0:00:04 > 0:00:06What they saw scorching through the air
0:00:06 > 0:00:10were astonishing machines flying at incredible speeds,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14and all powered by what seemed to be a technology from the future.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22That technology was a British invention
0:00:22 > 0:00:26and it would signal the dawn of a new age -
0:00:26 > 0:00:29the Jet Age.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33The noise and the speed - I mean, for a small boy -
0:00:33 > 0:00:36heaven, absolute heaven!
0:00:37 > 0:00:42Britain had a world-class, world-beating aviation industry.
0:00:42 > 0:01:01Those crowds at Farnborough weren't just plane-spotting,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05It was a very exciting time.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09You could climb up 4,000-feet-a-minute happily.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12You could dive down at 6, 8,000-feet-a-minute.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Within minutes, you were 50 miles away or 100 miles away from your base.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17It was suddenly a new world.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20The jet engine was a lucrative export
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and wartime allies were queuing up to buy it.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27It was also a powerful piece of military hardware,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and in the Cold War
0:01:29 > 0:01:32old friends were now enemies.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Britain now faced a huge dilemma.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39The jet engine held out hope for economic revival for a nation bankrupt by war,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44but selling it could alter the balance of power in the new world order.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48The country had to decide how best to exploit this new expertise,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52knowing the wrong choice could prove disastrous.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22On the night of the 14th of November, 1940,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24the Luftwaffe struck Coventry.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Those planes brought down fire and destruction to virtually the whole city centre.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Along with 4,000 homes and three-quarters of the city's factories,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40this place, Coventry's medieval cathedral, was left in utter ruins.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43It was the single worst raid of the entire Blitz.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47But few of Britain's cities were left unscathed.
0:03:00 > 0:03:22The damage to the nation wasn't just physical.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25but in truth, it wasn't quite as bad as that.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Yes, the country suffered during the Blitz, this place is evidence of that,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30yes, Britain was horribly in debt
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and it's true there was still rationing,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37but the point is, unlike Europe, everything here still worked -
0:03:37 > 0:03:40the roads, the railways, the ports.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Britain's factories were still churning out items of every description
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and what Britain was doing most, and with some brilliance,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49was building aircraft.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58In the minds of her leaders, air power had saved Britain in 1940
0:03:58 > 0:04:02and had been crucial for victory in 1945.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06During the war, the nation's myriad aircraft manufacturers,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10companies like Supermarine, Avro and Vickers,
0:04:10 > 0:04:32had built a staggering 131,500 aircraft.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35would be the country's salvation.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38New airfields, new aircraft factories,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40new arms factories -
0:04:40 > 0:04:42all these things were being built
0:04:42 > 0:04:45because this is where the future was thought to be.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50So Britain was at least as much as a warfare state as it was a welfare state.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53They were trying to build not just a new Jerusalem
0:04:53 > 0:04:55but a new Sparta, as well.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Britain may've looked tired and drab on the ground
0:05:03 > 0:05:06but in the air, it was a very different matter.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Hurtling over her skies were ultra modern and very fast aircraft
0:05:10 > 0:05:13of futuristic shapes and designs.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20The country's genius at building jet aeroplanes was unrivalled.
0:05:20 > 0:05:43Records for speed, altitude and distance tumbled.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46"by its astonishing flight to North Africa and back."
0:05:46 > 0:05:50The big thing about the jet engine was that it completely changed the game.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Speeds went up from a maximum of about 400 miles an hour.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Suddenly, they were up to 700 miles an hour and beyond.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01You're really pushing the envelope.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05The scale of ambition - for the speed, for the height,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07for the capabilities of aviation - was quite extraordinary,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11and the ambition was actually realised
0:06:11 > 0:06:14but it was realised with huge sums of money.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16That was the really big change.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19You went from spending a few millions to spending tens of millions
0:06:19 > 0:06:22on the development of new aircraft.
0:06:22 > 0:06:23In the post-war world,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28the jet was a symbol of technological and scientific power.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32It could bring wealth, prestige and security.
0:06:32 > 0:06:53Britain's future would lean heavily on its aviation industry.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58But that magic had darker uses.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00The jet engine was changing the world,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03but the world was also altering fast.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05This was the time of the Cold War.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Gone were the old certainties.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11The Empire was crumbling and two new superpowers were emerging.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Britain now had to fight for its place on the world stage.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22"For the British aircraft industry, the turbine jet had brought a golden opportunity.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25"In this new form of air travel,
0:07:25 > 0:07:31"Britain has the chance to make up the leeway lost in the war."
0:07:34 > 0:07:39The man widely regarded as the inventor of the jet engine was Frank Whittle.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Years before the Second World War started,
0:07:42 > 0:08:01the young RAF cadet had been working on an idea that would change the world.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03"Under fierce compression, the temperature rises
0:08:03 > 0:08:08"and the expanding gas roars from the jet pipe with tremendous force.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14"When they start it up, stand back,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17"its flaming breath is white-hot gas."
0:08:18 > 0:08:22By the start of war, Whittle had proved the viability
0:08:22 > 0:08:25of a new, more powerful type of engine.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The next step was to find out if it could fly.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34What I've got in front of me here is the original specification
0:08:34 > 0:08:37for the first ever British jet.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40You would've thought that they would've given this a kind of name
0:08:40 > 0:08:43to reflect the excitement of the project,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47but, I suppose, typical British understatement,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49this is called the E.28/39.
0:08:49 > 0:09:14It's experimental order number 28, drawn up in 1939,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19"It was 1941 when the sound of a turbo jet
0:09:19 > 0:09:22"was heard over English fields."
0:09:23 > 0:09:27It was just easier to fly,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30but for its size and time -
0:09:30 > 0:09:32startling performance.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37It pointed the way as a first
0:09:37 > 0:09:42of what Aladdin's Cave lay ahead of us if we pursued this.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48The success of the E.28/39 signalled a bright future.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51But this was just a prototype.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57What was needed was something faster, more powerful,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01something that could go to war...
0:10:01 > 0:10:21The Gloster Meteor.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26It's got the same kind of fuselage and the same short, stubby wings.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29But this was no experimental aircraft.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32This was a fully-functioning, operational fighter jet -
0:10:32 > 0:10:37fast, powerful, armed with canons, with a rapid rate of climb.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40You can hear the sound of those twin engines,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42the power and potential of those.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46This came into service in 1944, and that's still wartime,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49it's the age of Spitfires, the Focke-Wulf and Mustangs.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51When people heard those engines for the first time,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55what they were listening to was the sound of the future.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07I began to hear more and more about them as I got into the test-flying world.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12Anticipation certainly was at a very high level.
0:11:12 > 0:11:32When it happened, I was not disappointed.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35I noticed there wasn't a propeller.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38I downed tools and ran in the house to tell everybody
0:11:38 > 0:11:40I'd seen an plane without a propeller.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Of course, nobody believed me!
0:11:45 > 0:11:50For the first time, you had a totally uninterrupted view ahead of you
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and no large piston engine.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Once you got airborne,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00the striking thing was the acceleration.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11You got a kick out of it, frankly.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Yes, it was a boys' day out.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Well, all of a sudden you had this aircraft
0:12:19 > 0:12:42which had much more performance than anything you'd flown before.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44the RAF would teach the art of asymmetric flying -
0:12:44 > 0:12:48staying airborne using just one engine.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51On a propeller-driven plane this was tricky,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54on a Meteor, it could be deadly.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57It's the position of the engines on the wing that was the problem.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59It's where the propellers would've been.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02But the thrust on a turbo jet was so powerful that if one engine failed,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06it made the aircraft very difficult to handle.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10"The scene of devastation in the Sussex village
0:13:10 > 0:13:14"shows the tragic aftermath of the crash of an RAF Meteor jet.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19"Reports say that the aircraft first hit a bungalow, and then one of its tanks exploded
0:13:19 > 0:13:21"and the blazing fuel added to the havoc."
0:13:21 > 0:13:27By the early '50s, the RAF was losing a pilot almost every other day.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30The Meteor became known as the "Meatbox".
0:13:31 > 0:13:51We didn't have ejector seats in those days.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53But the appalling death rate
0:13:53 > 0:13:57didn't diminish the number of recruits willing to fly the jet.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00"From Britain's laboratories and factories and airfields,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03"the whistle of the jet is spreading all around the globe."
0:14:03 > 0:14:08In 1952, as Cold War tensions intensified,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11the RAF reached its post-war operational peak,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15almost ten-times the size it is today.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19To make life safer for cadets, a new jet plane was developed
0:14:19 > 0:14:22with the engine buried in the fuselage.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36This is a Jet Provost.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Its prime role for the RAF was as a jet trainer,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41a task it performed for over 35 years.
0:14:41 > 0:15:02It's a wonderful example of pure 1950s jet technology.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11There's a wonderful smell of oil and metal.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14It feels like an old jet,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17it really does, it feels the part.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24It's quite a palaver, isn't it? It is, but this is your parachute. It's worth it!
0:15:28 > 0:15:3120 percent RPM. The pressure is rising.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37The noise of the engine's rising.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42You can only imagine what one of those trainee pilots must've felt like
0:15:42 > 0:15:45getting in one of these for the first time in the 1950s.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15A lovely fly-past.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Low and quick, straight over...
0:16:21 > 0:16:22Ah, yes!
0:16:22 > 0:16:24DRAMATIC MUSIC
0:16:48 > 0:16:51When you joined the RAF as a young pilot,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53you joined knowing that...
0:16:54 > 0:16:57..at least one or two on your course weren't going to make it,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01and yet you've only got to be in this plane now
0:17:01 > 0:17:20and realise why so many people wanted to do it!
0:17:20 > 0:17:24I'm looking straight down at the sea.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26The horizon's swivelling!
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Ah, that's just so much fun!
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Over we go!
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Towards the ground.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48And we're level.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Wow, that is manoeuvrable!
0:17:51 > 0:17:54If ever there was an image
0:17:54 > 0:17:58that sort of typifies the Jet Age of the 1940s and '50s,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01it's that silver colour, isn't it, and the roundel?
0:18:31 > 0:18:35By the early '50s, the Cold War was driving Britain's defence spending
0:18:35 > 0:18:39to a staggering 10 percent of the national budget.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43The country was rebuilding its armed forces across the globe,
0:18:43 > 0:18:48and at the same time, developing its own weapon of mass destruction.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08"In Australia, America, Russia, the trials continue.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12"The earth shook and the sky was darkened.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18"Geiger counters, like charms against invisible death..."
0:19:19 > 0:19:41"The U-Bomb and the jet engine,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57This is the Vampire, one of Britain's early jet fighters. It's got a twin boom.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Remarkably, the entire cockpit is made of wood.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03This plane was operating at the end of the Second World War,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07but I think it still looks incredibly futuristic.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09The Vampire was a huge success.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Over 3,000 were built
0:20:11 > 0:20:15and they were sold to more than 30 different air forces all around the world.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18With the Cold War rapidly escalating,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21the world was now looking to jet technology to defend itself.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25And for buyers, that meant attending aviation's biggest stage -
0:20:25 > 0:20:26the Farnborough Air Show.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32"At Farnborough Aerodrome, the Society of British Aircraft Constructors
0:20:32 > 0:20:51"have proved once again that they're inventive genius is second to none.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53And we had a lot to offer.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55UPBEAT, JAZZY MUSIC
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Farnborough was the country's shop window
0:21:06 > 0:21:11and everyone who came, came to buy British.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Britain was clearly in the lead in the development of jet engines.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19It's the major exporter of jet fighters to the air forces
0:21:19 > 0:21:24that are re-establishing themselves in Europe - the Swiss, the Swedish, the French.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28It is really quite extraordinary, the extent to which they dominate that market
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and essentially wipe the floor with the American competition.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40The nation's post-war economy was now investing heavily in aviation.
0:21:40 > 0:22:01More than a quarter of a million Brits were building engines and planes.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05I suppose the Cold War and the aviation industry drove each other.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07One was driving the other all the time.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11It was intensifying every year, and we were showing more and more interest,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15and more and more new stuff was coming onto the market.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17You were conscious, even at quite a young age,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20that you were living in an area
0:22:20 > 0:22:24where the technology was moving forward at such an incredible rate
0:22:24 > 0:22:28and it was where you showed off,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31you know, "I can do this, you can't!" sort of thing.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35And I do remember thinking, you know,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37"What next? What next? What next?"
0:22:37 > 0:22:42"Hawker P.1081 is a fighter that goes like grease lightening.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45"The Vickers 535 is another.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49"What's that? Even faster? Oh, well, your guess is as good as mine."
0:22:50 > 0:23:10The Cold War was the most intense pacemaker.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13pilots thundering past at 50 feet off the deck,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17doing vertical climbs, barrel rolls...
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Often, crowds were seeing prototypes for the first time.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25"Take a look at the Hawker P.1061.
0:23:25 > 0:23:26"No details, I'm afraid,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29"but it may be the world's fastest fighter."
0:23:29 > 0:23:34These phenomenal air displays were only achieved by the very best test pilots of the day.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38But at Farnborough, the desperate need to sell aircraft to foreign customers
0:23:38 > 0:23:42meant these men weren't just pilots, they had become salesmen, as well.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49One of the highlights of going to Farnborough
0:23:49 > 0:23:52was if one met or saw the test pilot.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57And, of course, with these people being test pilots as well as being through the war,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59they were heroes, they were gods.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01I mean, one really...
0:24:01 > 0:24:21..craved to meet them, you might say!
0:24:21 > 0:24:23I had test pilots on mine!
0:24:23 > 0:24:27As well as blonds, of course.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32"gave a demonstration of crashing through the sound barrier over Farnborough."
0:24:32 > 0:24:35The DH.110 was similar to the Vampire,
0:24:35 > 0:24:37but it had a swept wing
0:24:37 > 0:24:40and was much, much faster.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45In 1952, it was unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53For five days, the DH.110 wowed everyone with its speed and grace.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54It was flown by John Derry,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57a quietly-spoken but supremely talented war veteran.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00We asked Mr Derry what it was like.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04There are no sensations to the occupants of the aircraft.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07The only way of telling your speed is from the instruments.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10I think John Derry was one we really looked up to.
0:25:10 > 0:25:30He seemed to be a bit young and fresh and unflappable,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35On day six of the airshow, John Derry repeated the manoeuvre.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40As his jet ripped past the runway and started its rapid climb,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43the sonic boom ricocheted over the spectators.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52"It was after this, when the aircraft had slowed down,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55"that the appalling sight was seen of the machine disintegrating in the air,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59"with the engines and debris crashing into a section of the crowd."
0:26:16 > 0:26:19"The airmen are believed to have died instantly,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22"as did some of the spectators who lost their lives.
0:26:22 > 0:26:40"The violence of the impact resulted in 28 fatalities among the crowd,
0:26:47 > 0:26:53The official inquest reported that Derry had died accidentally doing his duty.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57"Duty" is an interesting word, because Derry hadn't been flying for the RAF,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00he'd been flying for a private company, de Havillands,
0:27:00 > 0:27:06and yet Britain and the government was so desperate for these foreign sales.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12So maybe the word "duty" is not so inappropriate after all,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16because by selling aircraft he was making money for the country.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20He was, in fact, flying on behalf of the nation.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25"Almost at once, Derry's friend Neville Duke
0:27:25 > 0:27:29"flew a Hawker Hunter through the sound barrier again.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32"Flying, like progress, must not stop."
0:27:51 > 0:27:54But the desire to sell British jet technology
0:27:54 > 0:27:56would have another impact
0:27:56 > 0:27:59that far outweighed the tragedy at Farnborough.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07In a world now divided between Communist East and Capitalist West,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Britain found itself dazzled by the headlights of dilemma -
0:28:11 > 0:28:15on the one hand, its economical necessities,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18on the other, its ideological principals,
0:28:18 > 0:28:23and principals didn't always win out.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29It's a little-known story, but with the urgent need for cash,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32the post-war Labour Government decided to sell
0:28:32 > 0:28:34some of Britain's secret technology.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37It was a bit like selling the family silver to pay for the mortgage,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and part of that silver was its jet engines.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05The Soviets realised they had to defend themselves
0:29:05 > 0:29:08against the ferocious military power of the US.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10Glancing down the list of British hardware,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14they asked for some Meteors, some Vampires and some of these -
0:29:14 > 0:29:17the Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23They clearly knew they were chancing their arm, as Stalin is supposed to have said,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26"What fool would sell us his secrets?"
0:29:26 > 0:29:31The request appalled Britain's military chiefs and divided the government.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36"How mad are we..." exclaimed the foreign secretary, "..to even consider it?"
0:29:37 > 0:29:40But the British Government was convinced
0:29:40 > 0:29:45their engineers would always be one step ahead of anything sold abroad,
0:29:45 > 0:29:52especially a turbo-jet engine, reverse-engineered by poorly-trained Soviets.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17and before long, the sales of these engines would impact on a conflict
0:30:17 > 0:30:20thousands of miles away in Southeast Asia.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27"..Communist attacks throughout Southeast Asia,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30"and there comes open aggression in Korea."
0:30:30 > 0:30:34In May 1950, the Cold War turned hot
0:30:34 > 0:30:38as North Korean forces invaded their southern neighbours.
0:30:38 > 0:30:44Less than a month later, the United Nations were at war with the communists.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46"An American base somewhere in South Korea
0:30:46 > 0:30:50"prepares for another attack on the Reds by jetfighter bombers."
0:30:50 > 0:30:52Did I have any thoughts about fighting communists?
0:30:52 > 0:30:55I don't think so, quite honestly. I didn't...
0:30:55 > 0:30:58I think I can honestly say,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02first and foremost, it was something I had been trained to do, OK,
0:31:02 > 0:31:21I was going to poop rockets, I was going to fire guns, etcetera.
0:31:21 > 0:31:27But a new aircraft soon showed up and it outclassed everything...
0:31:28 > 0:31:31..the Russian-built Mikoyan-Gurevich,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34better known as the MiG-15.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41I looked down below and saw an Flog It-80 Shooting Star,
0:31:41 > 0:31:43going like a bat out of hell,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46closely followed by a couple of MiG-15s.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49The other pilot said, "Let's go for the buggers!"
0:31:49 > 0:31:54so we opened up the taps and went chasing after these MiGs.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56And so I pooped the rockets off
0:31:56 > 0:32:01and they went right between the two MiGs! I remember them!
0:32:01 > 0:32:03I thought that was pretty good for range,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06but this guy went that way and this guy went this way.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11This guy I went after, we just opened up our taps, zoomed up and was out of the way.
0:32:11 > 0:32:31I never saw him any more.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34but the third reason was, it was powered...
0:32:34 > 0:32:38..by a British engine.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46So much for the promise of keeping it for civilian purposes.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51As far as the MiG was concerned, we knew that the aircraft had the Nene engine in it,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54which had been sold by Rolls-Royce to Russia.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58The MiG could out-turn, out-climb, out-zoom,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01out-accelerate.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05It went very, very fast very quickly.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14The MiG-15 became one of the most successful fighters ever flown.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19More have been built than any other military or civil jet aircraft,
0:33:19 > 0:33:39so ironically, production of Soviet copies of the Nene engine
0:33:39 > 0:33:42As a result of the MiG-15,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45no UN pilot could feel safe in Korean skies.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48Relations between Britain and America soured.
0:33:48 > 0:33:54US officials questioned the UK's moral backbone.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58They even threatened to restrict aid.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04In the end, as the two nations were allies in the conflict,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07the matter was quietly dropped.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Britain was stuck between the two leading superpowers
0:34:10 > 0:34:13and concerned that America's increasingly fervent anti-communism
0:34:13 > 0:34:16would provoke a Soviet attack.
0:34:16 > 0:34:21If the unthinkable should happen, Britain would be first in the firing line.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27The British Government preferred to play a more placatory card, and by being America's friend
0:34:27 > 0:34:31they hoped to calm US hard-line attitudes to Soviet Russia.
0:34:31 > 0:34:51The Americans might listen to Britain's mediating words.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55My father and the other Soviet diplomats
0:34:55 > 0:34:58knew that the Americans...
0:34:58 > 0:35:04..I wouldn't say too primitive, but looking too straight
0:35:04 > 0:35:06and too ideological
0:35:06 > 0:35:11and they have no experience in the diplomacy.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15If the button's ever pressed, we're all set to go.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17SIREN WAILS
0:35:20 > 0:35:25"Seconds after the alert, these defending Meteors are screaming into the sky
0:35:25 > 0:35:28"to clash with a still-invisible foe."
0:35:28 > 0:35:31To maintain its influence in the world,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Britain had to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the US.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40In the escalating arms race, this policy didn't come cheap.
0:35:40 > 0:36:01The UK was spending vast amounts on its military,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Aviation and the jet engine were still Britain's best bet
0:36:05 > 0:36:08for a brighter, safer future.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14One plane, beyond all others,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17offered the country that opportunity.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21When the Comet appeared at the Farnborough Airshow in 1949,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23it was a sensation.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27"It represents the first of a new generation of jet airliners
0:36:27 > 0:36:30"and holds promise of a briefer, smoother passage
0:36:30 > 0:36:33"for the air traveller of tomorrow."
0:36:33 > 0:36:38Even the Royal Family's first jet experience was in a Comet.
0:36:39 > 0:36:45The plane was fast becoming the jewel in the crown of British aviation.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49We were pretty battered well into the '50s, certainly in the cities.
0:36:49 > 0:37:09The bombsites were very familiar in London, and everything needed a lick of paint,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12because here was this beautiful young queen being crowned,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Everest had been climbed just on time -
0:37:15 > 0:37:17there was a perfect conjunction -
0:37:17 > 0:37:20but also, we did hold the airspeed record.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23We were absolutely in advance in so many technical areas.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25And looking back,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28I'm sure we felt it, I certainly did,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31that we were members of a success-story nation.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42The Comet could fly higher and faster than any other airliner, and by some margin.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Journey times halved. It shrank the world.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49"This record-breaking aircraft had again made the front pages
0:37:49 > 0:37:54"by going into regular service as the world's first passenger-carrying jet airline."
0:37:57 > 0:38:22The Americans had nothing like it on the drawing board, let alone in production.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25but they didn't have that spark of genius,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28the British conceit that the British inventors have.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34Somewhere in a Nissen hut in the Home Counties
0:38:34 > 0:38:37is some deeply eccentric, really rather unemployable person,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39who's producing the most amazing thoughts
0:38:39 > 0:38:44that are going to lead us to have a technological advantage that will keep us safe.
0:38:44 > 0:38:49Somehow or another, they'll come up with a cunning plan and a whizz-bang to see you through.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52If Britain could sell the Comet globally,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56it would guarantee the demand for spares, for maintenance,
0:38:56 > 0:38:58for orders of new engines
0:38:58 > 0:39:01and possibly whole fleets of planes.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06The Comet put Britain years ahead of the rest of the world
0:39:06 > 0:39:10and gave them a golden opportunity to corner the market for a generation.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35But there was a catch. This may've been a civil aircraft,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39but in the Cold War, every new technology had a dual purpose.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43If the Comet could travel faster and further than anything before,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47the same could be applied to a bomber.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52In the year the Comet first flew,
0:39:52 > 0:39:57the Soviet Union successfully tested their atomic bomb.
0:39:59 > 0:40:05But they had no plane capable of delivering it any further than Paris...
0:40:05 > 0:40:07..or London.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11If the Soviets got hold of a Comet, they could steal its secrets
0:40:11 > 0:40:15and build a bomber, capable of reaching the United States.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45One, no Comets would be allowed to fly over the Soviet Bloc.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Two, all maintenance had to be done by British engineers.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Three, all spares had to be carried by British ships
0:40:51 > 0:40:53and held in British buildings when abroad.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56The Americans were having none of it!
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Memories of the sale of Rolls-Royce engines to the Soviets
0:41:03 > 0:41:05echoed in the halls of Congress.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10Once again, Britain found itself caught between its economic necessity
0:41:10 > 0:41:13and American anti-communism.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17Communism in reality is not a political party.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20It is a way of life, an evil and malignant way of life.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24It reveals a condition akin to disease,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26that spreads like an epidemic,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and like an epidemic, a quarantine is necessary
0:41:29 > 0:41:51to keep it from infecting this nation.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54and wave goodbye to the stunning lead they held in jet transport
0:41:54 > 0:41:57and all the wealth and prestige that offered,
0:41:57 > 0:41:59on the other, they could sell the Comets,
0:41:59 > 0:42:04risk them falling into Soviet hands and jeopardise the friendship with the United States.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12So what to do... On the 11th of November, 1953,
0:42:12 > 0:42:18the government decided to give the proverbial two-fingered salute to the United States.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Commerce would trump security.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24Unless you were in the Soviet Bloc, you could buy a Comet.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28The Americans were furious.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30But a cruel twist of fate would save Britain
0:42:30 > 0:42:34from the consequences of its decision.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36This Mk 1 Comet
0:42:36 > 0:42:39was the last to roll off the production line.
0:42:39 > 0:43:03Just months after it ended service, it was grounded,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07between takeoff and high-altitude cruising.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11"This is the tragic scene of the Comet disaster near Calcutta.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15"The aircraft carried 37 passengers and a crew of six.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17"All lost their lives."
0:43:17 > 0:43:19There were other fatal crashes.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22Sales of the aircraft plummeted.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26The game was over.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30And this particular plane, well, it never took another paying passenger.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35Now it's a museum piece, the last remaining Mk 1 Comet.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38With huge government investment,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41the plane was eventually redesigned and strengthened,
0:43:41 > 0:43:46but by then, American manufacturers had developed their own airliner.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50The Comet was swept from the marketplace.
0:43:50 > 0:44:09The Comet air disasters meant Britain lost its lead in jet transport
0:44:10 > 0:44:13The country now found itself a junior partner
0:44:13 > 0:44:16in the relationship with its Superpower ally...
0:44:17 > 0:44:22..and with it came new responsibilities.
0:44:23 > 0:44:29Washington knew the Soviets would soon develop the capability of bombing mainland America.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33US strategy was simple -
0:44:33 > 0:44:36strike the USSR first.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41The task, however, wasn't straightforward.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45If the Americans wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on Russian cities,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49there was a significant and dangerous obstacle they had to overcome,
0:44:49 > 0:44:50namely the Soviet air defences -
0:44:50 > 0:44:53surface-to-air missiles and interceptor planes.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55The best way to avoid these
0:44:55 > 0:44:59was by flying at high altitude, or at night,
0:44:59 > 0:45:20but that meant seeing the target was nigh-on impossible.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24This was all well and good, except for the small but not insignificant matter
0:45:24 > 0:45:28of flying over Soviet territory in the Cold War.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40But over-flights were nothing short of spying
0:45:40 > 0:45:42and highly provocative.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47The US Air Force was forbidden from carrying them out.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50If the Americans couldn't fly over Russia,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53maybe someone else could, an ally perhaps,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56an ally such as Britain.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Initially, the Labour Government refused,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04but when Churchill was re-elected in 1951
0:46:04 > 0:46:08he gave the spying missions the green light.
0:46:08 > 0:46:29Operation JIUJITSU was born.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32The Russians would've made much of it.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37In the early '50s,
0:46:37 > 0:46:42RB-45 Tornado Bombers arrived at an airbase in Norfolk.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Although these were American planes with American ground crew,
0:46:46 > 0:46:51the decals were RAF roundels, the crews were British
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and the mission was top secret.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59The planes had been redecorated with RAF roundels and markings
0:46:59 > 0:47:01for practical reasons.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05The Americans did not want to fly these flights, the RAF had agreed to do it,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07so if we had gone down,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11it would've been a British problem.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15We were invited down by the Chief Intelligence Officer,
0:47:15 > 0:47:20who took us into the operations room in Bomber Command.
0:47:20 > 0:47:20They had a map on the wall which they uncovered for us,
0:47:20 > 0:47:40to the industrial complexes there.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42It was the longest route
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and probably had the most difficult targets,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48so we chose to do that one.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Rex Sanders was one of Jiujitsu's navigators,
0:47:57 > 0:48:02responsible for taking hundreds of radar images of Russian targets.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13You are guiding the aircraft, basically using radar,
0:48:13 > 0:48:15until you get to the Russian border,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19and then you start on your photography.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21We did over 20 targets,
0:48:21 > 0:48:25each one requiring about a 50 or 60-mile run into it,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28and you went from one target to another.
0:48:28 > 0:48:48There was no let-up at all. It was very hard work.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51We were well over halfway up in this exercise
0:48:51 > 0:48:56and, all of a sudden, the aircraft went into a steep bank.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59I called out, "What is happening?"
0:48:59 > 0:49:03and the skipper replied rather rudely that, erm,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06we had been subject to anti-aircraft fire,
0:49:06 > 0:49:08the flak as we called it,
0:49:08 > 0:49:13erm, and he was turning for home.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16We had instructions before the flight
0:49:16 > 0:49:20that if we came under fire, we were to come out.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24The risks of being shot down had become too great.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Rex Sanders had flown his last Jiujitsu mission.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31I think the mission was successful.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33In the broadest terms,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37it played a large part in the Cold War.
0:49:37 > 0:49:58It put the Russians on the defensive.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01"First, the focus was on President Eisenhower.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05"Here are Premier Bulganin of the Soviet Union with Mr Khrushchev.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09"Sir Anthony Eden came to propose the British plan for peace.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12"Was it too much to hope for the raising of the Iron Curtain
0:50:12 > 0:50:16"and the ending of the Cold War at last?"
0:50:17 > 0:50:22At the Geneva Peace Conference, President Eisenhower proposed an open-skies policy.
0:50:22 > 0:50:27This would mean that any nation could fly over another without fear of being shot down.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29No-one was fooled by this.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34The Soviets didn't have an aircraft capable of flying over the US, as Eisenhower was well aware.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39In effect, he was trying to get a licence to fly spy missions over Russia.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Needless to say, Khrushchev politely declined the offer.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49What Eisenhower and Khrushchev both knew
0:50:49 > 0:51:10was the US could fly over the Soviet Union any time it liked.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12The spy plane was known...
0:51:12 > 0:51:15..as the U-2.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Westerners flying over Soviet territory
0:51:31 > 0:51:35was more or less the game,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38under the existing rules.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41You're flying, we try to intercept you,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44sometimes successful, sometimes not.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49And the U-2 flight changed all this
0:51:49 > 0:51:54because it was so high that it was impossible to intercept,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56technically impossible.
0:52:00 > 0:52:18Such state-of-the-art technology was invaluable,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23As a result, the RAF pilots won't talk.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27I've come to Arizona to meet the man who trained them,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31Major General Pat Halloran of the US Air Force.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33When they first showed up at our training base in Del Rio, Texas,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37we were surprised that they were there.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39Those of us in the squadron
0:52:39 > 0:52:41had no idea that they were coming,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45and I'm not sure they knew, because in talking to them,
0:52:45 > 0:52:50they thought they were coming to America to fly some new, exotic fighter airplane.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52And they saw the U-2, they couldn't believe it -
0:52:52 > 0:52:56those big ungainly wings and the glider-like appearance.
0:52:56 > 0:53:02So it was later when we discovered that they were actually being teamed up with the CIA.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09Working with the CIA,
0:53:09 > 0:53:31the RAF pilots flew repeated spying missions for almost two years,
0:53:31 > 0:53:34There'd be hell to pay back in Parliament, I'm sure,
0:53:34 > 0:53:39and the prime minister would probably be looking for a new job.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42We thought it was very gutsy of the UK to do that
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and we applauded them for doing it.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48All we know about the individual missions
0:53:48 > 0:53:51is they used air force bases in Turkey.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53If the RAF pilots were caught,
0:53:53 > 0:53:58their cover story was they were employed by the US Meteorological Office.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04We know those missions took place in around 1958, 1959,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06but while we don't know the details,
0:54:06 > 0:54:11we do know when those U-2 overflights came to an abrupt stop.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18RUSSIAN SPEAKER
0:54:20 > 0:54:39On May the 1st, 1960,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42When he was shot out of the sky,
0:54:42 > 0:54:48it was immediately clear detente between East and West would never materialise.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53"On display in Moscow, what's alleged to be the wreckage of the U-2 spy plane,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56"which Russia claims to have shot down by rocket.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00"Here is Captain Powers. He's to be put on trial, says Mr Khrushchev."
0:55:00 > 0:55:02RUSSIAN SPEAKER
0:55:13 > 0:55:17Initially, the Americans denied Powers had been spying,
0:55:17 > 0:55:19but with a hi-tech plane full of photographic equipment
0:55:19 > 0:55:22and Powers himself to interrogate and parade before the world,
0:55:22 > 0:55:24it was clear what had been going on.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28But the incident was more than just bad PR for the USA.
0:55:28 > 0:55:50It had a far bigger impact.
0:55:53 > 0:55:58It was a shock, because he couldn't understand why...
0:55:59 > 0:56:02...why they did it.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07Of course, the American Hawks wanted to destroy detente
0:56:07 > 0:56:10and have more investment
0:56:10 > 0:56:13in the military and industrial complex.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16From my perspective,
0:56:16 > 0:56:18American Hawks won
0:56:18 > 0:56:21sending Gary Powers on May 1st.
0:56:26 > 0:56:28Now, even at high altitude,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32jet aircraft were no longer safe from surface-to-air missiles.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34But spying from the sky wouldn't stop.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38Just a day after Gary Powers was convicted of espionage by a Russian court,
0:56:38 > 0:56:40a new technology was launched -
0:56:40 > 0:56:58the spy satellite.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Now the nation would pin its hopes on the jet bomber.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08Next time... Britain under threat of annihilation.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11When we were at height and on our way,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14you began to think, "Oh, my goodness me,
0:57:14 > 0:57:16"this is for real."
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Now, to stake a claim at the top table of international power,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30Britain needed its own nuclear deterrent.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32A generation of aircraft,
0:57:32 > 0:57:37able to fly higher, faster and further than ever before, were created,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40all flown by men prepared to risk everything
0:57:40 > 0:57:42in a Third World War,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45because these new jets were the platform
0:57:45 > 0:57:47for delivering Armageddon.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49EXPLOSIONS
0:58:22 > 0:58:25# Blue skies smiling at me... #
0:58:25 > 0:58:28It was a war between two different ways of life.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31A war of ideas, a war of shadows.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34# ..Nothing but blue skies from now on. #