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You can't fly a Spitfire and forget
about it. It stays with you forever.
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It stays with you forever.
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(new speaker) The Spitfire
was just like a dancing fairy.
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It was gorgeous.
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I can't really explain it.
It was absolutely wonderful.
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(new speaker)
It was childishly simple to fly.
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Before I could say "nada",
I was up at 8,000 feet
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in an aircraft that was doing 400 mph.
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I'd never been at that speed ever.
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(new speaker) It was the nearest thing
to having wings and flying oneself.
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You only had to blow
on the control stick
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00:03:30,502 --> 00:03:33,221
and it seemed to do what you wanted.
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(new speaker) It's so beautiful.
It is a work of art.
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But at the same time, you are aware that
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the purpose of this plane
was to shoot and kill.
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It's a killing machine.
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00:04:02,409 --> 00:04:05,834
(new speaker)
But it's a weapon of war, a Spitfire.
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00:04:05,912 --> 00:04:10,383
It's a weapon of war, and you've got to
learn how to use it as a weapon of war.
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(machine gun fire)
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00:05:34,793 --> 00:05:38,798
(narrator) Coningsby is home
to three squadrons of RAF jet fighters.
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00:05:41,091 --> 00:05:45,938
On the shoulders of these men and women
rests the air defence of Great Britain.
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00:05:47,556 --> 00:05:52,437
But it is also home to
the most revered aircraft of all time:
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00:05:52,811 --> 00:05:54,484
the Spitfire.
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00:05:55,063 --> 00:05:58,567
And this was the last ever
to see service.
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00:06:05,699 --> 00:06:08,452
(newsreel) A few of these famous
aircraft have been operated
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00:06:08,535 --> 00:06:11,584
on daily met flights, helping
in the task of weather forecasting.
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00:06:11,621 --> 00:06:14,340
But now, 21 years
after the prototype first flew,
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00:06:14,416 --> 00:06:16,635
the last of the Spitfires
are to be retired.
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00:06:17,335 --> 00:06:18,427
Their day is done,
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00:06:18,503 --> 00:06:22,303
though three Spits will be kept by
the RAF for Battle of Britain flypasts,
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00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:25,093
commemorating the battle
they did so much to win.
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00:06:28,513 --> 00:06:30,641
(new speaker) For me,
and I think the British people,
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00:06:30,724 --> 00:06:36,982
these aeroplanes represent innovation,
ingenuity, determination,
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00:06:37,063 --> 00:06:40,693
and an unwillingness to be bullied.
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00:06:40,775 --> 00:06:45,155
And really, the Spitfire
is emblematic of that.
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00:06:46,740 --> 00:06:50,961
This beautiful machine
is our Mark ll Spitfire,
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00:06:51,036 --> 00:06:53,004
and, in my opinion,
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00:06:53,079 --> 00:06:56,333
this is the most
precious flying machine on the planet,
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00:06:56,416 --> 00:06:58,839
bar maybe the Apollo 11 Command Capsule
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00:06:58,919 --> 00:07:00,091
which brought the boys back
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00:07:00,170 --> 00:07:02,764
from the first trip to the moon,
the first landing on the moon.
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00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:04,136
And the reason I say that is,
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this is the only Spitfire in the world
still flying today
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00:07:08,386 --> 00:07:10,639
that actually fought
in the Battle of Britain.
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00:07:10,722 --> 00:07:14,443
So it's a truly, truly priceless
flying machine.
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00:07:14,517 --> 00:07:16,360
And it also happens to be
one of the most,
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00:07:16,436 --> 00:07:20,566
if not the most beautiful machine
that man has ever made, in my opinion.
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I think, for most of the pilots
on the flight,
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this one holds a particular place
in their hearts
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because, of course, we grew up with
the legend of the Battle of Britain.
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For people who joined the Royal
Air Force, it's part of our core ethos.
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00:07:36,331 --> 00:07:39,585
So to then be able to sit
in this machine, or to even fly it,
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is an incredible privilege.
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These are the planes that saved Britain
and Europe in its darkest hour.
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00:07:56,267 --> 00:07:59,862
At the height of the Second World War,
a film was produced
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00:07:59,938 --> 00:08:03,693
which would forever fix the Spitfire
in the public's imagination.
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00:08:06,152 --> 00:08:10,999
"The First of the Few" told the story
of the famous fighter aircraft
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00:08:11,074 --> 00:08:14,248
and its creator, RJ Mitchell.
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00:08:14,703 --> 00:08:16,421
(woman on film)
What have you been up to?
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- Thinking.
- Great thoughts?
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00:08:18,039 --> 00:08:20,383
- Oh, terrific.
- (woman) Such as?
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00:08:20,458 --> 00:08:22,836
- The birds fly a lot better than we do.
- (gulls cry)
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You don't say!
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I do, but then they've been at it
some millions of years.
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00:08:27,757 --> 00:08:30,180
We've got to learn from them
if we ever want to fly properly.
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00:08:30,844 --> 00:08:32,846
The film had a huge impact
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00:08:32,929 --> 00:08:37,400
and turned a weapon of war
into an international icon.
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00:08:37,475 --> 00:08:39,603
(man on film) See how
they wheel and bank and glide?
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00:08:40,186 --> 00:08:41,529
Perfect.
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00:08:42,022 --> 00:08:46,152
And all in one;
wings, body, tail, all in one.
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- But you wait.
- (gulls cry)
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Someday I'm going to build a plane
that'll be just like a bird.
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00:08:54,117 --> 00:08:55,869
Why, it is like a bird.
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What a strange-looking machine.
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00:09:08,506 --> 00:09:12,056
(new speaker) As a child, for me,
running around this place was magical.
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00:09:14,054 --> 00:09:15,601
If we were to come down at the weekend,
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00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:18,308
my father would be doing
a particular job on one of the aircraft.
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00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:19,734
I was left to roam.
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00:09:20,769 --> 00:09:23,693
And it gave me a great sense
of what these aircraft were about,
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even at an early age.
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00:09:26,858 --> 00:09:29,862
So, looking at what it means
to aviation,
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00:09:29,944 --> 00:09:32,322
and what it means
to the story of the Spitfire,
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00:09:33,865 --> 00:09:36,539
this aircraft, the Supermarine S.6,
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00:09:36,951 --> 00:09:39,875
I think it's the most important aircraft
we've got here.
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00:09:41,790 --> 00:09:43,588
What gets me is it's so narrow.
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00:09:43,666 --> 00:09:46,340
Even after all this time
of knowing the aircraft, it's so narrow.
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00:09:46,419 --> 00:09:49,389
You appreciate, of course, they
went in sideways and then turned round
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00:09:49,422 --> 00:09:52,096
so they got their shoulders
under the coaming here.
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00:09:52,175 --> 00:09:55,270
Head back on here.
And a very thin cushion to sit on.
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00:10:00,683 --> 00:10:05,405
(Andy Jones) So N248 was built for
the Schneider Trophy Contest in 1929.
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00:10:06,648 --> 00:10:09,868
The Schneider Trophy
was a race for seaplanes.
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00:10:09,943 --> 00:10:14,244
It started before the First World War
as a fairly small event in Monaco.
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00:10:14,322 --> 00:10:17,952
By 1931 it was
an international spectacle.
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00:10:25,667 --> 00:10:27,169
At the last race, in 1931,
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a million people came down
to the shores of the Solent
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00:10:30,213 --> 00:10:32,432
to watch the race happen.
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00:10:32,507 --> 00:10:33,884
These machines,
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like N248, and the Italian machines
and the American machines that entered
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00:10:39,013 --> 00:10:40,936
were the fastest machines on Earth.
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00:10:41,015 --> 00:10:44,519
And the pilots who flew them
were the fastest men on Earth.
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00:10:47,063 --> 00:10:48,189
Fire!
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00:10:52,610 --> 00:10:54,533
(Alan Jones) When this
competition started,
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the speeds were around about 40 mph.
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00:10:57,740 --> 00:11:00,664
By the time it finished,
they were 400 mph.
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00:11:09,919 --> 00:11:12,843
Well done indeed. Well done indeed.
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00:11:27,645 --> 00:11:33,118
(newsreel) Mr RJ Mitchell, of
Southampton, England, will talk to you
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00:11:33,193 --> 00:11:36,618
on the design
of the Schneider Trophy seaplane.
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00:11:38,489 --> 00:11:40,787
(Mitchell) In the design
of a seaplane of this type,
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00:11:40,867 --> 00:11:44,462
the one outstanding
and all-important requirement is speed.
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00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:48,675
Every feature has to be sacrificed
to this demand.
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00:11:49,792 --> 00:11:53,672
It is not good enough to follow
conventional methods of design.
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00:11:53,755 --> 00:11:55,803
It is essential to break new ground
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00:11:55,882 --> 00:11:59,682
and to invent and evolve new methods
and new ideas.
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00:12:00,970 --> 00:12:03,064
(Andy Jones) There is the myth
around Mitchell
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00:12:03,139 --> 00:12:06,734
of being a genius who designed
all these aircraft on his own,
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00:12:06,809 --> 00:12:09,062
with a little notebook and a pencil.
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00:12:09,896 --> 00:12:13,321
In fact there was an enormous
design team for a Supermarine.
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00:12:13,775 --> 00:12:19,373
He had around him people who had
superior knowledge on high-speed flight.
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00:12:19,447 --> 00:12:22,826
And that was invaluable
when they went back to the drawing board
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00:12:22,909 --> 00:12:26,209
after the race in 1931
and started on the Spitfire.
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00:12:32,752 --> 00:12:36,507
It wasn't just Britain
making strides in aviation.
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00:12:38,216 --> 00:12:42,471
In Germany, a new and increasingly
sinister political force
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00:12:42,553 --> 00:12:45,978
was using aircraft
to spread its influence.
125
00:12:47,725 --> 00:12:52,572
These new developments became
a powerful symbol of Nazi ambition.
126
00:12:53,648 --> 00:12:58,279
By 1933,
this could no longer be ignored.
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00:13:00,947 --> 00:13:03,700
For months, some of us have been
trying to impress on the government
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00:13:03,783 --> 00:13:05,080
that the danger is growing.
129
00:13:05,159 --> 00:13:07,537
But this is a democratic country.
130
00:13:07,620 --> 00:13:09,964
The policy of the government
is the will of the people.
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00:13:10,039 --> 00:13:11,791
Or it's supposed to be.
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00:13:11,874 --> 00:13:15,674
And the passionate desire of every
sane, thinking person is for peace.
133
00:13:17,046 --> 00:13:19,344
Well, Mitchell, what do you propose?
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00:13:20,425 --> 00:13:22,018
I want to build a fighter.
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00:13:22,093 --> 00:13:25,063
The fastest and deadliest
fighting aeroplane in the world.
136
00:13:30,018 --> 00:13:33,568
It's got to do 400 mph,
turn on a sixpence,
137
00:13:33,646 --> 00:13:35,990
climb 10,000 feet in a few minutes,
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00:13:36,065 --> 00:13:38,944
dive at 500
without the wings coming off,
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00:13:39,027 --> 00:13:40,825
carry eight machine guns.
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00:14:02,633 --> 00:14:04,510
(new speaker) As far as
aeroplane design goes,
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00:14:04,594 --> 00:14:07,814
everybody's looking for
those few percent improvements.
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00:14:10,975 --> 00:14:13,194
That slight edge in performance.
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00:14:17,774 --> 00:14:22,530
Aerodynamics, engines, structures,
this type of thing.
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00:14:25,907 --> 00:14:30,413
This is the old 24-foot wind tunnel
at Farnborough.
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00:14:35,249 --> 00:14:41,382
It was used basically to wind-tunnel
test full-scale aeroplanes.
146
00:14:47,387 --> 00:14:51,688
Various countries, particularly Germany,
were heading towards a war situation,
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00:14:51,766 --> 00:14:54,610
were developing fast bombers.
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00:14:55,103 --> 00:14:58,778
So fighters had to
become faster as well.
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00:14:59,190 --> 00:15:01,363
We were terribly behind.
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00:15:02,693 --> 00:15:05,162
But there was this constant
cross-fertilisation
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00:15:05,238 --> 00:15:09,960
between what the Germans were doing and
what we were doing here at Farnborough.
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00:15:11,244 --> 00:15:15,465
And this is the key to the whole story
of the Spitfire's wing.
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00:15:20,878 --> 00:15:24,678
Beverley Shenstone was a young Canadian
aeronautical engineering graduate
154
00:15:24,757 --> 00:15:26,304
who came over to Britain
155
00:15:26,342 --> 00:15:29,596
and then immediately got himself
a job with Junkers in Germany
156
00:15:29,679 --> 00:15:32,808
to try and find out what the Germans
were doing in this area.
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00:15:36,602 --> 00:15:39,071
I think it has been suggested
that he might have been a spy,
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00:15:39,147 --> 00:15:42,822
but I don't know
about that side of things. (laughs)
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00:15:43,985 --> 00:15:48,081
He met one of the great names
in aerodynamics, Ludwig Prandtl.
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00:15:50,700 --> 00:15:54,830
And it turned out that in 1918,
Prandtl had published
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00:15:54,912 --> 00:15:58,416
the description of all their work
during the First World War,
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00:15:59,125 --> 00:16:02,720
including a wing plan form
shaped as an ellipse.
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00:16:07,175 --> 00:16:10,805
But he didn't just draw
a simple ellipse,
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00:16:10,887 --> 00:16:14,562
he drew two halves of two ellipses.
165
00:16:15,850 --> 00:16:19,696
A bluntish ellipse here,
and a much deeper ellipse there.
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00:16:19,770 --> 00:16:24,947
And that, I have to say,
is not only like, similar to,
167
00:16:25,026 --> 00:16:30,624
it's damn well geometrically identical
to what emerged on the Spitfire.
168
00:16:31,824 --> 00:16:36,204
And I think Shenstone picked up
that idea and brought it back
169
00:16:36,287 --> 00:16:41,794
when he came to work for Supermarine
in 1933, and suggested it to Mitchell.
170
00:16:42,376 --> 00:16:45,755
So, basically,
the Spitfire had a German wing.
171
00:16:46,631 --> 00:16:48,349
And I suspect that a lot of people
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00:16:48,382 --> 00:16:50,760
have been too embarrassed
to say anything about it.
173
00:16:56,807 --> 00:17:00,186
(newsreel) In the aircraft factories
of Britain, our workmen are trained
174
00:17:00,269 --> 00:17:03,944
to build to the most severe standards
of accuracy in the world.
175
00:17:06,901 --> 00:17:12,908
Every part has been tested and re-tested
until human ingenuity can do no more.
176
00:17:18,663 --> 00:17:21,837
(newsreel) There are over 11,000 parts
in a Merlin engine.
177
00:17:24,418 --> 00:17:27,137
Over 140 separate machining operations
are needed
178
00:17:27,213 --> 00:17:29,341
to produce the Merlin crankshaft.
179
00:17:30,883 --> 00:17:33,011
Women prove themselves
to be particularly adept
180
00:17:33,094 --> 00:17:34,562
at this exacting work.
181
00:17:36,556 --> 00:17:40,356
At each station, a sub-assembly,
or component, is added to the engine.
182
00:17:42,270 --> 00:17:46,150
At the end of the line, the completed
engine is vetted by an inspector
183
00:17:46,232 --> 00:17:48,860
who notes the numbers
of individual components
184
00:17:48,901 --> 00:17:51,654
and assigns a new number
to the whole engine.
185
00:17:51,737 --> 00:17:54,115
From now on, it has an identity.
186
00:18:00,580 --> 00:18:03,208
On March the 5th, 1936,
187
00:18:03,291 --> 00:18:06,591
the new fighter's prototype
was ready for testing.
188
00:18:11,048 --> 00:18:13,221
There is only one person alive today
189
00:18:13,301 --> 00:18:16,931
who remembers
the Spitfire's first test flight.
190
00:18:19,140 --> 00:18:21,108
(new speaker)
Well, I was four and a half.
191
00:18:22,059 --> 00:18:26,485
My father worked at Supermarine
for RJ Mitchell.
192
00:18:26,939 --> 00:18:29,943
So we grew up with the aeroplanes
and the Spitfire especially,
193
00:18:30,026 --> 00:18:33,701
because Father was looking after
the development of that.
194
00:18:34,864 --> 00:18:36,787
One day he said to Mother,
195
00:18:36,866 --> 00:18:39,710
"Do you want to come and see
the first flight of our new aeroplane?"
196
00:18:41,203 --> 00:18:45,253
So we got in the back of the car
and off we all went to Eastleigh.
197
00:18:47,918 --> 00:18:50,216
(engine fires up)
198
00:18:56,510 --> 00:18:58,183
The pilot came out and got in.
199
00:18:59,221 --> 00:19:00,814
And then off he went.
200
00:19:37,218 --> 00:19:39,812
(newsreel) This is the latest type
of single-seater fighter,
201
00:19:39,887 --> 00:19:41,480
and as you can see, a monoplane.
202
00:19:41,847 --> 00:19:46,227
In design and construction, she is not
unlike the last Schneider Trophy winner.
203
00:19:48,104 --> 00:19:51,358
We are flying along in our own plane
at about 175.
204
00:19:52,233 --> 00:19:53,655
So, what speed she is capable of
205
00:19:53,734 --> 00:19:56,362
you may judge from the pace
at which she overtakes us.
206
00:20:06,622 --> 00:20:09,922
And she's going to be a great asset
to the RAF, it's pretty obvious.
207
00:20:34,900 --> 00:20:38,530
(Judy Monger) Father was very pleased
that it had taken off all right
208
00:20:38,612 --> 00:20:40,489
and flown and come back.
209
00:20:40,573 --> 00:20:43,122
"Oh, that was all right, that was good,"
or something.
210
00:20:44,660 --> 00:20:48,665
And that was the first flight
of the Spitfire. (laughs)
211
00:20:59,550 --> 00:21:02,850
(thunder)
212
00:21:05,556 --> 00:21:09,527
Just two days later,
on March the 7th, 1936,
213
00:21:09,602 --> 00:21:12,651
Hitler's troops marched
into the Rhineland.
214
00:21:14,231 --> 00:21:17,906
It was an ominous moment
for the future of Europe.
215
00:21:17,985 --> 00:21:21,080
(archive recordings of Hitler)
216
00:21:34,043 --> 00:21:36,216
(new speaker)
We knew perfectly well it was coming.
217
00:21:37,630 --> 00:21:44,138
The rise of Hitler and all this business
about occupying the Rhine
218
00:21:44,595 --> 00:21:49,772
was the time that we realised
that there was a war on the way.
219
00:21:49,850 --> 00:21:54,276
Churchill had been warning us, kept
warning us and warning us all the time,
220
00:21:54,355 --> 00:21:56,574
about what was going to happen.
221
00:21:56,649 --> 00:21:59,402
But at that age,
you don't worry about the future.
222
00:22:01,779 --> 00:22:04,328
(new speaker) I don't think
I had any specific feelings.
223
00:22:04,406 --> 00:22:07,034
The average 18-, 19-year-old
224
00:22:07,117 --> 00:22:11,042
is not terribly interested in
what's happening in the future.
225
00:22:12,540 --> 00:22:16,545
I certainly don't remember thinking,
"Oh, my goodness," you know.
226
00:22:16,627 --> 00:22:18,721
"We've got a war possibly coming."
227
00:22:21,799 --> 00:22:26,020
With the threat growing by the day,
and time running out,
228
00:22:26,095 --> 00:22:28,314
Britain needed the Spitfire.
229
00:22:29,390 --> 00:22:33,816
But in June 1937
came a terrible setback.
230
00:22:39,984 --> 00:22:42,203
Well, I suppose you know
something of the trouble
231
00:22:42,278 --> 00:22:44,155
or you wouldn't have come to me.
232
00:22:44,238 --> 00:22:46,081
I had an idea of it, yes.
233
00:22:46,657 --> 00:22:49,501
I'm afraid you're a rather sick man,
Mr Mitchell.
234
00:22:49,952 --> 00:22:52,046
I had an idea of that, too.
235
00:23:08,846 --> 00:23:10,814
(Judy Monger)
Well, he'd been ill for some time.
236
00:23:12,641 --> 00:23:16,987
We weren't aware of it, being children,
but obviously Father would've been.
237
00:23:18,647 --> 00:23:23,824
Because we used to go to his house
at weekends if there was something,
238
00:23:23,861 --> 00:23:27,206
information that Father had
that he had to discuss with him.
239
00:23:29,450 --> 00:23:32,044
And we just stopped doing that.
240
00:23:32,786 --> 00:23:36,086
Father all dressed up in black one day
and went off and...
241
00:23:36,999 --> 00:23:38,421
that was it.
242
00:23:42,087 --> 00:23:45,808
It was very sad, obviously,
for everybody, especially in the team,
243
00:23:45,883 --> 00:23:47,806
when their leader's gone.
244
00:23:57,561 --> 00:23:59,814
In its hour of greatest need,
245
00:23:59,897 --> 00:24:03,572
the country had lost
its greatest aircraft designer
246
00:24:03,651 --> 00:24:05,779
at the age of 42.
247
00:24:07,404 --> 00:24:11,625
It was now a race against time
to get the Spitfire finished.
248
00:24:13,494 --> 00:24:17,840
It would join Britain's other
new fighter, the Hawker Hurricane.
249
00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:21,965
Both would prove vital
in the coming conflict.
250
00:24:24,129 --> 00:24:27,099
(newsreel) A welcome sight
in the Vickers works at Eastleigh,
251
00:24:27,174 --> 00:24:29,518
one of the factories
where the production of Spitfires
252
00:24:29,593 --> 00:24:30,936
is rapidly going ahead.
253
00:24:31,011 --> 00:24:32,388
In the present state of Europe,
254
00:24:32,471 --> 00:24:35,065
the country couldn't possibly have
too many of these fighters,
255
00:24:35,140 --> 00:24:37,393
which claim to be
the fastest in the world.
256
00:24:40,145 --> 00:24:42,694
Their powerful engines are lined up
ready for installation,
257
00:24:42,773 --> 00:24:45,868
and every operation of manufacture
and assembly is carried out
258
00:24:45,901 --> 00:24:48,825
with that delicate precision for which
British workmanship is famous.
259
00:24:50,072 --> 00:24:52,450
On completion the machines
are given a thorough try-out.
260
00:24:52,533 --> 00:24:53,785
You'll be pleased to notice
261
00:24:53,867 --> 00:24:56,711
the rapidity of their climb
and their handiness in the air.
262
00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:12,803
(new speaker)
I'd reached the dizzy age of 19,
263
00:25:12,886 --> 00:25:19,610
and it was a time when everybody
was beginning to think of joining up.
264
00:25:20,144 --> 00:25:23,990
And I decided the best thing to do
265
00:25:24,064 --> 00:25:28,365
was to join the RAFVR,
volunteer reserve.
266
00:25:29,111 --> 00:25:33,912
And, in due course,
I did get called up for flying training.
267
00:25:35,701 --> 00:25:39,422
And so my flying career
started in a Tiger Moth.
268
00:25:42,332 --> 00:25:46,053
(new speaker) I wanted to fly
but it was an expensive business.
269
00:25:46,503 --> 00:25:49,222
So I thought, "The cheapest way
is join the Air Force."
270
00:25:49,298 --> 00:25:52,222
"They probably pay you to learn to fly."
271
00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:55,680
I wrote off to Air Ministry saying that,
272
00:25:55,763 --> 00:25:58,937
basically, I was leaving school within
a year and wanted to fly an aeroplane
273
00:25:59,016 --> 00:26:01,110
and could they give me a job, really.
274
00:26:13,655 --> 00:26:18,752
In August 1938,
the Spitfire entered RAF service.
275
00:26:20,370 --> 00:26:22,839
It was not a moment too soon.
276
00:26:46,730 --> 00:26:50,075
(Chamberlain) This morning,
the British ambassador in Berlin
277
00:26:50,943 --> 00:26:54,789
handed the German government
a final note,
278
00:26:55,364 --> 00:26:58,584
stating that unless we heard from them
279
00:26:58,659 --> 00:27:02,289
by 11 o'clock, that they were prepared,
280
00:27:02,371 --> 00:27:05,966
at once,
to withdraw their troops from Poland,
281
00:27:06,041 --> 00:27:09,591
a state of war would exist between us.
282
00:27:11,171 --> 00:27:16,473
I have to tell you now that no such
undertaking has been received,
283
00:27:17,177 --> 00:27:22,809
and that, consequently,
this country is at war with Germany.
284
00:27:31,567 --> 00:27:35,037
(Paul Farnes) It came over the radio
that we were at war.
285
00:27:36,947 --> 00:27:40,622
Had half a mug of wine each
and wished each other good luck.
286
00:27:41,076 --> 00:27:42,328
And that was it.
287
00:27:42,411 --> 00:27:45,130
It was quite emotional at the time.
288
00:27:50,002 --> 00:27:52,425
We discussed it with each other and...
289
00:27:53,255 --> 00:27:56,475
Well, it's the sort of thing I think
anyone would find a bit emotional
290
00:27:56,550 --> 00:28:02,307
if you're suddenly told
that war had already been declared.
291
00:28:03,056 --> 00:28:04,649
You knew you were in it.
292
00:28:05,184 --> 00:28:08,108
Because after all,
it was what you were being trained for.
293
00:28:10,647 --> 00:28:12,775
(new speaker) It was exciting, exciting.
294
00:28:12,858 --> 00:28:16,362
We wanted the war to start, you know,
and wanted to be in it.
295
00:28:16,445 --> 00:28:18,197
Didn't want to be left behind.
296
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,624
And don't forget, I was 18, 19.
297
00:28:20,699 --> 00:28:23,669
Very enthusiastic about everything
in those days.
298
00:28:25,662 --> 00:28:27,960
(new speaker) What went
through my mind was
299
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,919
how long would it be
before I got on a squadron?
300
00:28:31,752 --> 00:28:35,802
I went first of all
I think it was to Biggin Hill.
301
00:28:35,881 --> 00:28:37,599
And the CO looked at me and said,
302
00:28:37,674 --> 00:28:40,894
"How many hours have you done
on Hurricanes, Pickering?"
303
00:28:40,969 --> 00:28:43,392
I said, "I've never even seen one, sir."
304
00:28:43,472 --> 00:28:48,103
So, he said, "Well, go on out there,
go and have a look at it." (laughs)
305
00:28:50,771 --> 00:28:52,614
(new speaker)
Towards the end of my training,
306
00:28:52,689 --> 00:28:55,317
I think the war was getting
a bit worrying to everybody
307
00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:00,531
and I was taken out of practice camp
and I ended up in a Spitfire squadron.
308
00:29:02,324 --> 00:29:06,670
When I first saw the Spitfire I thought,
"My gosh, this is quite something."
309
00:29:08,580 --> 00:29:10,958
The ground crew had strapped me in
310
00:29:11,041 --> 00:29:14,295
and it was all a bit intimidating,
you know. Even the start-up.
311
00:29:14,378 --> 00:29:17,382
(engine roars)
312
00:29:21,593 --> 00:29:24,221
Smoke coming right back...
I can see it now.
313
00:29:40,529 --> 00:29:43,123
I remember taxiing out
and being very careful.
314
00:30:33,623 --> 00:30:35,921
It seemed to hurtle itself in the air
315
00:30:36,001 --> 00:30:38,925
with me hanging on
to the stick and the throttle,
316
00:30:39,004 --> 00:30:40,881
dragging me along with it, you know.
317
00:31:23,382 --> 00:31:28,058
In the spring of 1940,
Hitler's attack in the west began.
318
00:31:29,888 --> 00:31:31,890
Europe crumbled.
319
00:31:33,517 --> 00:31:37,192
When France fell,
the British army retreated to Dunkirk
320
00:31:38,271 --> 00:31:40,990
and by a miracle return home.
321
00:31:42,526 --> 00:31:46,576
Now just one country remained
in Hitler's sights.
322
00:31:53,620 --> 00:31:57,921
What General Weygand has called
the Battle of France is over.
323
00:31:58,750 --> 00:32:01,378
The Battle of Britain is about to begin.
324
00:32:05,257 --> 00:32:10,809
Hitler knows that he will have to
break us in this island or lose the war.
325
00:32:11,304 --> 00:32:15,400
If we can stand up to him,
all Europe may be free
326
00:32:15,767 --> 00:32:22,241
and the life of the world may
move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
327
00:32:25,152 --> 00:32:28,247
(Tom Neil) The Germans were going to
land with a quarter of a million people
328
00:32:28,321 --> 00:32:31,825
on the south coast of Britain
between Brighton and Dover.
329
00:32:33,785 --> 00:32:36,914
Had they landed, they would have won,
without a doubt.
330
00:32:37,289 --> 00:32:40,884
And the course of world history
would've been changed.
331
00:32:45,297 --> 00:32:47,720
(Tony Pickering) We fully realised
332
00:32:47,799 --> 00:32:50,848
that we'd got to stop the Hun
from getting over.
333
00:32:51,511 --> 00:32:57,109
And we knew that we were
an important line in the defence,
334
00:32:57,601 --> 00:32:59,603
being fighter pilots.
335
00:33:00,854 --> 00:33:06,236
If he ever landed and secured
a foothold, we'd never get him out.
336
00:33:10,030 --> 00:33:15,582
(Ken Wilkinson) There was never ever
any thought of defeat. Never.
337
00:33:17,370 --> 00:33:20,249
We were cocky. We were the bee's knees.
338
00:33:20,332 --> 00:33:23,302
After all,
we'd got wonderful aircraft to fly.
339
00:33:25,420 --> 00:33:29,345
We were very fortunate,
in spite of the Treasury,
340
00:33:29,382 --> 00:33:32,261
that we had Spitfires and Hurricanes.
341
00:34:03,708 --> 00:34:06,382
For a German invasion to succeed,
342
00:34:06,419 --> 00:34:10,595
Hitler needed to destroy
the Royal Air Force and its airfields
343
00:34:10,674 --> 00:34:13,644
and secure mastery of the skies.
344
00:34:18,932 --> 00:34:22,357
The Luftwaffe had 2,600 aircraft.
345
00:34:23,436 --> 00:34:27,782
They outnumbered RAF Fighter Command
by four to one.
346
00:34:30,068 --> 00:34:34,699
For most of the young pilots,
it would be their first time in action.
347
00:34:35,407 --> 00:34:38,661
If they failed, the country would fall.
348
00:34:39,995 --> 00:34:42,373
(Geoffrey Wellum) Obviously
we were going to be involved
349
00:34:42,455 --> 00:34:44,128
in a pretty serious business.
350
00:34:45,208 --> 00:34:48,428
Being shot down didn't appeal to me.
351
00:34:49,921 --> 00:34:51,923
So I thought, "How do I avoid it?"
352
00:34:53,216 --> 00:34:55,810
Make yourself a difficult target.
How do you do that?
353
00:34:55,885 --> 00:34:58,764
Never fly straight and level
for more than ten seconds.
354
00:35:00,140 --> 00:35:03,144
It's always the German you did not see
that shot you down.
355
00:35:11,985 --> 00:35:16,161
(Paul Farnes) My thoughts never went
to what the future might hold
356
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,493
or whether we were going to get
through it or what was going to happen.
357
00:35:20,243 --> 00:35:26,091
After all, we were only
about 19 or 20, 21, you know.
358
00:35:27,292 --> 00:35:29,010
We were pretty young.
359
00:35:40,096 --> 00:35:43,100
(Ken Wilkinson)
We were all pals together.
360
00:35:43,141 --> 00:35:45,143
The camaraderie was great.
361
00:35:45,226 --> 00:35:48,230
We knew we depended upon each other.
362
00:35:48,313 --> 00:35:54,116
We knew that we were sure of
getting support, wherever we were.
363
00:35:58,365 --> 00:36:03,041
(new speaker) I was sent to Uxbridge,
which is 11 Group headquarters,
364
00:36:03,119 --> 00:36:05,292
into the operations room.
365
00:36:06,539 --> 00:36:09,418
I don't want to blow my own trumpet,
but I was a good plotter.
366
00:36:09,501 --> 00:36:11,503
(laughs) I shouldn't say that.
367
00:36:11,586 --> 00:36:15,591
But that was why I was always
on the southeast corner,
368
00:36:15,674 --> 00:36:17,426
which was the busy corner.
369
00:36:28,561 --> 00:36:31,531
Enemy aircraft was picked up
on the radar.
370
00:36:35,026 --> 00:36:38,405
All that information
was sent to fight command.
371
00:36:40,198 --> 00:36:44,578
They sorted it out, and then sent
the plots out to the groups.
372
00:36:45,453 --> 00:36:46,875
(bell rings)
373
00:36:46,955 --> 00:36:49,925
So we'd say "scramble" and they would
have to get up in the air.
374
00:36:58,967 --> 00:37:02,767
As the plots kept coming through,
we would put the arrows on the table
375
00:37:02,846 --> 00:37:05,440
so that the controller
could see what was going on.
376
00:37:18,278 --> 00:37:23,751
The controller had the information
and was able to pass it on to the pilot.
377
00:37:29,622 --> 00:37:33,593
(Tom Neil) I remember climbing up,
struggling for height, and looking up.
378
00:37:34,252 --> 00:37:38,849
And this one went out.
One of 20 to 30 above my head.
379
00:37:39,549 --> 00:37:44,020
And there's this fascination
of seeing the enemy close at hand.
380
00:37:45,889 --> 00:37:48,312
Seeing the black crosses and things
on the aeroplanes.
381
00:37:48,391 --> 00:37:52,521
And you know that it's going
to attack you in a moment or two.
382
00:37:56,775 --> 00:37:59,119
You had 15 seconds of ammunition.
383
00:37:59,486 --> 00:38:01,784
Three hundred rounds per gun.
384
00:38:02,781 --> 00:38:06,877
Our advice was to go in head-on attack,
and go straight through.
385
00:38:09,913 --> 00:38:11,335
And don't hang around.
386
00:38:12,540 --> 00:38:15,885
'Cause their fighters would come
and pick you off if they could.
387
00:38:16,711 --> 00:38:19,840
You went straight through them,
fired your guns,
388
00:38:19,923 --> 00:38:22,392
closed your eyes and fired your guns.
389
00:38:23,676 --> 00:38:26,475
(Geoffrey Wellum) Then, providing
you weren't hit by return fire,
390
00:38:26,554 --> 00:38:27,897
you were through the other side.
391
00:38:27,972 --> 00:38:29,349
In seconds, in seconds.
392
00:38:29,432 --> 00:38:30,854
Phew, got away with that.
393
00:38:30,934 --> 00:38:35,360
(laughs) Yeah.
394
00:38:45,198 --> 00:38:50,750
(Paul Farnes) You got 109s, Spitfires
and Hurricanes screaming round.
395
00:38:50,829 --> 00:38:52,456
You wouldn't know who was who
half the time.
396
00:38:54,207 --> 00:38:57,256
We were up here in the Spitfires.
397
00:38:57,335 --> 00:38:59,588
But you could see
what the Hurricanes were doing.
398
00:39:00,213 --> 00:39:05,811
I can remember three Hurricanes
diving in to 500 Heinkels.
399
00:39:05,885 --> 00:39:07,102
(machine gun fire)
400
00:39:07,178 --> 00:39:09,180
And the Heinkels scattering.
401
00:39:14,602 --> 00:39:17,981
You see the enemy,
you're within feet of them.
402
00:39:18,815 --> 00:39:20,692
Close enough to touch.
403
00:39:20,775 --> 00:39:23,619
I remember firing at an aircraft
directly in front of me
404
00:39:24,571 --> 00:39:28,701
Two people came out so close with
their parachutes still undeveloped.
405
00:39:28,741 --> 00:39:31,290
They came straight at me,
and I thought he was going to hit me.
406
00:39:34,289 --> 00:39:35,836
(machine gun fire)
407
00:39:42,130 --> 00:39:44,508
(Geoffrey Wellum) There was this bang.
408
00:39:44,591 --> 00:39:48,061
I suddenly realised
it was a 109 right behind me.
409
00:39:48,136 --> 00:39:50,810
He had his goggles down
and I could see his head.
410
00:39:50,889 --> 00:39:54,314
Oh, yeah, he was close.
He was real close.
411
00:39:54,893 --> 00:39:57,646
And I looked up
and I could see him looking at me.
412
00:40:01,649 --> 00:40:03,902
(Tony Pickering)
You learnt the hard way.
413
00:40:03,985 --> 00:40:05,908
(machine gun fire)
414
00:40:06,654 --> 00:40:10,454
Once you saw flames,
you didn't stop on board an aircraft.
415
00:40:10,533 --> 00:40:12,786
It could easily just blow like that.
416
00:40:13,369 --> 00:40:15,622
And it wouldn't give you a chance
to get out.
417
00:40:15,705 --> 00:40:19,630
Release that pin and out you came,
like a cork out of a bottle.
418
00:40:23,004 --> 00:40:27,510
I remember landing by parachute
in the guards depot at Caterham.
419
00:40:27,592 --> 00:40:31,813
They took me to the colonel, who very
quickly opened a bottle of whisky.
420
00:40:31,888 --> 00:40:35,392
Waugh-S) "Have a sip!"
421
00:40:47,362 --> 00:40:50,491
(Paul Farnes) So I saw the Stukas.
422
00:40:51,449 --> 00:40:54,544
Once they'd finished their dive,
they didn't climb up again.
423
00:40:54,619 --> 00:40:57,964
They stayed low
and headed out towards France.
424
00:40:58,414 --> 00:41:04,262
And, so... it made it easy for us.
425
00:41:08,508 --> 00:41:10,101
(newsreel) In recent operations,
426
00:41:10,176 --> 00:41:14,147
RAF automatic cameras, taking film
of the small home-movie type,
427
00:41:14,180 --> 00:41:16,649
were attached
to Hurricanes and Spitfires.
428
00:41:16,724 --> 00:41:18,852
Built for the job,
the camera fits into the wing.
429
00:41:19,394 --> 00:41:22,773
It automatically takes pictures
when the pilot fires his machine gun
430
00:41:22,855 --> 00:41:24,402
and stops when the gun stops.
431
00:41:27,944 --> 00:41:32,290
(Paul Farnes) I attacked one of them,
I think, and it was shot down.
432
00:41:34,909 --> 00:41:37,628
The other one went into the sea.
433
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:43,088
You don't have any feelings about it.
434
00:41:44,168 --> 00:41:47,843
All you think about is trying to get
a decent shot at it.
435
00:41:52,176 --> 00:41:55,771
I can't help it, but I did enjoy it.
436
00:41:56,347 --> 00:41:58,975
I think probably quite rightly,
437
00:41:59,058 --> 00:42:03,313
from the human point of view I suppose
you shouldn't say you enjoyed it,
438
00:42:03,396 --> 00:42:06,320
when other people alongside you
were being killed.
439
00:42:06,399 --> 00:42:12,202
But I'm afraid I... I probably did.
440
00:42:40,391 --> 00:42:46,945
It's extraordinarily difficult to put
an easy story on it, it really is.
441
00:42:49,734 --> 00:42:54,661
There certainly were times when one was
quite frightened of what was going on.
442
00:42:59,327 --> 00:43:02,706
We, all three, got on his tail
443
00:43:02,789 --> 00:43:06,510
and I can remember, after firing at him,
444
00:43:06,584 --> 00:43:10,339
he was just more or less skimming along
in the water.
445
00:43:11,964 --> 00:43:14,968
And although I didn't knock him
into the sea,
446
00:43:15,051 --> 00:43:19,227
the chap following me certainly got him
and he burst into flames
447
00:43:19,305 --> 00:43:21,683
and went into the sea.
448
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,590
(Geoffrey Wellum) We were told
there were 109s over Broadstairs.
449
00:43:46,707 --> 00:43:51,929
And I happened to look down and I saw
these two chaps right on the water
450
00:43:52,004 --> 00:43:54,052
going out from the coast.
451
00:44:03,015 --> 00:44:05,768
And we quite clinically got behind them.
452
00:44:05,852 --> 00:44:08,025
Right on the deck, they hadn't seen us.
453
00:44:08,062 --> 00:44:09,735
(machine gun fire)
454
00:44:12,859 --> 00:44:14,327
We shot them both dead.
455
00:44:19,782 --> 00:44:21,534
Just a "born-bond" .
456
00:44:28,499 --> 00:44:32,504
You've got to remember,
we're talking about total war.
457
00:44:34,672 --> 00:44:38,097
And we were up against it, because
there was nobody else helping us.
458
00:44:38,176 --> 00:44:42,852
All the Continent had fallen down
and it was us against this monster.
459
00:44:59,739 --> 00:45:02,583
By the end of August 1940,
460
00:45:02,658 --> 00:45:05,958
the Luftwaffe's daily assaults
on the airfields
461
00:45:06,037 --> 00:45:09,166
were stretching RAF resources
to the limit.
462
00:45:10,249 --> 00:45:14,004
Pilots and ground crews were exhausted.
463
00:45:17,340 --> 00:45:19,809
(Tom Neil) You never thought
you were going to be killed.
464
00:45:20,426 --> 00:45:24,351
And it's only in retrospect,
when you're lying in bed at night,
465
00:45:24,430 --> 00:45:28,776
and the bed alongside you
is suddenly empty.
466
00:45:28,851 --> 00:45:33,027
The fact that they were killed
20, 30, 40 miles away
467
00:45:33,105 --> 00:45:37,861
means that you wiped them
from your memory.
468
00:45:41,364 --> 00:45:43,708
(Tony Pickering)
You never got too dose.
469
00:45:45,117 --> 00:45:47,996
You kept yourself at a certain distance.
470
00:45:48,663 --> 00:45:54,011
'Cause inevitably, you would lose
friends, there was no doubt about it.
471
00:46:00,007 --> 00:46:03,762
(Paul Farnes) The damage that was being
done to the country was very worrying,
472
00:46:03,844 --> 00:46:06,438
I think one was conscious of that.
473
00:46:06,973 --> 00:46:10,318
I think in many ways
it made one even more determined
474
00:46:10,393 --> 00:46:13,146
to stop the German invasion.
475
00:46:13,229 --> 00:46:15,448
(air-raid siren)
476
00:46:15,523 --> 00:46:19,824
On September the 7th,
the Luftwaffe changed tactics.
477
00:46:20,486 --> 00:46:24,411
Hitler's new target was London,
not the airfields.
478
00:46:25,491 --> 00:46:28,415
The Blitz would bring misery
to Londoners.
479
00:46:29,036 --> 00:46:32,540
But it bought valuable time for the RAF.
480
00:46:36,711 --> 00:46:39,760
At last, the pilots could rest.
481
00:46:39,839 --> 00:46:44,140
The runways could be repaired
and aircraft could be serviced.
482
00:46:51,183 --> 00:46:53,686
But the day of reckoning
was approaching.
483
00:46:56,397 --> 00:46:58,616
I can remember looking up
at the sky and thinking,
484
00:46:58,691 --> 00:47:01,285
"It's going to be a lovely day again,"
you know. "Oh, God."
485
00:47:03,612 --> 00:47:05,205
And I offered up a little prayer.
486
00:47:07,325 --> 00:47:08,952
"It's going to be a very busy day,
O Lord,
487
00:47:09,035 --> 00:47:11,208
and if I forget you,
don't you forget me."
488
00:47:11,996 --> 00:47:16,092
"Give me this day, please.
Please, give me this day."
489
00:47:23,632 --> 00:47:26,306
(Tom Neil)
According to the German plans,
490
00:47:26,385 --> 00:47:29,013
if things were going right for them,
491
00:47:29,096 --> 00:47:32,475
they would invade
on the 15th of September.
492
00:47:33,559 --> 00:47:35,607
Der Tag. This is the day
they were going to invade.
493
00:47:42,568 --> 00:47:44,912
(Joan Fanshawe) That was the day
that Churchill came down
494
00:47:44,987 --> 00:47:47,911
and I was actually on duty that day.
495
00:47:48,366 --> 00:47:53,088
But we were not ever allowed to look,
turn around and look up there at all.
496
00:47:53,162 --> 00:47:55,506
We always had to keep our heads down
and look at our plot.
497
00:48:01,712 --> 00:48:06,183
In the plotting room, Churchill
watched the enemy attacks building.
498
00:48:06,258 --> 00:48:09,387
He asked if fighter command
had any reserves.
499
00:48:10,054 --> 00:48:12,773
The answer was none.
500
00:48:13,641 --> 00:48:18,647
(Tom Neil) Two thousand people in action
over Kent and Sussex.
501
00:48:20,940 --> 00:48:25,070
I flew four times that day.
502
00:48:37,248 --> 00:48:40,252
(Geoffrey Wellum) We were in
a vast panorama of blue sky
503
00:48:40,334 --> 00:48:43,554
with the green contrasting fields
of England below.
504
00:48:43,629 --> 00:48:46,257
And it was that that helped you.
505
00:48:48,509 --> 00:48:50,261
I can hear him to this day,
506
00:48:50,344 --> 00:48:53,018
the controller coming up and saying,
507
00:48:53,097 --> 00:48:56,146
"A hundred and fifty plus
approaching Dungeness."
508
00:48:57,226 --> 00:48:59,900
And Brian said,
"Tally ho, I can see them."
509
00:49:01,105 --> 00:49:02,732
Well, I looked ahead,
510
00:49:02,815 --> 00:49:06,865
and there was this great big cloud
of gnats on a summer evening.
511
00:49:07,236 --> 00:49:11,491
109s above, Heinkels, and I thought,
"Oh, gosh," you know.
512
00:49:11,574 --> 00:49:13,622
"Where do we start on this lot?"
513
00:49:20,332 --> 00:49:25,634
I kept a diary.
I was not allowed to keep a diary.
514
00:49:26,422 --> 00:49:31,144
I mean, it was
a court-martial offence to keep a diary.
515
00:49:31,844 --> 00:49:34,188
"We had an absolutely frantic watch."
516
00:49:34,263 --> 00:49:37,608
"We were almost driven potty
we were so busy."
517
00:49:37,683 --> 00:49:40,527
"There were air raids
all over the country."
518
00:49:40,603 --> 00:49:44,403
"We hardly had any relief at all,
did our best to sleep,
519
00:49:44,482 --> 00:49:46,985
but in any case, it was rather fitful."
520
00:49:55,784 --> 00:49:57,957
(Tom Neil) On the 15th of September,
521
00:49:58,037 --> 00:50:00,586
enemy aircraft
were falling like confetti
522
00:50:00,664 --> 00:50:02,917
all over the Southern counties.
523
00:50:03,959 --> 00:50:05,552
We were cock-a-hoop.
524
00:50:28,734 --> 00:50:32,910
September the 15th
marked the turning point of the battle.
525
00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:36,208
When it ended, six weeks later,
526
00:50:36,283 --> 00:50:40,163
it would become the first defeat
of Hitler's forces.
527
00:50:40,955 --> 00:50:44,209
The first victory
in the fight for freedom.
528
00:50:48,796 --> 00:50:51,470
(Tony Pickering) I think we realised
that we were there,
529
00:50:51,549 --> 00:50:54,143
and we'd got a job to do,
and we had to do it.
530
00:50:55,219 --> 00:50:56,937
And we did it
531
00:50:57,012 --> 00:50:59,140
to the best of our ability.
532
00:51:05,980 --> 00:51:10,486
I always remember the elderly ladies
in the East End of London
533
00:51:10,568 --> 00:51:13,742
come putting their arms around you
and giving you a kiss and saying,
534
00:51:13,821 --> 00:51:16,825
"Keep 'em away, boys, keep 'em away."
535
00:51:18,242 --> 00:51:21,086
It meant a lot to us, really, that.
536
00:51:28,419 --> 00:51:32,049
(Big Ben chimes)
537
00:51:34,758 --> 00:51:39,264
(Churchill) The gratitude of every home
in our island, in our empire,
538
00:51:39,346 --> 00:51:41,769
and indeed throughout the world,
539
00:51:41,849 --> 00:51:44,068
except in the abodes of the guilty,
540
00:51:44,143 --> 00:51:48,444
goes out to the British airmen
who, undaunted by odds,
541
00:51:48,522 --> 00:51:53,323
unwearied in their constant challenge
and mortal danger,
542
00:51:53,402 --> 00:51:58,624
are turning the tide of the world war
by their prowess and by their devotion.
543
00:52:00,618 --> 00:52:07,877
Never in the field of human conflict
was so much owed by so many to so few.
544
00:52:25,017 --> 00:52:27,941
(newsreel) The constant drone
of machinery in our aircraft factories
545
00:52:28,020 --> 00:52:29,442
is the music of victory.
546
00:52:31,065 --> 00:52:32,533
Over acres of floor space,
547
00:52:32,608 --> 00:52:35,987
men and women are turning the money
from the thousands of Spitfire funds
548
00:52:36,070 --> 00:52:37,572
into machines for the RAF.
549
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,706
Despite heavy bombing, the two factories
in Southampton and Birmingham
550
00:52:45,788 --> 00:52:49,258
continued to build Spitfires
in large numbers.
551
00:52:51,460 --> 00:52:54,714
Women now played a key role
in their manufacture,
552
00:52:54,797 --> 00:52:59,553
and, as the Spitfire evolved,
in their design.
553
00:53:01,220 --> 00:53:06,351
Women were also recruited to fly them
from the factories to the airfields.
554
00:53:06,433 --> 00:53:08,561
(newsreel) These women
are in the news at home
555
00:53:08,644 --> 00:53:11,523
because they've undertaken
a somewhat unusual war job.
556
00:53:11,605 --> 00:53:15,701
All these women of the Air Transport
Auxiliary are most experienced pilots,
557
00:53:15,776 --> 00:53:18,905
each with a record of about
a thousand flying hours to her credit.
558
00:53:20,114 --> 00:53:27,589
(new speaker) In 1941, I joined
the Air Transport Auxiliary as a pilot.
559
00:53:27,621 --> 00:53:30,875
(newsreel) By carrying out this duty,
they're relieving the pressure of work
560
00:53:30,958 --> 00:53:33,336
that would otherwise fall to RAF pilots.
561
00:53:33,627 --> 00:53:35,880
Oh, that was great.
562
00:53:35,963 --> 00:53:42,596
I was with 16 other girls
that had already joined.
563
00:53:43,220 --> 00:53:45,188
So that was wonderful.
564
00:53:50,352 --> 00:53:54,198
And at that time,
I think I was one of the youngest ones,
565
00:53:54,273 --> 00:53:57,527
and so I had to behave myself.
566
00:53:57,609 --> 00:53:59,236
(laughs)
567
00:54:02,406 --> 00:54:04,124
(new speaker) We were all very young.
568
00:54:04,199 --> 00:54:07,920
We weren't in the services
so we didn't have to have our hair cut.
569
00:54:07,995 --> 00:54:11,124
And we did look very glamorous,
with our gold wings
570
00:54:11,206 --> 00:54:14,756
and our gold badges of rank
on the shoulder.
571
00:54:16,754 --> 00:54:19,598
Whenever you went into an RAF mess,
you know,
572
00:54:19,673 --> 00:54:22,096
they were always anxious to talk to you.
573
00:54:22,676 --> 00:54:24,349
It was a very glamorous life
574
00:54:24,428 --> 00:54:27,523
and it was very difficult
not to be spoiled, I guess.
575
00:54:29,683 --> 00:54:34,735
(Mary Ellis) Well, I did have
lots of boyfriends. (laughs)
576
00:54:34,813 --> 00:54:37,987
It takes me back about 50 years,
doesn't it?
577
00:54:42,404 --> 00:54:44,907
(newsreel) But to keep
the Royal Air Force on the offensive,
578
00:54:44,990 --> 00:54:46,867
hundreds of aircraft
must be flown each day
579
00:54:46,950 --> 00:54:49,920
between the factories, the maintenance
depots and the aerodromes.
580
00:54:51,079 --> 00:54:55,505
(Mary Ellis) I saw these Spitfires.
I hadn't seen a Spitfire before.
581
00:54:55,584 --> 00:54:59,259
I'm sure my heart was beating
hundreds to the dozen. (laughs)
582
00:55:01,673 --> 00:55:03,721
(Joy Lofthouse)
When you actually were told
583
00:55:03,801 --> 00:55:06,054
you're going to fly in a Spitfire,
584
00:55:06,136 --> 00:55:08,264
I suppose it's almost breath-taking.
585
00:55:08,347 --> 00:55:12,693
It's partly nervousness,
"Will I do it properly?"
586
00:55:12,768 --> 00:55:16,648
And partly elation
that you have finally made it.
587
00:55:18,148 --> 00:55:22,198
(Mary Ellis) I got in the aircraft
and the chappie said,
588
00:55:22,277 --> 00:55:25,372
"How many of these
have you flown, miss?"
589
00:55:25,447 --> 00:55:30,954
And I said, "I haven't flown one at all
yet, this is the first one."
590
00:55:31,036 --> 00:55:37,510
And he promptly went... (gasps)
...and fell off the aeroplane. (laughs)
591
00:55:42,130 --> 00:55:46,556
I was excited, and I started
the aeroplane, taxied out.
592
00:55:48,053 --> 00:55:50,806
Fortunately, made the perfect take-off.
593
00:55:52,808 --> 00:55:56,108
Up in the air, I thought,
"I'm here, I must do something."
594
00:55:56,186 --> 00:55:58,939
So I went round and round
and up and down.
595
00:56:06,488 --> 00:56:09,458
It was so delightful.
596
00:56:14,580 --> 00:56:19,177
I had a lovely time
before I had to land it.
597
00:56:20,836 --> 00:56:23,305
I thought, "Oh, my goodness."
598
00:56:24,381 --> 00:56:26,804
(Joy Lofthouse)
A test pilot once said
599
00:56:26,884 --> 00:56:30,559
that she was a lady in the air,
but a bitch on the ground.
600
00:56:35,309 --> 00:56:40,816
Now this was because she had a much
narrower undercart than the Hurricane.
601
00:56:40,898 --> 00:56:44,118
So you had to be very careful
in landing.
602
00:56:50,741 --> 00:56:54,621
(Mary Ellis) It was quite often
very dangerous.
603
00:56:56,747 --> 00:56:59,967
We had no radio at any time.
604
00:57:00,042 --> 00:57:02,841
No aids whatsoever.
605
00:57:04,171 --> 00:57:08,847
In between this, there was
the hazards of the bad weather
606
00:57:08,926 --> 00:57:11,600
and the balloons which would pop up.
607
00:57:12,721 --> 00:57:15,520
And people did get killed.
608
00:57:20,729 --> 00:57:24,074
(Joy Lofthouse) There were casualties.
One heard of them all the time.
609
00:57:24,775 --> 00:57:28,075
But I think
the thought of what was happening,
610
00:57:28,153 --> 00:57:31,908
the war as a whole,
was always in the back of our minds.
611
00:57:32,532 --> 00:57:38,756
There was always news coming through
of either defeats or setbacks.
612
00:57:38,830 --> 00:57:41,549
And it was a nice feeling,
however modest,
613
00:57:41,625 --> 00:57:44,299
that you were doing something
to help the war.
614
00:57:55,430 --> 00:57:58,934
In 1941, with Britain beyond his reach,
615
00:57:59,017 --> 00:58:02,237
Hitler turned his attention
to North Africa.
616
00:58:03,271 --> 00:58:08,744
The prize was control of the
Mediterranean and the Arabian oilfields.
617
00:58:10,821 --> 00:58:15,577
As battle raged in the desert, his
supply lines were under constant attack
618
00:58:15,659 --> 00:58:18,629
by British aircraft based on Malta.
619
00:58:19,705 --> 00:58:24,302
The tiny island was subjected to
a massive bombing campaign.
620
00:58:25,043 --> 00:58:27,546
(ship's horn)
621
00:58:27,629 --> 00:58:30,883
It had to be defended at all costs.
622
00:58:34,428 --> 00:58:37,523
With Spitfires being held back
in Britain,
623
00:58:37,597 --> 00:58:41,318
Hurricanes were sent
on aircraft carriers to do the job.
624
00:58:44,521 --> 00:58:48,947
The young pilots would face
a new challenge, fraught with risk.
625
00:58:51,153 --> 00:58:55,078
(Tom Neil) None of us had taken off
from a carrier or landed on a carrier.
626
00:58:56,324 --> 00:59:01,296
So the day arrived,
and we were going to fly off at dawn.
627
00:59:01,371 --> 00:59:04,966
Now, I hated flying off at dawn.
628
00:59:05,584 --> 00:59:06,585
I used to think,
629
00:59:06,668 --> 00:59:10,514
"Why in God's name don't we take off
at lunchtime after a good lunch?"
630
00:59:10,589 --> 00:59:12,216
You always had to do it at dawn.
631
00:59:18,263 --> 00:59:23,019
So there I was, one of 23 aircraft,
lined up waiting to take off.
632
00:59:29,274 --> 00:59:31,447
We were being led by a Fulmar.
633
00:59:34,321 --> 00:59:37,746
Now if there was one thing that was
worse than a Hurricane, it was a Fulmar.
634
00:59:38,283 --> 00:59:40,957
It was a useless, useless aeroplane.
635
00:59:43,121 --> 00:59:47,547
And we were going to follow the Fulmar
all the way to Malta.
636
00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:52,264
And everything was radio silence.
637
00:59:52,339 --> 00:59:54,683
We weren't supposed to utter a word
638
00:59:54,758 --> 00:59:57,102
in case we gave the whereabouts
to the fleet.
639
00:59:58,762 --> 01:00:03,518
And we did go for an hour, and suddenly
the Fulmar which is leading us
640
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:07,025
had an engine problem
and disappeared into cloud.
641
01:00:07,062 --> 01:00:08,735
So I was left there.
642
01:00:09,731 --> 01:00:14,157
I didn't have any maps.
I didn't know where Malta was.
643
01:00:14,236 --> 01:00:17,365
All I knew was
I was surrounded by the enemy.
644
01:00:17,447 --> 01:00:20,667
And I was just 20 years of age.
645
01:00:21,243 --> 01:00:23,245
I didn't know what to do.
646
01:00:23,328 --> 01:00:28,050
And I flew round in circles with ten
people following me around in circles,
647
01:00:28,125 --> 01:00:32,346
them looking at me as a leader,
and me not knowing what to do.
648
01:00:32,420 --> 01:00:37,551
And I can tell you, I prayed, I prayed.
I didn't know what to do, what to do.
649
01:00:44,266 --> 01:00:45,859
And God answered.
650
01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:49,313
He doesn't answer you
with a flash of lightning,
651
01:00:49,396 --> 01:00:52,525
he puts something in your head
that you never thought of before.
652
01:00:53,692 --> 01:00:59,745
And I thought, "What I'd better do now
is fly all the way back to Gibraltar,"
653
01:00:59,781 --> 01:01:03,502
which was 850 miles
in the opposite direction.
654
01:01:07,205 --> 01:01:10,334
So I set off. By the grace of God,
655
01:01:10,417 --> 01:01:13,591
I came across the wake of the Navy
656
01:01:15,755 --> 01:01:20,977
and found the Ark Royal
and all the fleet, 20, 25 ships.
657
01:01:21,344 --> 01:01:23,267
I thought,
"What are they going to do with me?"
658
01:01:26,183 --> 01:01:29,153
"They're going to shoot at me.
They'll think I'm the enemy."
659
01:01:29,227 --> 01:01:32,151
"How do I let them know
that I'm a friend?"
660
01:01:36,943 --> 01:01:41,824
So then they found another Fulmar,
they scrambled it,
661
01:01:41,907 --> 01:01:46,253
and we began to follow it again,
20 feet above the waves.
662
01:02:01,885 --> 01:02:04,434
We'd been in the air several hours.
663
01:02:05,597 --> 01:02:06,598
We had no fuel.
664
01:02:08,183 --> 01:02:09,651
No fuel at all.
665
01:02:12,020 --> 01:02:14,318
And Malta suddenly appeared.
666
01:02:16,358 --> 01:02:18,861
And I remember going over the cliffs.
667
01:02:20,487 --> 01:02:25,869
And I was approaching Luqa,
and the airfield in front of me rose up.
668
01:02:30,288 --> 01:02:33,258
Bomb blasts and craters.
669
01:02:33,667 --> 01:02:35,419
All the time I'd been looking down
670
01:02:35,460 --> 01:02:37,303
to see if I was going to land
on the ground.
671
01:02:37,379 --> 01:02:41,304
I looked up, and the air
was filled with Germans.
672
01:02:41,341 --> 01:02:43,184
About 50 or a hundred of them.
673
01:02:45,011 --> 01:02:47,935
I said, "Sod it, no matter what I do,
I'm going to land her."
674
01:02:48,014 --> 01:02:49,891
So I landed between all the bomb holes.
675
01:02:54,354 --> 01:02:56,948
And two days later...
676
01:02:57,023 --> 01:02:59,446
(siren wails)
677
01:02:59,526 --> 01:03:03,281
...we heard the air-raid sirens going
678
01:03:03,363 --> 01:03:08,085
and then these three 109s appeared
20 feet above the ground, firing.
679
01:03:09,160 --> 01:03:11,754
And the bullets were going through
the tent above my head.
680
01:03:13,832 --> 01:03:16,961
They wrote us all off
before we'd even taken off.
681
01:03:18,670 --> 01:03:20,718
So we didn't have aeroplanes to fly.
682
01:03:23,425 --> 01:03:27,396
And suddenly,
the Spitfires arrived in March 1942,
683
01:03:27,470 --> 01:03:29,188
by the grace of God.
684
01:03:50,243 --> 01:03:52,541
With the fate of Malta in the balance,
685
01:03:52,620 --> 01:03:56,591
the arrival of the Spitfires
came just in time.
686
01:03:58,251 --> 01:04:01,175
(new speaker) And that's 124 Squadron,
the first squadron
687
01:04:01,254 --> 01:04:02,847
that I joined.
688
01:04:02,922 --> 01:04:05,300
In those days I was a sergeant pilot.
689
01:04:05,383 --> 01:04:10,355
And there I am,
one, two in from the right, there.
690
01:04:10,430 --> 01:04:13,980
A very young 18-year-old.
691
01:04:14,851 --> 01:04:20,904
Now, I was posted to Malta. The Eagle.
And that's the one we flew off.
692
01:04:21,733 --> 01:04:25,988
They took us a thousand miles
down the Med, and we had the rest to do.
693
01:04:28,740 --> 01:04:33,587
You just had enough fuel to make it
comfortable to get into Malta.
694
01:04:38,708 --> 01:04:42,463
It was just a matter of getting in
as well as you could,
695
01:04:42,545 --> 01:04:45,924
missing the potholes
and getting into a pen.
696
01:04:48,093 --> 01:04:52,189
Within minutes,
my Spitfire was being refuelled
697
01:04:52,263 --> 01:04:58,691
by swarms of airmen passing petrol cans
to one another to fill it up.
698
01:04:59,354 --> 01:05:04,076
Amazing. I mean, you'd only just arrived
there and your Spit was ready to fly.
699
01:05:05,276 --> 01:05:06,869
Welcome to Malta.
700
01:05:15,578 --> 01:05:18,252
Our job was to get the bombers,
not the fighters.
701
01:05:23,086 --> 01:05:25,805
We had to get as much height as we could
702
01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:28,303
because then you had
the advantage of coming down.
703
01:05:30,468 --> 01:05:34,018
You didn't aim to get into a dogfight
with Messerschmitts
704
01:05:34,097 --> 01:05:37,522
because we were too short of Spitfires
to lose one.
705
01:05:38,518 --> 01:05:39,644
Hit the bomber.
706
01:05:39,727 --> 01:05:44,984
(machine gun fire)
707
01:05:45,066 --> 01:05:46,693
Make sure that they'd clobbered him
708
01:05:48,319 --> 01:05:52,369
and then spiral down to the sea
and try and escape.
709
01:05:54,492 --> 01:05:58,167
But Messerschmitts soon cottoned on
to this and they followed down.
710
01:06:01,583 --> 01:06:04,587
So we ended up with a dogfight anyway,
at sea level.
711
01:06:04,669 --> 01:06:05,761
Fighting for my life.
712
01:06:08,173 --> 01:06:14,351
When two of them attack you,
you get your sights on one, quickly,
713
01:06:14,971 --> 01:06:18,646
and keep your eye on the other one
coming down behind you.
714
01:06:18,725 --> 01:06:20,898
- You get a quick squirt.
- (machine gun fire)
715
01:06:21,936 --> 01:06:25,941
And then always your eyes are flicking
towards number two coming down.
716
01:06:27,567 --> 01:06:30,411
You've got to outwit him,
you've got to out-fly him.
717
01:06:32,739 --> 01:06:34,867
You sweat profusely.
718
01:06:35,158 --> 01:06:39,334
You're not sweating because you're hot,
you're sweating fear.
719
01:06:42,540 --> 01:06:44,508
And it trickles down your forehead
720
01:06:44,542 --> 01:06:48,672
and then from the eyes, it trickles down
into the mouth, and it's salty.
721
01:06:49,547 --> 01:06:53,268
That's fear. It's a salty taste.
722
01:07:06,648 --> 01:07:08,867
You always put these swastikas in.
723
01:07:08,900 --> 01:07:12,029
That was the first one in Malta
that I got.
724
01:07:12,820 --> 01:07:16,450
And that was the three
in one fight, here.
725
01:07:18,201 --> 01:07:19,999
I think six of us claimed that one.
726
01:07:20,870 --> 01:07:24,215
It shows you the actual
Junkers 88 down there.
727
01:07:24,290 --> 01:07:25,837
The poor old pilot was there.
728
01:07:27,502 --> 01:07:33,430
You become an ace when you shot
five or more aircraft down.
729
01:07:33,508 --> 01:07:35,602
And funnily enough,
it's rather strange, that,
730
01:07:35,677 --> 01:07:42,151
but I am the last surviving ace
from Malta living today, the last one.
731
01:07:42,225 --> 01:07:43,522
Isn't that amazing?
732
01:07:54,070 --> 01:07:56,493
The Spitfires have done the job.
733
01:07:57,156 --> 01:08:01,036
By November 1942, the island was safe.
734
01:08:04,330 --> 01:08:06,924
The tide of the war was turning.
735
01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:11,847
The United States and the Soviet Union
were now fighting on the Allied side.
736
01:08:14,048 --> 01:08:16,096
With the constant need for pilots,
737
01:08:16,175 --> 01:08:20,351
the RAF became a truly multinational
fighting force.
738
01:08:21,723 --> 01:08:26,399
They came from all over the world and
from the conquered countries of Europe.
739
01:08:27,478 --> 01:08:30,778
And they all wanted to fly Spitfires.
740
01:08:32,150 --> 01:08:36,246
(new speaker) I remember
first flight from the Polish wing.
741
01:08:36,321 --> 01:08:40,371
Three squadrons of Spitfires
over France.
742
01:08:43,661 --> 01:08:48,792
The object was to throw the gauntlet:
come and fight!
743
01:08:48,875 --> 01:08:50,843
And by gum, they did.
744
01:09:05,350 --> 01:09:09,730
(Franciszek Kornicki)
A lot of blood was spilt over France.
745
01:09:09,812 --> 01:09:11,985
Ours and theirs.
746
01:09:12,065 --> 01:09:14,568
It was hard fight all the time.
747
01:09:17,612 --> 01:09:20,081
(Tom Neil) We had Spitfire Vs
748
01:09:20,156 --> 01:09:24,502
and suddenly a new enemy aircraft
arrived on the scene
749
01:09:24,577 --> 01:09:26,875
called a Focke-Wulf 190.
750
01:09:26,954 --> 01:09:29,127
And it made rings around us.
751
01:09:33,544 --> 01:09:36,764
They would come up above and then just
dive straight down, pick somebody off.
752
01:09:36,839 --> 01:09:40,184
We'd lost...
Oh, we lost several pilots.
753
01:09:41,135 --> 01:09:43,229
So that wasn't a very happy time.
754
01:09:48,393 --> 01:09:50,316
(newsreel) Very interesting indeed.
755
01:09:50,395 --> 01:09:54,241
Something we've been wanting to examine
for some time: the Focke-Wulf 190.
756
01:09:55,024 --> 01:09:57,652
The RAF forced it down
on the south coast of England,
757
01:09:57,735 --> 01:10:01,330
where an armed patrol promptly grabbed
the pilot before he could do any damage.
758
01:10:01,406 --> 01:10:03,249
Now it's in the RAF.
759
01:10:04,367 --> 01:10:07,917
(Geoffrey Wellum)
The 190 was a very potent aeroplane.
760
01:10:07,995 --> 01:10:09,497
So we had to respond.
761
01:10:11,499 --> 01:10:15,504
The Spitfire loaned itself
to development.
762
01:10:15,586 --> 01:10:17,805
And almost overnight,
763
01:10:17,880 --> 01:10:22,636
Rolls-Royce took the engine out, stuck
a great big blower on the back of it.
764
01:10:22,719 --> 01:10:25,643
And there was a difference
in performance. Incredible.
765
01:10:26,055 --> 01:10:28,979
(engine roars)
766
01:10:37,859 --> 01:10:42,035
(Franciszek Kornick/) Spitfire IX
was a really very, very good machine.
767
01:10:42,113 --> 01:10:45,117
It's got a lot of power.
And that's what was needed.
768
01:11:13,853 --> 01:11:16,777
(Ken French) When you got
to a height of about 10,000 feet,
769
01:11:16,856 --> 01:11:20,611
it would suddenly whoosh
and the supercharger came in,
770
01:11:20,693 --> 01:11:23,537
which gave us an extra bit of life
to go higher.
771
01:11:24,989 --> 01:11:31,338
And after that, the FW190s,
they were no fear for us.
772
01:11:31,412 --> 01:11:33,085
(machine gun fire)
773
01:11:33,164 --> 01:11:34,541
Any time we met them...
774
01:11:34,624 --> 01:11:36,092
(machine gun fire)
775
01:11:36,167 --> 01:11:37,794
...we got the better of it.
776
01:11:46,761 --> 01:11:51,141
The new Spitfire
had helped to secure aerial supremacy.
777
01:11:52,517 --> 01:11:55,737
The liberation of Europe
could now begin.
778
01:12:04,737 --> 01:12:07,957
(Ken French) In 1944, we were stationed
779
01:12:08,032 --> 01:12:11,662
down at Bognor Regis
for the forthcoming invasion.
780
01:12:14,038 --> 01:12:17,042
We saw them
painting black and white strips
781
01:12:17,124 --> 01:12:20,628
under the wings of our planes
for identification,
782
01:12:20,711 --> 01:12:22,713
and we knew what that must mean.
783
01:12:23,422 --> 01:12:26,767
But we still didn't know
where or when we were going.
784
01:12:28,761 --> 01:12:34,359
And on the evening of the 5th of June,
785
01:12:34,433 --> 01:12:37,778
we were all called over to a briefing.
786
01:12:37,854 --> 01:12:43,111
When we got into the tent there,
we saw a big map of Normandy.
787
01:12:43,192 --> 01:12:47,823
And that was our first knowledge that
that was where it was going to be.
788
01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:53,666
And, of course, this was June
when dawn came early
789
01:12:53,744 --> 01:12:55,963
and we didn't get any sleep.
790
01:12:56,038 --> 01:13:02,262
But I do remember that we were all
sitting round in little groups talking.
791
01:13:02,336 --> 01:13:06,512
Because we knew that this was going
to be the biggest day of our lives.
792
01:13:12,346 --> 01:13:15,020
(newsreel) Four years ago,
Europe was Hitler's.
793
01:13:15,099 --> 01:13:17,022
The lights of freedom went out.
794
01:13:17,059 --> 01:13:20,654
Now the world of free men
strikes in all its assembled might
795
01:13:20,730 --> 01:13:23,108
at the weakening chains of bondage.
796
01:13:23,900 --> 01:13:26,699
Here are the first pictures
of the opening of the second front;
797
01:13:26,777 --> 01:13:30,327
pictures which security demands
should be meagre at this stage,
798
01:13:30,406 --> 01:13:33,660
yet thrilling because they carry
the first flush of excitement
799
01:13:33,743 --> 01:13:36,417
as the mammoth task gets underway.
800
01:13:51,636 --> 01:13:55,391
(Ken French) We could see the landing
craft running up on the beaches.
801
01:13:56,098 --> 01:13:58,396
It must have been absolute hell,
you know.
802
01:13:58,768 --> 01:14:01,738
We were completely detached from it.
803
01:14:03,898 --> 01:14:08,153
On D-Day, I went over there three times.
804
01:14:08,235 --> 01:14:11,239
It was quiet all the time.
805
01:14:14,867 --> 01:14:17,586
We never saw the German air force.
806
01:14:18,996 --> 01:14:21,374
Quite honestly, if they had turned up,
807
01:14:21,457 --> 01:14:23,880
they would have had
a very, very hard time
808
01:14:23,960 --> 01:14:29,012
because not only the RAF, but all the
American fighters were up there as well.
809
01:14:30,383 --> 01:14:31,805
Very, very successful actually,
810
01:14:31,884 --> 01:14:37,641
because the whole of northern France
air was covered with fighters.
811
01:14:40,851 --> 01:14:42,774
(newsreel)
While civilian Britain sleeps,
812
01:14:42,853 --> 01:14:44,947
history's greatest story
is being written.
813
01:14:44,981 --> 01:14:48,281
Between midnight and breakfast,
the D-Day plan is launched.
814
01:14:48,359 --> 01:14:51,829
And when the news breaks,
the people at home rush to buy it.
815
01:14:51,904 --> 01:14:54,953
Eagerly, they absorb every line
of the rationed information
816
01:14:55,032 --> 01:14:56,033
as it comes to hand.
817
01:14:56,117 --> 01:14:59,667
The news is good,
far better than they'd dared to hope.
818
01:14:59,745 --> 01:15:02,339
Bridgeheads are won,
we penetrate inland.
819
01:15:02,415 --> 01:15:07,091
Airstrips are under construction and,
best of all, casualties amazingly light.
820
01:15:15,302 --> 01:15:17,680
(Ken French) We used to escort bombers.
821
01:15:19,348 --> 01:15:23,979
And they were dropping bombs on woods.
And we never knew why.
822
01:15:26,981 --> 01:15:31,111
We did know that the Germans had
some sort of a secret weapon coming.
823
01:15:40,161 --> 01:15:41,333
(Ken French) Doodlebugs.
824
01:15:42,663 --> 01:15:46,088
They were pretty fast,
they were over 400 mph they travelled.
825
01:15:48,252 --> 01:15:54,760
I chased one once, across the Channel,
but it was too fast for me.
826
01:15:54,842 --> 01:15:56,344
(engine roars)
827
01:15:56,427 --> 01:16:02,685
The jet-propelled V-1 was taking warfare
in a new and frightening direction.
828
01:16:02,767 --> 01:16:03,939
(engine falls silent)
829
01:16:10,858 --> 01:16:12,860
The country needed an answer.
830
01:16:14,403 --> 01:16:17,907
And once again, it was the Spitfire.
831
01:16:19,241 --> 01:16:20,618
(newsreel) Mark XIV.
832
01:16:22,161 --> 01:16:25,256
She's slightly larger and even faster
than her predecessors
833
01:16:25,331 --> 01:16:28,756
and was designed to meet
the constant demand for more speed.
834
01:16:30,419 --> 01:16:34,549
The wings are clipped to give
better manoeuvrability at low altitudes.
835
01:16:44,308 --> 01:16:48,529
A completely redesigned fin and rudder
was essential for the Mark XIV
836
01:16:48,604 --> 01:16:51,574
and an even more powerful
Rolls-Griffon engine.
837
01:16:56,654 --> 01:16:59,578
To accommodate this new engine,
the nose was lengthened again
838
01:16:59,657 --> 01:17:01,830
and a bigger spinner was needed.
839
01:17:16,799 --> 01:17:19,518
(Geoffrey Wellum)
Spit XIV was a Griffon engine.
840
01:17:19,593 --> 01:17:20,970
It was no slouch.
841
01:17:21,804 --> 01:17:25,684
The acceleration was something
like I'd never experienced before.
842
01:17:26,308 --> 01:17:27,730
That was a real Spitfire.
843
01:17:47,204 --> 01:17:49,957
(newsreel) A Spitfire pilot
gets in a successful burst.
844
01:17:50,040 --> 01:17:51,417
(machine gun fire)
845
01:18:21,280 --> 01:18:25,285
(Geoffrey Wellum) The Spitfire
was built as an interceptor fighter.
846
01:18:28,120 --> 01:18:31,374
Get up there, have a go, come down,
refuel, up. That sort of thing.
847
01:18:36,086 --> 01:18:39,556
But it went on to be developed
into 24 marks,
848
01:18:42,176 --> 01:18:45,350
with a speed over the initial one
of over 100 mph,
849
01:18:45,429 --> 01:18:48,979
carrying twice or three times
the weapon load.
850
01:18:51,602 --> 01:18:53,980
It was a design which was brilliant.
851
01:18:57,358 --> 01:19:01,909
(Tom Neil) By the end of the war
in 1945, I flew pretty well all of them.
852
01:19:01,987 --> 01:19:03,580
All 24 marks.
853
01:19:04,448 --> 01:19:06,701
We used to appeal to Supermarine.
We used to say,
854
01:19:06,784 --> 01:19:09,833
"For God's sake,
try and design something else."
855
01:19:15,876 --> 01:19:18,004
You got to the stage
where the engine was so powerful,
856
01:19:18,087 --> 01:19:20,306
that the aircraft was turning
around the propeller,
857
01:19:20,381 --> 01:19:22,304
rather than the propeller
around the aircraft.
858
01:19:26,887 --> 01:19:29,891
It had had two-bladed propeller,
three-bladed, four-bladed,
859
01:19:29,974 --> 01:19:32,193
five-bladed, six-bladed propeller.
860
01:19:32,268 --> 01:19:34,487
It had outlived its life.
861
01:19:44,113 --> 01:19:47,538
Twenty-two thousand Spitfires were built
862
01:19:47,616 --> 01:19:50,870
before the jet engine
brought its life to an end.
863
01:19:56,041 --> 01:20:02,424
But 75 years after the end of the war,
over 50 of these planes still fly.
864
01:20:03,590 --> 01:20:07,390
And more are being returned to the air
every year.
865
01:20:07,469 --> 01:20:09,722
(Ken Wilkinson)
Well, it's the extraordinary thing
866
01:20:09,805 --> 01:20:11,807
about public opinion, isn't it?
867
01:20:12,266 --> 01:20:14,519
It does funny things.
868
01:20:16,895 --> 01:20:21,776
I mean, the Spitfire did fly
all the way through the war,
869
01:20:24,320 --> 01:20:28,450
and a lot of people
like to see them nowadays.
870
01:20:29,408 --> 01:20:30,830
They're so precious.
871
01:20:34,663 --> 01:20:39,009
It brings back all sorts of memories.
All sorts.
872
01:20:44,631 --> 01:20:50,809
(Allan Scott) I am amazed to this clay
at the reputation that the Spitfire has.
873
01:20:51,138 --> 01:20:53,812
And especially the pilots.
874
01:20:53,891 --> 01:20:58,317
Amazing how people
have got onto this Spitfire business.
875
01:21:11,825 --> 01:21:16,126
(Joy Lofthouse) The fact
that people revel in the Spitfire
876
01:21:16,205 --> 01:21:22,178
and the iconic feel it has,
I can't really explain it.
877
01:21:24,046 --> 01:21:26,765
There are some who would
rather have a flight in a Spitfire
878
01:21:26,840 --> 01:21:31,095
than spend their pension money
on a Jag or something, I think.
879
01:21:32,054 --> 01:21:33,727
That must tell you something.
880
01:21:38,185 --> 01:21:42,656
But the aura surrounding the Spitfire
881
01:21:42,731 --> 01:21:46,781
is more a post-war phenomenon
than a wartime thing.
882
01:21:47,986 --> 01:21:51,160
It was just an instrument of war then.
883
01:22:39,329 --> 01:22:43,050
(Tony Pickering) I don't know why
human nature is such
884
01:22:43,125 --> 01:22:46,425
that we have to fight each other
and destroy each other.
885
01:22:50,257 --> 01:22:53,386
Well, it was something
which I was asked to do.
886
01:22:54,470 --> 01:22:56,893
And I did.
887
01:23:00,517 --> 01:23:02,235
But life's very strange.
888
01:23:02,311 --> 01:23:07,784
One gets tested and checked
and things like that.
889
01:23:11,778 --> 01:23:17,456
You've got to try and live a life where
you try and not upset other people.
890
01:23:24,875 --> 01:23:28,470
I don't know whether
it's a good thing or a bad thing,
891
01:23:28,545 --> 01:23:32,721
but I don't know
whether we should forget it.
892
01:23:33,258 --> 01:23:36,808
But we've got to always remember
those who didn't come back.
893
01:23:37,137 --> 01:23:39,231
You've always got to remember them.
894
01:23:51,193 --> 01:23:54,037
(Paul Farnes) At the time,
one didn't think anything of it at all.
895
01:23:56,740 --> 01:23:59,243
I'm very proud to have taken part in it.
896
01:24:02,037 --> 01:24:04,916
I think all those who took part are.
897
01:24:04,998 --> 01:24:11,802
I think the chaps who are still alive,
I think they have a certain pride in it.
898
01:24:13,340 --> 01:24:16,014
There aren't many of us left alive,
you know.
899
01:24:17,427 --> 01:24:19,521
I'm not getting any younger.
900
01:24:20,889 --> 01:24:25,395
I suppose in another five years,
I doubt if there'll be any of us.
901
01:24:34,236 --> 01:24:36,705
(Ken Wilkinson) It never goes away.
902
01:24:37,155 --> 01:24:42,127
It never goes away,
this threat of warfare.
903
01:24:43,203 --> 01:24:46,548
The generation before us
had been through a war.
904
01:24:47,499 --> 01:24:51,299
The generations after us
have been through wars.
905
01:24:52,754 --> 01:24:55,132
In all conscience,
906
01:24:55,215 --> 01:25:01,018
the world needs a change
from all this hostility and warfare.
907
01:25:01,847 --> 01:25:04,475
The world needs a change.
908
01:25:15,527 --> 01:25:17,245
(Geoffrey Wellum) It's not about medals.
909
01:25:19,781 --> 01:25:22,125
It's not about who shot down what.
910
01:25:22,659 --> 01:25:24,787
It's not about the thank yous.
911
01:25:25,662 --> 01:25:27,460
But it is nice to be remembered
912
01:25:27,539 --> 01:25:31,214
because being remembered
covers everybody
913
01:25:31,293 --> 01:25:36,220
who served, flew and fought in the war.
914
01:26:01,448 --> 01:26:06,545
(new speaker) She's original,
98 percent of her.
915
01:26:06,620 --> 01:26:12,047
All the skin panels and all
the inner parts, they are original 1944.
916
01:26:12,793 --> 01:26:15,421
The reason for it is that
she never saw combat.
917
01:26:17,547 --> 01:26:22,178
She was actually delivered
from the factory by Mary Ellis
918
01:26:22,260 --> 01:26:26,265
who was one of these ATA girls,
the Air Transport Auxiliaries.
919
01:26:27,182 --> 01:26:30,152
Mary Ellis was a slip of a girl,
but I know
920
01:26:30,227 --> 01:26:37,736
that she flew 1,000 aircraft during
the war, of which 400 were Spitfires.
921
01:26:37,818 --> 01:26:42,073
And for some reason,
she decided, on a whim,
922
01:26:42,155 --> 01:26:46,661
to sign her name
on this aeroplane in 1944,
923
01:26:47,536 --> 01:26:50,415
which was then Mary Wilkins.
924
01:26:50,497 --> 01:26:54,047
And you can still see the signature,
very faded,
925
01:26:54,126 --> 01:26:58,802
"Mary Wilkins, ATA
for Air Transport Auxiliary".
926
01:26:58,880 --> 01:27:01,679
But the most wonderful thing
is that she is still alive
927
01:27:01,758 --> 01:27:06,810
and she's going to be 100
in two or three months' time.
928
01:27:17,858 --> 01:27:24,867
(Mary Ellis) This wonderful Spitfire
that I flew in 1944
929
01:27:24,948 --> 01:27:31,297
on a delivery flight from the factory
is coming in this afternoon.
930
01:27:31,371 --> 01:27:33,089
I can't wait. (laughs)
931
01:27:46,720 --> 01:27:47,721
Here he is.
932
01:27:49,431 --> 01:27:52,480
Wow! (laughs)
933
01:27:54,478 --> 01:27:56,355
Oh, how lovely.
934
01:27:57,647 --> 01:27:59,069
How very super.
935
01:27:59,149 --> 01:28:00,651
(laughs)
936
01:28:04,196 --> 01:28:09,669
It seems so small now,
doesn't it, the Spitfire?
937
01:28:15,332 --> 01:28:16,754
(laughs)
938
01:28:20,212 --> 01:28:21,213
Fantastic.
939
01:28:27,677 --> 01:28:30,021
- Oh, so great!
- Dear Mary.
940
01:28:30,096 --> 01:28:34,146
- (Mary Ellis) It is so great.
- So good to see you.
941
01:28:34,851 --> 01:28:37,070
- How are you?
- I'm very well, thank you.
942
01:28:37,145 --> 01:28:40,115
- Always excited about this one?
- Yes, of course.
943
01:28:40,190 --> 01:28:43,694
I flew about 1,000 aeroplanes
during the war.
944
01:28:43,777 --> 01:28:47,623
- Yes.
- That's the only one I signed.
945
01:28:47,948 --> 01:28:49,621
- The only one.
- That's magical.
946
01:28:49,699 --> 01:28:51,292
It's fabulous.
947
01:28:51,368 --> 01:28:56,215
And what came over you,
that you decided to sign this one?
948
01:28:56,540 --> 01:29:00,511
- I suppose it was a romantic mood.
- (both laugh)
949
01:29:02,087 --> 01:29:08,515
Thinking that some handsome RAF chap
might be fighting, you know,
950
01:29:08,593 --> 01:29:11,972
and suddenly see my name and contact me.
951
01:29:12,055 --> 01:29:13,932
- And look you up.
- It never happened.
952
01:29:14,015 --> 01:29:16,234
- It never happened?
- (Mary Ellis) No, until now.
953
01:29:16,309 --> 01:29:17,686
(both laugh)
954
01:29:17,769 --> 01:29:20,943
Don't tell your wife I said that.
(laughs)
955
01:29:20,981 --> 01:29:24,235
I won't.
This is between us and all the cameras.
956
01:29:24,317 --> 01:29:25,864
- Yes.
- Yes.
957
01:29:25,902 --> 01:29:29,782
Would you mind stepping inside again
958
01:29:29,865 --> 01:29:33,165
and signing the aeroplane again
for this day?
959
01:29:38,999 --> 01:29:40,922
- (Mary Ellis) Is that all right?
- That's right.
960
01:29:41,001 --> 01:29:46,883
Thank you for allowing me
to write on your aeroplane. (laughs)
961
01:29:46,965 --> 01:29:48,888
Delighted and honoured.
962
01:29:55,807 --> 01:29:58,936
(Maxi Gainza) When I was a child,
I read about Spitfires
963
01:29:59,019 --> 01:30:00,521
and the Battle of Britain.
964
01:30:02,105 --> 01:30:04,824
This aeroplane stands for so much.
965
01:30:04,900 --> 01:30:06,777
Grace and gallantry.
966
01:30:16,411 --> 01:30:18,584
She's a symbol of freedom.
967
01:30:21,207 --> 01:30:24,177
Here he comes. Here he is.
967
01:30:25,305 --> 01:30:31,463
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