0:00:03 > 0:00:06This is going to be big.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Really, really big.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17It's about the plane that won the war...
0:00:17 > 0:00:20After you had flown in it, you had faith in it.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24It's about men who flew into the darkness...
0:00:24 > 0:00:25We were just schoolboys.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27..and rained down fire.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36Above all, it's about the thousands who gave their lives flying in it...
0:00:36 > 0:00:39You didn't see dead bodies, you just saw empty beds.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43..and the people they were prepared to die for.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46I often wish I could go back in time
0:00:46 > 0:00:48just to see him once more.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51And Dad.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55This is not a love-letter.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57It's not as simple as that.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59But it is a tribute.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01To a hell raiser...
0:01:01 > 0:01:05a life-saver...
0:01:05 > 0:01:06a dambuster...
0:01:09 > 0:01:13..and the most Magnificent Seven Britain has ever had.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19This is the Lancaster.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42'I've come to Lincolnshire to see one of my boyhood heroes.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47'A British heavyweight champion of the skies.'
0:01:49 > 0:01:53'As a child, I would have given anything to see it up close.'
0:01:54 > 0:01:59'But as I get nearer to it now, I feel almost apprehensive.'
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Deep breath.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Here we go.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11There it is.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13The Lancaster.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17It really takes your breath away.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25156,000 times, Lancaster bombers like this one
0:02:25 > 0:02:27flew into occupied Europe
0:02:27 > 0:02:30to break the Nazi's stranglehold on the continent.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36From 1942 to the bitter end,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40more than half a million tonnes of Lancaster bombs
0:02:40 > 0:02:46kept tens of thousands of German troops and pilots tied up at home.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49While the Russians advanced from the East,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51D-Day was being planned in the West.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58But nearly half of the crews who took part in these raids
0:02:58 > 0:03:00never came home.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Over 20,000 young men paid for the Lancaster's success
0:03:04 > 0:03:06with their lives.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18Lancaster crews led raid after raid on Germany's industrial heartland.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Railways, factories, shipyards and dams were targeted.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25And Germany's great cities were destroyed.
0:03:25 > 0:03:31It was brutal, hard to stomach and incredibly effective.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41After the war, in a letter to the people who built the plane,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Marshal of the RAF, Sir Arthur Harris, said,
0:03:44 > 0:03:49"This aircraft was the greatest single factor in winning the war."
0:03:51 > 0:03:53But the origins of the plane
0:03:53 > 0:03:57gave no indication of how important it would become.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Strangely, this one-in-a-million aircraft
0:04:00 > 0:04:03started life as an entirely different plane.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07A two-engine bomber called the Avro Manchester.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10But there was one problem with the Manc.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13It was absolutely useless.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19The MoD were so unimpressed they considered scrapping it entirely.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23But Avro's chief engineer, Roy Chadwick,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27wasn't going to let his new bomber go down without a fight.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32He argued that the Manchester should be upgraded, not scrapped.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35The solution, just make it bigger.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40It needed longer wings, a new tail unit
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and four mighty Merlin engines.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Then there was the vast bomb bay,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53stretching two thirds of the length of the aircraft.
0:04:55 > 0:04:56By the end of the war,
0:04:56 > 0:05:01this 33-foot long cavern would carry the Grand Slam.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04A ten-ton bomb.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07No other bomber came close.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The new aircraft needed a new name.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The Manchester became the Lancaster.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'And here's a sight become increasingly routine.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33'A Lancaster leaving the sheds for its test flight.'
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Now we're going back to the 1940s, to a time in Britain
0:05:38 > 0:05:42when hundreds of Lancaster bombers flying past gave hope.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44At last, we could hit back.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50We're going to meet the people who built them, cherished them,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52even found love through them.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02We'll be going wing-tip to wing-tip
0:06:02 > 0:06:07with Britain's very last flying Lancaster bomber.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Captain Roger Nichols will have the pleasure of flying the old Lanc,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21while I will get to see the plane in all its glory alongside,
0:06:21 > 0:06:26with my old friend and ace pilot, Bill Giles.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35A top speed of over 300mph, it could fly at 24,500 feet
0:06:35 > 0:06:38and had a range of over 2,500 miles.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41It was the best bomber of the Second World War.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46Watching it take off now, and what a great moment.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57Just seeing this big plane lift off as if it's just a bird in the sky.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04You can just see it now in the corner. It's banking.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07It's going just a little bit slower than we are.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10But we're still going to have to catch her up.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19That's terrific. We are now about 100 yards from the Lancaster.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21We're in formation flying
0:07:21 > 0:07:26with, I have to say, the most beautiful aircraft I've ever seen.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35It looks beautiful, but also, when you get closer
0:07:35 > 0:07:38and you can see the machine guns, it looks rather sinister.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43It's that combination of style, beauty
0:07:43 > 0:07:47and also "I'm going to get you! You're in trouble if you see this!"
0:07:47 > 0:07:50You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end, would you?
0:07:50 > 0:07:53ENGINE ROARS
0:07:53 > 0:07:56This is the sound of my childhood dream, really.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00These big engines coming over our village in Oxfordshire
0:08:00 > 0:08:03and you thought, "That's life, that's excitement. If only I could be part of it."
0:08:03 > 0:08:07And here I am - years later - and I am part of it.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10MUSIC: "Nimrod" from Enigma Variations by Elgar
0:08:12 > 0:08:15The Lancaster is now right underneath us.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Now, that's not what you'd expect to see.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22This great big plane as if it's a little model aircraft
0:08:22 > 0:08:24with a patchwork of England underneath.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27This was a dangerous position for the Lancaster
0:08:27 > 0:08:32because they were often hit by the bombs falling on them from above.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34You could be hit by friendly fire.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42The average age of a Lancaster crewmember was just 22.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47Life expectancy for a new recruit was just two weeks -
0:08:47 > 0:08:51about the same as in the trenches during the First World War.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56To try to understand what it was like to fly in Lancasters,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00we've gathered together an extraordinary group of men.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03They are the secret of the plane's success.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The seven men it took to fly it.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10This is a very special moment.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16Our very own 2014 World War II Lancaster bomber crew.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Each man carried out one of the seven essential roles on a Lancaster.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Pilot Rusty Waughman,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25navigator Paul Bland,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27bomb aimer John Bell,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30flight engineer Frank Tilley,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32wireless operator John De Hoop,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35mid gunner Harry Irons
0:09:35 > 0:09:39and the man in the tail, rear gunner Dave Fellowes.
0:09:39 > 0:09:45These seven men flew hundreds of sorties into enemy territory,
0:09:45 > 0:09:50and nearly 70 years later are still here to tell me all about it.
0:09:50 > 0:09:51Good afternoon, gentlemen.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54- Ah, hello, sir. - I'm very pleased to see you.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58I've met a few special people over the years, but I'm not sure
0:09:58 > 0:10:02any one of them has made me feel quite like I do right now.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05- Now, you're the pilot, aren't you? - That's right. The pilot, yes.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10- So it's your job to tell me about all the crew.- Oh, God.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12A lot of the pilots didn't know left from right, did they?
0:10:12 > 0:10:14THEY LAUGH
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Rusty and the rest of our crew never flew together in the 1940s.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23But, back then, finding out who you were going to fly with
0:10:23 > 0:10:25was a bit of a lottery.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30You've got the pilots, the navigator, the bomb aimer, wireless operator.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31Put them all in a big room
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and said, "Sort yourself out into crews."
0:10:34 > 0:10:36And how did that work, though?
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Because you wouldn't know each other.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Nope, no idea. No idea at all.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43In my case, I was lucky.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47I got on the train at Crewe to go to Stafford.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52In walked three Australian flight sergeant pilots. We got chatting.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56And one of them, who came from Sydney, his mother knew my aunt.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00So he said to me, "Well, come on, we have something in common.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02"Come fly with me." And I did.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05So the whole thing was by chance?
0:11:05 > 0:11:09- Sheer chance, yes.- And then you acted as a family. The seven of you.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11You bonded. You bonded together.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15And you knew exactly what each other was going to say and what he was going to do.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17- You depended on each other. - Absolutely.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20That's the thing that bonded you together.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23I can honestly say, though, that we were convinced we were going to survive.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Everybody probably went out on an operation with that thought in mind.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31- Some were unlucky.- If you didn't have luck, you never had a chance.
0:11:31 > 0:11:32No.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36'They make light of it now, but each one of these men were putting
0:11:36 > 0:11:41'their lives on the line every time they stepped on board a Lancaster.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45'And the loneliest job of all, the rear gunner.'
0:11:45 > 0:11:49- So this is where you'd be? - Yes, this was my office!
0:11:49 > 0:11:50This is where I used to sit
0:11:50 > 0:11:53for anything up to perhaps ten hours at a time.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56But did you feel very isolated? You're right at the back.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Well, I preferred it that way.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02It was my choice. It was cosy!
0:12:02 > 0:12:06- Until the anti-aircraft fire came. - Well... It was part of the job.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10'Even in their 90s, these men are clearly tough.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14'The gunners in particular haven't lost the self-confidence that
0:12:14 > 0:12:18'allowed them to carry out their dangerous mission in such
0:12:18 > 0:12:23'an exposed position. But ultimately the Lancaster crew had one goal.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28'To drop bombs. And that responsibility fell to John Bell.'
0:12:31 > 0:12:33- Is this where you are? - Yes, that's my office.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35The front of the plane.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37You're looking... Do you look through this thing?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I'm looking through that piece of Perspex there, yes.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44- The bomb site is within that. - Is this a hard job?
0:12:44 > 0:12:47- What do the rest of you think? - No, easy job.- Really?
0:12:47 > 0:12:50He just lay there and went to sleep and just pressed the tip.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53- I bet that's not what you think! - No, it's not what I think, no.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00'Our veteran Lancaster crew give us an incredible insight
0:13:00 > 0:13:05'into life inside this extraordinary weapon during the war.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08'And I could listen to my new friends' stories all day.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12'But I wouldn't be doing the Lancaster justice
0:13:12 > 0:13:15'if I didn't try and learn a little bit more
0:13:15 > 0:13:18'about some of the boys who never came home.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22'And that means going East, into Germany.'
0:13:22 > 0:13:23What's the actual plan?
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Right, well, we're going to be starting off in Kent here.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29And then we'll follow this line up through into the Netherlands
0:13:29 > 0:13:31and then our final destination
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- is here.- Right up there?- Yeah.- OK.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38'Unfortunately, I can't bring the old Lancaster with me on this trip.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41'Its raids into Germany are long over, thank goodness.'
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Right. We're off then. You'd better keep them,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48cos it's important that you know where we're going.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52'So, it's time to climb back on board Bill's six-seater for what
0:13:52 > 0:13:57'might just be the most romantic chapter of my Lancaster adventure.'
0:13:57 > 0:13:59We're off!
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Clear prop!
0:14:15 > 0:14:16Off up into the clouds,
0:14:16 > 0:14:22following the vapour trails of the historic Lancasters.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25It's the stuff of my childhood dreams.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27And it's not half bad as an adult.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31But before we leave British shores, I want to learn
0:14:31 > 0:14:35more about the people who built these incredible aircraft.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39'The Lancasters are being built in several factories in Britain and Canada.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43'The RAF has depended on them for Lancasters, more Lancasters
0:14:43 > 0:14:45'and yet more Lancasters.'
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Today in Yeadon, there's not much evidence of the wartime factory
0:14:49 > 0:14:54that employed thousands of men and women from all over the north.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55But if you look closely,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59there are still clues to the old Lancaster plant.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04# There'll be bluebirds over
0:15:04 > 0:15:09# The White Cliffs of Dover
0:15:09 > 0:15:12# Tomorrow
0:15:12 > 0:15:15# Just you wait and see. #
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Back then, the factory was camouflaged.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25It's said they put fake cows on the green roof
0:15:25 > 0:15:28to make it look like a farmer's field.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32To confuse German aerial reconnaissance,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37a sloped roof was built so no shadow would fall around the building.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Inside, hundreds of people were putting the finishing touches
0:15:42 > 0:15:47to the aircraft they hoped would swing the war in Britain's favour.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Kathleen Rockliff was just 20-years-old
0:15:52 > 0:15:55when she started work at Yeadon.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59# There'll be bluebirds over
0:15:59 > 0:16:02# The White Cliffs of Dover
0:16:02 > 0:16:04# Tomorrow
0:16:04 > 0:16:06# Just you wait and see. #
0:16:06 > 0:16:08SHE CHUCKLES Good Lord!
0:16:08 > 0:16:10'Let's say it again.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12'The finest bomber in the world,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15'built in British factories by British Labour.'
0:16:15 > 0:16:19'Kathleen's job was to inspect the aircrafts' giant bomb bays.'
0:16:19 > 0:16:24It was absolutely damned unbelievable, to be honest.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Because the thing, it was so big.
0:16:26 > 0:16:32And I think at first I was overawed with it all.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35And I felt quite hopeless at the start
0:16:35 > 0:16:38because I was never a worldly girl, you know what I mean?
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Brought up to just sort of just do fairly quiet stuff.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44'Meet a few of the ordinary hard-working people
0:16:44 > 0:16:46'devoted to this important task.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49'Angela Roberts, a capstan operator.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53'Maisie Rafferty at a press.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55'Little Billy, drilling.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57'Let there be no doubt or argument about it,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00'the skill and application of the workers in the aircraft factories
0:17:00 > 0:17:04'is a great source of strength in our progress towards victory.'
0:17:04 > 0:17:07We had these huge torches
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and then you had to look around everything there was,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15all the things that were screwed on to the bomb bay that had to be there.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18You know, numbers, figures, bits of appliances.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23We had to learn what was done correctly and what wasn't.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32I just sometimes think when I look at it in the sky,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36well, you never know, just maybe, just maybe,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38I might have been in there.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Just in that bit.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44And it might have been one of the ones that I had worked on.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47You see, at the time, you don't feel it as much.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Because you're busy working.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52But then, as you get older,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and time goes on,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57you realise that
0:17:57 > 0:18:01everything certainly did matter. You know?
0:18:03 > 0:18:07The war had been going on for two and a half years before
0:18:07 > 0:18:10the first Lancaster bombers came into service.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12By then, our cities had been blitzed,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Hitler held sway over most of continental Europe,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20and the Americans had only just come into the war.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23The bald fact was...we were losing.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25'The first part of the war
0:18:25 > 0:18:29'was particularly disappointing for Bomber Command.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35'In 1941, an investigation found that only 30% of bombers
0:18:35 > 0:18:39'who claimed to have landed their bombs accurately
0:18:39 > 0:18:43'were within five miles of their target.'
0:18:43 > 0:18:47The arrival of the Lancaster would signal a major change.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49And, at night, under cover of darkness,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51it would come into its own.
0:18:57 > 0:19:03You searched the skies for something perhaps you didn't want to see.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Your job was to look out for a fighter,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08maybe wanting to make an attack on you.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21The raids were terrible.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29We were very much aware of being shot down.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35You cannot describe the horrendous barrage the Germans put up.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39We saw aircraft being shot down, going down in flames.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43Or being caught in searchlights, not being able to escape.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55A couple of minutes from the target, really, the bomb aimer took over.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Left, left, right. Left, left, right.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02Until you know that the bomb site is directly on the target.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Steady, steady...
0:20:04 > 0:20:06I was on the front of the aeroplane
0:20:06 > 0:20:10looking at the whole of this mass of exploding shells and thinking,
0:20:10 > 0:20:11"How are we going to get through it?"
0:20:14 > 0:20:19I didn't feel very happy when we were on operations,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21but you never say anything to anybody else.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31We'd volunteered for this.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36A lot of people think we were mad, but we knew what we were going into.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53One of the most significant bombing missions of the war took place
0:20:53 > 0:20:56on the night of August 17th, 1943.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01It involved nearly 600 planes, most of them Lancasters.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06The target was a small fishing village on the Baltic coast.
0:21:06 > 0:21:07Its name - Peenemunde.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12The attack came in three waves.
0:21:12 > 0:21:18First in were the pathfinders, whose target flares lit up the scene.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20We arrived and there wasn't much happening
0:21:20 > 0:21:23because I think they thought we were going to Berlin.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27They knew the people on the ground weren't expecting an attack
0:21:27 > 0:21:31on Peenemunde. Surprise was the key.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Scientist Botho Stuwe was in Peenemunde
0:21:35 > 0:21:38as the Lancasters and the rest of the bomber stream approached.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Left, left. Steady.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Right a bit. Steady.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06WHISTLE BLOWS
0:22:06 > 0:22:08EXPLOSIONS
0:22:08 > 0:22:11The raid on Peenemunde followed a similar pattern
0:22:11 > 0:22:13to many other Lancaster sorties.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17It was ambitious, daring, and ultimately successful,
0:22:17 > 0:22:22but as ever, it came with a very high price for the crews involved.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30There was more to this obscure German outpost than met the eye.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33This small fishing village held a dark secret.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Peenemunde was the home of the Germans' secret missile programme,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46the birthplace of the astonishing V1 and V2 rockets which
0:22:46 > 0:22:48terrorised the British mainland.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53By destroying it, the entire course of the war could be altered.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57And there ahead of us is Peenemunde.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00I've known that name since I was a kid.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Right, and now we can see right down there,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05in front of that main building,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08there is a V2 rocket now.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10This was an amazingly important site.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Peenemunde is a remarkable place.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Everywhere I look, another ghostly reminder of the war.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23This abandoned Nazi barracks
0:23:23 > 0:23:26was built for the thousands of soldiers and scientists
0:23:26 > 0:23:29stationed here during the '30s and '40s.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34It had every possible convenience -
0:23:34 > 0:23:37even a theatre to entertain the troops.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41I've got the official plan of the Lancaster attack,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Dated "4th July, 1943."
0:23:45 > 0:23:49"Description - the target is the experimental rocket projectile
0:23:49 > 0:23:52"establishment at Peenemunde.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55"The whole complex includes experimental station,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59"assembly plant, living quarters, etc, as follows.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03"Power plant situated to the west of the complex."
0:24:05 > 0:24:10I can honestly say I have never seen anything quite like this.
0:24:10 > 0:24:1350 years behind the Iron Curtain
0:24:13 > 0:24:17seems to have preserved this building perfectly.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20It's now part of an excellent museum.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24What an amazing place, isn't it?
0:24:24 > 0:24:29'It's still quite frightening but also thrilling.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34'Historian Nick Jackson is an expert on wartime Germany.'
0:24:34 > 0:24:36This is the prime target.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38This is exactly what Bomber Command were looking for.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40And this is the power station.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Exactly. It's from here that the entire power supply
0:24:43 > 0:24:46for the whole missile development complex originates.
0:24:46 > 0:24:47And it's so Germanic, isn't it?
0:24:47 > 0:24:51These are people who are very confident.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53This is not like a factory in the North of England,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56this is not a British Victorian factory,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59it's the "We're going to do this,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02"we are going to be the biggest and the best in the world."
0:25:05 > 0:25:07There's a sort of James Bond element, isn't there?
0:25:07 > 0:25:09There is, the evil empire.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Hmm. "We are going to run the world from this secret factory."
0:25:12 > 0:25:14There's a bit of that too.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17You have to remember, there would have been another huge boiler complex
0:25:17 > 0:25:19sitting on these foundations here.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22- What, so this would have been over this great big pit?- That's right.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26I can imagine Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe,
0:25:26 > 0:25:28great, big man, standing here,
0:25:28 > 0:25:33just thinking, "We've got this right. We'll win the war with this."
0:25:34 > 0:25:38But Goering and his Luftwaffe didn't win the war
0:25:38 > 0:25:42and the raid on Peenemunde proved a vital step
0:25:42 > 0:25:44on the road to Allied victory.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Bomber Command's plan of attack
0:25:46 > 0:25:51reveals how much intelligence had been gathered in advance of the raid
0:25:51 > 0:25:56and lays out in stark terms what the real target was.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59The most chilling bit comes at the end.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02"The living and sleeping quarters,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05"with the object of killing or incapacitating
0:26:05 > 0:26:10"as many of the scientific and technical personnel as possible."
0:26:12 > 0:26:16So, from up here, John, you can see how enormous the complex is.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21It actually started over there in 1936
0:26:21 > 0:26:26and a huge wave of over 7,000 technicians and staff and soldiers
0:26:26 > 0:26:29pour into the peninsula and create this enormous complex.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Over here there was the airport and the V1 testing areas,
0:26:33 > 0:26:38further to the right the main missile launch areas and engine test stands,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41a huge settlement complex lying along the Baltic coast
0:26:41 > 0:26:43for the staff themselves, and then of course, here,
0:26:43 > 0:26:45the port for the delivery of coal
0:26:45 > 0:26:48for the power station that we're standing on now,
0:26:48 > 0:26:49so absolutely enormous.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52So on 17th August, the night of 17th August,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56the bombers in their hundreds are coming right across here.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59That must have been frightening for those people here.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00Can you imagine the sound?
0:27:00 > 0:27:03And that number of bombers, you would have been able to feel them.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05ENGINES DRONE
0:27:05 > 0:27:08This raid was the first to use a master bomber,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10who co-ordinated the attack from the air.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13One by one, key sites were obliterated.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19But the greatest loss of life was not among German scientists
0:27:19 > 0:27:20or technical staff.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25So most of the people who were killed in the Lancaster raid
0:27:25 > 0:27:28- were prisoners.- That's right, kept in flimsy wooden barracks,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32guarded and surrounded by barbed wire. For them, there was no escape.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35And these barracks, these are some of them that remain from that time.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36Some still survive.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40And there were concentration camp victims too, brought here.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43There were many, in total around 1,500,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46some from concentration camps, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49others from Poland, the majority,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Dutch, French, Russian prisoners of war.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56And the irony was that they would have thought that the British force
0:27:56 > 0:27:59would have been on their side or would have been their allies,
0:27:59 > 0:28:03but in that awful modern phrase, they were caught in friendly fire.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05- I'm afraid so.- Yeah.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08The loss of life was not all on the ground.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Inevitably, many of the bomber boys paid the ultimate price.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16By the time the third wave of bombers reached Peenemunde,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19the German response was well under way.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Hundreds of Messerschmitt 110s arrived
0:28:22 > 0:28:25with their new twin upward-firing cannons.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29All they had to do was fly straight and level underneath you
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and just give you a little squirt in the petrol tank, up you went.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39In total, Bomber Command lost 40 aircraft that night.
0:28:39 > 0:28:4123 were Lancasters.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Not one was recovered.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47243 aircrew lost their lives.
0:28:47 > 0:28:4945 were captured.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52180 Germans were killed.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57Between 500 and 600 Polish workers died.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02The raid set back Hitler's missile programme
0:29:02 > 0:29:04by between three and six months.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10The V1 and V2 rockets still went on to cause devastation
0:29:10 > 0:29:13on the British mainland, but the delay was critical.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18President Eisenhower said, "If the Germans had succeeded
0:29:18 > 0:29:23"in perfecting and using these new weapons earlier,
0:29:23 > 0:29:27"our invasion of Europe would have proved exceedingly difficult,
0:29:27 > 0:29:29"perhaps impossible."
0:29:33 > 0:29:36It was a landmark moment for the Lancaster,
0:29:36 > 0:29:38a brilliantly co-ordinated,
0:29:38 > 0:29:42daring raid which took the enemy completely by surprise.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46It meant from now on, nowhere in Germany would be safe.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49It should have made heroes of Bomber Command.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53But in wartime, nothing is as simple as that.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57The Lancaster was instrumental in all major bombing raids
0:29:57 > 0:30:00from 1942 until the end of the war.
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Most, like Peenemunde, were successful, even celebrated -
0:30:06 > 0:30:08most, but certainly but not all.
0:30:08 > 0:30:14On the 14th of February 1945, three months before VE Day,
0:30:14 > 0:30:19Allied aircraft destroyed the East German city of Dresden.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27800 RAF bombers, mostly Lancasters,
0:30:27 > 0:30:32pummelled the city with high explosives and incendiaries.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36Around 20,000 civilians were killed.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41The bombers faced little in the way of resistance.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44And the total destruction of Dresden was completed
0:30:44 > 0:30:49when over 300 American bombers struck the following day.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53It caused international outrage.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57But many of those from Bomber Command still believe
0:30:57 > 0:30:59Dresden was a legitimate target.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07The war wasn't over until the German generals signed the treaty.
0:31:07 > 0:31:13People were still being killed. V2s were still being fired into London.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18Winston Churchill had urged Bomber Command to attack East German cities
0:31:18 > 0:31:22but he tried to disassociate himself from this raid.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26What he done to us was terrible, Churchill, what he done.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31He completely ignored us, and it was him that told us to go.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35The Dresden attack still divides opinion.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39I agree with Churchill. It was unnecessary.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43After all this sacrifice,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46the courage of the men and women of Bomber Command
0:31:46 > 0:31:49still went unheralded after the war.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54Eventually, nearly 70 years later, a fitting memorial was erected,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58right in the heart of the capital they helped to save.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03But even then, they had to raise most of the money themselves
0:32:03 > 0:32:05for it to be built.
0:32:05 > 0:32:06APPLAUSE
0:32:06 > 0:32:10Whatever they got, the bomber boys never got it easy.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16Dresden didn't signal the end of the Lancaster's war.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22In April 1945, the versatile bomber took on a humanitarian role,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26dropping food packages to the starving people of northern Holland.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30We all sailed in, 500 feet, lovely,
0:32:30 > 0:32:35dropped our food, and there was the Dutch, waving to us.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37CHEERING
0:32:43 > 0:32:45During Operation Exodus,
0:32:45 > 0:32:50the Lanc became synonymous with victory and escape.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55Thousands of POWs found their way home thanks to the big heavy.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Ten years after the war, the Lancaster crews found themselves
0:33:02 > 0:33:06thrust into the limelight in a somewhat surprising way.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11A film about the exploits of 617 Squadron,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15bombing the great German dams in the Ruhr Valley,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19made Hollywood heroes of a scientist called Barnes Wallace
0:33:19 > 0:33:24and a remarkable group of men - the Dam Busters.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26MUSIC: "Dam Busters March"
0:33:29 > 0:33:34On the 16th of May 1943, even those closest to the plan
0:33:34 > 0:33:39had no idea how Operation Chastise would transform their lives.
0:33:40 > 0:33:4419 bombers were used on the raid. All were Lancasters.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48133 airmen took part.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Flight Sergeant George "Johnny" Johnson was a bomb aimer.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55His target was the Sorpe Dam.
0:33:55 > 0:34:00Today he is Britain's last surviving Dam Buster.
0:34:00 > 0:34:06So after the briefing, into the mess for the good old operational meal,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09egg and bacon, which was regular,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11then eventually out to the aircraft.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16Lancaster pilot Stevie Stevens,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19part of 57 Squadron, also based at Scampton,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23remembers watching the Dam Busters prepare for take-off.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Certainly I had noticed the difference in armoury
0:34:27 > 0:34:30on these aircraft because they had
0:34:30 > 0:34:34these curious things like large dustbins mounted laterally.
0:34:35 > 0:34:4021-year-old Maureen Miller was one of the first female radio operators
0:34:40 > 0:34:43of the war. She was on duty
0:34:43 > 0:34:48the day Johnny and the rest of 617 Squadron prepared for their mission.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50There was an awful lot of secrecy
0:34:50 > 0:34:55surrounding the airfield that particular day.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Of course, nobody really knew the reason why.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10As each plane took off,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14the pilot's name, the letter of the aircraft
0:35:14 > 0:35:18and the time of take-off was put up on a board.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21And that would remain, of course, until they came back.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26My perception was, well,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28they'd taken off, good luck, chaps,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31and I hope get back safely. And that was it.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Eventually, we found the Sorpe.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37Barnes Wallis had estimated that
0:35:37 > 0:35:40it would take at least six bombs to crack that dam.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42"If you can crack it," he said,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45"the water pressure will do the rest."
0:35:45 > 0:35:49My real feelings at that stage were concentration on the job that
0:35:49 > 0:35:52I had got to do and making sure that I got that
0:35:52 > 0:35:57bomb as near as I possibly could to the target.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59If I wasn't satisfied,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01I'd call "Dummy run."
0:36:01 > 0:36:04And, after the sixth or seventh dummy run,
0:36:04 > 0:36:05a voice from the rear turret,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08"Won't somebody get that bomb out of here?"
0:36:08 > 0:36:12On the 10th run, we were down to 30 feet
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and when I said, "Bomb, bomb,"
0:36:15 > 0:36:17"Thank Christ!" came from the rear turret.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24I didn't see the explosion. Dave did, in the rear turret.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29And he estimated that the tower of water went up to about 1,000 feet.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31And when we circled, we found that
0:36:31 > 0:36:33we had just crumbled the top of the dam.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36And so we set course for home from there.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38And, I suppose,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40the most satisfying part of that trip
0:36:40 > 0:36:45was that our course home took us over what had been the Mohne,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48by which time, it had been breached.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52There was water everywhere. It was just like an inland sea.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54And it was still coming out of the dam.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56And so we had the satisfaction
0:36:56 > 0:37:00of seeing something had really been achieved.
0:37:01 > 0:37:02I think the Dambusters came back
0:37:02 > 0:37:05in the early hours, perhaps four-ish.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08When they returned, it was lovely to hear their voices.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11I think they were extremely glad to hear ours.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16Nearly half the Lancs that took part in the raid were destroyed
0:37:16 > 0:37:20and 53 of the airmen involved were killed.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25Mary Wallis was at boarding school
0:37:25 > 0:37:29when news of the famous raid reached her.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Mary and her father Barnes Wallis had
0:37:31 > 0:37:36tested his theory of bouncing bombs using marbles.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38She was so excited,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40she wrote to him immediately.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Today, Britain's last Dambuster and I
0:37:44 > 0:37:48'are privileged to hear what she wrote.'
0:37:48 > 0:37:50I wrote him the most excited letter
0:37:50 > 0:37:52I think I must ever have written in my life
0:37:52 > 0:37:55on 20th May, 1943.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58"My darling Daddy,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00"Hooray, hooray, hooray!
0:38:00 > 0:38:03"Wonderful marbles, up the marbles!
0:38:03 > 0:38:04"Cheers, cheers, cheers.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06"Oh, well done, Daddy.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09"I've been bouncing around and leaping up and downstairs
0:38:09 > 0:38:12"and beaming at all the staff and hugging all my little friends
0:38:12 > 0:38:15"with exuberance ever since I got Mummy's card
0:38:15 > 0:38:17"proclaiming the great news.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20"Everybody thinks I'm a bit potty because I am so pleased,
0:38:20 > 0:38:21"but won't say why.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24"But I sincerely hope that you will have a little bit of rest
0:38:24 > 0:38:28"now and then and the dear people will stop bothering you.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31"I am overflowing with excitement and admiration.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33"Excuse the paper, no more to hand.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37"With very much love, congratulations and pride, Wiggy.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41"PS, a special congratulations."
0:38:41 > 0:38:45- What a lovely letter.- Wonderful. - And he kept that.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48He must have been proud of you as well as you being proud of him.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50I think he was probably pleased, yes.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55But it's an extraordinary example of how you at that stage were
0:38:55 > 0:38:58right in on it, weren't you? You knew all about what was happening.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00Oh, I knew what was happening.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04But was he secretive? This was a top-secret mission.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07- No, he was never secretive. - Really?- No, indeed not.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09He never told us, "Don't tell.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12"You mustn't say anything about that."
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Because the minute that you say that to a young person or indeed to
0:39:16 > 0:39:19some rather older people, they immediately tell their
0:39:19 > 0:39:22best friends over a pint in the pub or in the dormitory.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26And what did he think about the raid? What did he say about that?
0:39:26 > 0:39:31Well, of course, he was proud, glad, grateful to the Lord.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33He was always grateful to the Lord.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36He never took much praise for himself.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43But, what shattered him and really bit into his soul
0:39:43 > 0:39:47was the loss of life, which he never got over. Never.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50- He said, "I've killed all those young men."- Yes, he did.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54And I understand that he cried, actually in the briefing room.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58And although Gibson tried to allay it a little,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00by explaining that
0:40:00 > 0:40:02"Without you, that raid could never have taken place.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05"We would never have had that success that we've had this night."
0:40:05 > 0:40:08And, whenever we took off on any of those raids,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11we knew there was always a chance that we wouldn't come back.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15It was no different on this raid from any other.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17I don't think that consoled him.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21But I think it may have just taken the edge off it a little bit.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24- To you, he was always a great man. - Yes.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29- Always.- And that was the feeling of the squadron generally.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34- He was extremely popular with the squadron...- That meant a lot to him.
0:40:34 > 0:40:35It really did.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37It was the sort of thing which...
0:40:37 > 0:40:40They found that he had done something for them,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43which they couldn't possibly have done without him.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46He'd really made a difference to their work.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52The Dambusters' story became one of the best-known of the war.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55But there was another story developing on the night
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Johnny and his fellow Dambusters returned from Germany.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03And this one, too, has a very Hollywood ending.
0:41:03 > 0:41:09At RAF Scampton, Lancaster pilot Steve Stevens had begun to take
0:41:09 > 0:41:14a more than professional interest in one of the ladies on the base.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19The problem was, he had never laid eyes on her.
0:41:19 > 0:41:20- Hello.- Hello, John!
0:41:20 > 0:41:23How very nice to see you!
0:41:23 > 0:41:25- Do come in!- Thank you.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32The call sign of the station was Biddy.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36So I called out, "Hello, Biddy!" and whatever my call sign was.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38"Lounger Easy, over."
0:41:38 > 0:41:41"And she said "Hello, Lounger Easy. Pancake?"
0:41:41 > 0:41:44And that was the first conversation we'd had.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Pancake meant the runway was clear and you could land.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51It was so unusual, because I have never heard a woman's voice
0:41:51 > 0:41:54transmitting before, not even in America.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58So, when I got here, I heard this voice, I thought, "Crikey! A girl!
0:41:58 > 0:42:01"I'll go see what she looks like."
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Well, of course, I went up to flight control, but it was so busy
0:42:04 > 0:42:07and I was a sprog around the place, so I came away again.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12- You were a bit shy, were you? - More than a bit. Terrified!
0:42:12 > 0:42:13Why, what did she look like?
0:42:13 > 0:42:16Well, just like she looks now, really, to me.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19She's a striking blonde, actually.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23That's why she was surrounded by so many men, I suspect.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26And then, 70 years later, you look back on that,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28and what do you think about it?
0:42:28 > 0:42:31- What do you think about the whole thing?- I'm delighted!- Yes.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33'The lady in question was Maureen Miller.
0:42:33 > 0:42:39'But, for the last 70 years, she has been Maureen Stevens.'
0:42:39 > 0:42:41- Hello.- Hello.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Now, I've been talking to Steve and he's been telling me
0:42:44 > 0:42:48- all about the first time that he saw you.- Yes.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50- And he was very impressed.- Yes.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53He thought he would never be able to go out with you.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56- Do you remember that? - I remember him coming in.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00I don't know why he actually came up to the control tower.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02He wanted to see you!
0:43:02 > 0:43:05Yes, I think it was purely curiosity.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09And I remembered, whilst he was talking, I thought,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13"Now, that young man would make a girl a very good husband."
0:43:13 > 0:43:17I honestly never, ever dreamed he would be my husband.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Isn't that extraordinary?
0:43:19 > 0:43:21I don't think I've ever told Stevie that before,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23but it's absolutely true.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26So, at that stage, you did think, "Hmm..."
0:43:26 > 0:43:28That was my secret for years. But, yes.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32And then, I got posted to Scampton,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35just before the Dambusters raid.
0:43:35 > 0:43:41And I went off duty and walked down the road
0:43:41 > 0:43:45and there was Stevie waiting on the path opposite.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49Whether he found out what time I was on duty... I suppose he had.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51He might well have been flying at some time.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54Now, he told me that he'd been waiting there
0:43:54 > 0:43:56- for half an hour for you. - Oh, did he?
0:43:56 > 0:44:00Oh, there you are. You can't wait too long for a good thing, can you?
0:44:00 > 0:44:03But also, if you look at this picture,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06- you look a perfect couple, don't you?- Yes.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09He did have rather lovely dark brown curly hair.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12But I don't think it was even that that attracted me.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15It was the person himself. It was the brave man.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18I thought, "He's doing a very, very wonderful job
0:44:18 > 0:44:20"going to battle every night."
0:44:20 > 0:44:22Probably that was it.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26You start going out in May, but by the end of the year,
0:44:26 > 0:44:28you're married, aren't you?
0:44:28 > 0:44:30Yeah, married on the 4th December 1943.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32That's pretty quick, isn't it?
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Well, I suppose it was, really. Yes.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Did you feel that both of you were serving the country?
0:44:39 > 0:44:42- Absolutely.- And that was vital? - That was absolutely vital.
0:44:42 > 0:44:47It was... In fact, I think it was the war that held us together.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52It's something even now, when I look back after 70 years,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55that, you know, just one of those things.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59- Well, here's the man himself. Hello, Steve.- A cup of tea.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02Could you bring me a coaster, dear, please?
0:45:02 > 0:45:04Of course.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Right, we've got that here.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Stevie.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Bless you, that's lovely.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15- Are you going to sit there, Steve? - Of course, yes.- Right.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18Well...
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Right, that's fine.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22We were talking about how much the war mattered
0:45:22 > 0:45:26in terms of both of you getting together.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28We just had a matter of weeks,
0:45:28 > 0:45:29maybe, if we were lucky.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32It could even be days, of course, really, I suppose.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36Now, Steve told me that you were the first person he kissed.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39He wasn't the first person I kissed, not by a long shot.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42- No, no.- I loved the odd bit of romance. Yes, of course.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- And he was romantic, wasn't he? - He still is.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48And what is the secret, then? What do you think the secret is?
0:45:48 > 0:45:52We keep holding hands! We hold hands when we go out, don't we?
0:45:52 > 0:45:54- Yes, indeed.- We hold hands, we go all over the place.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Because, if we don't hold hands, we'd fall down.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58LAUGHTER
0:45:58 > 0:46:02We have this, I suppose, symbiotic relationship, really.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04We depend totally on each other.
0:46:04 > 0:46:05- And that's terrific.- We still do.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09She's got the brains and the memory and, of course, the hearing.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Not quite sure what I've got!
0:46:12 > 0:46:14- LAUGHTER - 'Who would have thought it?
0:46:14 > 0:46:17'Steve and Maureen, the Lancaster lovers,
0:46:17 > 0:46:20'a perfect love story.'
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Britain's Lancaster generation.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26There are just so many great tales.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29But, at the beginning, I said we must pay tribute
0:46:29 > 0:46:32to those boys who didn't come home.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Men like rear gunner Stan Shaw and his crew.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Stan's daughter, Elaine, now in her 80s,
0:46:41 > 0:46:47remembers her father and his Lancaster, DV202.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51We had some nice times together. Really did.
0:46:51 > 0:46:52They were only boys.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56Two or three of them were only 19, I think.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01I know my dad was the old man of the crew, because he was 31.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03Well, he was 31 when he died.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07And they were very close, I think, all of them.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12Elaine last saw her father at her grandmother's house.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14It was an unexpected visit.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18Stan only had a few short hours before his next raid.
0:47:18 > 0:47:24I often wish, you know, that I could go back in time,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27just to see him once more.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29Impossible.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Absolutely impossible.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36I loved him to bits.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38I still remember what he looked like
0:47:38 > 0:47:41and he'll never change, he'll never get old.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45He'll always be my dad as I saw him last.
0:47:47 > 0:47:48I was proud of him.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52I've always been proud of him, I always will be proud of him.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56But I wish he hadn't have gone.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00Stan Shaw and the crew of DV202
0:48:00 > 0:48:05were just seven from tens of thousands of British service men
0:48:05 > 0:48:08and women recorded as lost without trace
0:48:08 > 0:48:10after the Second World War.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15All are remembered by the memorial at Runnymede.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20DV202's last flight took off from Dunholme Lodge
0:48:20 > 0:48:27in Lincolnshire at 9:40pm on August 17, 1943.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30'They were headed for Peenemunde.'
0:48:30 > 0:48:32Most of the Lancasters that were lost
0:48:32 > 0:48:35went down in the sea or crashed into these woods.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38All of them have disappeared -
0:48:38 > 0:48:41all but one.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46This is Lake Kolpinsee, just a few hundred yards from
0:48:46 > 0:48:48the missile base at Peenemunde.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52During the raid, Botho Stuwe
0:48:52 > 0:48:57watched as a Lancaster Mark III was shot down by German
0:48:57 > 0:48:59night fighters and crashed into the lake.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03TRANSLATION:
0:49:32 > 0:49:36There were 40 aircraft lost during the raid on Peenemunde.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40Not one is recorded as crashing into a lake.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45After the war, a special team was set up to search for those lost.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49They'd heard the rumours of a Lancaster in the lake.
0:49:49 > 0:49:50It was never found.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53But it is here.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55A Lancaster Mark III,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58part of the third and final wave.
0:49:58 > 0:50:05And here, in Peenemunde, they have no doubt who the rear gunner was.
0:50:05 > 0:50:06He was worried, I think,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10because he'd got to go and he couldn't see my mum.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13And he'd got his uniform on.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16I didn't have time to clean his buttons that time.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19And...
0:50:19 > 0:50:22I ran to the bottom of the street and waved.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26It was the last time Elaine saw her father.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30She tries to go to the Runneymede memorial every year
0:50:30 > 0:50:32to pay respect to her dad.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35But she's never been here, to Peenemunde,
0:50:35 > 0:50:37until now.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57- Hello, Elaine.- Hello. - Thanks for coming.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00- Your hands are cold. - They are, I'm sorry.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04- Are you all right?- Yes.- OK.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08'One of Elaine's sons, Russell, has come to support his mother.'
0:51:08 > 0:51:10- Hello.- Hello, John.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13- Very nice to meet you. - Pleased to meet you too. Russell.
0:51:15 > 0:51:20Now, we've just got to go down here. It's the little jetty.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24So a very desolate sort of area, isn't it?
0:51:24 > 0:51:27It is. It is desolate.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39We are, now, finally on the side of the lake.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41Now, can you see over there?
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Can you see that sort of little white thing?
0:51:45 > 0:51:48- Yeah.- Now, that is part of the Lancaster.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55I've been waiting a long time,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58I really have, to see this.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01I didn't think I'd ever see it.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03This is very likely where your father died.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06But it's good that you're here, isn't it?
0:52:06 > 0:52:08Yes, very good.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12It's wonderful that I can say goodbye.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16And not just my dad, the rest of the crew.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19They used to come home with Dad, sometimes.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22And I got to know them quite well.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26And they used to bring us sweeties.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30You just can't imagine it when you're that age.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32You don't understand it.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34I knew that something had happened.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38We didn't know where he was going, because he wasn't allowed to tell us.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41But it was in one of the letters that we got,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45to say that he'd lost his life while on a raid to Peenemunde.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51Look at the sun coming through the clouds. That's amazing, isn't it?
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Yes, it is. Like two searchlights.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Oh, yes, it's a lovely place. It really is.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04In 1948, Elaine's mother Elsie received
0:53:04 > 0:53:07'a letter from the Red Cross.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11'By then, the Russian army controlled Peenemunde.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15'They had received information from local people that all of the
0:53:15 > 0:53:18'crew from the Lancaster in the lake
0:53:18 > 0:53:20'had been removed from the wreck.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22'All were dead.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25'Four of the airmen were buried on the lake's shore.
0:53:25 > 0:53:32'One of them was named as Flight Sergeant Stanley Shaw.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35'No evidence of the graves exists.'
0:53:37 > 0:53:43That's all that's left, that little bit of metal...
0:53:43 > 0:53:45of seven men's lives.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49- It's still here. - Are you glad you came?
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Yes, I am, very glad.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54I wish my sister was here, too.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01I've tried to do what he asked me to do the last time I saw him.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04I saw him last, Mum didn't.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09He asked me to give Mum my love and a kiss and look after her
0:54:09 > 0:54:11and look after Pam.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14That was my baby sister. She was only a year and a half.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16For you, it's not the war,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18it's a personal tragedy, isn't it?
0:54:18 > 0:54:19Yeah.
0:54:30 > 0:54:31It's very moving, isn't it?
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Very moving, and I never thought I'd do it.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36I never thought I'd see it.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38And do you feel closer to him now?
0:54:38 > 0:54:41Yeah, I do. I do.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44If there's such a thing as...
0:54:44 > 0:54:46I don't know whether there is or not.
0:54:46 > 0:54:47He'll be watching.
0:54:49 > 0:54:50And he'll know.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56- I think he will. Don't you?- Mm-hmm.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00SHE CRIES
0:55:06 > 0:55:08We don't know where he is,
0:55:08 > 0:55:10but we know that he was here
0:55:10 > 0:55:12at some point.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18I shall never, never do anything like this again.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23It's once in a lifetime.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25Once in a lifetime.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31I genuinely believe that this is my grandfather's plane
0:55:31 > 0:55:34and I know that I'm not alone in that.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39But the official sources will neither confirm or deny that.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43But I think, for my mother...
0:55:43 > 0:55:45I'm not sure it really matters,
0:55:45 > 0:55:48because Grandfather was here at some point.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51And we know that he lost his life here.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54And that's important to us, to have closure for my mother.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56I'm so glad she came.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59So am I. So am I.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04That's Reg.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09Billy.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13Peter.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18Mac.
0:56:20 > 0:56:21Les.
0:56:23 > 0:56:24Tom.
0:56:27 > 0:56:28And Dad.
0:56:35 > 0:56:40'History records that the Second World War started in 1939
0:56:40 > 0:56:44'and lasted until 1945.
0:56:44 > 0:56:49But, for some, that doesn't tell the whole story.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54'Elaine's war ended this morning on a lake in Peenemunde.'
0:56:57 > 0:57:01PLANE ENGINE RUMBLES
0:57:06 > 0:57:10There is only one British Lancaster bomber left flying today.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12And that's poignant,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16because the Lanc was never about one of anything.
0:57:16 > 0:57:23It was about a team, maybe the bravest we've ever had.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25We had no common bond
0:57:25 > 0:57:27Save that of youth
0:57:27 > 0:57:29No shared ambition
0:57:29 > 0:57:32Except to venture and survive...
0:57:33 > 0:57:38It carries so many memories and a great chunk of our history.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41This is the last of the many.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43And, for me,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47it's been a great honour to tell the Lancaster's story.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50To those who chronicled the great events
0:57:50 > 0:57:52We flew in Lancasters.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06# If I ventured in the slipstream
0:58:07 > 0:58:10# Between the viaducts of your dream
0:58:12 > 0:58:16# Where immobile steel rims crack
0:58:16 > 0:58:19# And the ditch in the back roads stop
0:58:21 > 0:58:23# Could you find me?
0:58:26 > 0:58:29# Would you kiss my eyes?
0:58:31 > 0:58:33# To lay me down
0:58:35 > 0:58:38# In silence easy
0:58:38 > 0:58:40# To be born again
0:58:42 > 0:58:44# To be born again... #