAN: I was born just after the war.

I might not be here if it hadn't have been for the Spitfires

and Hurricanes.

OK, I'm in company with a Super Marine Spitfire

past Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz.

MAN: (OVER RADIO) What's going on on 3?

MAN: There's a 1943 Spitfire that came in

and, uh, everyone out there have a look at it.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

I brought my father's flight log here today.

He was a Lancaster pilot in RCF with Bomber Command,

and he did two tours of duty in World War II.

Lancaster? Yes.

A spin? Yes.

Following maple leaves - a sort of slow spin.

Good grief!

Broke the formation and...

Was that a procedure they were taught to do?

Is that... No.

He just...? Wow.

Saved his life.

It's why you're here. That's why I'm here.

(LAUGHS)

That's what we're here for, that's what we're doing this for, you know?

This aeroplane stands for so many people, like your dad,

who were prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice

for what they believed in.

And, you know, in his case, he made it.

Which one was he? That's him.

He looks dashing.

Thank you for that. Oh, you're welcome.

It's really good of you.

I wonder how much fear has been expended in this cockpit.

Do you know anyone that lives in Markova that we can ask

the condition of the runway there?

I don't know of anybody in the west.

You're the only ones I've ever heard of in the last 20 years

that have got into Markova or...

Hello, mate. So you don't think you're going to go anywhere

till Sunday, do you?

So... My worry is if we're there for much longer,

it's going to make it incredibly difficult

to even cross the Bering Strait.

When it starts... when it starts snowing?

Yeah, exactly.

We know it if Matt's gonna go home. Yeah, of course. Of course.

When we started planning this 2.5 years ago,

my life was very different.

Nik and I were together then, but we weren't living together.

Since then, we've bought a house and we have conceived of a child,

which is now planned halfway around the trip.

He's always wanted to be a dad.

He's always wanted children.

He's had a fast track to fatherhood with the boys.

He is like a child in many ways himself.

Can we not import Nik into Russia? They've got good hospitals now.

I'll tell you what - you two negotiate that with her.

(ALL LAUGH)

NIKKOLAY: It's just his nature.

He's really encouraging, loving and caring.

He's going to be the most amazing dad.

We've got a pretty good idea of when the baby is going to be born.

There is a risk that I could miss it, but I will be ready to go whenever.

I think coming back for the birth and then leaving again

would be even harder.

Right, let's get in.

Let's get in, guys. OK.

(PLAYS 'SCOTLAND THE BRAVE')

That's a whole new world.

I've been...45 years I've been... it's just been look after me.

STEVE: Scarier than the trip?

Oh, undoubtedly. (LAUGHS)

The weather has been kind to us, and we have come all the way

across the fantastic Bering Strait, and we are now in Russia.

Where are we?

We are in Evensk. In Russia.

(RUSSIAN ACCENT) Russia!

BEN: Your name? Vadim.

Hey! Vadim's our navigator.

He got us here today.

We're eight storeys up,

staying with an old lady.

Chura, her name is.

I think you need just to have a pan around to see...

What exactly... ..what exactly it is.

(LAUGHS) It is surreal.

It's totally surreal.

I'm enjoying it, though.

Today was one of the...

..hardest days of the trip.

Uh, and at one moment, one of the scariest days of my life.

And then I woke up this morning and had a call for Nik, who is...

..who's pregnant at home with our...with our...

..son, and, um...

..um, she was bleeding heavily...

(VOICE CATCHES) ..and was terrified.

And I wasn't there for her, and that was awful.

And really scary, and I felt...

..utterly terrified and...

..I felt useless.

And really selfish.

She's in hospital,

and I think they're keeping, you know, good care of her,

so, um...fingers crossed.

(EXHALES HEAVILY)

Thanks, mate.

Yeah, the situation basically is Nikkolay's gone into hospital.

Matt's desperate to get home, obviously.

The Russian handler won't let us leave Russia.

We paid four weeks ago, but the money hasn't arrived in his account.

He...he's not going to get us a permission to leave Russia

until he's got money in his bank account.

And if we can't leave Russia, Matt is...Matt's run out of patience.

He's going to make his own way home.

If Matt does that and parks the Spitfire in Russia,

then it's basically the end of the trip.

There's no way that Spitfire's staying in Russia

for six weeks on its own. That would be it.

We'd have to freight it, pack it and take it home.

And if that happens, trip finished.

So I've got an hour to sort this out.

Yeah, I'll tell them not to charge you.

When will he tell you?

OK. Good. Yeah, please do.

Thanks. Cheers. Bye.

OK, so apparently they've now got a trace of the money, and they think

it's actually going to arrive in Moscow any minute.

So it's gone through the final gateway.

Nice to be in Japan.

But what we've done is come forward with the Pilatus.

We've still got one final leg to do in Russia, but the weather set in

and we needed to get on with the expedition,

Matt needed to get home, and Smithy will be coming in with the Spitfire.

He's coming. He's coming.

We are in New Chitose Airport. We are waiting Spitfire!

Come! Come, Spitfire!

(LAUGHS)

There it is.

(CHEERS) Hey, hey, hey.

Oooh!

(RADIO COMMUNICATION IN JAPANESE)

(PEOPLE CALL OUT)

Oh, thank you! Thank you very much. Thank you.

OK.

Done. Thank you.

Thank you. Cheers, guys.

Matt's gone home so I'm going to fly this down today.

The bad news is that there's a typhoon weather phenomena

in the southern part of Japan,

which is going to be a bloody nuisance.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

50 miles an hour of wind gusting to 65 miles an hour of wind.

This thing cannot be out in those conditions.

He's avoiding weather, what we can see on the radar at the moment.

And you can see he's actually descended about 3,000 feet as well,

so he's obviously encountered a bit of cloud.

Not quite sure where... where he's going.

Hello, Peter. Hello.

Yes, safely landed, and I have somebody looking for you.

Jesus Christ. I think I've just aged about 20 fucking years.

Fuck knows how Smithy feels.

(PHONE RINGS)

SMITHY: How's things?

Sounded like it wasn't much fun.

Oh, mate, you've no idea.

You have no idea. Anyway, safe on the ground,

and, um...and that's about the size of it, really.

Yeah, I think it's calmed down a little bit.

So, yeah, Japan got it yesterday.

You know, we were extremely lucky.

The reason we hurried to get the airplanes to Nagoya

was to get them into a hangar,

because everybody was rightly concerned about the typhoon.

You know, we knew we would be vindicated

in moving both aircraft down here and working hard to achieve that.

VOICEMAIL: One saved message.

It's Matt.

I made it back in time.

Nik's well. We've had a baby boy.

Pretty tired, but I thought you'd like to know.

We've called him Arthur.

It's an unbelievable feeling.

I can't believe I'm a dad.

I hope you're well,

and look forward to seeing you in Nagoya.

Speak soon. Take care. Bye.

(MUSIC PLAYS)

Nagoya. About 150 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Had a busy day yesterday,

servicing and cleaning aeroplanes ready for the second half start.

So, yeah, we're all back.

How are you? Congratulations!

I'm now a dad. (CHUCKLES) Finally grown up.

No, I'm just a dad. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)

I think we're really excited, you know?

In part one, we travelled 12,000 nautical miles

but only went through four or five countries.

We've got 10,000 nautical miles to go as we stand today,

but 20-plus countries still to go through.

Well, I think what we're going to see in the next couple of months

will be really interesting,

and some of the places that we'll fly over will be fabulous.

(OVER RADIO) Sagoya Tower, good afternoon.

Spitfire formation requests line up runway 3-4.

MAN: (OVER RADIO) I have never seen such a cool aircraft

and I hope you lots will be successful.

Let's go flying.

Looks very familiar, that.

So we've just arrived at the Peace Museum.

This was an airfield during World War II.

(INAUDIBLE)

This smoke, we are thinking about the...make peace for dead men.

The idea of taking off and not planning to land

just blows my mind.

These kids were 19, 20 years old when they were given one-way fuel.

What fuel's he got left?

(OVER RADIO) What's your fuel level now?

(OVER RADIO) 19.7.

Good afternoon. Spitfire formation currently heading south

and then shortly turning right Kilo Echo Charlie.

# I love the feeling when we lift off... #

Climbing to 8,500 feet, 3-0-1-1.

# Watching the world so small below... #

Airborne veer far west, climbing to 8,000 feet.

# I love the dreaming when I think of... #

Over the sea. I can see the Colossus in the distance.

Build up of clouds around, but sheer blue sky above us, which is nice.

# I wonder what keeps us so high up... #

So we're back on the road again, flying south down towards Okinawa.

Kato, you phooey! Ahaaa!

Aaahhhhh!

(OVER RADIO) I have visual with you of the first coordinate.

# Yeah, this fear's got a hold on me...

It's really wonderful. You're welcome anytime here.

# Got a hold on me... #

When you are visual, I have the lead.

(OVER RADIO) Do you have the lead?

Nice one? Yeah, good.

That was an experience, wasn't it? Cool, wasn't it?

(LAUGHS) Very cool.

Got a few jet liners waiting.

I mean, the whole thing about Hong Kong

has been impossible from the start.

We're not supposed to actually land here.

It's obviously one of the world's busiest international airports,

so getting here in itself...

And getting fuel here is also nigh on impossible.

We're at a time where Hong Kong is going through

some of its own political challenges.

(CROWD CHANTS)

A bit of a danger that a British icon,

particularly one that represents

such a symbol of freedom and democracy

flying in right at this critical moment between Hong Kong and China

had a real danger of becoming a bit inflammatory.

It's taken a little bit of shine off the achievement of getting here.

Hong Kong Day three. Nice day here.

Still not sure about Da Nang, Vietnam, where we're going,

but it's better than it was yesterday,

so we're going to brief and go.

We have to be out of here by 7:30 this morning, otherwise we can't go.

BEN: And what are you flying? Spitfire today.

It's a big water crossing.

There's not a lot of divert options.

Smithy, rightly, is quite nervous.

There's a lot of unknowns.

(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

See you in Vietnam. You betcha.

And that's not an expression you'll hear every day.

Air prop!

(OVER RADIO) You ready for taxi?

Yeah. Thumbs up.

OK. Oscar Yankee Tango Hotel Papa and Golf India Romeo Tango Yankee,

we are in taxi.

Smithy with us? Yes.

You ready, Smithy?

As I'll ever be.

Clear for take-off, 0-7 right, Oscar Yankee Tango Hotel Papa

Spitfire flight.

You right there, Smithy? That speed alright for you, mate?

Yes. Look at that!

So I've got survival beacons, and just in case I end up in the jungle,

I've got a sat phone, because parachuting into the jungle

is not going to be much fun.

(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY OVER RADIO)

It's a bit warm today, Big Ben.

As you can tell, this is not because I've been standing in the shower.

It's because we're operating in relative heat of...

..what did you say? 120 degrees?

I could literally wring my overall out at this present moment in time.

We're doing a 25-hour check today.

Having a look at the Merlin Fingers.

I'll drop the oil filters out, have a look at the oil filters.

Just the ambient temperature that's a killer, the humidity.

It probably does have an effect on take-off performance,

especially if you're at high-altitude airfields.

This is a Rolls Royce Merlin.

27-litre, two-stage supercharged V12.

Designed in the late '30s, initially,

so that we could win what was the Snyder Racing Trophy.

And they set ridiculous speed records

with aeroplanes that looked like they shouldn't fly.

Obviously, the war broke out and the evolution of the Spitfire

was really, really quick.

We don't build anything in the modern day

that could do what this aeroplane does.

There's nothing out there that comes close to these airplanes.

A lot of people just love it because it's a beautiful aeroplane.

Got a lot of meaning for a lot of people.

STEVE: We're in Myanmar.

It's been closed for so many years and is open again now.

It's a whole different world.

Coming in to land, I was very aware of the importance of the place.

There were lots of Spitfires there during the war.

It's amazing, really, this belief

in 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 years of life...

..and by and large take away sort of a mental state

that, um...you know, would keep us all fairly happy.

Everybody knows about D-Day and the invasion of northern Europe

in order to defeat Hitler.

But, you know, the Japanese were, you know, an equally tenacious

and terrible enemy down in this part of the world.

The Spitfires supported the British Army, who were instrumental

in repelling the Japanese who were entrenched in Burma.

How young is he?

(SPEAKS VIETNAMESE)

88. 88?

Yes, so there are three Burmese veterans.

I think they're 88 and 98 years old between them.

And which regiment? Signals?

Signals?

In the British Army or in the...?

Beautiful, beautiful men, but their hearts are still young,

and they're still happy

and very proud, obviously - very proud men.

Just can't imagine fighting in these...in these climates.

Just cannot imagine how they do it.

A privilege to meet you both.

Thank you very much for everything you did.

Good for you, my friend. Good for you.

What's really nice for me is to actually bring a Spitfire here

and show for the first time a real Spitfire

back in Burma since the war.

It's really special.

But actually, like in so many places,

underneath the surface, there's some...

..there's some real atrocities still going on.

The anti-Muslim battles that have gone up in Rohingya state.

The one thing that is a consistent

is that war is never far from any nation.

The nature of an expedition is that it's tough.

You can get into this bubble where we're just doing leg to leg,

and we're focused, rightly so,

on making sure that aeroplanes are working,

that the pilots are not too tired,

that we don't slip up in terms of safety and risk,

and that we're having to deal with countries

that are not geared up, really, for our type of expedition

so there's a lot of red tape.

Spitfires are not very easy aeroplanes to land.

I can think of six Spitfire accidents in recent years.

One of which killed the pilot.

As you get more tired as the tour goes on, incidents and accidents,

you know, are going to be more likely to, uh...

..you know, going to be more likely to happen.

We're on the tarmac at Nagpur

and at last, all our permissions are in place.

Our fuel is on board and we're about to start a flight to Jodhpur.

It's 7:50 in the morning.

(OVER RADIO) Steve, how do you read?

Reading you fine.

We are 20 miles out from Jodhpur.

A good half hour flight.

Coming in to slightly desert land now.

WOMAN: (OVER RADIO) Golf Tango Yankee, prepare to land, runway 2-3.

Prepare to land 2-3.

(METALLIC SCRAPING)

It's gone wrong. Something's wrong.

Something's wrong.

(METALLIC SCRAPING CONTINUES) I've got a problem.

I've got a problem.

(OVER RADIO) Golf Tango Yankee, how do you read?

No, I think I'm good now. Think I'm good.

Alright. Do you want to see if you can...

Steve, what's going on?

(SIREN WAILS)

Golf Tango Yankee, we're in position.

Please proceeding on to links to undercarriage problem with Spitfire.

(MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY OVER RADIO)

(MEN SPEAK LOCAL LANGUAGE)

(MEN SPEAK INDISTINCTLY)

BEN: Are you alright? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, OK.

Just a bit of a shock when you came in to land and then the...

..it felt like the undercarriage hadn't come down on this side.

The wing just kept on going down and down and down,

and then it started going to the left.

And what's your reaction?

I think we've been very lucky.

It's just a really reminder that aviation is dangerous

and that things can happen at any time.

I think he did a good job given the cards he was dealt.

MATT: Every day counts now.

We've only got a couple of weeks to get home

or risk getting stuck in Europe.

STEVE: So there's a real sense of starting to get towards home.

So many of these Emirates have been supporters of the RAF.

They've named and bought Spitfires back in the day.

Seeing the Spitfire coming over in the desert,

it just felt like it's back home again.

Looks as natural as a camel. It does! It just does.

(LAUGHS)

Just landed in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Just had the most extraordinarily warm welcome.

They've just laid on everything for us.

The Crown Prince's two sons were genuinely excited

about coming to see us and what we were up to.

I think it means a lot to them that we're here.

It's an honour to welcome you to Bahrain, and safe travels home.

Makes such a difference to us when we get such a warm welcome.

The nations in this area contributed whatever they could

in order to buy Spitfires.

The UK was broke and we were losing aeroplanes at such a rate,

so we had to build them at such a rate,

and we couldn't necessarily afford to.

So lots of people around the world

put their hands deep into their pockets, produced money,

which then paid for... for the war effort.

Without their generosity, we wouldn't have had as many Spitfires

and we wouldn't have won a war.

Got only two weeks left before we are supposed to get home.

We've got Europe to contend with in the winter,

which could be, you know, not disastrous, but it could...

..it could delay us by weeks, frankly.

Yeah, everybody's dead tired. Just running out of reserves.

We're all running on empty.

So we do need to bolster up and encourage each other

and just make sure that we remain safe for the last two weeks

and get both aeroplanes and all of us home too, good and safely.

Just had the feeling of the World War Two and how they were fighting.

It's like crazy!

There's no ejector seat, huh? No ejection seat.

Jump to the wing and jump?

(INAUDIBLE)

If you took the time to turn or whatever you want to do,

get back to the... Alright.

We're going to try to make sure that you guys

are going to be flying next to our towers

and we're going to let the F-18 come closer to you

and we'll make sure that you have a good picture of them.

(OVER RADIO) One rolling now.

Awesome. Say thank you and it was a beautiful shot.

Excellent, my friend.

IAN: We're in Europe.

That's quite a moment.

It's the first day of winter today.

The winter's coming. We're just nipping through.

MATT: Yeah, I think of home a lot.

It does focus the mind.

When I'm getting into the aeroplane and I feel tired,

it makes me question the decision of whether I should fly or not and...

..it normally has the effect of bringing me up and getting me ready

and making me mentally prepared,

because it has been mind-blowing and it has been frightening.

You know, out of that fear has come a great sense of achievement

on days when we've completed flights that were looking pretty tough.

We've got some pretty tough weather to consider,

and we've got the Alps in front of us,

which are not the easiest things to pass,

so we really need to be on our best game

for the last week or so of this trip.

(OVER RADIO) How does it look? Yeah, it's pretty misty, mate,

but we'll press.

# Pull my heartstrings now

# How long before for the winter words call now?

# And I fall into service

# Do you know how?

# I feel lost but I'm searching for my way

# Back home, found my way

# Back home, ooh, ooh, ooh

# Oh, take me home, take me home

# To the place I know

# To the place I call my home. #

Well, here we are.

Three legs to go.

Over the Alps, and, my God, it's beautiful.

I've flown Spitfire into Germany before,

but a guy came up to me and said,

"I'm sure people have been coming to you and saying,

"'Hey, the Spitfire, this is the saviour of our country.'"

But what most people don't realise

is it was the saviour of our country as well.

How much is the hangar a night?

(LAUGHS)

# Do you know how

# I feel lost but I'm searching for my way

# Back home, for my way

# Back home. #

How's it looking, Steve?

We should be taking off in two hours' time,

and at the moment it is thick, thick fog.

So right now it's looking a bit difficult,

which would be unbelievably upsetting

to not be able to finish it now,

because everyone's there and waiting for us.

MAN: It really doesn't seem very long ago, does it, that we were all here

on that glorious August day to bid them farewell

and here they are within a matter of miles

of touching back down here again at lovely Goodwood.

Whoo!

Freezing fog is just a terrible thing for both aeroplanes, actually,

but certainly more so for this.

You will crash your aeroplane very quickly

if you fly in freezing fog.

But this is aviation. It's constantly like this,

so we just have to keep our fingers crossed.

(OVER RADIO) Golf India Romeo Tango Yankee, on the stand by the tower,

requesting start.

I've been cleared to start, so I'll do my own call.

Roger that.

Good luck, everybody.

I feel quite emotional. I couldn't stop crying.

Like, I know what's wrong with me.

I need to get away from these aeroplanes,

because every time someone says Spitfire, it starts up again.

So here we are approaching the White Cliffs.

Such an iconic British view,

particularly over the wing of a Spitfire.

The guys, when they fought during the battle,

you know, this was their sign that they were nearly home.

They've survived potentially one more mission.

They really are synonymous with great bravery and courage

that they all showed for all of our benefits.

(LAUGHS)

We've had one hell of a time.

The team has stayed together and just made it possible.

What a piece of design, what an engine.

What an aeroplane.

Oh, my God! Look at the crowd!

Well done, boys! Well done, guys!

Finally. Get this on camera.

It's just fantastic to be home, though.

To see your wife and your son.

Just amazing. Just amazing.

He's sleeping through it. (LAUGHS) Yeah, yeah.

I'll remind him of this.

(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) Oh, it's brilliant, isn't it?

Seeing Goodwood again, you know, it's been so many months

of different airfields, and this is...this is our home airfield

and, God, it's been an incredible experience.

Absolutely incredible experience.

Captions by Red Bee Media