Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,560
You can't fly a Spitfire and forget
about it. It stays with you forever.
2
00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,200
It stays with you forever.
3
00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,320
(new speaker) The Spitfire
was just like a dancing fairy.
4
00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:48,880
It was gorgeous.
5
00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,440
I can't really explain it.
It was absolutely wonderful.
6
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,120
(new speaker)
It was childishly simple to fly.
7
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,000
Before I could say "nada",
I was up at 8,000 feet
8
00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,480
in an aircraft that was doing 400 mph.
9
00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,160
I'd never been at that speed ever.
10
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,000
(new speaker) It was the nearest thing
to having wings and flying oneself.
11
00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,440
You only had to blow
on the control stick
12
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,200
and it seemed to do what you wanted.
13
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,560
(new speaker) It's so beautiful.
It is a work of art.
14
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,400
But at the same time, you are aware that
15
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,880
the purpose of this plane
was to shoot and Kill.
16
00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:50,680
It's a killing machine.
17
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,840
(new speaker)
But it's a weapon of war, a Spitfire.
18
00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,360
It's a weapon of war, and you've got to
learn how to use it as a weapon of war.
19
00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,360
(machine gun fire)
20
00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,800
(narrator) Coningsby is home
to three squadrons of RAF jet fighters.
21
00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:45,920
On the shoulders of these men and women
rests the air defence of Great Britain.
22
00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:52,440
But it is also home to
the most revered aircraft of all time:
23
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:54,480
the Spitfire.
24
00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,560
And this was the last ever
to see service.
25
00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,440
(newsreel) A few of these famous
aircraft have been operated
26
00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,560
on daily met flights, helping
in the task of weather forecasting.
27
00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,320
But now, 21 years
after the prototype first flew,
28
00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,640
the last of the Spitfires
are to be retired.
29
00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:18,440
Their day is done,
30
00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,280
though three Spits will be kept by
the RAF for Battle of Britain flypasts,
31
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,080
commemorating the battle
they did so much to win.
32
00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:30,640
(new speaker) For me,
and I think the British people,
33
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:37,000
these aeroplanes represent innovation,
ingenuity, determination,
34
00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,680
and an unwillingness to be bullied.
35
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,160
And really, the Spitfire
is emblematic of that.
36
00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,960
This beautiful machine
is our Mark IIA Spitfire,
37
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,000
and, in my opinion,
38
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,320
this is the most
precious flying machine on the planet,
39
00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:58,840
bar maybe the Apollo 11 Command Capsule
40
00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:00,080
which brought the boys back
41
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,760
from the first trip to the moon,
the first landing on the moon.
42
00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:04,120
And the reason I say that is,
43
00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,320
this is the only Spitfire in the world
still flying today
44
00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,640
that actually fought
in the Battle of Britain.
45
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,440
So it's a truly, truly priceless
flying machine.
46
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:16,360
And it also happens to be
one of the most,
47
00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,560
if not the most beautiful machine
that man has ever made, in my opinion.
48
00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,800
I think, for most of the pilots
on the flight,
49
00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,080
this one holds a particular place
in their hearts
50
00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,120
because, of course, we grew up with
the legend of the Battle of Britain.
51
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,240
For people who joined the Royal
Air Force, it's part of our core ethos.
52
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,600
So to then be able to sit
in this machine, or to even fly it,
53
00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,040
is an incredible privilege.
54
00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:50,440
These are the planes that saved Britain
and Europe in its darkest hour.
55
00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,840
At the height of the Second World War,
a film was produced
56
00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:03,680
which would forever fix the Spitfire
in the public's imagination.
57
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:11,000
"The First of the Few" told the story
of the famous fighter aircraft
58
00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,240
and its creator, RJ Mitchell.
59
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,400
(woman on film)
What have you been up to?
60
00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:17,960
- Thinking.
- Great thoughts?
61
00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,360
—- Oh, terrific.
- (woman) Such as?
62
00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,840
- The birds fly a lot better than we do.
- (gulls cry)
63
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:24,280
You don't say!
64
00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,680
I do, but then they've been at it
some millions of years.
65
00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,160
We've got to learn from them
if we ever want to fly properly.
66
00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:32,840
The film had a huge impact
67
00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:37,400
and turned a weapon of war
into an international icon.
68
00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,600
(man on film) See how
they wheel and bank and glide?
69
00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:41,520
Perfect.
70
00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:46,160
And all in one;
wings, body, tail, all in one.
71
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,120
- But you wait.
- (gulls cry)
72
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,400
Someday I'm going to build a plane
that'll be just like a bird.
73
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:55,880
Why, it is like a bird.
74
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,400
What a strange-looking machine.
75
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,040
(new speaker) As a child, for me,
running around this place was magical.
76
00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:15,600
If we were to come down at the weekend,
77
00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:18,320
my father would be doing
a particular job on one of the aircraft.
78
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:19,720
I was left to roam.
79
00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,680
And it gave me a great sense
of what these aircraft were about,
80
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:25,720
even at an early age.
81
00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,880
So, looking at what it means
to aviation,
82
00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:32,320
and what it means
to the story of the Spitfire,
83
00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,520
this aircraft, the Supermarine S.6,
84
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,880
I think it's the most important aircraft
we've got here.
85
00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:43,600
What gets me is it's so narrow.
86
00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:46,320
Even after all this time
of knowing the aircraft, it's so narrow.
87
00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,360
You appreciate, of course, they
went in sideways and then turned round
88
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,080
so they got their shoulders
under the coaming here.
89
00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:55,280
Head back on here.
And a very thin cushion to sit on.
90
00:10:00,680 --> 00:10:05,400
(Andy Jones) So N248 was built for
the Schneider Trophy Contest in 1929.
91
00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,880
The Schneider Trophy
was a race for seaplanes.
92
00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:14,240
It started before the First World War
as a fairly small event in Monaco.
93
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,960
By 1931 it was
an international spectacle.
94
00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:27,160
At the last race, in 1931,
95
00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,120
a million people came down
to the shores of the Solent
96
00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:32,440
to watch the race happen.
97
00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:33,880
These machines,
98
00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,920
like N248, and the Italian machines
and the American machines that entered
99
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,920
were the fastest machines on Earth.
100
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,520
And the pilots who flew them
were the fastest men on Earth.
101
00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:48,200
Fire!
102
00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:54,520
(Alan Jones) When this
competition started,
103
00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,400
the speeds were around about 40 mph.
104
00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,640
By the time it finished,
they were 400 mph.
105
00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,840
Well done indeed. Well done indeed.
106
00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:33,120
(newsreel) Mr RJ Mitchell, of
Southampton, England, will talk to you
107
00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,600
on the design
of the Schneider Trophy seaplane.
108
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,800
(Mitchell) In the design
of a seaplane of this type,
109
00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,440
the one outstanding
and all-important requirement is speed.
110
00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,680
Every feature has to be sacrificed
to this demand.
111
00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,680
It is not good enough to follow
conventional methods of design.
112
00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:55,800
It is essential to break new ground
113
00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,680
and to invent and evolve new methods
and new ideas.
114
00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,040
(Andy Jones) There is the myth
around Mitchell
115
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,720
of being a genius who designed
all these aircraft on his own,
116
00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,080
with a little notebook and a pencil.
117
00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,320
In fact there was an enormous
design team for a Supermarine.
118
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:19,360
He had around him people who had
superior knowledge on high-speed flight.
119
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,840
And that was invaluable
when they went back to the drawing board
120
00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,200
after the race in 1931
and started on the Spitfire.
121
00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:36,520
It wasn't just Britain
making strides in aviation.
122
00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:42,480
In Germany, a new and increasingly
sinister political force
123
00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:45,960
was using aircraft
to spread its influence.
124
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,560
These new developments became
a powerful symbol of Nazi ambition.
125
00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:58,280
By 1933,
this could no longer be ignored.
126
00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,720
For months, some of us have been
trying to impress on the government
127
00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:05,080
that the danger is growing.
128
00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:07,520
But this is a democratic country.
129
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,960
The policy of the government
is the will of the people.
130
00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:11,800
Or it's supposed to be.
131
00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,680
And the passionate desire of every
sane, thinking person is for peace.
132
00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,360
Well, Mitchell, what do you propose?
133
00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:22,000
I want to build a fighter.
134
00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,040
The fastest and deadliest
fighting aeroplane in the world.
135
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,560
It's got to do 400 mph,
turn on a sixpence,
136
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,000
climb 10,000 feet in a few minutes,
137
00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,960
dive at 500
without the wings coming off,
138
00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:40,800
carry eight machine guns.
139
00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:04,520
(new speaker) As far as
aeroplane design goes,
140
00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,800
everybody's looking for
those few percent improvements.
141
00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,200
That slight edge in performance.
142
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:22,520
Aerodynamics, engines, structures,
this type of thing.
143
00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:30,400
This is the old 24-foot wind tunnel
at Farnborough.
144
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:41,360
It was used basically to wind-tunnel
test full-scale aeroplanes.
145
00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,680
Various countries, particularly Germany,
were heading towards a war situation,
146
00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,600
were developing fast bombers.
147
00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,760
So fighters had to
become faster as well.
148
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,360
We were terribly behind.
149
00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,160
But there was this constant
cross-fertilisation
150
00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,960
between what the Germans were doing and
what we were doing here at Farnborough.
151
00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,440
And this is the key to the whole story
of the Spitfire's wing.
152
00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:24,680
Beverley Shenstone was a young Canadian
aeronautical engineering graduate
153
00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:26,280
who came over to Britain
154
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,600
and then immediately got himself
a job with Junkers in Germany
155
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,800
to try and find out what the Germans
were doing in this area.
156
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,080
I think it has been suggested
that he might have been a spy,
157
00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,800
but I don't know
about that side of things. (laughs)
158
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,080
He met one of the great names
in aerodynamics, Ludwig Prandtl.
159
00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,840
And it turned out that in 1918,
Prandtl had published
160
00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,400
the description of all their work
during the First World War,
161
00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,720
including a wing plan form
shaped as an ellipse.
162
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,800
But he didn't just draw
a simple ellipse,
163
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,560
he drew two halves of two ellipses.
164
00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,680
A bluntish ellipse here,
and a much deeper ellipse there.
165
00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,960
And that, I have to say,
is not only like, similar to,
166
00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:30,600
it's damn well geometrically identical
to what emerged on the Spitfire.
167
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:36,200
And I think Shenstone picked up
that idea and brought it back
168
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:41,800
when he came to work for Supermarine
in 1933, and suggested it to Mitchell.
169
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,760
So, basically,
the Spitfire had a German wing.
170
00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:48,320
And I suspect that a lot of people
171
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,760
have been too embarrassed
to say anything about it.
172
00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:00,200
(newsreel) In the aircraft factories
of Britain, our workmen are trained
173
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,960
to build to the most severe standards
of accuracy in the world.
174
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:12,920
Every part has been tested and re-tested
until human ingenuity can do no more.
175
00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,840
(newsreel) There are over 11,000 parts
in a Merlin engine.
176
00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,120
Over 140 separate machining operations
are needed
177
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,320
to produce the Merlin crankshaft.
178
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,000
Women prove themselves
to be particularly adept
179
00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:34,560
at this exacting work.
180
00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:40,360
At each station, a sub-assembly,
or component, is added to the engine.
181
00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:46,160
At the end of the line, the completed
engine is vetted by an inspector
182
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,840
who notes the numbers
of individual components
183
00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,640
and assigns a new number
to the whole engine.
184
00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,120
From now on, it has an identity.
185
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,200
On March the 5th, 1936,
186
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,600
the new fighter's prototype
was ready for testing.
187
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:13,200
There is only one person alive today
188
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,920
who remembers
the Spitfire's first test flight.
189
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:21,120
(new speaker)
Well, I was four and a half.
190
00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:26,480
My father worked at Supermarine
for RJ Mitchell.
191
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,960
So we grew up with the aeroplanes
and the Spitfire especially,
192
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,680
because Father was looking after
the development of that.
193
00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,800
One day he said to Mother,
194
00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,720
"Do you want to come and see
the first flight of our new aeroplane?"
195
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,240
So we got in the back of the car
and off we all went to Eastleigh.
196
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,200
(engine fires up)
197
00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:58,160
The pilot came out and got in.
198
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:00,800
And then off he went.
199
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,800
(newsreel) This is the latest type
of single-seater fighter,
200
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,480
and as you can see, a monoplane.
201
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,240
In design and construction, she is not
unlike the last Schneider Trophy winner.
202
00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:51,360
We are flying along in our own plane
at about 175.
203
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:53,640
So, what speed she is capable of
204
00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,360
you may judge from the pace
at which she overtakes us.
205
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,920
And she's going to be a great asset
to the RAF, it's pretty obvious.
206
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,520
(Judy Monger) Father was very pleased
that it had taken off all right
207
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,480
and flown and come back.
208
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,120
"Oh, that was all right, that was good,"
or something.
209
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,680
And that was the first flight
of the Spitfire. (laughs)
210
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,840
(thunder)
211
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,520
Just two days later,
on March the 7th, 1936,
212
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,640
Hitler's troops marched
into the Rhineland.
213
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,920
It was an ominous moment
for the future of Europe.
214
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,080
(archive recordings of Hitler)
215
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,200
(new speaker)
We knew perfectly well it was coming.
216
00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:44,120
The rise of Hitler and all this business
about occupying the Rhine
217
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,760
was the time that we realised
that there was a war on the way.
218
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:54,280
Churchill had been warning us, kept
warning us and warning us all the time,
219
00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:56,560
about what was going to happen.
220
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,400
But at that age,
you don't worry about the future.
221
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,320
(new speaker) I don't think
I had any specific feelings.
222
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,040
The average 18-, 19-year-old
223
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:11,040
is not terribly interested in
what's happening in the future.
224
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,560
I certainly don't remember thinking,
"Oh, my goodness," you know.
225
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,720
"We've got a war possibly coming."
226
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,000
With the threat growing by the day,
and time running out,
227
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,320
Britain needed the Spitfire.
228
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:33,800
But in June 1937
came a terrible setback.
229
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,200
Well, I suppose you know
something of the trouble
230
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,160
or you wouldn't have come to me.
231
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,080
I had an idea of it, yes.
232
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,480
I'm afraid you're a rather sick man,
Mr Mitchell.
233
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,040
I had an idea of that, too.
234
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:10,800
(Judy Monger)
Well, he'd been ill for some time.
235
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,960
We weren't aware of it, being children,
but obviously Father would've been.
236
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:23,800
Because we used to go to his house
at weekends if there was something,
237
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,200
information that Father had
that he had to discuss with him.
238
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:32,040
And we just stopped doing that.
239
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,080
Father all dressed up in black one day
and went off and...
240
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,400
that was it.
241
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,800
It was very sad, obviously,
for everybody, especially in the team,
242
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:47,800
when their leader's gone.
243
00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,800
In its hour of greatest need,
244
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,560
the country had lost
its greatest aircraft designer
245
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,760
at the age of 42.
246
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,600
It was now a race against time
to get the Spitfire finished.
247
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,840
It would join Britain's other
new fighter, the Hawker Hurricane.
248
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,960
Both would prove vital
in the coming conflict.
249
00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:27,080
(newsreel) A welcome sight
in the Vickers works at Eastleigh,
250
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,520
one of the factories
where the production of Spitfires
251
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:30,920
is rapidly going ahead.
252
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:32,400
In the present state of Europe,
253
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,040
the country couldn't possibly have
too many of these fighters,
254
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:37,400
which claim to be
the fastest in the world.
255
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,680
Their powerful engines are lined up
ready for installation,
256
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,840
and every operation of manufacture
and assembly is carried out
257
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,840
with that delicate precision for which
British workmanship is famous.
258
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,440
On completion the machines
are given a thorough try-out.
259
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:53,800
You'll be pleased to notice
260
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,720
the rapidity of their climb
and their handiness in the air.
261
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,800
(new speaker)
I'd reached the dizzy age of 19,
262
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:19,600
and it was a time when everybody
was beginning to think of joining up.
263
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,000
And I decided the best thing to do
264
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:28,360
was to join the RAFVR,
volunteer reserve.
265
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:33,920
And, in due course,
I did get called up for flying training.
266
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,400
And so my flying career
started in a Tiger Moth.
267
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,040
(new speaker) I wanted to fly
but it was an expensive business.
268
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,200
So I thought, "The cheapest way
is join the Air Force."
269
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,200
"They probably pay you to learn to fly."
270
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,680
I wrote off to Air Ministry saying that,
271
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,920
basically, I was leaving school within
a year and wanted to fly an aeroplane
272
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,120
and could they give me a job, really.
273
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:18,760
In August 1938,
the Spitfire entered RAF service.
274
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:22,840
It was not a moment too soon.
275
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,080
(Chamberlain) This morning,
the British ambassador in Berlin
276
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,800
handed the German government
a final note,
277
00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:58,560
stating that unless we heard from them
278
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,280
by 11 o'clock, that they were prepared,
279
00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:05,960
at once,
to withdraw their troops from Poland,
280
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,600
a state of war would exist between us.
281
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:16,480
I have to tell you now that no such
undertaking has been received,
282
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:22,800
and that, consequently,
this country is at war with Germany.
283
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,040
(Paul Farnes) It came over the radio
that we were at war.
284
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,600
Had half a mug of wine each
and wished each other good luck.
285
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,320
And that was it.
286
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,120
It was quite emotional at the time.
287
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,400
We discussed it with each other and...
288
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,480
Well, it's the sort of thing I think
anyone would find a bit emotional
289
00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:02,320
if you're suddenly told
that war had already been declared.
290
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,640
You knew you were in it.
291
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,120
Because after all,
it was what you were being trained for.
292
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,760
(new speaker) It was exciting, exciting.
293
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,360
We wanted the war to start, you know,
and wanted to be in it.
294
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,200
Didn't want to be left behind.
295
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,600
And don't forget, I was 18, 19.
296
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,680
Very enthusiastic about everything
in those days.
297
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,960
(new speaker) What went
through my mind was
298
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,920
how long would it be
before I got on a squadron?
299
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,800
I went first of all
I think it was to Biggin Hill.
300
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:37,600
And the CO looked at me and said,
301
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,880
"How many hours have you done
on Hurricanes, Pickering?"
302
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,400
I said, "lI've never even seen one, sir."
303
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:48,120
So, he said, "Well, go on out there,
go and have a look at it." (laughs)
304
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,600
(new speaker)
Towards the end of my training,
305
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,320
I think the war was getting
a bit worrying to everybody
306
00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:00,520
and I was taken out of practice camp
and I ended up in a Spitfire squadron.
307
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,680
When I first saw the Spitfire I thought,
"My gosh, this is quite something."
308
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,960
The ground crew had strapped me in
309
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,280
and it was all a bit intimidating,
you know. Even the start-up.
310
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,360
(engine roars)
311
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,240
Smoke coming right back...
I can see it now.
312
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,120
I remember taxiing out
and being very careful.
313
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,920
It seemed to hurtle itself in the air
314
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,920
with me hanging on
to the stick and the throttle,
315
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:40,880
dragging me along with it, you know.
316
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:28,040
In the spring of 1940,
Hitler's attack in the west began.
317
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:31,880
Europe crumbled.
318
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,200
When France fell,
the British army retreated to Dunkirk
319
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,000
and by a miracle return home.
320
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,560
Now just one country remained
in Hitler's sights.
321
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:57,920
What General Weygand has called
the Battle of France is over.
322
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,360
The Battle of Britain is about to begin.
323
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:10,800
Hitler knows that he will have to
break us in this island or lose the war.
324
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:15,400
If we can stand up to him,
all Europe may be free
325
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:22,240
and the life of the world may
move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
326
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,240
(Tom Neil) The Germans were going to
land with a quarter of a million people
327
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,840
on the south coast of Britain
between Brighton and Dover.
328
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,920
Had they landed, they would have won,
without a doubt.
329
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,880
And the course of world history
would've been changed.
330
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:47,720
(Tony Pickering) We fully realised
331
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:50,840
that we'd got to stop the Hun
from getting over.
332
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:57,080
and we knew that we were
an important line in the defence,
333
00:32:57,600 --> 00:32:59,600
being fighter pilots.
334
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:06,240
If he ever landed and secured
a foothold, we'd never get him out.
335
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:15,560
(Ken Wilkinson) There was never ever
any thought of defeat. Never.
336
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,240
We were cocky. We were the bee's knees.
337
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,280
After all,
we'd got wonderful aircraft to fly.
338
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,320
We were very fortunate,
in spite of the Treasury,
339
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,240
that we had Spitfires and Hurricanes.
340
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,360
For a German invasion to succeed,
341
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,600
Hitler needed to destroy
the Royal Air Force and its airfields
342
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,640
and secure mastery of the skies.
343
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,360
The Luftwaffe had 2,600 aircraft.
344
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,760
They outnumbered RAF Fighter Command
by four to one.
345
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:34,680
For most of the young pilots,
it would be their first time in action.
346
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,640
If they failed, the country would fall.
347
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,360
(Geoffrey Wellum) Obviously
we were going to be involved
348
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,120
in a pretty serious business.
349
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,440
Being shot down didn't appeal to me.
350
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:51,920
So I thought, "How do I avoid it?"
351
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,800
Make yourself a difficult target.
How do you do that?
352
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,760
Never fly straight and level
for more than ten seconds.
353
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,160
It's always the German you did not see
that shot you down.
354
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,160
(Paul Farnes) My thoughts never went
to what the future might hold
355
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:19,480
or whether we were going to get
through it or what was going to happen.
356
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:26,080
After all, we were only
about 19 or 20, 21, you know.
357
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,000
We were pretty young.
358
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,080
(Ken Wilkinson)
We were all pals together.
359
00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:45,160
The camaraderie was great.
360
00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:48,240
We knew we depended upon each other.
361
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:54,120
We knew that we were sure of
getting support, wherever we were.
362
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:03,040
(new speaker) I was sent to Uxbridge,
which is 11 Group headquarters,
363
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:05,280
into the operations room.
364
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,400
I don't want to blow my own trumpet,
but I was a good plotter.
365
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,520
(laughs) I shouldn't say that.
366
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:15,600
But that was why I was always
on the southeast corner,
367
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:17,440
which was the busy corner.
368
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,520
Enemy aircraft was picked up
on the radar.
369
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,400
All that information
was sent to fight command.
370
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:44,560
They sorted it out, and then sent
the plots out to the groups.
371
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:46,880
(bell rings)
372
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,920
So we'd say "scramble" and they would
have to get up in the air.
373
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,760
As the plots kept coming through,
we would put the arrows on the table
374
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,440
so that the controller
could see what was going on.
375
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:23,760
The controller had the information
and was able to pass it on to the pilot.
376
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,600
(Tom Neil) I remember climbing up,
struggling for height, and looking up.
377
00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:38,840
And this one went out.
One of 20 to 30 above my head.
378
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:44,000
And there's this fascination
of seeing the enemy close at hand.
379
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:48,320
Seeing the black crosses and things
on the aeroplanes.
380
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,520
And you know that it's going
to attack you in a moment or two.
381
00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:59,120
You had 15 seconds of ammunition.
382
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,800
Three hundred rounds per gun.
383
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:06,880
Our advice was to go in head-on attack,
and go straight through.
384
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:11,320
And don't hang around.
385
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,880
‘Cause their fighters would come
and pick you off if they could.
386
00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:19,840
You went straight through them,
fired your guns,
387
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,400
closed your eyes and fired your guns.
388
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,480
(Geoffrey Wellum) Then, providing
you weren't hit by return fire,
389
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:27,880
you were through the other side.
390
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,360
In seconds, in seconds.
391
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:30,840
Phew, got away with that.
392
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:35,360
(laughs) Yeah.
393
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:50,760
(Paul Farnes) You got 109s, Spitfires
and Hurricanes screaming round.
394
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,440
You wouldn't know who was who
half the time.
395
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,240
We were up here in the Spitfires.
396
00:38:57,320 --> 00:38:59,600
But you could see
what the Hurricanes were doing.
397
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:05,800
I can remember three Hurricanes
diving in to 500 Heinkels.
398
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:07,080
(machine gun fire)
399
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,200
And the Heinkels scattering.
400
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:18,000
You see the enemy,
you're within feet of them.
401
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:20,680
Close enough to touch.
402
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,600
I remember firing at an aircraft
directly in front of me
403
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,680
Two people came out so close with
their parachutes still undeveloped.
404
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,280
They came straight at me,
and I thought he was going to hit me.
405
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:35,840
(machine gun fire)
406
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,520
(Geoffrey Wellum) There was this bang.
407
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,040
I suddenly realised
it was a 109 right behind me.
408
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,800
He had his goggles down
and I could see his head.
409
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,320
Oh, yeah, he was close.
He was real close.
410
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,640
And I looked up
and I could see him looking at me.
411
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,920
(Tony Pickering)
You learnt the hard way.
412
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:05,920
(machine gun fire)
413
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,440
Once you saw flames,
you didn't stop on board an aircraft.
414
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,800
It could easily just blow like that.
415
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,640
And it wouldn't give you a chance
to get out.
416
00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:19,640
Release that pin and out you came,
like a cork out of a bottle.
417
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:27,520
I remember landing by parachute
in the guards depot at Caterham.
418
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:31,800
They took me to the colonel, who very
quickly opened a bottle of whisky.
419
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,400
(laughs) "Have a sip!"
420
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:50,480
(Paul Farnes) So I saw the Stukas.
421
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,520
Once they'd finished their dive,
they didn't climb up again.
422
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,960
They stayed low
and headed out towards France.
423
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:04,240
And, so... it made it easy for us.
424
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,080
(newsreel) In recent operations,
425
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:14,120
RAF automatic cameras, taking film
of the small home-movie type,
426
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,640
were attached
to Hurricanes and Spitfires.
427
00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:18,840
Built for the job,
the camera fits into the wing.
428
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,760
It automatically takes pictures
when the pilot fires his machine gun
429
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:24,400
and stops when the gun stops.
430
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:32,280
(Paul Farnes) I attacked one of them,
I think, and it was shot down.
431
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:37,640
The other one went into the sea.
432
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:43,080
You don't have any feelings about it.
433
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,840
All you think about is trying to get
a decent shot at it.
434
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,760
I can't help it, but I did enjoy it.
435
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,960
I think probably quite rightly,
436
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:03,320
from the human point of view I suppose
you shouldn't say you enjoyed it,
437
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:06,320
when other people alongside you
were being killed.
438
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:12,200
But I'm afraid I... I probably did.
439
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:46,920
It's extraordinarily difficult to put
an easy story on it, it really is.
440
00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:54,640
There certainly were times when one was
quite frightened of what was going on.
441
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:02,720
We, all three, got on his tail
442
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,520
and I can remember, after firing at him,
443
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,320
he was just more or less skimming along
in the water.
444
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:14,960
And although I didn't knock him
into the sea,
445
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:19,240
the chap following me certainly got him
and he burst into flames
446
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:21,680
and went into the sea.
447
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,600
(Geoffrey Wellum) We were told
there were 109s over Broadstairs.
448
00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:51,920
And I happened to look down and I saw
these two chaps right on the water
449
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,040
going out from the coast.
450
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,760
And we quite clinically got behind them.
451
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:08,000
Right on the deck, they hadn't seen us.
452
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:09,720
(machine gun fire)
453
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:14,320
We shot them both dead.
454
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,520
Just a "bom-bom".
455
00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:32,520
You've got to remember,
we're talking about total war.
456
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:38,080
And we were up against it, because
there was nobody else helping us.
457
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:42,840
All the Continent had fallen down
and it was us against this monster.
458
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:02,560
By the end of August 1940,
459
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:05,960
the Luftwaffe's daily assaults
on the airfields
460
00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:09,160
were stretching RAF resources
to the limit.
461
00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:14,000
Pilots and ground crews were exhausted.
462
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:19,800
(Tom Neil) You never thought
you were going to be killed.
463
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:24,360
And it's only in retrospect,
when you're lying in bed at night,
464
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:28,760
and the bed alongside you
is suddenly empty.
465
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:33,040
The fact that they were killed
20, 30, 40 miles away
466
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:37,840
means that you wiped them
from your memory.
467
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:43,720
(Tony Pickering)
You never got too close.
468
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,000
You kept yourself at a certain distance.
469
00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:54,000
‘Cause inevitably, you would lose
friends, there was no doubt about it.
470
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,760
(Paul Farnes) The damage that was being
done to the country was very worrying,
471
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:06,440
I think one was conscious of that.
472
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,320
I think in many ways
it made one even more determined
473
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:13,160
to stop the German invasion.
474
00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:15,440
(air-raid siren)
475
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:19,800
On September the 7th,
the Luftwaffe changed tactics.
476
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:24,400
Hitler's new target was London,
not the airfields.
477
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:28,400
The Blitz would bring misery
to Londoners.
478
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,560
But it bought valuable time for the RAF.
479
00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:39,760
At last, the pilots could rest.
480
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:44,120
The runways could be repaired
and aircraft could be serviced.
481
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:53,680
But the day of reckoning
was approaching.
482
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:58,600
I can remember looking up
at the sky and thinking,
483
00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:01,280
"It's going to be a lovely day again,"
you know. "Oh, God."
484
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:05,200
And I offered up a little prayer.
485
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:08,960
"It's going to be a very busy day,
O Lord,
486
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,200
and if I forget you,
don't you forget me."
487
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:16,080
"Give me this day, please.
Please, give me this day."
488
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,320
(Tom Neil)
According to the German plans,
489
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,000
if things were going right for them,
490
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:32,480
they would invade
on the 15th of September.
491
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:35,600
Der Tag. This is the day
they were going to invade.
492
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:44,920
(Joan Fanshawe) That was the day
that Churchill came down
493
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:47,920
and I was actually on duty that day.
494
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:53,080
But we were not ever allowed to look,
turn around and look up there at all.
495
00:47:53,160 --> 00:47:55,480
We always had to keep our heads down
and look at our plot.
496
00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:06,160
In the plotting room, Churchill
watched the enemy attacks building.
497
00:48:06,240 --> 00:48:09,400
He asked if fighter command
had any reserves.
498
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:12,760
The answer was none.
499
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:18,640
(Tom Neil) Two thousand people in action
over Kent and Sussex.
500
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:25,080
I flew four times that day.
501
00:48:37,240 --> 00:48:40,240
(Geoffrey Wellum) We were in
a vast panorama of blue sky
502
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,560
with the green contrasting fields
of England below.
503
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:46,240
And it was that that helped you.
504
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:50,280
I can hear him to this day,
505
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,000
the controller coming up and saying,
506
00:48:53,080 --> 00:48:56,160
"A hundred and fifty plus
approaching Dungeness.”
507
00:48:57,240 --> 00:48:59,880
And Brian said,
"Tally ho, I can see them."
508
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:02,720
Well, I looked ahead,
509
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,880
and there was this great big cloud
of gnats on a summer evening.
510
00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:11,480
109s above, Heinkels, and I thought,
"Oh, gosh," you know.
511
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:13,600
"Where do we start on this lot?"
512
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:25,640
I kept a diary.
I was not allowed to keep a diary.
513
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:31,120
I mean, it was
a court-martial offence to keep a diary.
514
00:49:31,840 --> 00:49:34,200
"We had an absolutely frantic watch."
515
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:37,600
"We were almost driven potty
we were so busy."
516
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:40,520
"There were air raids
all over the country.”
517
00:49:40,600 --> 00:49:44,400
"We hardly had any relief at all,
did our best to sleep,
518
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:47,000
but in any case, it was rather fitful."
519
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:57,960
(Tom Neil) On the 15th of September,
520
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:00,600
enemy aircraft
were falling like confetti
521
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:02,920
all over the Southern counties.
522
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:05,560
We were cock-a-hoop.
523
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:32,920
September the 15th
marked the turning point of the battle.
524
00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:36,200
When it ended, six weeks later,
525
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:40,160
it would become the first defeat
of Hitler's forces.
526
00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:44,200
The first victory
in the fight for freedom.
527
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:51,480
(Tony Pickering) I think we realised
that we were there,
528
00:50:51,560 --> 00:50:54,120
and we'd got a job to do,
and we had to do it.
529
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:56,920
And we did it
530
00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:59,120
to the best of our ability.
531
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:10,480
I always remember the elderly ladies
in the East End of London
532
00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:13,720
come putting their arms around you
and giving you a kiss and saying,
533
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,840
"Keep 'em away, boys, keep ‘em away."
534
00:51:18,240 --> 00:51:21,080
It meant a lot to us, really, that.
535
00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:32,040
(Big Ben chimes)
536
00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:39,280
(Churchill) The gratitude of every home
in our island, in our empire,
537
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:41,760
and indeed throughout the world,
538
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,080
except in the abodes of the guilty,
539
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:48,440
goes out to the British airmen
who, undaunted by odds,
540
00:51:48,520 --> 00:51:53,320
unwearied in their constant challenge
and mortal danger,
541
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:58,600
are turning the tide of the world war
by their prowess and by their devotion.
542
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:07,880
Never in the field of human conflict
was so much owed by so many to so few.
543
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:27,920
(newsreel) The constant drone
of machinery in our aircraft factories
544
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:29,440
is the music of victory.
545
00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:32,520
Over acres of floor space,
546
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:36,000
men and women are turning the money
from the thousands of Spitfire funds
547
00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:37,560
into machines for the RAF.
548
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,720
Despite heavy bombing, the two factories
in Southampton and Birmingham
549
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:49,240
continued to build Spitfires
in large numbers.
550
00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:54,720
Women now played a key role
in their manufacture,
551
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:59,560
and, as the Spitfire evolved,
in their design.
552
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:06,360
Women were also recruited to fly them
from the factories to the airfields.
553
00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:08,560
(newsreel) These women
are in the news at home
554
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:11,520
because they've undertaken
a somewhat unusual war job.
555
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:15,680
All these women of the Air Transport
Auxiliary are most experienced pilots,
556
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:18,920
each with a record of about
a thousand flying hours to her credit.
557
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:27,560
(new speaker) In 1941, I joined
the Air Transport Auxiliary as a pilot.
558
00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:30,880
(newsreel) By carrying out this duty,
they're relieving the pressure of work
559
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,320
that would otherwise fall to RAF pilots.
560
00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:35,880
Oh, that was great.
561
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:42,600
I was with 16 other girls
that had already joined.
562
00:53:43,240 --> 00:53:45,160
So that was wonderful.
563
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:54,200
And at that time,
I think I was one of the youngest ones,
564
00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:57,520
and so I had to behave myself.
565
00:53:57,600 --> 00:53:59,240
(laughs)
566
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:04,120
(new speaker) We were all very young.
567
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:07,920
We weren't in the services
so we didn't have to have our hair cut.
568
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:11,120
And we did look very glamorous,
with our gold wings
569
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:14,760
and our gold badges of rank
on the shoulder.
570
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:19,600
Whenever you went into an RAF mess,
you know,
571
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:22,080
they were always anxious to talk to you.
572
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:24,360
It was a very glamorous life
573
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:27,520
and it was very difficult
not to be spoiled, I guess.
574
00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:34,720
(Mary Ellis) Well, I did have
lots of boyfriends. (laughs)
575
00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:38,000
It takes me back about 50 years,
doesn't it?
576
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:44,920
(newsreel) But to keep
the Royal Air Force on the offensive,
577
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:46,880
hundreds of aircraft
must be flown each day
578
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:49,920
between the factories, the maintenance
depots and the aerodromes.
579
00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:55,520
(Mary Ellis) I saw these Spitfires.
I hadn't seen a Spitfire before.
580
00:54:55,600 --> 00:54:59,240
I'm sure my heart was beating
hundreds to the dozen. (laughs)
581
00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:03,720
(Joy Lofthouse)
When you actually were told
582
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:06,040
you're going to fly in a Spitfire,
583
00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:08,280
I suppose it's almost breath-taking.
584
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:12,680
It's partly nervousness,
"Will I do it properly?"
585
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,640
And partly elation
that you have finally made it.
586
00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:22,200
(Mary Ellis) I got in the aircraft
and the chappie said,
587
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:25,360
"How many of these
have you flown, miss?"
588
00:55:25,440 --> 00:55:30,960
And I said, "I haven't flown one at all
yet, this is the first one."
589
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:37,520
And he promptly went... (gasps)
...and fell off the aeroplane. (laughs)
590
00:55:42,120 --> 00:55:46,560
I was excited, and I started
the aeroplane, taxied out.
591
00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:50,800
Fortunately, made the perfect take-off.
592
00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:56,120
Up in the air, I thought,
"I'm here, I must do something."
593
00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,920
So I went round and round
and up and down.
594
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:09,440
It was so delightful.
595
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:19,160
I had a lovely time
before I had to land it.
596
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:23,280
I thought, "Oh, my goodness."
597
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:26,800
(Joy Lofthouse)
A test pilot once said
598
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:30,560
that she was a lady in the air,
but a bitch on the ground.
599
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:40,800
Now this was because she had a much
narrower undercart than the Hurricane.
600
00:56:40,880 --> 00:56:44,120
So you had to be very careful
in landing.
601
00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:54,640
(Mary Ellis) 1t was quite often
very dangerous.
602
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:59,960
We had no radio at any time.
603
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:02,840
No aids whatsoever.
604
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:08,840
In between this, there was
the hazards of the bad weather
605
00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:11,600
and the balloons which would pop up.
606
00:57:12,720 --> 00:57:15,520
And people did get killed.
607
00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:24,080
(Joy Lofthouse) There were casualties.
One heard of them all the time.
608
00:57:24,760 --> 00:57:28,080
But I think
the thought of what was happening,
609
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:31,920
the war as a whole,
was always in the back of our minds.
610
00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:38,760
There was always news coming through
of either defeats or setbacks.
611
00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:41,560
And it was a nice feeling,
however modest,
612
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:44,280
that you were doing something
to help the war.
613
00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:58,920
In 1941, with Britain beyond his reach,
614
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:02,240
Hitler turned his attention
to North Africa.
615
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:08,720
The prize was control of the
Mediterranean and the Arabian oilfields.
616
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:15,560
As battle raged in the desert, his
supply lines were under constant attack
617
00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:18,600
by British aircraft based on Malta.
618
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:24,280
The tiny island was subjected to
a massive bombing campaign.
619
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:27,560
(ship's horn)
620
00:58:27,640 --> 00:58:30,880
It had to be defended at all costs.
621
00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:37,520
With Spitfires being held back
in Britain,
622
00:58:37,600 --> 00:58:41,320
Hurricanes were sent
on aircraft carriers to do the job.
623
00:58:44,520 --> 00:58:48,960
The young pilots would face
a new challenge, fraught with risk.
624
00:58:51,160 --> 00:58:55,080
(Tom Neil) None of us had taken off
from a carrier or landed on a carrier.
625
00:58:56,320 --> 00:59:01,280
So the day arrived,
and we were going to fly off at dawn.
626
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:04,960
Now, I hated flying off at dawn.
627
00:59:05,600 --> 00:59:06,600
I used to think,
628
00:59:06,680 --> 00:59:10,520
"Why in God's name don't we take off
at lunchtime after a good lunch?"
629
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:12,200
You always had to do it at dawn.
630
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:23,000
So there I was, one of 23 aircraft,
lined up waiting to take off.
631
00:59:29,280 --> 00:59:31,440
We were being led by a Fulmar.
632
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:37,760
Now if there was one thing that was
worse than a Hurricane, it was a Fulmar.
633
00:59:38,280 --> 00:59:40,960
It was a useless, useless aeroplane.
634
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:47,560
And we were going to follow the Fulmar
all the way to Malta.
635
00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:52,240
And everything was radio silence.
636
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:54,680
We weren't supposed to utter a word
637
00:59:54,760 --> 00:59:57,080
in case we gave the whereabouts
to the fleet.
638
00:59:58,760 --> 01:00:03,520
And we did go for an hour, and suddenly
the Fulmar which is leading us
639
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:07,000
had an engine problem
and disappeared into cloud.
640
01:00:07,080 --> 01:00:08,720
So I was left there.
641
01:00:09,720 --> 01:00:14,160
I didn't have any maps.
I didn't know where Malta was.
642
01:00:14,240 --> 01:00:17,360
All I knew was
I was surrounded by the enemy.
643
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:20,640
And I was just 20 years of age.
644
01:00:21,240 --> 01:00:23,240
I didn't know what to do.
645
01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:28,040
And I flew round in circles with ten
people following me around in circles,
646
01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:32,320
them looking at me as a leader,
and me not knowing what to do.
647
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:37,560
And I can tell you, I prayed, I prayed.
I didn't know what to do, what to do.
648
01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:45,840
And God answered.
649
01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:49,320
He doesn't answer you
with a flash of lightning,
650
01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:52,520
he puts something in your head
that you never thought of before.
651
01:00:53,680 --> 01:00:59,720
And I thought, "What I'd better do now
is fly all the way back to Gibraltar,"
652
01:00:59,800 --> 01:01:03,480
which was 850 miles
in the opposite direction.
653
01:01:07,200 --> 01:01:10,320
So I set off. By the grace of God,
654
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:13,600
I came across the wake of the Navy
655
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:20,960
and found the Ark Royal
and all the fleet, 20, 25 ships.
656
01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:23,280
I thought,
"What are they going to do with me?"
657
01:01:26,200 --> 01:01:29,160
"They're going to shoot at me.
They'll think I'm the enemy.”
658
01:01:29,240 --> 01:01:32,160
"How do I let them know
that I'm a friend?"
659
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:41,840
So then they found another Fulmar,
they scrambled it,
660
01:01:41,920 --> 01:01:46,240
and we began to follow it again,
20 feet above the waves.
661
01:02:01,880 --> 01:02:04,440
We'd been in the air several hours.
662
01:02:05,600 --> 01:02:06,600
We had no fuel.
663
01:02:08,200 --> 01:02:09,640
No fuel at all.
664
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:14,320
And Malta suddenly appeared.
665
01:02:16,360 --> 01:02:18,880
And I remember going over the cliffs.
666
01:02:20,480 --> 01:02:25,880
And I was approaching Luqa,
and the airfield in front of me rose up.
667
01:02:30,280 --> 01:02:33,240
Bomb blasts and craters.
668
01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:35,400
All the time I'd been looking down
669
01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:37,280
to see if I was going to land
on the ground.
670
01:02:37,360 --> 01:02:41,280
I looked up, and the air
was filled with Germans.
671
01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:43,160
About 50 or a hundred of them.
672
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:47,920
I said, "Sod it, no matter what I do,
I'm going to land her."
673
01:02:48,000 --> 01:02:49,880
So I landed between all the bomb holes.
674
01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:56,960
And two days later...
675
01:02:57,040 --> 01:02:59,440
(siren wails)
676
01:02:59,520 --> 01:03:03,280
...we heard the air-raid sirens going
677
01:03:03,360 --> 01:03:08,080
and then these three 109s appeared
20 feet above the ground, firing.
678
01:03:09,160 --> 01:03:11,760
And the bullets were going through
the tent above my head.
679
01:03:13,840 --> 01:03:16,960
They wrote us all off
before we'd even taken off.
680
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:20,720
So we didn't have aeroplanes to fly.
681
01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:27,400
And suddenly,
the Spitfires arrived in March 1942,
682
01:03:27,480 --> 01:03:29,200
by the grace of God.
683
01:03:50,240 --> 01:03:52,520
With the fate of Malta in the balance,
684
01:03:52,600 --> 01:03:56,600
the arrival of the Spitfires
came just in time.
685
01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:01,160
(new speaker) And that's 124 Squadron,
the first squadron
686
01:04:01,240 --> 01:04:02,840
that I joined.
687
01:04:02,920 --> 01:04:05,320
In those days I was a sergeant pilot.
688
01:04:05,400 --> 01:04:10,360
And there I am,
one, two in from the right, there.
689
01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:13,960
A very young 18-year-old.
690
01:04:14,840 --> 01:04:20,880
Now, I was posted to Malta. The Eagle.
And that's the one we flew off.
691
01:04:21,720 --> 01:04:26,000
They took us a thousand miles
down the Med, and we had the rest to do.
692
01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:33,560
You just had enough fuel to make it
comfortable to get into Malta.
693
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:42,480
It was just a matter of getting in
as well as you could,
694
01:04:42,560 --> 01:04:45,920
missing the potholes
and getting into a pen.
695
01:04:48,080 --> 01:04:52,200
Within minutes,
my Spitfire was being refuelled
696
01:04:52,280 --> 01:04:58,680
by swarms of airmen passing petrol cans
to one another to fill it up.
697
01:04:59,360 --> 01:05:04,080
Amazing. I mean, you'd only just arrived
there and your Spit was ready to fly.
698
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:06,880
Welcome to Malta.
699
01:05:15,560 --> 01:05:18,240
Our job was to get the bombers,
not the fighters.
700
01:05:23,080 --> 01:05:25,800
We had to get as much height as we could
701
01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:28,280
because then you had
the advantage of coming down.
702
01:05:30,480 --> 01:05:34,000
You didn't aim to get into a dogfight
with Messerschmitts
703
01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:37,520
because we were too short of Spitfires
to lose one.
704
01:05:38,520 --> 01:05:39,640
Hit the bomber.
705
01:05:39,720 --> 01:05:45,000
(machine gun fire)
706
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:46,680
Make sure that they'd clobbered him
707
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:52,360
and then spiral down to the sea
and try and escape.
708
01:05:54,480 --> 01:05:58,160
But Messerschmitts soon cottoned on
to this and they followed down.
709
01:06:01,600 --> 01:06:04,600
So we ended up with a dogfight anyway,
at sea level.
710
01:06:04,680 --> 01:06:05,760
Fighting for my life.
711
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:14,360
When two of them attack you,
you get your sights on one, quickly,
712
01:06:14,960 --> 01:06:18,640
and keep your eye on the other one
coming down behind you.
713
01:06:18,720 --> 01:06:20,880
- You get a quick squirt.
- (machine gun fire)
714
01:06:21,920 --> 01:06:25,920
And then always your eyes are flicking
towards number two coming down.
715
01:06:27,560 --> 01:06:30,400
You've got to outwit him,
you've got to out-fly him.
716
01:06:32,720 --> 01:06:34,880
You sweat profusely.
717
01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:39,320
You're not sweating because you're hot,
you're sweating fear.
718
01:06:42,520 --> 01:06:44,480
And it trickles down your forehead
719
01:06:44,560 --> 01:06:48,680
and then from the eyes, it trickles down
into the mouth, and it's salty.
720
01:06:49,560 --> 01:06:53,240
That's fear. It's a salty taste.
721
01:07:06,640 --> 01:07:08,840
You always put these swastikas in.
722
01:07:08,920 --> 01:07:12,040
That was the first one in Malta
that I got.
723
01:07:12,800 --> 01:07:16,440
And that was the three
in one fight, here.
724
01:07:18,200 --> 01:07:20,000
I think six of us claimed that one.
725
01:07:20,880 --> 01:07:24,200
It shows you the actual
Junkers 88 down there.
726
01:07:24,280 --> 01:07:25,840
The poor old pilot was there.
727
01:07:27,520 --> 01:07:33,440
You become an ace when you shot
five or more aircraft down.
728
01:07:33,520 --> 01:07:35,600
And funnily enough,
it's rather strange, that,
729
01:07:35,680 --> 01:07:42,160
but I am the last surviving ace
from Malta living today, the last one.
730
01:07:42,240 --> 01:07:43,520
Isn't that amazing?
731
01:07:54,080 --> 01:07:56,480
The Spitfires have done the job.
732
01:07:57,160 --> 01:08:01,040
By November 1942, the island was safe.
733
01:08:04,320 --> 01:08:06,920
The tide of the war was turning.
734
01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:11,840
The United States and the Soviet Union
were now fighting on the Allied side.
735
01:08:14,040 --> 01:08:16,080
With the constant need for pilots,
736
01:08:16,160 --> 01:08:20,360
the RAF became a truly multinational
fighting force.
737
01:08:21,720 --> 01:08:26,400
They came from all over the world and
from the conquered countries of Europe.
738
01:08:27,480 --> 01:08:30,760
And they all wanted to fly Spitfires.
739
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:36,240
(new speaker) I remember
first flight from the Polish wing.
740
01:08:36,320 --> 01:08:40,360
Three squadrons of Spitfires
over France.
741
01:08:43,680 --> 01:08:48,800
The object was to throw the gauntlet:
come and fight!
742
01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:50,840
And by gum, they did.
743
01:09:05,360 --> 01:09:09,720
(Franciszek Kornicki)
A lot of blood was spilt over France.
744
01:09:09,800 --> 01:09:12,000
Ours and theirs.
745
01:09:12,080 --> 01:09:14,560
It was hard fight all the time.
746
01:09:17,600 --> 01:09:20,080
(Tom Neil) We had Spitfire Vs
747
01:09:20,160 --> 01:09:24,480
and suddenly a new enemy aircraft
arrived on the scene
748
01:09:24,560 --> 01:09:26,880
called a Focke-Wulf 190.
749
01:09:26,960 --> 01:09:29,120
And it made rings around us.
750
01:09:33,560 --> 01:09:36,760
They would come up above and then just
dive straight down, pick somebody off.
751
01:09:36,840 --> 01:09:40,160
We'd lost...
Oh, we lost several pilots.
752
01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:43,240
So that wasn't a very happy time.
753
01:09:48,400 --> 01:09:50,320
(newsreel) Very interesting indeed.
754
01:09:50,400 --> 01:09:54,240
Something we've been wanting to examine
for some time: the Focke-Wulf 190.
755
01:09:55,040 --> 01:09:57,640
The RAF forced it down
on the south coast of England,
756
01:09:57,720 --> 01:10:01,320
where an armed patrol promptly grabbed
the pilot before he could do any damage.
757
01:10:01,400 --> 01:10:03,240
Now it's in the RAF.
758
01:10:04,360 --> 01:10:07,920
(Geoffrey Wellum)
The 190 was a very potent aeroplane.
759
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:09,480
So we had to respond.
760
01:10:11,480 --> 01:10:15,520
The Spitfire loaned itself
to development.
761
01:10:15,600 --> 01:10:17,800
And almost overnight,
762
01:10:17,880 --> 01:10:22,640
Rolls-Royce took the engine out, stuck
a great big blower on the back of it.
763
01:10:22,720 --> 01:10:25,640
And there was a difference
in performance. Incredible.
764
01:10:26,040 --> 01:10:28,960
(engine roars)
765
01:10:37,840 --> 01:10:42,040
(Franciszek Kornicki) Spitfire IX
was a really very, very good machine.
766
01:10:42,120 --> 01:10:45,120
It's got a lot of power.
And that's what was needed.
767
01:11:13,840 --> 01:11:16,760
(Ken French) When you got
to a height of about 10,000 feet,
768
01:11:16,840 --> 01:11:20,600
it would suddenly whoosh
and the supercharger came in,
769
01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:23,520
which gave us an extra bit of life
to go higher.
770
01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:31,320
And after that, the FW190s,
they were no fear for us.
771
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:33,080
(machine gun fire)
772
01:11:33,160 --> 01:11:34,560
Any time we met them...
773
01:11:34,640 --> 01:11:36,080
(machine gun fire)
774
01:11:36,160 --> 01:11:37,800
...we got the better of it.
775
01:11:46,760 --> 01:11:51,120
The new Spitfire
had helped to secure aerial supremacy.
776
01:11:52,520 --> 01:11:55,720
The liberation of Europe
could now begin.
777
01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:07,960
(Ken French) In 1944, we were stationed
778
01:12:08,040 --> 01:12:11,680
down at Bognor Regis
for the forthcoming invasion.
779
01:12:14,040 --> 01:12:17,040
We saw them
painting black and white strips
780
01:12:17,120 --> 01:12:20,640
under the wings of our planes
for identification,
781
01:12:20,720 --> 01:12:22,720
and we knew what that must mean.
782
01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:26,760
But we still didn't know
where or when we were going.
783
01:12:28,760 --> 01:12:34,360
And on the evening of the 5th of June,
784
01:12:34,440 --> 01:12:37,760
we were all called over to a briefing.
785
01:12:37,840 --> 01:12:43,120
When we got into the tent there,
we saw a big map of Normandy.
786
01:12:43,200 --> 01:12:47,840
And that was our first knowledge that
that was where it was going to be.
787
01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:53,680
And, of course, this was June
when dawn came early
788
01:12:53,760 --> 01:12:55,960
and we didn't get any sleep.
789
01:12:56,040 --> 01:13:02,240
But I do remember that we were all
sitting round in little groups talking.
790
01:13:02,320 --> 01:13:06,520
Because we knew that this was going
to be the biggest day of our lives.
791
01:13:12,360 --> 01:13:15,000
(newsreel) Four years ago,
Europe was Hitler's.
792
01:13:15,080 --> 01:13:17,000
The lights of freedom went out.
793
01:13:17,080 --> 01:13:20,640
Now the world of free men
strikes in all its assembled might
794
01:13:20,720 --> 01:13:23,120
at the weakening chains of bondage.
795
01:13:23,880 --> 01:13:26,680
Here are the first pictures
of the opening of the second front;
796
01:13:26,760 --> 01:13:30,320
pictures which security demands
should be meagre at this stage,
797
01:13:30,400 --> 01:13:33,680
yet thrilling because they carry
the first flush of excitement
798
01:13:33,760 --> 01:13:36,400
as the mammoth task gets underway.
799
01:13:51,640 --> 01:13:55,400
(Ken French) We could see the landing
craft running up on the beaches.
800
01:13:56,080 --> 01:13:58,400
It must have been absolute hell,
you know.
801
01:13:58,760 --> 01:14:01,720
We were completely detached from it.
802
01:14:03,880 --> 01:14:08,160
On D-Day, I went over there three times.
803
01:14:08,240 --> 01:14:11,240
It was quiet all the time.
804
01:14:14,880 --> 01:14:17,560
We never saw the German air force.
805
01:14:19,000 --> 01:14:21,360
Quite honestly, if they had turned up,
806
01:14:21,440 --> 01:14:23,880
they would have had
a very, very hard time
807
01:14:23,960 --> 01:14:29,000
because not only the RAF, but all the
American fighters were up there as well.
808
01:14:30,400 --> 01:14:31,800
Very, very successful actually,
809
01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:37,640
because the whole of northern France
air was covered with fighters.
810
01:14:40,840 --> 01:14:42,760
(newsreel)
While civilian Britain sleeps,
811
01:14:42,840 --> 01:14:44,920
history's greatest story
is being written.
812
01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:48,280
Between midnight and breakfast,
the D-Day plan is launched.
813
01:14:48,360 --> 01:14:51,840
And when the news breaks,
the people at home rush to buy it.
814
01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:54,960
Eagerly, they absorb every line
of the rationed information
815
01:14:55,040 --> 01:14:56,040
as it comes to hand.
816
01:14:56,120 --> 01:14:59,680
The news is good,
far better than they'd dared to hope.
817
01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:02,320
Bridgeheads are won,
we penetrate inland.
818
01:15:02,400 --> 01:15:07,080
Airstrips are under construction and,
best of all, casualties amazingly light.
819
01:15:15,320 --> 01:15:17,680
(Ken French) We used to escort bombers.
820
01:15:19,360 --> 01:15:23,960
And they were dropping bombs on woods.
And we never knew why.
821
01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:31,120
We did know that the Germans had
some sort of a secret weapon coming.
822
01:15:40,160 --> 01:15:41,320
(Ken French) Doodlebugs.
823
01:15:42,680 --> 01:15:46,080
They were pretty fast,
they were over 400 mph they travelled.
824
01:15:48,240 --> 01:15:54,760
I chased one once, across the Channel,
but it was too fast for me.
825
01:15:54,840 --> 01:15:56,360
(engine roars)
826
01:15:56,440 --> 01:16:02,680
The jet-propelled V-1 was taking warfare
in a new and frightening direction.
827
01:16:02,760 --> 01:16:03,920
(engine falls silent)
828
01:16:10,840 --> 01:16:12,880
The country needed an answer.
829
01:16:14,400 --> 01:16:17,920
And once again, it was the Spitfire.
830
01:16:19,240 --> 01:16:20,600
(newsreel) Mark XIV.
831
01:16:22,160 --> 01:16:25,240
She's slightly larger and even faster
than her predecessors
832
01:16:25,320 --> 01:16:28,760
and was designed to meet
the constant demand for more speed.
833
01:16:30,400 --> 01:16:34,560
The wings are clipped to give
better manoeuvrability at low altitudes.
834
01:16:44,320 --> 01:16:48,520
A completely redesigned fin and rudder
was essential for the Mark XIV
835
01:16:48,600 --> 01:16:51,560
and an even more powerful
Rolls-Griffon engine.
836
01:16:56,640 --> 01:16:59,560
To accommodate this new engine,
the nose was lengthened again
837
01:16:59,640 --> 01:17:01,840
and a bigger spinner was needed.
838
01:17:16,800 --> 01:17:19,520
(Geoffrey Wellum)
Spit XIV was a Griffon engine.
839
01:17:19,600 --> 01:17:20,960
It was no slouch.
840
01:17:21,800 --> 01:17:25,680
The acceleration was something
like I'd never experienced before.
841
01:17:26,320 --> 01:17:27,720
That was a real Spitfire.
842
01:17:47,200 --> 01:17:49,960
(newsreel) A Spitfire pilot
gets in a successful burst.
843
01:17:50,040 --> 01:17:51,400
(machine gun fire)
844
01:18:21,280 --> 01:18:25,280
(Geoffrey Wellum) The Spitfire
was built as an interceptor fighter.
845
01:18:28,120 --> 01:18:31,360
Get up there, have a go, come down,
refuel, up. That sort of thing.
846
01:18:36,080 --> 01:18:39,560
But it went on to be developed
into 24 marks,
847
01:18:42,160 --> 01:18:45,360
with a speed over the initial one
of over 100 mph,
848
01:18:45,440 --> 01:18:48,960
carrying twice or three times
the weapon load.
849
01:18:51,600 --> 01:18:54,000
It was a design which was brilliant.
850
01:18:57,360 --> 01:19:01,920
(Tom Neil) By the end of the war
in 1945, I flew pretty well all of them.
851
01:19:02,000 --> 01:19:03,560
All 24 marks.
852
01:19:04,440 --> 01:19:06,720
We used to appeal to Supermarine.
We used to say,
853
01:19:06,800 --> 01:19:09,840
"For God's sake,
try and design something else."
854
01:19:15,880 --> 01:19:18,000
You got to the stage
where the engine was so powerful,
855
01:19:18,080 --> 01:19:20,280
that the aircraft was turning
around the propeller,
856
01:19:20,360 --> 01:19:22,320
rather than the propeller
around the aircraft.
857
01:19:26,880 --> 01:19:29,880
It had had two-bladed propeller,
three-bladed, four-bladed,
858
01:19:29,960 --> 01:19:32,200
five-bladed, six-bladed propeller.
859
01:19:32,280 --> 01:19:34,480
It had outlived its life.
860
01:19:44,120 --> 01:19:47,520
Twenty-two thousand Spitfires were built
861
01:19:47,600 --> 01:19:50,880
before the jet engine
brought its life to an end.
862
01:19:56,040 --> 01:20:02,440
But 75 years after the end of the war,
over 50 of these planes still fly.
863
01:20:03,600 --> 01:20:07,400
And more are being returned to the air
every year.
864
01:20:07,480 --> 01:20:09,720
(Ken Wilkinson)
Well, it's the extraordinary thing
865
01:20:09,800 --> 01:20:11,800
about public opinion, isn't it?
866
01:20:12,280 --> 01:20:14,520
It does funny things.
867
01:20:16,880 --> 01:20:21,760
I mean, the Spitfire did fly
all the way through the war,
868
01:20:24,320 --> 01:20:28,440
and a lot of people
like to see them nowadays.
869
01:20:29,400 --> 01:20:30,840
They're so precious.
870
01:20:34,680 --> 01:20:39,000
It brings back all sorts of memories.
All sorts.
871
01:20:44,640 --> 01:20:50,800
(Allan Scott) I am amazed to this day
at the reputation that the Spitfire has.
872
01:20:51,120 --> 01:20:53,800
And especially the pilots.
873
01:20:53,880 --> 01:20:58,320
Amazing how people
have got onto this Spitfire business.
874
01:21:11,840 --> 01:21:16,120
(Joy Lofthouse) The fact
that people revel in the Spitfire
875
01:21:16,200 --> 01:21:22,160
and the iconic feel it has,
I can't really explain it.
876
01:21:24,040 --> 01:21:26,760
There are some who would
rather have a flight in a Spitfire
877
01:21:26,840 --> 01:21:31,080
than spend their pension money
on a Jag or something, I think.
878
01:21:32,040 --> 01:21:33,720
That must tell you something.
879
01:21:38,200 --> 01:21:42,640
But the aura surrounding the Spitfire
880
01:21:42,720 --> 01:21:46,760
is more a post-war phenomenon
than a wartime thing.
881
01:21:48,000 --> 01:21:51,160
It was just an instrument of war then.
882
01:22:39,320 --> 01:22:43,040
(Tony Pickering) I don't know why
human nature is such
883
01:22:43,120 --> 01:22:46,440
that we have to fight each other
and destroy each other.
884
01:22:50,240 --> 01:22:53,400
Well, it was something
which I was asked to do.
885
01:22:54,480 --> 01:22:56,880
And I did.
886
01:23:00,520 --> 01:23:02,240
But life's very strange.
887
01:23:02,320 --> 01:23:07,760
One gets tested and checked
and things like that.
888
01:23:11,760 --> 01:23:17,440
You've got to try and live a life where
you try and not upset other people.
889
01:23:24,880 --> 01:23:28,480
I don't know whether
it's a good thing or a bad thing,
890
01:23:28,560 --> 01:23:32,720
but I don't know
whether we should forget it.
891
01:23:33,240 --> 01:23:36,800
But we've got to always remember
those who didn't come back.
892
01:23:37,120 --> 01:23:39,240
You've always got to remember them.
893
01:23:51,200 --> 01:23:54,040
(Paul Farnes) At the time,
one didn't think anything of it at all.
894
01:23:56,760 --> 01:23:59,240
I'm very proud to have taken part in it.
895
01:24:02,040 --> 01:24:04,920
I think all those who took part are.
896
01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:11,800
I think the chaps who are still alive,
I think they have a certain pride in it.
897
01:24:13,360 --> 01:24:16,000
There aren't many of us left alive,
you know.
898
01:24:17,440 --> 01:24:19,520
I'm not getting any younger.
899
01:24:20,880 --> 01:24:25,400
I suppose in another five years,
I doubt if there'll be any of us.
900
01:24:34,240 --> 01:24:36,680
(Ken Wilkinson) It never goes away.
901
01:24:37,160 --> 01:24:42,120
It never goes away,
this threat of warfare.
902
01:24:43,200 --> 01:24:46,520
The generation before us
had been through a war.
903
01:24:47,480 --> 01:24:51,280
The generations after us
have been through wars.
904
01:24:52,760 --> 01:24:55,120
In all conscience,
905
01:24:55,200 --> 01:25:01,000
the world needs a change
from all this hostility and warfare.
906
01:25:01,840 --> 01:25:04,480
The world needs a change.
907
01:25:15,520 --> 01:25:17,240
(Geoffrey Wellum) It's not about medals.
908
01:25:19,800 --> 01:25:22,120
It's not about who shot down what.
909
01:25:22,680 --> 01:25:24,800
It's not about the thank yous.
910
01:25:25,680 --> 01:25:27,440
But it is nice to be remembered
911
01:25:27,520 --> 01:25:31,200
because being remembered
covers everybody
912
01:25:31,280 --> 01:25:36,200
who served, flew and fought in the war.
913
01:26:01,440 --> 01:26:06,520
(new speaker) She's original,
98 percent of her.
914
01:26:06,600 --> 01:26:12,040
All the skin panels and all
the inner parts, they are original 1944.
915
01:26:12,800 --> 01:26:15,400
The reason for it is that
she never saw combat.
916
01:26:17,560 --> 01:26:22,160
She was actually delivered
from the factory by Mary Ellis
917
01:26:22,240 --> 01:26:26,280
who was one of these ATA girls,
the Air Transport Auxiliaries.
918
01:26:27,200 --> 01:26:30,160
Mary Ellis was a slip of a girl,
but I know
919
01:26:30,240 --> 01:26:37,720
that she flew 1,000 aircraft during
the war, of which 400 were Spitfires.
920
01:26:37,800 --> 01:26:42,080
And for some reason,
she decided, on a whim,
921
01:26:42,160 --> 01:26:46,640
to sign her name
on this aeroplane in 1944,
922
01:26:47,520 --> 01:26:50,400
which was then Mary Wilkins.
923
01:26:50,480 --> 01:26:54,040
And you can still see the signature,
very faded,
924
01:26:54,120 --> 01:26:58,800
"Mary Wilkins, ATA
for Air Transport Auxiliary".
925
01:26:58,880 --> 01:27:01,680
But the most wonderful thing
is that she is still alive
926
01:27:01,760 --> 01:27:06,800
and she's going to be 100
in two or three months' time.
927
01:27:17,840 --> 01:27:24,880
(Mary Ellis) This wonderful Spitfire
that I flew in 1944
928
01:27:24,960 --> 01:27:31,280
on a delivery flight from the factory
is coming in this afternoon.
929
01:27:31,360 --> 01:27:33,080
I can't wait. (laughs)
930
01:27:46,720 --> 01:27:47,720
Here he is.
931
01:27:49,440 --> 01:27:52,480
Wow! (laughs)
932
01:27:54,480 --> 01:27:56,360
Oh, how lovely.
933
01:27:57,640 --> 01:27:59,080
How very super.
934
01:27:59,160 --> 01:28:00,640
(laughs)
935
01:28:04,200 --> 01:28:09,640
It seems so small now,
doesn't it, the Spitfire?
936
01:28:15,320 --> 01:28:16,760
(laughs)
937
01:28:20,200 --> 01:28:21,200
Fantastic.
938
01:28:27,680 --> 01:28:30,000
- Oh, so great!
- Dear Mary.
939
01:28:30,080 --> 01:28:34,160
- (Mary Ellis) It is so great.
- So good to see you.
940
01:28:34,840 --> 01:28:37,080
- How are you?
- I'm very well, thank you.
941
01:28:37,160 --> 01:28:40,120
- Always excited about this one?
- Yes, of course.
942
01:28:40,200 --> 01:28:43,680
I flew about 1,000 aeroplanes
during the war.
943
01:28:43,760 --> 01:28:47,600
- Yes.
- That's the only one I signed.
944
01:28:47,960 --> 01:28:49,600
- The only one.
- That's magical.
945
01:28:49,680 --> 01:28:51,280
It's fabulous.
946
01:28:51,360 --> 01:28:56,200
And what came over you,
that you decided to sign this one?
947
01:28:56,560 --> 01:29:00,520
- I suppose it was a romantic mood.
- (both laugh)
948
01:29:02,080 --> 01:29:08,520
Thinking that some handsome RAF chap
might be fighting, you know,
949
01:29:08,600 --> 01:29:11,960
and suddenly see my name and contact me.
950
01:29:12,040 --> 01:29:13,920
- And look you up.
- It never happened.
951
01:29:14,000 --> 01:29:16,240
- It never happened?
- (Mary Ellis) No, until now.
952
01:29:16,320 --> 01:29:17,680
(both laugh)
953
01:29:17,760 --> 01:29:20,920
Don't tell your wife I said that.
(laughs)
954
01:29:21,000 --> 01:29:24,240
I won't.
This is between us and all the cameras.
955
01:29:24,320 --> 01:29:25,840
- Yes.
- Yes.
956
01:29:25,920 --> 01:29:29,800
Would you mind stepping inside again
957
01:29:29,880 --> 01:29:33,160
and signing the aeroplane again
for this day?
958
01:29:39,000 --> 01:29:40,920
- (Mary Ellis) Is that all right?
- That's right.
959
01:29:41,000 --> 01:29:46,880
Thank you for allowing me
to write on your aeroplane. (laughs)
960
01:29:46,960 --> 01:29:48,880
Delighted and honoured.
961
01:29:55,800 --> 01:29:58,920
(Maxi Gainza) When I was a child,
I read about Spitfires
962
01:29:59,000 --> 01:30:00,520
and the Battle of Britain.
963
01:30:02,120 --> 01:30:04,800
This aeroplane stands for so much.
964
01:30:04,880 --> 01:30:06,760
Grace and gallantry.
965
01:30:16,400 --> 01:30:18,560
She's a symbol of freedom.
966
01:30:21,200 --> 01:30:24,160
Here he comes. Here he is.
967
01:32:37,440 --> 01:32:39,760
Subtitles: BTI Studios
84055
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.