1 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:07,040 Shall we go and do it? Yeah, let's do it. 2 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,640 2018 marks the centenary of the Royal Air Force. 3 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:23,920 In 100 years, it's evolved 4 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,600 from primitive planes of wood and string... 5 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:32,920 ..to flying at twice the speed of sound. 6 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,200 My name's Ewan McGregor and this is my brother, Colin, 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,560 and since we were kids we've been fascinated by the Royal Air Force. 8 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:42,480 I went on to become one of its pilots 9 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,600 and now I train the next generation of the RAF's top guns. 10 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,440 We've always had a passion for the role of the RAF in World War II. 11 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,320 Whoa! 12 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,960 But now, we're going to tell the whole story 13 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:03,000 of the Royal Air Force's first 100 years 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,800 by actually flying in some of its greatest aeroplanes 15 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,400 and recreating some of its most iconic missions. 16 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,000 We'll explore how planes became fighting machines in World War I... 17 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:20,440 It's right on our tail! Oh, my God! 18 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,200 ..and the classic dogfight from the Battle of Britain 19 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:27,200 between the Spitfire 20 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:28,840 and the Messerschmitt 109. 21 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,840 We'll meet the people who made the RAF, 22 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,760 from the ground crew to the fighter pilots, 23 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,080 the few who saved the country in 1940. 24 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,040 I had to fight for self-control... 25 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,200 ..because their cockpits were full of ghosts. 26 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,000 We'll explore how the Royal Air Force waged secret wars... 27 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,280 Oh, my God! Can you see it? Yeah. 28 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,720 ..and how it became a vehicle for social change. 29 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,320 And I said, "I AM the pilot!" 30 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,600 We'll meet the Cold War flyers 31 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,840 prepared to launch nuclear Armageddon. 32 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,160 We all knew there'd be nothing to come back to. 33 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,920 And finally, I'll dogfight at supersonic speeds 34 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:22,000 in one of the RAF's latest and most advanced jets. 35 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:26,640 It's going to be quite an adventure. 36 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,520 This is RAF Lossiemouth in the north of Scotland. 37 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,040 It's where Colin was based for much of his 20 years in the RAF. 38 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,000 He saw active service in Iraq 39 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,360 and is now a civilian instructor here, 40 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,880 using simulators to train the RAF's front-line pilots. 41 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,000 The RAF is giving Ewan the chance 42 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,520 to go up in one of their latest supersonic jets, the Typhoon. 43 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,840 So, first, I want to introduce him to this incredible machine. 44 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:15,880 Built with European partners, 45 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,440 it's the RAF's front-line combat aircraft. 46 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,240 It intercepts planes encroaching UK airspace 47 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,600 and is currently in action over Iraq and Syria. 48 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:27,960 Oh, my God. Look at that. 49 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,400 So obviously this is a two-seat version of the Typhoon. 50 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,840 It costs a tidy £60 million, 51 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,000 flies at almost twice the speed of sound, 52 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,280 and uses 200 state-of-the-art onboard computers 53 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,240 to make it a fearsome killing machine. 54 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:52,760 They're weapons, they're flying weapons, 55 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:55,360 and there's something a bit sobering about that I suppose. 56 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,320 Also there's black and yellow levers and buttons 57 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,080 that you're not meant to touch 58 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,640 and there's that sort of feeling, you know, 59 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,080 when people talk about standing on the edge of a great height 60 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,080 and they feel like they want to jump, 61 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:08,840 there is a sort of feeling like that. 62 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:10,400 You know, don't pull that handle 63 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,880 and then you think, "What if I pull it, what if I pull it?" 64 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:14,840 That's the button that you don't want to press 65 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,360 and they're just quite close together. 66 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,040 I just feel a bit serious about it and I feel responsible about it 67 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,560 and I feel very lucky to be given the opportunity to do it 68 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,840 and I don't want to barf. 69 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:27,880 That's a summary of my feelings. 70 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:45,360 But before I get my hands on the Typhoon, 71 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,360 we're going back to the very beginning, 72 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,680 to when the Royal Flying Corps was the newest branch of the Army... 73 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:54,960 ..and there's not a computer in sight. 74 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:57,680 Wow! 75 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,560 The Great War of 1914 to 1918 76 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,680 was the most destructive conflict the world had ever seen. 77 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,720 It claimed 30 million lives 78 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,920 and became infamous for industrial slaughter in the trenches. 79 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,280 It also marked the birth of flying as a weapon of war. 80 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,480 But just six years before the start of the conflict, 81 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,080 no-one in Britain had experienced powered flight. 82 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,200 This is Army Aeroplane No 1, 83 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,400 the first plane ever to fly in Britain. 84 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,200 In October 1908, it remained airborne for 400 metres. 85 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,320 Few saw the military potential of flying. 86 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,200 French General Ferdinand Foch said, 87 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,920 "Aeroplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value." 88 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,200 To explore how the Air Force proved him wrong, 89 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,080 Colin and I are meeting former RAF pilot Dave Linney 90 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,080 of the Great War Display Team. 91 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,560 He's showing us a replica of one of Britain's first warplanes. 92 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,200 The BE2 was designed purely for reconnaissance, 93 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,720 to help the Army see beyond the horizon. 94 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,760 It was unarmed and flown from the back seat 95 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,520 with an observer in the front. 96 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:35,360 Just don't put your foot through there. 97 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:37,880 No, I'm trying not to put my foot through...anything. 98 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:39,400 Oh... 99 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:40,920 Stand on the seat, probably. 100 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:42,880 Oh, yeah, OK. Sit yourself down. 101 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,520 If you jump in the back. Right, OK. 102 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,520 And then... Swing your leg over. 103 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,440 Reconnaissance was soon improved by aerial photography. 104 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:54,440 I'll show you a very early camera. 105 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,320 Oh, my God. Look at the size of it though. 106 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:58,880 It's the first generation GoPro, that is. 107 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:00,280 You'd have to take the slides out. 108 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,320 Take the plates out, change the plates. 109 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,000 It's so clumsy. They got good results. Right. 110 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:06,120 And later in the war 111 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,760 the photographic results were phenomenal. 112 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,360 Most of the major battles were planned using the trench pictures 113 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,000 that they got with these things. 114 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,960 But it is extraordinary to think that 115 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,440 it's like a matter of six to eight years 116 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:24,280 since flying started that they were using aeroplanes in warfare. 117 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:25,760 It's crazy, isn't it? 118 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,880 But it wasn't long before these unarmed sitting ducks 119 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:31,560 were forced to protect themselves. 120 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:34,960 The initial weapon was that. 121 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,320 Oh, yeah? 122 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,720 I mean, trying to shoot another aeroplane with that, 123 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,040 when you're passing... I'd take out a strut or a wire or something. 124 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,440 The engine. Exactly. I mean, thoroughly impractical. 125 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,080 But they tried. 126 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,480 But of course now, with this, they can... 127 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,000 If you just slot that into that there. 128 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Yep. Now you've got a pretty good field of fire 129 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,200 and you've got a machine gun. Right. 130 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,080 So you're starting to become more effective. Yeah. 131 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,240 Flying offered an escape from the horror of the trenches... 132 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:07,360 Watch your head. 133 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,600 ..but pilots soon confronted a new reality. 134 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:12,640 Slaughter in the skies. 135 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,680 If you made the first two weeks on a squad, and you survived 136 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,600 the first two weeks, then you stood a chance of surviving longer, 137 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,760 but up until then, it could be days, it could be your first mission. 138 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,000 Yeah. It was very, very poor. Yeah. 139 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,080 Pilots faced the enemy's lethal firepower... 140 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,680 ..but they also froze in open cockpits 141 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:34,600 and flew without parachutes. 142 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,440 There's a big chance of fire in the air... 143 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,080 Yeah. ..and that was probably the biggest fear for these guys 144 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,680 and I notice you've still got the revolver in there. 145 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:46,960 I have, yeah. 146 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,040 A surprising number of pilots would carry a revolver 147 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,760 in the aeroplane, not to shoot at other aircraft, but to finish it 148 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,560 if they were going down in flames. Oh, my God. Horrific. 149 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:00,520 It's now time to get a sense of 150 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:03,320 what it was like to fight in those rickety machines. 151 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,480 I'll be in the observer seat in the front of the primitive BE2. 152 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,200 Colin will do his observing from a Tiger Moth. 153 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Our adversaries are German Fokker triplanes. 154 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:23,480 Agile and fast... 155 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,720 ..the Fokker changed aerial warfare forever. 156 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,120 Dave will be in an SE5, the Spitfire of World War I. 157 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:39,000 The one thing these planes had in common 158 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,280 was that they were incredibly hard to fly. 159 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:44,760 More pilots died in training than in combat. 160 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:48,680 It's 1916. 161 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,960 With each side vying for air supremacy, 162 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,080 fighter aces duelled with the enemy above the trenches. 163 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:00,760 Whoo-hoo! 164 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,920 This was the dawn of the dogfight. 165 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,320 Oh, it's great. So good to be airborne again. Brilliant. 166 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,960 So beautiful! The view is amazing! 167 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,040 Great, isn't it? Yeah, it's got good visibility everywhere. 168 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:41,280 Except directly ahead, of course. 169 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,760 In the BE2 we've reached its maximum speed of 70mph 170 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,040 and it's clear to me how vulnerable and unprotected 171 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:51,720 the pilots and observers must have felt. 172 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:53,920 And then, we spot the Fokkers. 173 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:55,960 Here they come. 174 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,520 They close in at 110mph. 175 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,040 We've fallen victim to one of the classic tactics of dogfighting - 176 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,080 a surprise attack from behind. 177 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,120 Oh, my God! 178 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:15,920 I can see them coming in from behind, it's amazing. 179 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:23,360 The Fokker had the new weapon that revolutionised aerial warfare - 180 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:25,240 the synchronised gun. 181 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,320 It fired 500 rounds a minute through the propeller 182 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:30,480 without hitting it. 183 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:38,480 All the pilot had to do was get the enemy in the cross hairs... 184 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:39,800 ..and fire. 185 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:46,440 He's right on our tail. 186 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:47,800 Oh, my God! 187 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,840 In 1916, German dominance of the air was so great 188 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:01,440 that the BE2 was withdrawn after 60 were shot down in one month. 189 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:09,280 But the Fokkers didn't rule the skies for long. 190 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:15,000 In 1917, a new British plane, the SE5, changed the game again. 191 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,880 At 140mph, it was faster, 192 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,360 more manoeuvrable and it also had a synchronised gun. 193 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,040 This one is in the colours of British flying ace Mick Mannock. 194 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,640 Mannock went on to become the archetypal fighter ace, 195 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:41,960 shooting down 61 enemy planes. 196 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:45,840 But he also broke the mould. 197 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:49,960 Most recruits were rich cavalrymen 198 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,200 who could afford to buy a pilot's licence. 199 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,640 He was working-class and Irish, 200 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,160 with Republican sympathies. 201 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:03,080 His diaries also revealed the strain on this new breed of warrior - 202 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:04,360 the fighter pilot. 203 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,200 "Over the lines today, engine cut out three times. 204 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,480 "Wind up. Now I can understand 205 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,600 "what a tremendous strain to the nervous system flying is." 206 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,400 This one's from the 20th of July 1917. 207 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,360 "I had the good fortune to bring a Hun two-seater down 208 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,480 "in our lines a few days ago. 209 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:27,600 "Luckily, my first few shots killed the pilot and wounded the observer, 210 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,040 "a captain, besides breaking his gun. 211 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,360 "I hurried out at the first opportunity 212 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,400 "and I found the observer being tended by the local MO. 213 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,400 "The journey to the trenches was rather nauseating. 214 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,320 "Bits of bones and skulls with the hair peeling off 215 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,360 "and tons of equipment and clothes lying about. 216 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,160 "This sort of thing, together with the strong graveyard stench 217 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,160 "and the dead and mangled body of the pilot and NCO, 218 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,200 "combined to upset me for a few days." 219 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:57,800 I think that's the thing about it, 220 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,400 it was so close up as well and personal, you know, so... 221 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:06,800 ..he actually saw that he killed the pilot and injured the observer 222 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,240 so you're not detached from it, you're totally eyeball to eyeball 223 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,600 almost as if you're on the battlefield. 224 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,960 My experience is, I suppose, in modern sort of warfare, 225 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,040 certainly in the RAF, you're so detached from what you're doing 226 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,080 and you certainly don't land and go and have a look at 227 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,080 the results of what you've done. No. 228 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,200 "It combined to upset me for a few days." 229 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,560 I bet it upset him for a lot longer than that. Yeah. 230 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,640 Like many Great War pilots, Mannock paid a terrible price. 231 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,400 He was suffering from what we now recognise as combat stress 232 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,640 and was haunted by nightmares of his aircraft in flames. 233 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,200 In July 1918, he went down with his burning plane. 234 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,240 Pilots could soar through the skies 235 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,000 but they couldn't escape the horrors of warfare. 236 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,280 One in four of them did not survive. 237 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,680 "We walked off the playing fields into the lines. 238 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,440 "We lived supremely in the moment. 239 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,240 "Our preoccupation was the next patrol, 240 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:17,320 "Our horizon, the next leave. 241 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:22,040 "We were trained in one subject - to kill. 242 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,440 "We had one hope - to live. 243 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,760 "And when it was all over, we had to start again." 244 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,440 The Royal Air Force was born in April 1918. 245 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:42,040 By the end of the war, it had grown from just 60 aeroplanes 246 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:43,440 to 22,000. 247 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,160 From the beginning, the RAF was at the forefront 248 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:48,640 of innovations in aviation. 249 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,520 MARCHING BAND PLAYS 250 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:00,360 But in peacetime, 251 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,320 the Army and Navy wanted to kill off the new upstart rival service. 252 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,240 One man was to save the infant RAF 253 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,200 and shape it into a modern, forward-thinking force. 254 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,480 Hugh Trenchard, known as Boom because of his loud voice, 255 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,240 founded the air academy I attended at Cranwell. 256 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,200 It became the RAF equivalent of Sandhurst, 257 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,520 the home of Army officer training. 258 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,560 But Trenchard also realised the pyramid of technical support 259 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:44,080 needed to get a pilot in the air deserved the best training too. 260 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,960 I've come to RAF Halton to explore this legacy. 261 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,640 In 1920, Trenchard introduced an apprentice scheme here 262 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,520 that encouraged ground crew cadets 263 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,640 to rise to the top of the service on merit alone. 264 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:05,600 Ground crew are still trained here today. 265 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,840 I'm meeting an old friend, Air Marshal Cliff Spink, 266 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:13,640 who trained me to fly the Spitfire. 267 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,200 He was apprenticed here in 1963, 268 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:20,960 aged 16, 269 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,560 and benefited from the systems set up by Trenchard. 270 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,960 Being, in my case, a farmer's boy 271 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,920 and suddenly been thrust in amongst young lads 272 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,200 from all parts of the country, from all sorts of backgrounds 273 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,440 and so, yes, I can remember suddenly the enormity of it all 274 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,720 and almost saying to myself, "My goodness, what have I done?" 275 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,680 What have I done? But it happened to be the best thing I ever did. Yeah. 276 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:53,400 Partner! Last bit's a sprint! Let's go! Find your partner! 277 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,240 Something that the Air Force always did, 278 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,160 it really brought you into the fold. 279 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,160 Sometimes it had to knock you down before it built you up. 280 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,600 And we weren't all of the same mould 281 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,440 but they brought you into a corporate entity 282 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,680 and teamwork and leadership. 283 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,400 They seem like cliches, but they're not. 284 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,080 They were real building blocks and Halton did it really well. 285 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,440 Thousands who passed through Halton owe a debt to Trenchard. 286 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,360 Cliff himself went on to rise to the top of the RAF. 287 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,720 Having a vision for an Air Force in the first place, 288 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,360 an independent Air Force, was fundamental 289 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:36,440 but he saw the building blocks associated with that, 290 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,120 yes, the officers associated with Cranwell, 291 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:41,600 but Trenchard could see the need 292 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,160 for that core who were so well technically trained 293 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,840 to be able to take the Air Force forward. 294 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:54,560 In the class-ridden society of the 1920s, Halton was unique. 295 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:56,760 Any apprentice who did well enough 296 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:59,000 could then go on to train as a pilot. 297 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,240 It was a sort of meritocracy, I guess, wasn't it? 298 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,440 I think that's something that the Air Force has prided itself on, 299 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,800 that you come from any walk of life 300 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:13,200 and if you've got the skill and the dedication 301 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,880 you can make a success of it, 302 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,080 at whatever level you want to go to. 303 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,240 And I think that meritocracy has been the lifeblood 304 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:23,680 of the Royal Air Force. 305 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:33,680 Trenchard's innovations in the 1920s helped the RAF survive. 306 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,800 But just a few years later, they would be tested to the limit 307 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,360 when Britain went to war once again with Germany. 308 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,840 When the Second World War began, 309 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,640 the RAF faced, in the German Luftwaffe, 310 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,240 the largest and most technologically advanced air force 311 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:53,880 the world had ever seen. 312 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,840 In 1940, with the British Army routed 313 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,240 and the Germans now only 20 miles away across the Channel... 314 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,480 ..Adolf Hitler launched an all-out aerial assault 315 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:10,800 to prepare the way for invasion. 316 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,520 Only the RAF stood in his way. 317 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:20,840 Whoa! 318 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,800 When the Battle of Britain started in June, 319 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:30,600 just 640 RAF fighters faced 2,600 German planes. 320 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:39,040 But even though it was outnumbered, 321 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,640 this was a battle the RAF had been built to fight. 322 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,080 Its revolutionary air defence system 323 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,640 used radar to detect incoming enemy planes. 324 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,480 It was then down to its new fighter planes, 325 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:01,080 the Hurricane and Spitfire, to scramble and intercept the enemy. 326 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,160 On the 13th of August, 327 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,680 the Luftwaffe launched its main offensive 328 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,800 to smash the RAF on the ground and in the air. 329 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,120 As the Germans crossed the coastline, 330 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:18,480 dogfights on a scale never seen before 331 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:20,360 raged above southern England. 332 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,080 There are just a handful of pilots alive today who fought in the battle 333 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,560 and I'm privileged to meet the youngest of them all. 334 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,800 Geoffrey Wellum was just 18 at the time. 335 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,360 I suppose the first time I flew a Spitfire, 336 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:37,560 the thing flew me more or less. 337 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:43,880 It seemed to flow around the sky, it slipped through the air. 338 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,600 The mere thought that you wanted to do something 339 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,480 conveyed thought to your hands and feet 340 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:53,160 and the Spitfire seemed to do it. 341 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:57,480 And it's just a wonderful feeling of, 342 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,080 "This is what I've always wanted to do, this is where I want to be." 343 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,880 Up, up the long, delirious burning blue 344 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,280 I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace 345 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,560 Where never lark or even eagle flew 346 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,560 And while with silent lifting mind I've trod 347 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,200 The high untrespassed sanctity of space 348 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,480 Put out my hand and touched the face of God. 349 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:27,280 In the summer of 1940, 350 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,720 there was little time for playing with the clouds. 351 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,600 By the end of August, the RAF was in big trouble. 352 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,440 On the 31st, they suffered their worst day. 353 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,560 41 planes were lost. 354 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,400 At this low point, Geoffrey found himself thrown into the battle. 355 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,840 On his first sortie, he ran into a force of 150 enemy planes. 356 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:02,200 I'd never seen so many aeroplanes. 357 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,080 It was a mass coming towards us. 358 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:06,880 And I remember thinking... 359 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:11,280 .."Good God, where do you start in on this lot?" 360 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,360 I was spraying bullets all over Kent. 361 00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:15,320 We went straight through the middle of them, 362 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,800 one passed straight over the top of my head about... 363 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,720 Well, I don't know, but I imagined I heard his engines 364 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:23,960 and I thought, "This is dangerous," 365 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,680 and I broke away and I thought, 366 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,600 "Well, now go back and have another go." 367 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:34,120 The deadliest enemy of all was the Messerschmitt 109. 368 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,560 It's impossible to know how frightening it must've been 369 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:41,480 to fight for one's life in the skies. 370 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,440 But today, I'm going up in a two-seat Spitfire 371 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:52,520 to try and get a sense of what it was like to take on an ME109. 372 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:57,600 What a feeling, taking off 373 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,560 with two of the most iconic fighter planes of all time. 374 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,240 The 109 had superior firepower... 375 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,920 ..and its battle-hardened pilots used surprise to deadly effect. 376 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,320 And in comes Jerry and he just comes straight slashing past us, 377 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,920 firing his guns about there, 378 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:20,320 about 50 to 100 yards. 379 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,600 We wouldn't even have known he was there. 380 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:24,840 Whoo! 381 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:26,520 Already I'm getting a real sense 382 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,960 of just how different this is from World War I. 383 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:32,920 The planes are so much faster. 384 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,360 The reaction time just has to be so much quicker. 385 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,040 Both planes had a maximum speed of 350mph, 386 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,200 but the Spitfire had one great advantage - 387 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,440 in a dogfight it could turn tighter than the Messerschmitt 388 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,160 to shake it off or get on its tail to shoot it down. 389 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:03,000 We're gaining on him. He's not getting away. 390 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,240 Flying up to five sorties a day, 391 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,040 pilots like Geoffrey had to learn quickly 392 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,160 how to outwit this formidable foe. 393 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:16,120 Never, ever fly straight and level 394 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:19,280 for more than 20 seconds in the combat area 395 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,520 because it was always the 109, the German that you... 396 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,360 ..did not see that shot you down. 397 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:30,200 Because I always felt that, rightly or wrongly, 398 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,840 if I could see my antagonist, 399 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:36,680 I always felt that I had the ability to outfly him in a Spitfire. 400 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:44,520 In the air, the Germans were losing two planes to every one of the RAF's 401 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,440 but constant attacks on British airfields 402 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,320 had put RAF crews under intense pressure. 403 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:56,160 The worst part was sitting in dispersal, waiting. 404 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,920 The phone went - scramble base... 405 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:02,960 From there on, you ran like mad for your aeroplane 406 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,760 and you're supposed to be airborne within four minutes. 407 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,360 The ground crew had already started the engine, 408 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:11,120 your parachute was on the wing, waiting for you. 409 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:13,880 You put it on, they helped you into the cockpit. 410 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,560 You were too busy and dashing around too much 411 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:18,280 to be all that apprehensive. 412 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,520 Did you recognise how fatiguing, 413 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,440 how tiring it was? 414 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,040 Not at the time. 415 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,320 You just carried on. You became an automaton. 416 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,120 You managed to get... 417 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:34,240 ..into the mess or wherever you were... 418 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:37,160 ..after a heavy day 419 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,360 and feel totally exhausted, 420 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:42,400 drained, 421 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,080 but then, you know, you had a couple of pints and... 422 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:48,480 ..you had to snap out of it. 423 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,760 But just when it looked like the RAF might buckle, 424 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,000 the Germans switched to bombing cities. 425 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,160 It was a tactical blunder that allowed the RAF to rearm. 426 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,280 So when the Germans launched a massive attack on September 15 427 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,680 to finally break the RAF, 428 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,000 they suffered some of their heaviest losses. 429 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,720 German high command had failed to gain air supremacy. 430 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,760 Attacks continued into October, but invasion was now no longer possible. 431 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,560 Geoffrey's squadron suffered some of the highest losses. 432 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,840 You were always aware of absent friends... 433 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:43,640 ..but you put it behind you. 434 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,320 You'd go to the White Hart and have a few pints and think, 435 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,200 "Well, last night John was here. 436 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,040 "He's not now." Yeah. 437 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,520 And I can see it now... 438 00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,120 ..clearly. 439 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,360 In the evening, all the boys there in their best blue, 440 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:05,280 smoke rising to the ceiling, pints knocking back. 441 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,120 A fighter squadron. 442 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,560 Survivors trying to relax. 443 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:13,600 And the boys... 444 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:19,040 ..enjoying and very much aware 445 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:20,720 of one another's company. 446 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,480 Yeah. It was almost a love affair, really. 447 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,640 A love affair with one's fellow man. 448 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:29,000 You know. 449 00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:34,600 And I think it took more out of us than we realised at the time. 450 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,480 And of course at the end of my second tour 451 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,360 I had a bit of a breakdown in health 452 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,280 and was invalided home, as it were. 453 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,200 Recently, Geoffrey was invited to witness a Spitfire display. 454 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,440 Watching those Spits... 455 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,160 ..getting airborne and forming up into a battle formation... 456 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,000 ..a lump came into my throat and I had to fight for self-control... 457 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,200 ..because their cockpits are full of ghosts. 458 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,480 The Royal Air Force had won the Battle of Britain, 459 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,760 the country's first real victory of the war. 460 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,120 It supercharged morale and turned the atmosphere of defeat into 461 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,200 the potential for ultimate victory. 462 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,840 But the cost was high. 463 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,360 Of the 3,000 RAF pilots who fought in the battle, 464 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,760 544 lost their lives. 465 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:43,840 The young pilots' heroism was immortalised by Winston Churchill 466 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:45,960 when he stated that 467 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,680 "Never in the field of human conflict 468 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,280 "was so much owed by so many to so few." 469 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,040 Without the help of one little-known organisation, 470 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,920 the battle might never have been won. 471 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,200 Pilots were in such short supply 472 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,960 that the Air Transport Auxiliary was created 473 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,920 to deliver combat aircraft to front-line bases. 474 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:25,600 We've tracked down two of the first women pilots to fly in World War II. 475 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,440 Mary Ellis and Joy Lofthouse. 476 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,520 When filming took place, Mary was 100 years old, 477 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:41,120 and Joy, 94. 478 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:46,320 The ATA's air taxi was the de Havilland Rapide. 479 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,440 Art Deco. Yeah, the '30s. 480 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,680 Everything looked beautiful in the '30s. 481 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,040 There's the crosswind again. 482 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:55,560 Oh! 483 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,360 Their organisation was made up of 1,000 pilots. 484 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,160 In a remarkable breakthrough for equality, 485 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:04,840 born of necessity, 486 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:06,880 166 of them were women. 487 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,240 Hello, ladies! 488 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:15,200 I'm dying to go to the loo. 489 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:16,520 OK. 490 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,720 Look at you. You'd get in there in a flash, wouldn't you? 491 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:21,920 I'd better not get in. 492 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,200 You would love it, though, if you could. 493 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,040 I would not like to get in that, even with a pair of steps. 494 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:30,320 Oh! I'd rather hang onto my toy boy. 495 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,040 LAUGHTER 496 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,320 You said you didn't like toy boys. 497 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,320 Well, he's quite a mature toy boy, let's be honest. 498 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,080 Who is my favourite toy boy? 499 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,760 Martin... Martin... Martin Shaw. ..Shaw. 500 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:44,760 Oh! Yeah. He's a very, very good actor as well. 501 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,280 He wasn't available today, sadly. Anyway... 502 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,400 He wasn't available. He wasn't available today, no. 503 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,160 Sadly. So you're his stand-in. 504 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,320 I'm his stand-in. Yeah. I'm the stand-in. Exactly. 505 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,880 Mary and joy share my passion for flying. 506 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,600 It's so wonderful. It's freedom, 507 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,200 and you can more or less do what you want. 508 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,040 It's the next best thing to having wings yourself, you know? 509 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,200 Yeah. You might just as well have wings. 510 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,880 You're up there, nobody can tell you what to do or where to go. Yeah. 511 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,080 Joy had never flown before. 512 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,240 Mary was an experienced pilot. 513 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:26,600 She'd learned before the war 514 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,920 when flying was largely the glamourous hobby of wealthy men. 515 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:36,320 I flew 76 different types 516 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:41,800 and I flew a Meteor without any instructions at all. 517 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,240 Throughout the war, the ATA delivered a total of 309,000 planes. 518 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,760 Mary alone delivered 1,000 of them. 519 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,160 Summary for July 1945. 520 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,160 Argus, Spitfire, 521 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,240 Corsair, Barracuda, Sea Otter, 522 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,000 Vengeance, Tempest, Firefly, 523 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,880 Wildcat, Anson, Wellington, 524 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:07,880 Ventura and Mitchell. 525 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:09,400 And that's in one month? 526 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,080 That's in, yeah, one month. 527 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,920 Flying planes straight from the factory 528 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,440 that had yet to be fitted with navigational aids 529 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,000 made this one of the most dangerous jobs in the war. 530 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,600 One in ten of the ATA pilots were killed. 531 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:33,200 One of their colleagues, 532 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:35,200 Joan Hughes, was just five feet tall. 533 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,280 She had to wear wooden platforms to reach the pedals. 534 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,920 And what reaction would you get when you landed, 535 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,440 as a female pilot stepping out of a Wellington bomber on your own? 536 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,640 I opened the door, you know, 537 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,600 put down the steps and got out 538 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,440 and I waited at the bottom for the crowd of RAF people 539 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,640 with a car to take me to the control 540 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,320 and I stood there for some time 541 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:12,880 and I said, "Can we go to control, please?" 542 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,680 And they said, "We're waiting for the pilot." 543 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,000 And I said, "I AM the pilot!" 544 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:21,480 They wouldn't believe me 545 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:26,800 and two of them were ordered to go up in the Wellington and search it. 546 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,520 They came out and said, "No, there's nobody else there." 547 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:37,400 The ATA girls were the first women in Britain to gain equal pay. 548 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,000 They led the way for female pilots. 549 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,480 They became known as the glamour girls of World War II. 550 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,720 We were never without an escort. 551 00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:50,760 Really? 552 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,240 Some girls used to have... 553 00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:59,200 ..racy parties with Naval officers. Boyfriends. Yes. 554 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,400 Ah! Really? Sounds interesting. 555 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,680 I was taken to it once and she said, 556 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:09,040 "I think you'd better go home now, Joy," whoever took me to the party. 557 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:12,200 She thought I was too young to get too involved in it 558 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,120 by the time they started chucking the keys on the table. 559 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,960 LAUGHTER 560 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,880 I found the courage of these woman very inspiring. 561 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,920 75 years on, I'm about to take my first flight in the Typhoon... 562 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:30,280 ..and I'm really nervous. 563 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:38,520 It's so manoeuvrable and exerts such huge stresses on the body 564 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,840 that I have to pass a strict medical 565 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:42,360 to prove that I'm fit to fly. 566 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,480 Have you been up before? I was up in a Tornado once with my brother. 567 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,120 OK. But some years ago, so that's my only... 568 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:53,600 ..similar experience. Yep. 569 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:56,520 And I was sick. 570 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:58,920 Yeah, you'll definitely be sick, then, in a Typhoon. 571 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,160 Oh, do you think? Yeah! 572 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:04,800 Corporal Iona McDonald is checking 573 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,920 that I can get out of the plane intact if I'm forced to eject. 574 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,400 This one here is buttock to knee, 575 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,040 so if you just keep your bum right up against the wall again 576 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,360 and put your knees together. 577 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:21,120 So if I can just get you to lift up your T-shirt at the front for me. 578 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,560 Next, a thorough checkup from Wing Commander Joanne Collins. 579 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,960 Just literally just going to have a listen to your heart sounds. 580 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:29,400 When you're ready... 581 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,120 Because of the rapid pressure changes in the Typhoon, 582 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,680 my sinuses and ears have to be clear. 583 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,160 And relax. Did you feel that pop? Yeah. 584 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:42,120 I'm also given help on how to combat the G-forces I'll experience. 585 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,040 Breathe in for one second and then... 586 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:50,760 And out. 587 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,360 The Typhoon can exert a force 588 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,920 the equivalent of nine times normal gravity. 589 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,480 And that in itself will make sure that you get 590 00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,600 enough blood and oxygen to the brain 591 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:04,480 and will reduce any chances of you losing consciousness up there. OK. 592 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,520 This one here you'll need to just hand to the pilot that's going to 593 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,160 be flying you just to confirm that we've done the medical 594 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,880 and that you're fit to fly. OK. So you're letting me go? 595 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:15,640 Going to let you fly. 596 00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:16,960 Great. 597 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:18,200 Damn. 598 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,960 In World War II, after the Battle of Britain, 599 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,320 thousands of new recruits 600 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,000 were undergoing slightly less rigorous medicals. 601 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,000 If the few had saved the country in 1940, 602 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,000 it was the many who would now take the war to Germany 603 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:38,320 and bomb it into submission. 604 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,240 The man behind this campaign was the head of Bomber Command. 605 00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:47,360 Arthur Harris was ruthless, relentless, 606 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:48,800 and convinced he was right. 607 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:54,680 He believed that under the weight of high explosive and incendiary bombs, 608 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,320 German morale would collapse. 609 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:02,000 There are a lot of people who say that bombing can never win a war. 610 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,440 Well, my answer to that 611 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,840 is that it has never been tried yet, and we shall see. 612 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,840 In 1942, Harris put together the first of the thousand-bomber raids. 613 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:22,160 Its target was the industrial city of Cologne. 614 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:27,840 For the next three years, 615 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:31,080 RAF crews would wage a new and terrible form of warfare. 616 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:38,000 Night after night, raids targeted German cities. 617 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,000 The seven-man crews in the new four-engined bombers, 618 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,200 like the Lancaster, faced formidable German defences. 619 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:51,440 We were caught in searchlights, and they had us for 35 minutes. 620 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,880 Now, you can guarantee, basically, 621 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,680 that if you were caught in searchlights, 622 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,760 you could say, "Goodnight, nurse." That was your lot. 623 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,400 You can view the target all in flames 624 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:14,320 and surrounded by millions of shell bursts. 625 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,280 It looks like hell. 626 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,320 And you really think that... 627 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:22,000 ..this is going to be it. 628 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:25,360 To cope with the strain, 629 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:27,640 many nurtured a live-for-the-day attitude. 630 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:32,680 It led to an unexpected medical problem 631 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:34,920 that almost derailed the bomber campaign. 632 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:39,640 I'm meeting author Patrick Bishop, 633 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,120 who's just uncovered this secret story. 634 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:48,080 I came across this extraordinary file in the National Archives. 635 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,080 In amongst this bundle of papers, 636 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:55,000 someone's written on the margin of one document, 637 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,480 "This is an extraordinary story!" 638 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:04,000 And it really is. It's about this outbreak of VD in the RAF, 639 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,120 towards the end of 1942... Mm-hm. 640 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,400 ..and it's particularly marked in Bomber Command. 641 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:12,240 The Bomber Command incidence, I think, it's four times higher 642 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:14,840 than it is in the other... Really? ..branches of the RAF. 643 00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:19,120 Veterans of Bomber Command told us about the warnings 644 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,480 they'd received on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. 645 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:29,960 The late Squadron Leader Tony Iveson relished recounting a dirty ditty. 646 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,480 If she's easy, she's got it. 647 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:36,360 If she's got it, you'll get it. 648 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:40,120 And remember, a blob on the knob slows demob. 649 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:41,160 LAUGHTER 650 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:45,600 I haven't heard that one before. 651 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,960 Arthur Harris offered a typically blunt response to the problem. 652 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,160 Normally, Harris was quite indulgent about hijinks 653 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,240 and, you know, booze-ups and all the rest of it. 654 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:02,000 Yeah. But in this case, he was far from indulgent 655 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:04,320 and his response is quite chilling. 656 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,720 He issues this instruction that 657 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:13,360 anyone who is discovered to have contracted VD 658 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,000 will be made to start their whole tour of operations over again... 659 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,360 My God. ..no matter what point they've actually reached. 660 00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:26,200 Yeah. As you know, a tour is 30 ops, so what he's saying is, 661 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,880 even if you're on your 29th op, and you've caught a dose of the clap, 662 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:32,360 you have to go back to square one. Back to square one. 663 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,400 At this time, you've got a one-in-five chance 664 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,920 of surviving your tour of 30 ops, 665 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:42,720 so what this amounts to really, if you're in this situation, 666 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,320 at the end of your tour, and you have to start all over again, 667 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:47,720 it's more or less a sentence of death. 668 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:49,880 Wow. That's pretty horrendous. 669 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:56,960 The gruelling tours of 30 operations in highly vulnerable bombers meant 670 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,480 the campaign produced the highest British casualty rates of the war. 671 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,960 Out of a force of 125,000 men, 672 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,280 55,000 never came home. 673 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,280 No, I had never flown before. 674 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,160 Hadn't even driven a motor car before. 675 00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:21,480 Never ever, ever was I ever comfortable. 676 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:23,920 No. No. 677 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:25,280 Frightened to death. 678 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,400 Anybody who that says he wasn't, well, he's a bloody liar. 679 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:30,640 Fire! 680 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,160 He's right in there, isn't he? He's very quick, isn't he? 681 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,200 For us, no-one better represented the courage 682 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,880 of this band of brothers in the air than tailgunner Dave Fellows. 683 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,080 When we met him a few years ago, 684 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,120 he even showed us how a gunner got target practice - 685 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:49,920 clay pigeon shooting. 686 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:51,400 We winged it. 687 00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:53,880 You winged it. You definitely winged the last one there. 688 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,440 He was once asked to bail out of his Lancaster 689 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:57,680 after a mid-air collision. 690 00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:04,160 The skipper said to me, "David, you can bail out if you wish." 691 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,840 But we could have still been attacked by enemy aircraft. 692 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:11,640 My turret was still operational. 693 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,800 So why should I jump out? What, leave my mates? 694 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:26,720 We'd been looking forward to catching up to with Dave... 695 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,520 ..but, sadly, he passed away a few days before we began filming. 696 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:45,840 The plane Dave flew, 697 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,600 and the most potent symbol of the bomber campaign, 698 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:49,960 is the Lancaster. 699 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,800 Britain's last flying Lancaster has just undergone a major service. 700 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:01,680 We're being shown round the plane by its present-day guardian, 701 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:03,440 Squadron Leader Andrew Millican. 702 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,120 Wow. Wow, wow. Look at that. 703 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,640 So, this is painted up in the colours of 460 Squadron, 704 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:15,840 which was a Royal Australian Air Force squadron aeroplane. 705 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:18,600 OK. All right. And the reason we wanted to paint it up in 460 706 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:20,840 was to commemorate not only what the Australians did, 707 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,480 cos of course young men from all round the dominions came to join 708 00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:26,280 Bomber Command... Yeah. ..but also it was Dave Fellows' squadron, 709 00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:28,320 who sadly passed away just a couple of weeks ago. 710 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:31,000 Yeah. We loved hanging out with David. He was a lovely man. 711 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,280 But he got a chance to see it before he passed away? 712 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:35,640 He did, yeah. He did see the aeroplane before... He did? 713 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,600 ..he passed away, so he saw it in his colours, 714 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:39,680 which is absolutely brilliant. Yeah. 715 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,440 The bomber campaign and the Battle of Britain 716 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:46,120 are defining episodes in the history of the RAF. 717 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:52,920 But one largely unsung effort made perhaps just as great a contribution 718 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:54,360 to the defeat of Hitler. 719 00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:05,440 To uncover how the humble aerial photograph, 720 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:09,640 first used in World War I, became a formidable secret weapon, 721 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:11,840 I'm meeting Wing Commander Mike Mockford. 722 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:15,280 So, Mike, what are we looking at here? 723 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:16,680 Well, have a look at that, 724 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:19,680 because that is a typical three-dimensional image, 725 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,440 which was absolutely vital to the gathering of intelligence 726 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,960 during the Second World War, and all the way up to today, actually. 727 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:27,680 Oh, my God! Can you see it? Yeah! 728 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,120 Yeah, well, if you say, "Oh, my God," I know you can. 729 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,840 Yeah. Because that means... Two flat images. 730 00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:34,240 Yeah, you're seeing... 731 00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:37,280 You're merging the images and you're seeing buildings have height, 732 00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:41,400 hills and valleys have height and holes, as they say. 733 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:45,360 Cos you improve your intelligence collection from 3-D photography 734 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:47,560 by probably 17% or 20%. 735 00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:50,920 The photographs were taken 736 00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,240 by specially adapted Spitfires like this one. 737 00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,880 Unarmed, and carrying extra fuel, 738 00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,920 they could conduct seven-hour sorties at heights and speeds 739 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,560 that outstripped any enemy plane. 740 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:07,600 They carried two cameras 741 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,640 that took photos that were slightly offset from each other. 742 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,200 Combining the two made the 3-D image. 743 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:17,600 That's what you've got there. 744 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:19,560 And then... You're looking at Colditz. 745 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:21,120 Oh, is that right? Colditz Castle. 746 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:25,160 The HQ for this top secret operation 747 00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,360 was a country house on the Thames, RAF Medmenham. 748 00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:33,560 The highly skilled photographic interpreters 749 00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:36,960 identified some of the greatest threats to the Allied war effort. 750 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:44,000 There is an interesting story of a professor at RAF Medmenham, 751 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:45,440 who'd been working all night, 752 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,720 and he came running down the stairs at breakfast time in the morning, 753 00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:51,600 and said, "I've done it! I've done it! I know what it is," 754 00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:52,800 in his underpants. 755 00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:57,920 He'd forgotten to dress. Fantastic. And they said to him, "You'd better 756 00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,720 "get back and get dressed before you go and tell everyone." 757 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:02,720 Such passion, it's great. Absolutely, yeah. 758 00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:04,800 I mean, they were... I think that's a good word. 759 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:07,000 They were passionate about what they did. Mm. 760 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,680 RAF Medmenham's greatest intelligence coup 761 00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,320 was uncovering the secret V weapons 762 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:17,120 that Hitler hoped would turn the tide of war 763 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,280 back in Germany's favour. 764 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,000 The most dangerous was the V1, 765 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:23,680 the doodlebug, 766 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,920 a pilotless drone that started to rain down on London in 1944. 767 00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:33,080 The first of the V1s was spotted in this photograph. 768 00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:37,240 A tiny cross on a launch ramp. 769 00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:41,600 Their launch sites were notoriously difficult to find. 770 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:45,320 Mike is putting me to the test by getting me to find one. 771 00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:50,720 This is a Dutch sugar factory on the Dutch coast. 772 00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:52,440 You're looking for a ramp. 773 00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:54,720 A ramp, like a ski-shaped thing? Yeah, slope ramp. 774 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:56,800 Yeah, because they were launched from a ramp. 775 00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:03,240 For the photo interpreters, 776 00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:06,000 it was like looking for a deadly needle in a haystack. 777 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,200 They became masters at spotting the clues that were as small 778 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:12,760 as a millimetre across on the photographic prints. 779 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:18,000 Telltale signs. In the open ground here is ground scarring. 780 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,440 Yes. Now, that is where the V1, when it was launched, 781 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:23,640 carried a booster motor... Mm-hm. ..which was a small rocket. 782 00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:26,480 When it got airborne, the booster motor dropped off... 783 00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:29,760 Mm-hm. ..and that ground scarring is where they fell to the ground. 784 00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:33,000 I see. Follow that back, on the roof of that building, 785 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:34,960 is some light toned damage... 786 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,360 Oh, yeah. ..where bits have hit the roof. 787 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:40,200 The ramp is just alongside the building, there. 788 00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:43,440 See that dark shape alongside of it? Have a look. 789 00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:47,000 The dark shape here? It's a dark line alongside the building. 790 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:48,680 Yes, just there. 791 00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:50,880 Oh, I see it. Yeah, see it? 792 00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:54,080 And they had 238 sites, I think it was. 793 00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:57,840 Had they ever launched 2,000 V1s in a 24-hour period, 794 00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,560 they would probably have destroyed London. Yeah. Yeah. 795 00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:04,040 Once the target was identified, 796 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,000 the RAF was able to put their bombing skills into action. 797 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:11,400 NEWSREEL: Day and night, many targets are being hit. 798 00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:15,040 In the occupied countries, in the Nazi Reich itself. 799 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:21,760 Throughout the war, more than 30 million photographs were taken. 800 00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,920 3-D photography provided as much as 80% of British intelligence. 801 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:33,240 The general intelligence gathered by Medmenham was, beyond question, 802 00:49:33,240 --> 00:49:37,680 a huge contribution to our victory at the end of the war. Yeah. Yeah. 803 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:42,880 The RAF's role had now grown beyond fighters, bombers 804 00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,200 and secret intelligence gathering. 805 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:48,720 It was also crucial to the clandestine work 806 00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:51,440 of the Special Operations Executive, 807 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:53,920 working behind enemy lines, 808 00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:56,000 and they had the perfect tool for the job. 809 00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,440 The Westland Lysander is one of my favourite planes. 810 00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:06,520 It's slow and unarmed, but an ideal covert air taxi. 811 00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:10,400 It could land in a rough field just 150 yards long. 812 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,080 It's the 16th of April, 1943. 813 00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:22,640 I'm playing the agent Nick Boddington, 814 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:24,960 waiting to be picked up from occupied France. 815 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:30,320 My first job is to lay a flare path, 816 00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,120 three torches in a prearranged pattern, 817 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:36,160 so the Lysander can find our temporary runway in the dark. 818 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:45,720 Up in the Lysander, I'm playing Ewan's replacement. 819 00:50:45,720 --> 00:50:48,920 It's giving me a sense of just how brave they were. 820 00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:50,920 Flights could last seven hours 821 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:54,960 and penetrate 600 miles into the heart of occupied France. 822 00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:01,920 I'm in good hands. 823 00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:04,520 The pilot that night was Hugh Verity, 824 00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:07,760 who flew 30 clandestine missions behind enemy lines. 825 00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,360 OK. I think I hear them, now. 826 00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:18,040 The golden rule was just three minutes on the ground, 827 00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:21,280 because, at any moment, this field could be full of Germans, 828 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:22,800 so every second counted. 829 00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:33,800 OK. 830 00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:37,560 I've got to Morse code a letter that's prearranged, 831 00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:40,520 and the plane sees that Morse code letter, 832 00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:43,840 and if it's the right Morse code letter, he replies one. 833 00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:44,880 Right. 834 00:51:46,720 --> 00:51:50,520 And if those letters are not the right letters, the game's off - 835 00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:52,160 he buggers off and we bugger off. 836 00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,600 There, look, the red light. 837 00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:56,720 Yep. 838 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:00,720 Quite a brilliant sight, isn't it? Look at that. 839 00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:15,280 Boddington wasn't just any old agent, he was an SOE chief, 840 00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:18,800 returning with valuable intelligence about compromised agent networks. 841 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:26,760 He was relieved to be rescued, as the Gestapo were onto him. 842 00:52:37,240 --> 00:52:39,880 Three hours later, Boddington was safely back in Britain 843 00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:41,680 with his invaluable intelligence. 844 00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:55,600 The Lysander didn't just ferry hundreds of agents 845 00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:57,560 in and out of enemy territory in Europe. 846 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:01,800 It also played a vital role in the war in Southeast Asia. 847 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:10,360 Fred Bailey, now aged 96, was a wireless operator. 848 00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:17,040 In 1945, he was dropped behind enemy lines in the Burmese jungle, 849 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:18,600 to harass the Japanese army. 850 00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:25,720 Fred's job was to call in air strikes 851 00:53:25,720 --> 00:53:27,800 and to get the local tribespeople 852 00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:30,720 to revolt against their Japanese oppressors. 853 00:53:30,720 --> 00:53:32,840 We had to carry all the food we needed, 854 00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:34,800 and explosives and ammunition. 855 00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:40,000 And, in fact, we got fed up carrying it around in the jungle 856 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:42,920 and we bought an elephant. Oh, really? Yes. 857 00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:46,640 And we loaded all the gear onto the elephant. 858 00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:52,040 But what we didn't know was that elephants needed a day's rest 859 00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:56,520 after about three days' walk. Well... I'm a bit like that. Yeah. 860 00:53:56,520 --> 00:53:59,760 Well, there was no way we could rest. We had to keep on the move... 861 00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:02,960 Yeah. ..because the Japs were after us, and in the end 862 00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:06,200 the elephant got fed up and pushed off. Yeah? Yeah. 863 00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:09,160 Fred looks friendly enough now, 864 00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:11,480 but back in the day, he was trained to kill. 865 00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:15,240 Is that what your were...? Yeah, a fighting knife, yeah. 866 00:54:15,240 --> 00:54:17,760 That's from the front of the Commando magazine, isn't it? 867 00:54:17,760 --> 00:54:19,520 Yes. That's right, yeah. 868 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:22,400 Yes, I had one of those. Were you quite tasty with one of these? 869 00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:25,640 Yes, yes. Do you want a demonstration? Yes, go on. 870 00:54:25,640 --> 00:54:28,560 Yes. Well... Oh, God. Not a real one. 871 00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:32,720 With the Japanese closing in, 872 00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:35,400 Fred and his team needed to be rescued fast... 873 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:38,680 ..so they called in a Lysander. 874 00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:42,440 Very relieved to see it. I'll bet, yeah. 875 00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:46,360 There were five of us crammed in it, with the pilot. 876 00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:49,280 Five? We had a Burmese agent with us. 877 00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:51,120 Right. And he was a little fella. 878 00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,000 He sat in the front with the pilot. 879 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:55,440 Right. And we three... 880 00:54:56,880 --> 00:54:58,840 ..crammed ourselves in the rear cockpit. 881 00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:01,000 Right. I was on the floor. 882 00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:02,720 I didn't see much. 883 00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:04,920 But it was quite a tight... 884 00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:08,480 ..tight fix. But I guess you didn't really...you didn't really care. 885 00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:09,880 No, no. 886 00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:12,400 You were desperate to get out. No, we had to get out, yeah. 887 00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:15,280 And I always think it's an amazing credit to the pilot 888 00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:18,400 that, in the middle of the jungle, in this tiny airstrip, 889 00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:20,600 he could find it from just a map reference. 890 00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:22,400 But find it, he did. 891 00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:26,320 And he came down and in about ten minutes we were airborne again. 892 00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:27,480 Wow. 893 00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:38,400 By the time of the Allied invasion of mainland Europe on D-Day... 894 00:55:39,840 --> 00:55:41,760 ..the RAF with the US Air Force 895 00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:45,280 has achieved dominance of the skies of Western Europe. 896 00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:49,280 With 1.2 million personnel on the ground and in the air, 897 00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:52,080 it was proving a highly effective organisation. 898 00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:01,760 It was capable of carrying out precision attacks, 899 00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:05,080 like the legendary bouncing bomb used in the Dam Busters raid. 900 00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:10,200 But the vast majority of bomber crews 901 00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:14,040 were still relentlessly attacking German cities night after night. 902 00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:22,560 And final victory left the RAF facing its greatest controversy. 903 00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:27,840 Throughout the bombing campaign, 904 00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:31,080 it dropped more than a million tons of bombs on Germany. 905 00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:38,240 But the firestorms created by the carpet bombing 906 00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:40,440 of cities like Hamburg and Cologne 907 00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:42,320 killed thousands of civilians. 908 00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:48,240 Even Churchill described the bombing of Dresden in February 1945 909 00:56:48,240 --> 00:56:50,160 as a step too far. 910 00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:55,440 Questions about the morality of bombing whole cities 911 00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:57,160 still echo today 912 00:56:57,160 --> 00:57:00,080 and have overshadowed the sacrifice of the bomber crews. 913 00:57:02,920 --> 00:57:06,080 It took 75 years for the bomber boys to receive a memorial. 914 00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:15,200 But for many, the RAF made an extraordinary contribution 915 00:57:15,200 --> 00:57:16,920 to victory over the enemy. 916 00:57:18,480 --> 00:57:21,400 Historian Patrick Bishop has been weighing up its achievements. 917 00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:26,040 I think it's fair to say that the RAF was 918 00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:29,120 the pre-eminent of the three services 919 00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:31,320 during the Second World War. 920 00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:33,680 It saved Britain in 1940, 921 00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:37,800 it took the war to the Germans when we had no other means of doing it 922 00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:43,840 and you can see that in the respect it's held in by our allies, 923 00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:45,240 particularly by the Americans. 924 00:57:45,240 --> 00:57:47,280 They're the people you really had to impress, 925 00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:49,280 and they were more impressed by the RAF 926 00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:51,320 than they were by the Army and the Navy. 927 00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:54,120 They made the best use of technology, they were modern minded, 928 00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:55,680 they were forward-looking, 929 00:57:55,680 --> 00:58:00,560 the ethos of the thing was meritocratic and egalitarian. 930 00:58:00,560 --> 00:58:05,240 So it was very much a reflection of Britain as it was going to be 931 00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:09,880 or how it wanted to be rather than Britain as it had been. 932 00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:13,960 So I think that the RAF and its achievements during the war 933 00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:17,320 did quite a lot to shape the attitudes 934 00:58:17,320 --> 00:58:20,480 and indeed the politics of post-war Britain. 935 00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:28,080 Post-war peace meant facing an unfamiliar world 936 00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:29,560 and unfamiliar roles. 937 00:58:32,520 --> 00:58:36,840 In 1948, the RAF took on a massive and unexpected mission 938 00:58:36,840 --> 00:58:39,600 that arose from the new world order - 939 00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:40,880 the Cold War. 940 00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:47,600 After the war, the four victorious powers divided up Germany 941 00:58:47,600 --> 00:58:49,400 and its former capital, Berlin. 942 00:58:51,520 --> 00:58:54,680 With the Russians determined to dominate Eastern Europe, 943 00:58:54,680 --> 00:58:58,680 Berlin found itself surrounded by hostile Soviet-controlled territory. 944 00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:06,080 In 1948, the Russians cut off all land access to Berlin. 945 00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:11,120 The only option left was to fly in supplies along three air corridors. 946 00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:15,120 NEWSREEL: As the red noose is drawn closer 947 00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:16,960 about the western sector of the capital, 948 00:59:16,960 --> 00:59:18,840 switches are pulled on generators 949 00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:21,920 and the fuel famine forces drastic power cuts. 950 00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:23,680 Berlin becomes a city of darkness. 951 00:59:29,600 --> 00:59:33,200 This is the Dakota, one of the workhorses of the airlift. 952 00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:40,360 Two million West Berliners had to be kept alive. 953 00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:43,840 Supplies ranging from powdered milk to coal had to be flown in. 954 00:59:45,920 --> 00:59:49,320 At the height of the mission, planes were landing every 90 seconds. 955 00:59:56,200 --> 00:59:59,280 To get a sense of what RAF ground crews were up against, 956 00:59:59,280 --> 01:00:01,080 we're going to unload a Dakota. 957 01:00:02,960 --> 01:00:04,920 So we're going to have three and a half tons 958 01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:06,680 of supplies we're going to have to move. 959 01:00:06,680 --> 01:00:09,120 Three and half tons? Three and half tons in ten minutes. 960 01:00:09,120 --> 01:00:12,120 All right, cool. So we're up for it? Yeah. Excellent. Let's give it a go. 961 01:00:12,120 --> 01:00:13,400 Good luck. 962 01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:20,000 Over the 12 months of the airlift, 963 01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:24,880 the RAF delivered a total of 394,000 tons of cargo 964 01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:27,280 in 66,000 sorties. 965 01:00:29,400 --> 01:00:33,920 That's us. Geoff Smith worked at Gatow Airfield during the airlift. 966 01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:38,800 It backed onto a Russian base and they weren't overly friendly. 967 01:00:40,240 --> 01:00:43,160 Used to come on the airfield at night initially 968 01:00:43,160 --> 01:00:45,960 and start putting rocks on the runway into things like that. 969 01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:49,600 Really? Yeah. They used to try and flash searchlights 970 01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:52,640 in the pilots' eyes as they were coming in. Really? Yeah. 971 01:00:52,640 --> 01:00:55,480 All sorts of tricks like that. Yeah. 972 01:00:55,480 --> 01:00:56,680 I'll get the next one. 973 01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:01,760 Ten minutes to empty a full Dakota shouldn't be too tricky for Ewan. 974 01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:06,240 He used to have a proper job in a potato packing shed. 975 01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:08,360 It's good. There's lots more, isn't there? 976 01:01:08,360 --> 01:01:10,360 Oh, my God, there's ties all the way up. 977 01:01:17,200 --> 01:01:18,800 Four minutes. 978 01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:21,080 Six minutes left, lads. 979 01:01:21,080 --> 01:01:23,200 So we were trying to do our exercise - 980 01:01:23,200 --> 01:01:25,440 unloading the Dakota in ten minutes. 981 01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:27,200 Is that a sort of accurate...? 982 01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:29,400 That was the sort of target that we aimed for, yes. 983 01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:31,160 Right. Ten minutes to unload... 984 01:01:31,160 --> 01:01:33,880 And then we would back load if there was a load 985 01:01:33,880 --> 01:01:35,480 going back down into the British zone. 986 01:01:35,480 --> 01:01:38,480 And then you'd be straight onto the next aircraft after that, would you? 987 01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:39,960 Well, there'd be a queue. 988 01:01:39,960 --> 01:01:41,960 A queue. There was a queue of aircraft. 989 01:01:41,960 --> 01:01:44,360 Are you proud of the part you played? 990 01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:45,920 Absolutely. Yeah. 991 01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:51,360 We've always considered that we did help a lot of people - 992 01:01:51,360 --> 01:01:54,280 people who were in desperate need as well. 993 01:01:54,280 --> 01:01:55,360 Oh, shit. 994 01:01:56,360 --> 01:01:57,680 That's going everywhere. 995 01:02:00,480 --> 01:02:02,120 Well done. 996 01:02:02,120 --> 01:02:03,400 OK, that's it. 997 01:02:05,440 --> 01:02:07,160 Oh, yes! Nine minutes! 998 01:02:07,160 --> 01:02:08,760 Whoo! 999 01:02:16,760 --> 01:02:19,120 I had nine minutes on my watch. 1000 01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:22,280 I don't know what the official timekeepers say but I had nine. 1001 01:02:24,160 --> 01:02:25,720 Good job. 1002 01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:27,080 You're absolutely dripping. 1003 01:02:27,080 --> 01:02:30,160 I tell you what, cos you're stooped over, 1004 01:02:30,160 --> 01:02:32,360 everything's right in the small of your back. 1005 01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:34,680 I lifted all of those bags badly, you know? 1006 01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:40,200 Should have gone back to your days in the tattie shed. I know. 1007 01:02:40,200 --> 01:02:43,080 I know but we had a hydraulic lift that put them on your shoulder. 1008 01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:45,920 I think this is cos everything's like that so all the weight's there. 1009 01:02:45,920 --> 01:02:48,360 That's really sore. We've got another aircraft coming in 1010 01:02:48,360 --> 01:02:50,560 in a minute, though, that's the other thing. Yeah. 1011 01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:53,800 Look at all the spuds under the plane. Spuds everywhere. 1012 01:02:59,640 --> 01:03:02,400 The Cold War was made all the more chilling 1013 01:03:02,400 --> 01:03:04,560 by the advent of the atomic bomb. 1014 01:03:06,800 --> 01:03:09,360 By 1949, both the US and Russia 1015 01:03:09,360 --> 01:03:13,600 possessed weaponry capable of wiping humanity from the planet. 1016 01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:22,800 When the RAF tested hydrogen bombs on Christmas Island in 1956, 1017 01:03:22,800 --> 01:03:25,640 it announced Britain's membership of the nuclear club. 1018 01:03:27,040 --> 01:03:28,640 NEWSREEL: Like a man-made sun, 1019 01:03:28,640 --> 01:03:31,240 the fireball glows high above the Pacific Ocean. 1020 01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:37,080 The RAF was now primed to drop nuclear weapons 1021 01:03:37,080 --> 01:03:38,360 on the Eastern Bloc... 1022 01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:42,200 ..a role that continued until the 1980s. 1023 01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:48,600 This is the Avro Vulcan, 1024 01:03:48,600 --> 01:03:50,920 made by the same company that built the Lancaster. 1025 01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:57,440 It entered service just 14 years after its iconic predecessor 1026 01:03:57,440 --> 01:04:00,240 and became the linchpin of Britain's nuclear bomber force. 1027 01:04:02,840 --> 01:04:06,280 I'm really excited to meet two veteran Vulcan pilots, 1028 01:04:06,280 --> 01:04:08,640 Jonny Tye and Martin Withers. 1029 01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:11,440 Jonny joined in 1962... 1030 01:04:13,760 --> 01:04:15,800 ..and Martin in 1971. 1031 01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:24,680 The Vulcan was a bomber but had something of the Spitfire about it. 1032 01:04:26,240 --> 01:04:29,920 It certainly could outmanoeuvre any fighter of its era. 1033 01:04:29,920 --> 01:04:32,920 The early missiles, heat seeking missiles, 1034 01:04:32,920 --> 01:04:34,880 all they had to slow down and turn 1035 01:04:34,880 --> 01:04:36,720 and it would lose its... 1036 01:04:36,720 --> 01:04:39,160 It really was superb. 1037 01:04:39,160 --> 01:04:41,160 So, yeah, and it's a joy to fly. 1038 01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:49,040 The Vulcan was armed with a nuclear missile 1039 01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:52,400 60 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 1040 01:04:54,440 --> 01:04:55,960 It was called Blue Steel. 1041 01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:01,840 They were not pleasant times then. 1042 01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:02,960 Mm-hm. Yeah. 1043 01:05:02,960 --> 01:05:05,400 The Blue Steel was a pretty nasty bit of kit, wasn't it... 1044 01:05:05,400 --> 01:05:08,000 Oh, it was a horrid thing. ..to be sitting on top of? Yeah. Yeah. 1045 01:05:09,360 --> 01:05:12,680 Deterrence relied on letting the Russians know that if they launched 1046 01:05:12,680 --> 01:05:17,400 a nuclear strike, the RAF was immediately ready to hit back. 1047 01:05:19,560 --> 01:05:21,920 We'd go from 15-minute readiness 1048 01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:23,560 to five-minute readiness 1049 01:05:23,560 --> 01:05:26,760 and then, on occasions, we'd go to three minutes' readiness 1050 01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:30,320 and we'd start the engines and actually taxi these things 1051 01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:33,200 and in the middle of the night in the winter, 1052 01:05:33,200 --> 01:05:36,920 when we taxied them, you know, you began to wonder whether it was 1053 01:05:36,920 --> 01:05:39,120 for real or whether it was an exercise. 1054 01:05:39,120 --> 01:05:41,360 Right, so you didn't know it was going to be an exercise? 1055 01:05:41,360 --> 01:05:43,320 You were scrambled, in effect? 1056 01:05:43,320 --> 01:05:45,280 Well, they were the nervous times, 1057 01:05:45,280 --> 01:05:49,560 when you actually fired the old bomber up and taxied it. Yeah. 1058 01:05:51,560 --> 01:05:54,200 Each crew had two secret targets, 1059 01:05:54,200 --> 01:05:56,960 usually airfields and towns within the Soviet bloc. 1060 01:05:58,560 --> 01:06:01,960 I did meet a girl from one of those towns on holiday 1061 01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:06,040 and that did shake me. Really? Yeah. It really shook me. 1062 01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:08,920 I couldn't continue to talk to her. Wow. 1063 01:06:10,600 --> 01:06:13,760 Were you fully expecting it to be a one-way mission? 1064 01:06:13,760 --> 01:06:15,760 Well, I think we knew that. 1065 01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:17,720 We hadn't the fuel to get back. 1066 01:06:17,720 --> 01:06:21,680 We had alternate airfields proposed in Norway 1067 01:06:21,680 --> 01:06:24,920 but they probably wouldn't have been there. 1068 01:06:24,920 --> 01:06:27,640 But it was just one of those things - you had to accept it. 1069 01:06:27,640 --> 01:06:30,040 Yeah. We all knew there'd be nothing to come back to. 1070 01:06:30,040 --> 01:06:32,320 We never wanted it to happen, obviously, 1071 01:06:32,320 --> 01:06:35,720 but there was no doubt that we would have carried out this mission 1072 01:06:35,720 --> 01:06:39,600 in the knowledge that there was going to be nothing to come home to. 1073 01:06:39,600 --> 01:06:41,240 I always felt that... 1074 01:06:42,480 --> 01:06:44,400 ..the UK would never go to war... 1075 01:06:45,880 --> 01:06:48,040 ..on its own without... 1076 01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:51,960 It would only be a retaliation, if you like. 1077 01:06:51,960 --> 01:06:54,920 So I had to put that in my mind 1078 01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:58,120 and just think that way 1079 01:06:58,120 --> 01:07:00,920 and that way I was able to cope with the stress. 1080 01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:02,160 Yeah. Yeah. 1081 01:07:03,120 --> 01:07:05,000 It was a grim business. 1082 01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:07,960 Pilots were issued with an eye patch so even though they might be 1083 01:07:07,960 --> 01:07:11,320 blinded by the nuclear flash, they would still have one good eye. 1084 01:07:19,680 --> 01:07:22,640 The moment when the Cold War got closest to boiling over 1085 01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:26,000 was the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. 1086 01:07:28,680 --> 01:07:30,400 The US demanded that Russia remove 1087 01:07:30,400 --> 01:07:33,480 newly installed nuclear missiles from Cuba. 1088 01:07:35,320 --> 01:07:36,480 The Soviets refused. 1089 01:07:39,960 --> 01:07:43,520 When the crisis reached its peak on the 27th of October, 1090 01:07:43,520 --> 01:07:45,400 the threat of nuclear Armageddon 1091 01:07:45,400 --> 01:07:48,360 put the bombers on a three-minute warning. 1092 01:07:49,640 --> 01:07:53,600 I think there were something like 160 warheads 1093 01:07:53,600 --> 01:07:56,440 at that sort of time in the early '60s. Yeah. 1094 01:07:56,440 --> 01:08:01,240 So there could've been 160 V bombers, Victors and Vulcans, 1095 01:08:01,240 --> 01:08:05,280 taking off, carrying this huge hydrogen bomb. 1096 01:08:05,280 --> 01:08:07,440 Wow. Yeah, they were ready to go. 1097 01:08:11,240 --> 01:08:14,280 Both sides eventually backed down from the nuclear endgame. 1098 01:08:15,720 --> 01:08:19,520 For the V-force pilots, it justified nuclear deterrence. 1099 01:08:20,720 --> 01:08:22,760 It was very important. 1100 01:08:22,760 --> 01:08:25,640 Certainly, I'm proud to have been part of that, 1101 01:08:25,640 --> 01:08:29,360 even though I might not have been terribly keen on it at the time. 1102 01:08:29,360 --> 01:08:32,240 But in retrospect I'm extremely proud 1103 01:08:32,240 --> 01:08:37,040 of what the aircraft and what the RAF did to keep the country safe. 1104 01:08:41,560 --> 01:08:42,960 Throughout its history, 1105 01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:46,080 the RAF has adapted to changing roles and technologies. 1106 01:08:47,440 --> 01:08:51,280 Today, the Chinook helicopter is its most versatile workhorse, 1107 01:08:51,280 --> 01:08:53,560 ferrying troops and heavy loads, of course, 1108 01:08:53,560 --> 01:08:57,000 but also dropping special forces behind enemy lines. 1109 01:08:59,240 --> 01:09:02,400 I'm going on a training flight with Squadron Leader Iain MacFarlane... 1110 01:09:03,520 --> 01:09:06,120 ..the most decorated of all post-war RAF pilots. 1111 01:09:12,080 --> 01:09:14,160 What is it actually like to fly? 1112 01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:15,600 It's like a sports car. 1113 01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:19,560 It looks big and cumbersome but actually it is like a sports car. 1114 01:09:19,560 --> 01:09:21,480 So, Iain, we're dropping into low level now. 1115 01:09:21,480 --> 01:09:24,600 This is a skill you guys obviously had to practise a lot. 1116 01:09:24,600 --> 01:09:26,400 It was your bread and butter, wasn't it? 1117 01:09:26,400 --> 01:09:28,200 This was where we felt safest. 1118 01:09:28,200 --> 01:09:31,600 We regularly would train down to 50 feet and 1119 01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:35,000 that's what kept us safe throughout a number of campaigns, really. 1120 01:09:36,800 --> 01:09:40,200 Iain undertook special operations in the Gulf War and Afghanistan. 1121 01:09:41,200 --> 01:09:43,480 But perhaps his most dangerous mission 1122 01:09:43,480 --> 01:09:45,520 was in Sierra Leone in West Africa. 1123 01:09:50,000 --> 01:09:52,520 In 2000, special forces were tasked 1124 01:09:52,520 --> 01:09:56,320 with rescuing six British soldiers held by a rebel group, 1125 01:09:56,320 --> 01:09:57,880 the West Side Boys. 1126 01:10:01,480 --> 01:10:02,960 The RAF was called in to help. 1127 01:10:06,000 --> 01:10:07,720 Surprise was essential, 1128 01:10:07,720 --> 01:10:10,440 as the rebels had threatened to kill the hostages 1129 01:10:10,440 --> 01:10:12,520 if they heard approaching helicopters. 1130 01:10:13,800 --> 01:10:18,200 The preferred option was a silent approach by the SAS on foot 1131 01:10:18,200 --> 01:10:20,680 and the most definite bottom of the pile 1132 01:10:20,680 --> 01:10:24,040 was an all-out helicopter assault to the front door of the enemy. 1133 01:10:24,040 --> 01:10:26,160 Yeah. But because of the terrain involved 1134 01:10:26,160 --> 01:10:28,840 and the difficulties that the reconnaissance patrols 1135 01:10:28,840 --> 01:10:32,200 had getting into position, that's exactly how it turned out. 1136 01:10:32,200 --> 01:10:34,600 We expected to lose my aircraft 1137 01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:39,120 and that went to ministerial level for permission to mount the assault, 1138 01:10:39,120 --> 01:10:40,720 based on that assumption, 1139 01:10:40,720 --> 01:10:42,560 and I selected my crew based on 1140 01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:45,760 people that were not married or didn't have any children, 1141 01:10:45,760 --> 01:10:47,760 with the exception of myself. 1142 01:10:47,760 --> 01:10:51,000 Wow, that's some decision to make. Yeah. 1143 01:10:53,200 --> 01:10:58,000 The Chinook's 100mph downdraught is normally seen as a disadvantage, 1144 01:10:58,000 --> 01:10:59,840 but not in this operation. 1145 01:11:01,520 --> 01:11:03,960 We decided to use downdraught as a weapon. 1146 01:11:03,960 --> 01:11:07,960 I sat in as steady a hover as I could manage under the circumstances 1147 01:11:07,960 --> 01:11:11,040 and watched the roof of the building peel off from front to back. 1148 01:11:11,040 --> 01:11:13,720 And that was due to your downwash that you'd planned? Exactly. 1149 01:11:13,720 --> 01:11:16,560 Exactly that. And watched one chap get out of bed, 1150 01:11:16,560 --> 01:11:19,840 pick up his AK-47 assault rifle, run out into the corridor, 1151 01:11:19,840 --> 01:11:22,280 run down the corridor, run out of his front door 1152 01:11:22,280 --> 01:11:24,920 and raise the weapon, point it straight at me. 1153 01:11:24,920 --> 01:11:28,160 And at that point, the decision to remove the windows 1154 01:11:28,160 --> 01:11:30,080 on the side of the aircraft was vindicated 1155 01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:32,760 cos a small hole appeared in the middle of his forehead 1156 01:11:32,760 --> 01:11:34,680 and he went down like a sack of potatoes. 1157 01:11:34,680 --> 01:11:36,680 So he was shot from the Chinook itself? 1158 01:11:36,680 --> 01:11:39,360 Yeah. Before the guy's had a chance... Wow, that's amazing. 1159 01:11:40,480 --> 01:11:42,400 Iain had a lucky escape, 1160 01:11:42,400 --> 01:11:45,640 but one SAS soldier lost his life. 1161 01:11:45,640 --> 01:11:49,560 And within 19 seconds of the first troop hitting the ground, 1162 01:11:49,560 --> 01:11:52,080 all but one of the hostages were safe. 1163 01:11:52,080 --> 01:11:55,760 19 seconds? Yeah. So they didn't waste any time. Wow. 1164 01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:02,920 The Chinook has already been in service with the RAF for 50 years... 1165 01:12:04,360 --> 01:12:06,320 ..and will probably serve another 50. 1166 01:12:09,360 --> 01:12:11,720 If ever you have to go to war in a flying machine, 1167 01:12:11,720 --> 01:12:14,560 this is the flying machine that I'd want to go to war in. Yeah. 1168 01:12:14,560 --> 01:12:18,600 It's just so capable and looks after its crew so well. 1169 01:12:23,480 --> 01:12:25,480 It's the morning I've been waiting for. 1170 01:12:26,640 --> 01:12:29,640 Today is my Typhoon flight and I'm incredibly nervous. 1171 01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:35,840 Having breakfast at Colin's house with our mum and dad, 1172 01:12:35,840 --> 01:12:38,880 I can't help but feel disappointed Colin's not coming too. 1173 01:12:38,880 --> 01:12:42,920 Well, I won't be flying with Colin, so that's a shame. 1174 01:12:44,480 --> 01:12:46,720 But the other two were... 1175 01:12:46,720 --> 01:12:48,760 He made me barf on both of them. 1176 01:12:50,440 --> 01:12:52,840 Ewan thinks he's leaving me behind, 1177 01:12:52,840 --> 01:12:54,520 but I've got a surprise for him. 1178 01:12:56,600 --> 01:12:59,120 Sort of talking myself into it, almost. No, you'll be fine. 1179 01:12:59,120 --> 01:13:02,280 The truth is it's the most extraordinary opportunity. 1180 01:13:02,280 --> 01:13:04,240 Of course. Yeah, quite amazing. 1181 01:13:04,240 --> 01:13:06,680 Oh! Oh! 1182 01:13:06,680 --> 01:13:09,040 What are you up to? You know you said it was a bit of a shame 1183 01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:12,040 that we weren't going to be flying together in this programme? Yeah. 1184 01:13:12,040 --> 01:13:15,840 Well, we are, cos I'm going to be up in another Typhoon next to you. 1185 01:13:15,840 --> 01:13:18,240 EWAN LAUGHS Are you going to be up as well? 1186 01:13:18,240 --> 01:13:20,400 Yeah. Oh, fantastic! 1187 01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:25,920 Two such different professions and you're both top of each profession, 1188 01:13:25,920 --> 01:13:30,120 I think, to be able to work together, to me, is amazing. 1189 01:13:30,120 --> 01:13:32,640 You are, obviously, 1190 01:13:32,640 --> 01:13:37,000 going to be that. That's your call sign today. 1191 01:13:37,000 --> 01:13:38,800 Oh, that's very funny. Right. 1192 01:13:38,800 --> 01:13:40,920 And I'm going to be your wingman. LAUGHTER 1193 01:13:46,400 --> 01:13:49,360 Like any other RAF mission, the next step is the briefing. 1194 01:13:51,040 --> 01:13:53,800 Colin's pilot, Wing Commander Chris Hoyle of 1 Squadron, 1195 01:13:53,800 --> 01:13:55,720 takes us through the sortie. 1196 01:13:57,520 --> 01:13:59,080 Some of the quick reaction alert... 1197 01:13:59,080 --> 01:14:01,440 His squadron is about to be deployed in the Middle East. 1198 01:14:01,440 --> 01:14:03,800 I want to give you a sense of the performance of Typhoon 1199 01:14:03,800 --> 01:14:05,680 cos that's the bedrock of its capability. 1200 01:14:05,680 --> 01:14:09,400 On most sorties, we would look, where possible, to use a tanker 1201 01:14:09,400 --> 01:14:12,600 just to extend our ability to train. 1202 01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:17,280 My pilot is Group Captain Paul Godfrey, the station commander. 1203 01:14:17,280 --> 01:14:20,160 Even the boss needs to keep up his flying hours. 1204 01:14:20,160 --> 01:14:21,760 We might get a little bit more... 1205 01:14:21,760 --> 01:14:25,560 We'll refuel, simulate a dogfight 1206 01:14:25,560 --> 01:14:28,560 and experience some pretty uncomfortable G-forces. 1207 01:14:28,560 --> 01:14:30,960 It's not a particularly pleasant environment often 1208 01:14:30,960 --> 01:14:32,720 and it's quite claustrophobic. 1209 01:14:38,160 --> 01:14:40,600 Then it's time to put on our survival equipment. 1210 01:14:42,520 --> 01:14:44,000 The most important part 1211 01:14:44,000 --> 01:14:46,960 are the hi-tech suits that combat the dreaded G-forces. 1212 01:14:50,200 --> 01:14:54,320 So, now what I'm doing is I'm putting a set of G trousers on 1213 01:14:54,320 --> 01:14:58,120 and they'll be connected to the aircraft. 1214 01:14:58,120 --> 01:15:01,000 So, air supply. And whenever we pull any G, 1215 01:15:01,000 --> 01:15:04,760 they'll inflate around all my major muscle groups 1216 01:15:04,760 --> 01:15:07,560 and force the blood up into my head. 1217 01:15:09,400 --> 01:15:11,480 Without the hi-tech suits, 1218 01:15:11,480 --> 01:15:15,040 our brains would be starved of oxygen and we'd pass out. 1219 01:15:20,960 --> 01:15:22,320 "Relationship - mum." 1220 01:15:23,720 --> 01:15:26,800 And then there's just two signatures. So the first one is... 1221 01:15:26,800 --> 01:15:29,800 You've already had your medical anyway, but you haven't got a cold, 1222 01:15:29,800 --> 01:15:32,440 I can hear that. So if you sign there and then... 1223 01:15:32,440 --> 01:15:34,920 I'm not sure who's more nervous - me or my mum. 1224 01:15:34,920 --> 01:15:37,360 Thank you very much. Right, won't prolong the pain any more. 1225 01:15:37,360 --> 01:15:38,800 Yeah, let's do it. Right. 1226 01:15:45,360 --> 01:15:47,640 How are you feeling, Ewan? Good. 1227 01:15:47,640 --> 01:15:49,880 Yeah, I'm excited, sort of excited about it. 1228 01:15:51,120 --> 01:15:53,760 I'm glad it's, like, we're doing it now 1229 01:15:53,760 --> 01:15:57,120 and, you know, we're almost about to get going, which is good. 1230 01:15:57,120 --> 01:16:00,360 The hanging around is less comfortable 1231 01:16:00,360 --> 01:16:03,680 than the just about to do it bit. 1232 01:16:03,680 --> 01:16:05,640 HE EXHALES DEEPLY 1233 01:16:05,640 --> 01:16:08,240 Ready? Yeah. OK. 1234 01:16:12,440 --> 01:16:14,600 See you later. Have we to come out as well? 1235 01:16:14,600 --> 01:16:15,960 I'm just saying goodbye. 1236 01:16:15,960 --> 01:16:17,280 It is my day job but, hey. 1237 01:16:18,720 --> 01:16:19,760 All right? 1238 01:16:42,680 --> 01:16:46,120 Although I train a lot of Typhoon pilots in the simulator, 1239 01:16:46,120 --> 01:16:49,320 this amazing plane was introduced after I left the RAF... 1240 01:16:50,880 --> 01:16:52,760 ..so I've never flown in one. 1241 01:16:52,760 --> 01:16:54,160 I can't wait to get up there. 1242 01:16:56,160 --> 01:16:59,480 Ready in the back, Colin? Yeah, I'm ready for this, mate. 1243 01:16:59,480 --> 01:17:00,520 Here we go. 1244 01:17:05,480 --> 01:17:11,800 I'm first to experience the Typhoon's near-vertical take-off. 1245 01:17:14,480 --> 01:17:15,600 Ten seconds. 1246 01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:17,720 It looks like such a steep climb. 1247 01:17:17,720 --> 01:17:20,840 Even on take-off, the G-forces are immense. 1248 01:17:20,840 --> 01:17:22,840 Happy in the back, Ewan? Yes. 1249 01:17:22,840 --> 01:17:24,320 Let's hope my trousers work. 1250 01:17:34,680 --> 01:17:36,840 Head up, head down, 135. 1251 01:17:39,200 --> 01:17:42,640 The reality is astonishing, like nothing I have ever felt before. 1252 01:17:42,640 --> 01:17:44,800 It's so smooth. 1253 01:17:44,800 --> 01:17:45,840 HE CHUCKLES 1254 01:17:56,640 --> 01:17:58,280 RADIO CHATTER 1255 01:18:02,080 --> 01:18:05,000 All good in the back? Yes. 1256 01:18:05,000 --> 01:18:07,720 COMPUTER: Bingo one. Bingo? 1257 01:18:07,720 --> 01:18:09,240 Bingo one. 1258 01:18:09,240 --> 01:18:11,960 That was just so smooth! 1259 01:18:11,960 --> 01:18:13,240 RADIO CHATTER 1260 01:18:17,120 --> 01:18:19,920 And before we know it, we've broken the sound barrier. 1261 01:18:21,480 --> 01:18:24,600 We're travelling at 1,000mph 1262 01:18:24,600 --> 01:18:26,040 and it feels like I'm in a bubble. 1263 01:18:29,240 --> 01:18:32,760 Our first rendezvous is with a tanker over the North Sea. 1264 01:18:36,600 --> 01:18:40,480 At 20,000 feet, we have to connect with the tanker to refuel 1265 01:18:40,480 --> 01:18:42,720 at a speed of 500mph. 1266 01:18:44,680 --> 01:18:47,400 For Typhoon pilots, this has to become second nature. 1267 01:18:49,480 --> 01:18:50,920 First up is Colin's plane. 1268 01:18:54,200 --> 01:18:56,600 Once we've attached ourselves to the fuel hose, 1269 01:18:56,600 --> 01:18:59,920 taking on 1,200 litres of fuel a minute, 1270 01:18:59,920 --> 01:19:00,960 it's Ewan's turn. 1271 01:19:06,360 --> 01:19:09,680 The Typhoon has a maximum range of 3,300 miles... 1272 01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:13,120 ..but, with refuelling, that can be extended. 1273 01:19:19,400 --> 01:19:21,640 RADIO CHATTER 1274 01:19:25,760 --> 01:19:29,280 Are you able to take them to Delta 613 Alpha? 1275 01:19:29,280 --> 01:19:32,600 We can head down that way, yeah. The weather's OK. 1276 01:19:32,600 --> 01:19:35,760 As you head further south, it starts to build... 1277 01:19:35,760 --> 01:19:38,080 And now the moment I've been waiting for - 1278 01:19:38,080 --> 01:19:40,400 I'm handed the controls of a military jet 1279 01:19:40,400 --> 01:19:43,520 for the first time since I left the RAF ten years ago. 1280 01:19:46,480 --> 01:19:47,640 It's good. 1281 01:19:54,080 --> 01:19:57,840 The planes I flew were from a completely different generation. 1282 01:19:57,840 --> 01:20:00,680 They did the job but they were heavy and cumbersome. 1283 01:20:00,680 --> 01:20:02,760 This is just so light and agile. 1284 01:20:08,000 --> 01:20:10,200 Then it's my turn to take over the controls 1285 01:20:10,200 --> 01:20:12,440 of this awesome, cutting-edge aeroplane. 1286 01:20:15,200 --> 01:20:17,080 Now you have control. 1287 01:20:17,080 --> 01:20:19,040 OK. 1288 01:20:19,040 --> 01:20:22,400 Just confirm you've got control, Ewan. I do have control. Excellent. 1289 01:20:24,040 --> 01:20:27,560 I know 200 computers and Paul can take over at any moment 1290 01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:28,880 but this is astonishing. 1291 01:20:38,520 --> 01:20:39,960 And what I can't believe 1292 01:20:39,960 --> 01:20:42,400 is that it's all happening at supersonic speed. 1293 01:20:45,040 --> 01:20:47,520 Can I tell my mates I flew Typhoon, then? 1294 01:20:47,520 --> 01:20:50,280 Of course you can. It's not me. 1295 01:20:50,280 --> 01:20:52,640 Now we're ready to practise air-to-air combat. 1296 01:20:53,840 --> 01:20:56,200 These days the enemy is usually over the horizon... 1297 01:20:58,200 --> 01:21:01,040 ..but the RAF still has to train for close-up dogfights. 1298 01:21:22,040 --> 01:21:23,680 Who'd have thought it? 1299 01:21:23,680 --> 01:21:27,200 My brother and I taking each other on at 20,000 feet. 1300 01:21:34,040 --> 01:21:35,880 The technology may have changed... 1301 01:21:37,280 --> 01:21:39,200 ..but the techniques would be familiar 1302 01:21:39,200 --> 01:21:42,120 to Mick Mannock in World War I and Geoffrey Wellum in World War II. 1303 01:21:46,000 --> 01:21:47,280 That was pretty good. 1304 01:21:52,440 --> 01:21:55,360 The last time an RAF pilot took part in a dogfight 1305 01:21:55,360 --> 01:21:57,200 was during the Falklands conflict. 1306 01:22:02,040 --> 01:22:06,120 In 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, 1307 01:22:06,120 --> 01:22:08,320 a British territory in the South Atlantic. 1308 01:22:12,480 --> 01:22:15,840 The British sent a force to recapture the islands 1309 01:22:15,840 --> 01:22:18,120 and when the troops from the task force landed 1310 01:22:18,120 --> 01:22:19,480 to reclaim the territory, 1311 01:22:19,480 --> 01:22:22,400 they found themselves under attack from the Argentinian Air Force. 1312 01:22:27,840 --> 01:22:30,880 RAF pilot David Morgan was patrolling in a Sea Harrier 1313 01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:33,600 when he saw Skyhawks attacking a landing craft. 1314 01:22:36,560 --> 01:22:41,080 I saw the first Skyhawk hit the back of the landing craft with a bomb. 1315 01:22:42,120 --> 01:22:46,840 A large explosion, and I knew that some of the guys there had died 1316 01:22:46,840 --> 01:22:50,720 and that made me more angry than I've ever been in my life... 1317 01:22:53,440 --> 01:22:56,840 ..and I decided, at that stage, that guy was going to die. 1318 01:22:56,840 --> 01:22:58,480 I wasn't shooting down aeroplanes. 1319 01:22:58,480 --> 01:23:01,360 You know, people say it's just shooting down bits of metal. 1320 01:23:01,360 --> 01:23:03,000 It wasn't on this occasion. 1321 01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:05,480 I was going to kill the guy in the cockpit. 1322 01:23:05,480 --> 01:23:07,760 As I was converting onto him, 1323 01:23:07,760 --> 01:23:10,280 out of the corner of my eye I saw another aircraft 1324 01:23:10,280 --> 01:23:12,400 to the south of me by a couple of hundred yards. 1325 01:23:13,840 --> 01:23:20,480 So I locked my missile onto him and fired it right in at minimum range, 1326 01:23:20,480 --> 01:23:24,160 300-400 yards with a lot of overtake, 1327 01:23:24,160 --> 01:23:26,120 and the missile came off the port wing 1328 01:23:26,120 --> 01:23:27,920 and went straight up his jet pipe. 1329 01:23:27,920 --> 01:23:31,120 I remember seeing it actually disappear up the jet pipe 1330 01:23:31,120 --> 01:23:34,480 before the thing vaporised, the whole aircraft just vaporised. 1331 01:23:36,120 --> 01:23:39,600 David's speed of 700mph and the force of the missile 1332 01:23:39,600 --> 01:23:43,760 flipped his Harrier on its back at 50 feet above the ground. 1333 01:23:45,680 --> 01:23:48,040 Wrenched the aircraft back up again 1334 01:23:48,040 --> 01:23:50,520 and found myself pointing at the guy 1335 01:23:50,520 --> 01:23:53,720 I'd seen actually hit the landing craft. 1336 01:23:53,720 --> 01:23:56,720 Locked the second Sidewinder onto him. 1337 01:23:56,720 --> 01:23:58,920 The missile came off the starboard wing, 1338 01:23:58,920 --> 01:24:03,120 took a big lead to the left across my nose 1339 01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:05,520 and took him out at 90 degrees, 1340 01:24:05,520 --> 01:24:07,320 went bang just behind the cockpit 1341 01:24:07,320 --> 01:24:10,720 and the whole of the back-end of the aircraft disappeared, 1342 01:24:10,720 --> 01:24:14,200 just left the cockpit and about two foot of wing stub, 1343 01:24:14,200 --> 01:24:16,120 I suppose, and that was it, 1344 01:24:16,120 --> 01:24:19,560 when, all of a sudden, a parachute opened right in front of my face 1345 01:24:19,560 --> 01:24:22,280 and it was the second guy who'd actually managed to eject... 1346 01:24:22,280 --> 01:24:25,080 Right. ..before the cockpit hit the water. 1347 01:24:25,080 --> 01:24:29,680 I went underneath him so close that I actually instinctively ducked. 1348 01:24:31,680 --> 01:24:38,080 And my hatred then flipped completely to, 1349 01:24:38,080 --> 01:24:39,560 "This is another pilot." 1350 01:24:39,560 --> 01:24:41,120 Yeah. 1351 01:24:41,120 --> 01:24:43,120 Huge empathy with him. 1352 01:24:43,120 --> 01:24:47,640 And then flipped right back again to engaging the next guy with guns. 1353 01:24:50,680 --> 01:24:53,240 When he returned to his aircraft carrier, 1354 01:24:53,240 --> 01:24:56,680 David wrote out a poem by a pilot from the Second World War. 1355 01:24:58,360 --> 01:24:59,960 Did Michelangelo aspire 1356 01:24:59,960 --> 01:25:01,640 Painting the laughing cumulus 1357 01:25:01,640 --> 01:25:03,360 To ride the majesty of air? 1358 01:25:04,440 --> 01:25:07,000 He was a trier I'll give this Jerry that 1359 01:25:07,000 --> 01:25:11,200 I let him have a sharp four-second squirt, closing to 50 yards 1360 01:25:11,200 --> 01:25:13,120 He went on fire 1361 01:25:13,120 --> 01:25:15,640 Your deadly petals painted 1362 01:25:15,640 --> 01:25:18,200 You exist, a simple stature 1363 01:25:18,200 --> 01:25:20,400 Man high without pride 1364 01:25:20,400 --> 01:25:23,240 You pick your way through the heaven and the dirt 1365 01:25:23,240 --> 01:25:26,120 He burnt out in the air That's how the poor sod died. 1366 01:25:28,200 --> 01:25:32,320 I thought that was particularly apt. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 1367 01:25:35,120 --> 01:25:38,000 And it screwed me up for a long time. 1368 01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:41,680 I had classic symptoms of PTSD 1369 01:25:41,680 --> 01:25:46,240 and I'm sure I can pin it down to those couple of minutes 1370 01:25:46,240 --> 01:25:52,600 of incredibly, incredibly intense emotions 1371 01:25:52,600 --> 01:25:55,920 switching 180 degrees two or three times. 1372 01:26:02,520 --> 01:26:07,320 David's story has so many echoes of the dogfights of World War I and II. 1373 01:26:07,320 --> 01:26:10,160 The immense bravery and the terrible personal cost. 1374 01:26:12,680 --> 01:26:14,720 Yeah, we'll probably go out to the West Coast, 1375 01:26:14,720 --> 01:26:16,800 then pull up and do some of that G8. OK. 1376 01:26:19,200 --> 01:26:20,840 Wow. Bonnie Scotland. 1377 01:26:22,360 --> 01:26:26,640 On the way back, we're going on a high-speed trip down memory lane 1378 01:26:26,640 --> 01:26:28,760 through the Highlands. 1379 01:26:28,760 --> 01:26:32,000 My parents used to live in Ullapool. Colin was conceived in Ullapool! 1380 01:26:32,000 --> 01:26:33,880 Oh, my good God! Yeah! 1381 01:26:33,880 --> 01:26:35,480 Bit too much information. 1382 01:26:35,480 --> 01:26:37,400 LAUGHTER 1383 01:26:44,000 --> 01:26:46,920 Flying in the Typhoon has been such a privilege. 1384 01:26:46,920 --> 01:26:49,360 It's brought together all we've learnt about the RAF. 1385 01:26:51,040 --> 01:26:54,240 That was astonishing. That was just really, really beautiful. 1386 01:26:56,240 --> 01:26:59,680 The Typhoon and its pilots feel like worthy successors 1387 01:26:59,680 --> 01:27:02,680 to the Spitfire, the Lancaster and their crews. 1388 01:27:02,680 --> 01:27:04,360 There he goes. 1389 01:27:04,360 --> 01:27:06,200 Oh-ho-ho! 1390 01:27:06,200 --> 01:27:08,000 Oh, my God! 1391 01:27:11,560 --> 01:27:13,120 The Royal Air Force has always been 1392 01:27:13,120 --> 01:27:15,400 at the cutting edge of technology and innovation, 1393 01:27:15,400 --> 01:27:17,520 but you've always got to come back to the people 1394 01:27:17,520 --> 01:27:19,600 cos that's what the RAF's all about, really. 1395 01:27:19,600 --> 01:27:21,040 It's about the people. 1396 01:27:21,040 --> 01:27:23,560 And you find a commonality between all of them 1397 01:27:23,560 --> 01:27:25,360 that ties everybody together. 1398 01:27:25,360 --> 01:27:28,240 You know, it's that ethos and spirit of the RAF 1399 01:27:28,240 --> 01:27:30,600 that lasted throughout its 100-year history 1400 01:27:30,600 --> 01:27:34,040 and everybody's got a chunk of that in them that's served. 1401 01:27:34,040 --> 01:27:36,680 Cheers. Yeah, cheers, cheers. 1402 01:27:38,600 --> 01:27:41,720 Couple of weeks have been, yeah, a real journey of understanding 1403 01:27:41,720 --> 01:27:43,720 about this incredible organisation, 1404 01:27:43,720 --> 01:27:45,960 starting at the very beginning 1405 01:27:45,960 --> 01:27:48,720 with those amazingly beautiful and iconic... 1406 01:27:48,720 --> 01:27:51,240 ..paper aeroplanes, they look like, don't they? 1407 01:27:51,240 --> 01:27:53,720 Little...rickety little machines. 1408 01:27:53,720 --> 01:27:57,000 Right through to flying the Typhoon and meeting all the people we've met 1409 01:27:57,000 --> 01:28:00,840 along the way who've been involved in this Royal Air Force. 1410 01:28:00,840 --> 01:28:05,080 It's a special organisation and, you know, ultimately saved... 1411 01:28:06,280 --> 01:28:09,840 ..our lives from invasion in the Second World War 1412 01:28:09,840 --> 01:28:11,480 and still protect us to his day.