0:00:05 > 0:00:09In the two decades following the Second World War,
0:00:09 > 0:00:14the British aircraft industry flourished in a pageant of ingenuinety and innovation.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Britain had invented the jet engine
0:00:17 > 0:00:22and was set to lead the world into an exhilarating new age.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26The jet age.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29British jets are years ahead of foreign competitors.
0:00:29 > 0:00:30Very exciting time.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Absolutely fantastic performance.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37This was a whole new world that was opening up.
0:00:37 > 0:00:43Aircraft and the men who flew them were the stars of this age.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Thousands flocked to air shows to witness the daring feats of the fighter aces.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Who were now the pin-up idols of a country escaping
0:00:50 > 0:00:53the austerity and pain of the war years.
0:00:53 > 0:00:59Squadron leader, Neville Duke, wowed them all with a daring display.
0:00:59 > 0:01:00It was glamour, sheer, damn glamour.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04They flew fast, they flew high.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06They'd be gone in two minutes.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Vertical, bang, up.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13Flying these amazing new warplanes was the dream of many a young boy.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18This, to me, was going to be my future.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21A future fraught with danger,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23where test pilots were flying into the unknown,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27taking prototype military aircraft to the limit, and sometimes beyond.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Above all, this was an age where the sky was full of fighters
0:01:33 > 0:01:35and bombers.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42Meteors, Hunters, and Lightnings. Valiant's, Vulcans, and Victors.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47This was the golden age of the jet, when Britain ruled the sky.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07On a bright summer's morning at Coventry airport,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12a very special plane is being readied for flight.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17This is a Gloucester Meteor, Britain's first jet fighter.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24British engineering genius, Frank Whittle, had invented first
0:02:24 > 0:02:28the jet engine, then a prototype jet aircraft by 1941.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34They paved the way for the twin-engined Gloucester Meteor, which proved
0:02:34 > 0:02:38itself against Germany's V1 flying bombs in the last year of the war.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46In 1945, the Meteor was state-of-the-art in military aviation.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51The Gloucester Meteor is a fascinating plane.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56I first encountered it as a kid, staring up at the sky, it was as
0:02:56 > 0:03:00if you suddenly saw the modern world leap out of the black-and-white.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06There was this plane, which just looked so different, so strange.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14For hundreds of young RAF pilots who had learnt to fly in
0:03:14 > 0:03:17piston-engined aircraft with propellers,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21climbing into a Meteor for the first time was a bolt from the blue.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26When you go into a Meteor,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30the first thing that struck it was the fantastic view all the way round.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33- You could see what you are doing. - There was nothing in front of you,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37whereas flying a conventional single piston engine aircraft, like
0:03:37 > 0:03:41a Hurricane or Spitfire, there's a huge, great engine in front of you.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47When you start the engine, it was just a quiet whir, nice,
0:03:47 > 0:03:48smooth running up.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Whereas, of course, on a piston engine it was bang, bang,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52bang, fighting to get it started.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58You open the power, and then you're suddenly pushed in the back,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02and you realise the first time what a jet aircraft really is.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11It's so exciting, getting airborne, up with the wheels,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and tell you about 38 knots, pull it up,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and she would go up, well, we thought then, like a rocket.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24The impression I got was this smoothness of it,
0:04:24 > 0:04:30the lack of vibration, the lack of even noise inside the aircraft,
0:04:30 > 0:04:35you don't hear all of that jet roar that you get from outside.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38It's like a high-speed glider, almost.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46It was such a terrific thing just a hugely, and I loved the Meteor.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54What's remarkable about these early days of the jet age
0:04:54 > 0:04:57is that this revolutionary technology was being
0:04:57 > 0:05:01developed against a backdrop of austerity.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04It was all done on the cheap because we were broke, we just fought a war.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10In 45, we were looking at a country where a Labour government had just been elected,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14and a Labour government had not been elected on the basis that we want
0:05:14 > 0:05:19more Spitfires, it was elected by people who wanted somewhere to live.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22This country had been blitzed, bombed, and poor.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25But the new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29also understood the importance of Britain's aircraft industry.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33By the time the war ended, the aircraft industry was our
0:05:33 > 0:05:36largest industry, because enormous effort had been poured into it.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42And there was something like 30 separate aircraft companies.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45You think of the people, not just building the aircraft,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49but the engines, hydraulic systems, the material, the seats.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51The electrics, huge numbers of people,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54probably well over one million involved.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56The obvious thing to do was to just say right,
0:05:56 > 0:05:57let's scale it down to peace time.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01But part of the problem of trying to rationalise it was that,
0:06:01 > 0:06:02from a public's point of view,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05they were almost sacrosanct these companies, they were so well
0:06:05 > 0:06:11known, de Havilland, Avro, Vickers, they were sort of household names.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Just as sacrosanct was the Royal Air Force.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21It had saved the country from invasion during the Battle of Britain.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24But now, in peace time,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27it joined forces with the aircraft industry, the RAF created
0:06:27 > 0:06:33a new unit, a high-speed flight, with three wartime fighter aces.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Teddy Donaldson, Neville Duke, and Bill Waterton.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Gloucester provided the hardware, souped up Meteors,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47the challenge, to break the world a speed record.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51This is the star Gloucester Meteor, the world's fastest aircraft.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53It is really a publicity stunt,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56they wanted to sell the Meteor abroad,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58they also wanted to trumpet England and all the rest of it,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02it was very patriotic thing to go and break the world record.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07The British held the record, 606 mph,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and now the Americans were snapping at their heels.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16In late summer, 1946, the high-speed flight took to the air
0:07:16 > 0:07:18over the seaside town of Worthing.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Now, for the run over the record mile,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25watch out for the delayed action sound.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29The plane is way ahead before your eardrums catch up with it.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32If you take people going on holiday in '46,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36they were suddenly enjoying a world where they knew they were not about to be bombed,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and they could sit on the front and watch this phenomenal aircraft
0:07:40 > 0:07:44fly over their heads at 600 miles an hour.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49Now, if you plonked people down on the beach in Worthing in 2012,
0:07:49 > 0:07:54and flew the Meteor over their heads, they would still be staggered.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58On September the 7th, group captain, Teddy Donaldson,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00increased the record to 616 mph.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07But this much trumpeted achievement was just the beginning
0:08:07 > 0:08:10as far as the aircraft companies were concerned.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14British aircraft designers never stand still.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16So, they set themselves a new target.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21There was this great desire to break through
0:08:21 > 0:08:24what was seen as a technical barrier to high-speed flight.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26The sound barrier.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31There were films and talk of the sound barrier,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34can you break through the sound barrier,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37there were even those who said you couldn't get faster than sound,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39that it was impenetrable barrier.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42What's so ruddy peculiar about the speed of sound?
0:08:42 > 0:08:44We all know exactly what it is, don't we?
0:08:44 > 0:08:46750 mph at ground level.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51But at high altitude, above 20,000 feet,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56the speed of sound reduces to around 660 mph.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00That target became the new holy grail for the RAF.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03During the battle of Britain,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08these brave, young men had flown planes against a visible enemy,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10the Luftwaffe.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13After the war, there was this mystical force,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16as it was seen, which was the sound barrier.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21What exactly does happen to an aeroplane at the speed of sound?
0:09:23 > 0:09:24I don't know.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27And shall I tell you something, Tony?
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- What?- No-one else in the world does either.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37In the cockpit of a futuristic looking,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40and, of course, British prototype jet,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43our test pilot hero pushes his aircraft to the limit.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Still no response!
0:09:45 > 0:09:46Bail out.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48It's coming up to the last one!
0:09:52 > 0:09:53Bail out, bail out!
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Tony!
0:10:04 > 0:10:06HORN
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Being a test pilot in the late 1940s was indeed a dangerous business.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14These chaps really were pushing their necks out
0:10:14 > 0:10:20because the technology that was understood at the time was primitive.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22These were real superheroes,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26I mean, these guys got in to largely untried aircraft.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31We had huge respect for them, because they had all done something
0:10:31 > 0:10:34which we had never done and were never going to be asked to do.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39And so, the life of a test pilot was hazardous in the very early days.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Anything could go wrong,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45cos it was all at the edge of the known technology.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48You know, they could get problems with pressurisation,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51the cockpit canopies suddenly flew off and decapitated them.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Over the six years following the war,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59a test pilot was killed virtually every month in Britain.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05In September 1946, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08chief test pilot for his father's company,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12attempted to break the sound barrier in their latest prototype jet.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18He probably broke the sound barrier in that plane then,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21but what happened, that plane broke up over the Thames estuary,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23broke up in to the mud at Sheppey.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32De Havilland's death was a national tragedy,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36but it certainly didn't discourage test pilots continuing to take risks.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Test pilots, I suppose, never believed it would happen to them.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43You flew these aircrafts
0:11:43 > 0:11:46but you never believed that you were going to get in to trouble,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49you always felt that you'd be able to rescue the situation yourself.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55The test pilots of the late '40s were, generally speaking,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59pilots who had been flying through the second world war.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Combat experience had made them a perfect fit for the job.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09By 1948, Spitfire ace, Neville Duke, had joined Hawkers.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15Hurricane veteran, Bill Waterton, had been snapped up by Gloucesters,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and now John Derry, who had flown Typhoons after D-Day,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22had filled the gap left by Geoffrey Jr at de Havilland.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27The test pilots of my boyhood were national heroes,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29and they were household names.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Everybody knew them, they knew them as well as today's people
0:12:32 > 0:12:36would know the names of Formula 1 drivers, or footballers.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41Yet they handled that fame in a disarmingly understated way.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43I think it was Teddy Donaldson,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47after he had broken the world air speed record in 1946, he said,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51"Right, that's it, chaps, I've got to go off and see mother now."
0:12:51 > 0:12:55They were gentleman fliers, but they were personalities,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58they didn't come out of a single mould.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05These flying galacticos were ideal material for the media of the late 1940s.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08And soon, children knew all about them as well.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14They developed almost a cult following amongst young people.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16And this was reflected in the sort of comics
0:13:16 > 0:13:21which were full of all these superheroes and invented stories.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23A sort of jet version of Biggles, really.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Comics like the Eagle,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28they had all these wonderful cutaway drawings
0:13:28 > 0:13:32which made you look in great detail about how all these incredible machines worked.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35When you're little, you felt surely they must be better
0:13:35 > 0:13:37than anything mere foreigners could build.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41There was plenty of evidence to suggest that might just be true.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47And the place to see all this aviation excellence in action
0:13:47 > 0:13:50was the annual Farnborough air show.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58Farnborough was very much a national event in the early years after the war.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01For Britain's aircraft industry, this was the key shop window.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Farnborough showed only British aircraft in great profusion,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and it was almost an act of patriotism,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12you went along and you just revelled
0:14:12 > 0:14:15in this tremendous outpouring of mechanical brilliance.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18They had buyers from around the world who would come,
0:14:18 > 0:14:23and you'd have delegations from Arab countries and the Far East, the US.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26There were even representatives from the Soviet Union,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30drawn there by Britain's reputation for excellence in jet engine design.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34There was a feeling if it was good enough for the Royal Air Force,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36it must be quite good.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38So, we better perhaps buy some.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Tony Blackman was a test pilot for the Avro aircraft company in the 1950s.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46It was absolutely key to the firms
0:14:46 > 0:14:50to have their latest aircraft at Farnborough.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54At Avro's, it was the driving force, all our new developments,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59we all strove like mad to get the aircrafts ready for Farnborough.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Farnborough's climax was the display over the weekend,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07when the general public came in their hundreds of thousands.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Everywhere you looked there was excitement,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12there were so many aeroplanes,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16the sky was full of aeroplanes, all day long.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21The pilots would really push the aircraft, it was quite incredible.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25They were probably only about 15 or 20 feet above the grass,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and they came right over people's heads.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Most people were probably rigid with fear.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Here's the Follom Meek, designed by WW Catcher.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40The commentators were very careful to point out who was flying the plane,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43people would wait with great anticipation to see a particular pilot
0:15:43 > 0:15:46put a particular aircraft through its paces.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48With this machine, Jan Zurakowski
0:15:48 > 0:15:54demonstrates the first, entirely new aerobatic for 20 years - cartwheeling.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01It was like watching, I suppose,
0:16:01 > 0:16:06in mediaeval times, famous knights waiting to climb onto their horses to joust.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09At every show there were always new aircraft
0:16:09 > 0:16:12for the test pilots to show off.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16The Canberra, the first of Britain's new jet bombers,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18powered by Rolls-Royce turbojets.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23At Farnborough in 1949, the public got its first look
0:16:23 > 0:16:25at the incredible English Electric Canberra,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27the world's first jet bomber.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Flying it that week was test pilot, Roland "Bee" Beamont.
0:16:32 > 0:16:40The way it was demonstrated in Farnborough by Roland Beamont was immensely popular.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44He did it most dramatically, he threw things around the sky like a fighter,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and American commentators were most impressed
0:16:48 > 0:16:50that you could fly a bomber like a fighter.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Just let me show you what has been happening.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01What made the Canberra so special though,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04was that it could fly huge distances and astonishingly high.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Certainly, the first aircraft that the Royal Air Force had
0:17:09 > 0:17:12that would fly at heights of 48,000 feet.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Pete Peters first flew a Canberra in 1951.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Its distinctive, low-slung shape made an immediate impression.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24A sleek, beautiful looking aircraft.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27When you first walk up to it,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30you think to yourself, "Jesus Christ, am I going to fly this?"
0:17:32 > 0:17:34This version of the Canberra,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37with extra long nose to house radar still turns heads today.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51The aircraft itself was incredibly manoeuvrable and agile,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and it could hold its own, we believed at the time,
0:17:53 > 0:17:55with most of the fighters of the day.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59The Canberra would make headlines throughout
0:17:59 > 0:18:03the '50s by setting a series of distance and altitude records,
0:18:03 > 0:18:09including the first non-stop, unrefuelled, transatlantic crossing by a jet.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13This was about more than just breaking records.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17By 1950, following the Berlin air lift,
0:18:17 > 0:18:23the Soviet Union's iron curtain had descended over Eastern Europe.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Britain was now on the front line of a new war, the Cold War.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30The Canberra had arrived in the nick of time.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36Brilliant aircraft, it's performance was so good it could fly
0:18:36 > 0:18:40higher than anything else at the time, it could fly great distances.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43And crucially, this meant the Canberra could stay
0:18:43 > 0:18:47out of reach of the Soviet Fighters of the early '50s.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57All these attributes paved the way for the Canberra's greatest coup.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07It was sold brilliantly abroad to America,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10it was the first time the Americans had taken an aircraft of ours.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12This was a matter of huge pride.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Back then, British engineering was highly prized.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25But for all the tub-thumping patriotism surrounding this British bomber,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28there were clouds on the horizon.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Those same Soviet fighters that struggled to reach the camera's altitude
0:19:32 > 0:19:35were having success elsewhere.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38There was a hot war going on in Korea
0:19:38 > 0:19:41and the Soviet Union was flying MiG 15s.
0:19:41 > 0:19:47The MiG 15 was faster and better than any plane the British had in service.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52With swept wings, it was a more advanced design than the Gloucester Meteor.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54But the MiG 15 also benefited
0:19:54 > 0:19:58from a bizarre decision taken back in 1946.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Rolls-Royce, with government blessing,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06had sold some of their engines to the Soviets.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09The Russians wanted them,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and Stalin says, "Oh, there's no point in asking the British.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"Nobody's going to sell their state secrets."
0:20:14 > 0:20:18But they tried it on anyway and Rolls-Royce did sell them.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22It was extraordinary and tragic, actually, as it turned out.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26The Russians reversed engineered them for their MiG 15s,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30which then started donning American Air Force planes in Korea within a year or two.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37This did not cheer up the Americans or indeed
0:20:37 > 0:20:39the Royal Australian Air Force who saw their Meteors
0:20:39 > 0:20:44being shot down by these extremely fast Soviet aircraft.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Clearly, by 1951, the Meteor was outdated.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51Britain needed a replacement.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59But the government was not short of new fighter designs to choose from.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Test pilots at competing companies had been trying out all manner of prototype military jets.
0:21:07 > 0:21:13And with them, experiments like Rolls-Royce's outlandish-looking flying bedstead,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17an early attempt at the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23In those days, almost every aircraft looked completely different.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26You could look up at the sky almost any day in Britain
0:21:26 > 0:21:28and see a shape that's never been seen before.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33MUSIC: "The Nutcracker Suite"
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Swept wings were now the thing,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42and reflected in the graceful design of the new Hawker Hunter.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47There was the boldly distinctive delta shape of the big Gloucester Javelin.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54Even the dear old Meteor had a modern revamp with this long-nosed night fighter model.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05At the Farnborough Air Show in 1952,
0:22:05 > 0:22:12people turned out in vast numbers to see all these new aircraft daringly displayed by the test pilots.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15One of the big draws that year was John Derry,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19who would be flying the extraordinary twin-boom DH110.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26And amongst the crowds on the Saturday was the five-year-old Richard Gardner.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30The 1952 Air Show is one that I will never forget,
0:22:30 > 0:22:35because although I was very young at the time, my father was taking a cinefilm
0:22:35 > 0:22:39and I was standing next to him and we had the sunshine roof open in our old car.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43He was following with his 16 mil cine camera the DH 110.
0:22:43 > 0:22:51You have this extremely beautiful, if curious looking plane, flown by John Derry.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56This aircraft approached at very high speed from my right
0:22:56 > 0:23:02and banked over and it looked sort of glistening, silver coloured aircraft.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18EXPLOSION
0:23:18 > 0:23:23Derry broke the sound barrier, flung the plane higher and higher,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28then the unexpected, the unbelievable happened.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30The plane broke up.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38My mother sort of grabbed my father's elbow and said, "Look, something's happening."
0:23:38 > 0:23:43Father shouted back, "Let go, let go. Leave me alone, leave me alone."
0:23:43 > 0:23:49Derry's DH 110 came apart in midair, right above the watching thousands.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54I'll never forget. It looked like confetti. It looked like silver confetti.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59The remaining airframe floated down right in front of us
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and it just came down like a leaf.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Both Derry and his co-pilot Tony Richards were killed.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11And then the two engines, like two missiles,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15shot out of the airframe and hurtled in the direction of the air show.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21One of them smashed into a hill where thousands were standing.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29There was sort of silence and then one or two people screamed,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32but mostly, it was just a sort of shock.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35You could hear some people were sort of whimpering,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38which was quite shocking if you were a young person.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43You were not used to that sort of thing, grown people sort of crying.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45It was carnage.
0:24:45 > 0:24:4928 spectators had been killed and countless more injured.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55This was an absolutely nakedly public event.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59It took place in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03They could see it suddenly that it wasn't all about abstract glamour
0:25:03 > 0:25:09or excitement, it was about a man dying in front of them in the air,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11and it was also about a lot of spectators dying.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17They were not just onlookers. They were tragic participants.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Derry's crash had also been witnessed by other test pilots
0:25:22 > 0:25:27on the ground waiting for their part of the display.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29I think everybody almost felt a personal loss
0:25:29 > 0:25:33with John Derry being killed on accident.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38But once the ambulance crews had treated the injured
0:25:38 > 0:25:40and the wreckage cleared away...
0:25:40 > 0:25:42They went on with the air show.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Can you imagine anything like that today
0:25:45 > 0:25:47if something like that happened?
0:25:47 > 0:25:4828 people.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54Neville Duke in a Hawker Hunter took off,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57flew the plane up to 30,000 feet,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00dived it and broke the sound barrier.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05Now, was that a kind of brutal act or an unthinking act?
0:26:05 > 0:26:10No, I think what they realised was they had to keep the show on the road.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13The air show was such an important event.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17It was in the spirit of things to carry on.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20And the next day in the pouring rain,
0:26:20 > 0:26:25140,000 people turned up to watch the final day's display.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29The difference between then and now
0:26:29 > 0:26:35is that it never crossed anybody's mind to sue either Farnborough, the airfield organisers,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37or De Havilland's, the company that made the plane.
0:26:37 > 0:26:44Changes, though, were made to what test pilots would be allowed to do in future.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49Besides an immediate effect, it had a lasting effect on flying,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53because we were not allowed after that to do turns towards the crowd.
0:26:55 > 0:27:01Safety in all aspects of flying became a more pressing concern.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Nowhere was this better seen than in the development of the ejector seat.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17'As more and more jet aircraft come into service,
0:27:17 > 0:27:22'the problem of saving the pilot in the event of mishap becomes increasingly difficult.'
0:27:22 > 0:27:26The higher speeds that jet aircraft introduced,
0:27:26 > 0:27:27the airflow was so enormous
0:27:27 > 0:27:30that you would probably not even get your head out
0:27:30 > 0:27:34much beyond the outside of the windscreen cover.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Experiments replicating this very powerful airflow
0:27:37 > 0:27:41show just how difficult it was to escape from the cockpit.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49But scientists have accepted the challenge.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53A British company, Martin-Baker, came up with the answer.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58In 1946, pilot Bernard Lynch climbed aboard a specially-adapted Meteor
0:27:58 > 0:28:02and carried out the very first in-flight ejection tests.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09And by the mid-'50s, ejector seats were standard in RAF fighters.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14How did it work in a real emergency?
0:28:14 > 0:28:22In 1956, Hawker Hunter pilot Alan Merriman was part of an RAF squadron in Suffolk.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26I was doing this climb at full power and 400 knots
0:28:26 > 0:28:30and as I passed through roughly 12,000 feet,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33the engine completely exploded.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34I lost control.
0:28:36 > 0:28:37He had no choice but to eject.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45The next thing I knew was that the aircraft was disappearing in front of me,
0:28:45 > 0:28:50the seat was disappearing below, and I was hanging in a parachute.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52It all happened automatically.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58And you were there floating down gently so quietly
0:28:58 > 0:29:03after all the fuss and bother that you had before - it was really peace and calm.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09The next question really is, "Where am I going to land?"
0:29:10 > 0:29:16There were one or two hazards that made you feel slightly uncomfortable.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21Electric power cables with 33,000 volts running through them,
0:29:21 > 0:29:26steam trains driving up the railway line at very high speed.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28I spotted a tennis court,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33a beautiful grass tennis court in a big house with its own grounds,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37and I thought, "If only I could aim for that I'm going to be all right."
0:29:38 > 0:29:40But Alan was already too low.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47There was a great crash and I found myself bursting through the roof of a house
0:29:47 > 0:29:49on the outskirts of the town
0:29:49 > 0:29:53and there I was wedged in amongst the tiles.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57His impact was even more dramatic.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01My legs had gone through not only the tiles in the roof
0:30:01 > 0:30:04but in the ceiling of an upper bedroom
0:30:04 > 0:30:07in which there was a woman of 75
0:30:07 > 0:30:13who was awakened and frightened by the crashing noise above.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17His story made front-page news in the local press.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19It was also picked up by the French media,
0:30:19 > 0:30:26who revelled in the rude awakening of the elderly woman, who was described as shocked
0:30:26 > 0:30:31by the two booted legs and the male derriere stuck in her ceiling.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Ejector escapes like Alan's were commonplace in the 1950s.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Fighter jets were going ever faster
0:30:44 > 0:30:47as new aircraft shapes were constantly tested in wind tunnels.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53British designers had learned much from German research.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59During the closing years of World War II, Britain discovered
0:30:59 > 0:31:02that the Germans had very advanced supersonic wind tunnels,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05far more advanced than what we had in the UK.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08In fact, this very wind tunnel in Farnborough
0:31:08 > 0:31:12is one captured from the Germans and brought back to Britain.
0:31:12 > 0:31:18Wind tunnel research helped produce a whole new generation of aircraft.
0:31:23 > 0:31:24The V bombers.
0:31:26 > 0:31:33The Valiant, the Vulcan and the Victor.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Three very different bombers with a common destructive purpose.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44The story of the V bomber is intimately linked
0:31:44 > 0:31:48to the story of Britain's view of itself in the world.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50In the late '40s, the British,
0:31:50 > 0:31:56in order to remain an independent great power,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59they decided to embark upon creating their own nuclear weapons.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01If they're going to create their own nuclear weapons,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03they had to have a way of delivering them.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05What do they do? In a way, they went back
0:32:05 > 0:32:08to the tried and tested formula of the Second World War.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10In the war, three heavy bombers -
0:32:10 > 0:32:14the Lancaster, Halifax and Stirling -
0:32:14 > 0:32:17had pulverised Germany.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Now the new generation - Valiant, Vulcan and Victor -
0:32:20 > 0:32:24could strike a nuclear hammer-blow against the Soviet Union.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36But why did the Air Ministry, in a seemingly extravagant move,
0:32:36 > 0:32:41go for three different V bomber designs?
0:32:41 > 0:32:44The ministry decided to go for three because the first aircraft,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47the Valiant, was quite straightforward and simple
0:32:47 > 0:32:51and could be produced quickly whereas the more advanced ones,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54the Vulcan and Victor, were to be proceeded with
0:32:54 > 0:32:57until it was clear that one of them was the better aircraft
0:32:57 > 0:33:00and in the end, the Ministry went for all three because all three worked.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Absolutely incredible, if you think about it now,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10- the way things are and the way they were then.- It's all fantastic.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14The largest, heaviest, and the most aerodynamically advanced
0:33:14 > 0:33:19of the V bombers was the Victor.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22With its other-worldly crescent-shaped tail and wings,
0:33:22 > 0:33:24the Victor was massive.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Its enormous 110-foot wingspan
0:33:27 > 0:33:32and distinctive cockpit gave it a predatory presence.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37I think to this day, the Handley Page Victor
0:33:37 > 0:33:40is one of the most evil-looking aircraft I've ever seen.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43If you wanted a plane which looked like something
0:33:43 > 0:33:46out of a 1950s science fiction, it was the Victor.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55A bomber with an incredible range of 6,000 miles, the Victor was powered
0:33:55 > 0:33:59by four thunderous Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engines.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03The pilots could call upon a mammoth 40 tons of thrust
0:34:03 > 0:34:07to get this monster into the air.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15But when it comes to making a lasting impression,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19there's one V bomber head and shoulders above the rest.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23The Vulcan really is an iconic symbol, I suppose.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25Everybody knows about the Vulcan.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30This strange delta shape, unheard of.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33No bomber had ever had a shape like this.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37It was like a great black bat.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41With the wheels extended almost like talons. A fantastic sight.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47The Vulcan was designed and built by the same company
0:34:47 > 0:34:50that produced the great Lancaster bomber, Avro.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57Now the world's first delta wing four jet bomber, the Avro Vulcan.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00And there was no better man to show it off than Avro's chief test pilot,
0:35:00 > 0:35:01Roly Falk.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Immediately I got into her,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07I knew that had got absolute confidence.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12'A brilliant man, a wonderful test pilot and a great salesman.'
0:35:12 > 0:35:16He used to fly in a grey pinstripe suit, never wore overalls.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18At Farnborough, which was very important,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22he would have lunch with a customer and then he would dash out
0:35:22 > 0:35:25in his pinstripe suit and get into the Vulcan and fly
0:35:25 > 0:35:26and he always flew immaculately.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Everybody's used to bombers droning along
0:35:33 > 0:35:36laboriously getting into air like flying pigs.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40This thing just leapt off the ground, it was incredible.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44At the 1955 Air Show,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48Falk did what no one had ever done with a heavy bomber.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50He rolled the Vulcan.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57The crowds loved it but Falk was given a ticking off.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01He was told this was inappropriate behaviour for a bomber.
0:36:06 > 0:36:11By the time the Vulcan entered service with the RAF in 1956,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Tony Blackman was joining Avro as a test pilot.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19He, like Falk, once wowed the crowds at Farnborough.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22Now you must turn at once to Tony Blackman.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26There he goes, now on the top of a loop.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30He's over the top and he's rolling out.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Huge bomber it may have been but the cockpit is surprisingly cramped.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43As well as two pilots in the front, the back had to fit in
0:36:43 > 0:36:48a navigator radar, navigator plotter and electronics officer.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53It's amazing to be back and nothing's changed.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56Just slightly harder perhaps climbing up the steps.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00I used to be a bit quicker and of course, the flight deck is so small.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04A large aircraft with a minute flight deck with a stick
0:37:04 > 0:37:08and it was just like a fighter, really.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13The Vulcan served in the RAF for an impressive 28 years,
0:37:13 > 0:37:18even flying missions in the Falklands War in 1982.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24There's now only one in the world that still flies
0:37:24 > 0:37:27and its based at Doncaster Airport.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33It's an important day for XH558.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36She's going to do a special flypast over a gathering
0:37:36 > 0:37:39of former V bomber crews.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41When you taxi out, of course,
0:37:41 > 0:37:45the power is very low and there's not very much noise
0:37:45 > 0:37:49and you don't really appreciate what a powerful machine you're handling.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51It all seems so tame.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Then of course, when you open up the power,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57it takes a little time for the engines to accelerate
0:37:57 > 0:38:00and if you open up to full power on the brakes and then let go,
0:38:00 > 0:38:03it's absolutely fantastic the acceleration rate.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11The power in the 301 engines was so enormous
0:38:11 > 0:38:14because you had four engines, 20,000 pounds static thrust each
0:38:14 > 0:38:17and the Vulcan dry only weighed just over 100,000 pounds
0:38:17 > 0:38:19so that's why the Vulcan would go.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24You get this tremendous kick up the backside,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26I suppose like driving a racing car.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Vulcan, you're clear to manoeuvre.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Beautiful airborne, the Vulcan triggers vivid memories
0:38:44 > 0:38:48for those who spent long hours on the flight deck.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52It was a typical Avro aircraft, it was black inside
0:38:52 > 0:38:59and had the Avro smell of a mixture of hydraulic fluid, fuel and vomit.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Those engines have a sound
0:39:03 > 0:39:09that anyone who's ever heard a Vulcan before instantly recognises.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20You can hear it quite well there.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23I reckon he's about 800 feet, I think.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26- Happy days, I suppose, happy days. - Nostalgic.- Nostalgic, yes.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36But these bomber crews had a deadly serious job.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42Anthony Wright flew all the V bombers.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45He spent most of the 1960s practising for nuclear war
0:39:45 > 0:39:49with the Soviet Union.
0:39:49 > 0:39:55I was 21 when I first was responsible for my nuclear weapon in my aircraft.
0:39:55 > 0:40:00It was a cold war, they were against us, we were against them
0:40:00 > 0:40:04and if they were going to hurt us, I would do the same to them.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Practice missions with dummy bomb drops were carried out
0:40:07 > 0:40:10over areas of mainland Britain that replicated Soviet territory.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16If you went on a mission east, you'd go high first of all,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20and then you'd go down below the Russian Polish radar,
0:40:20 > 0:40:24go in and drop your nuclear weapon
0:40:24 > 0:40:26and come back.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28That was it, really.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34We always felt that the massive destruction that could be dealt
0:40:34 > 0:40:36by the V bombers would have been so colossal
0:40:36 > 0:40:39that no-one in their right minds
0:40:39 > 0:40:42would even think about attacking this country.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46I am very proud to have flown the V-Bombers,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49under my father's command during the war.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52He was only too pleased to bomb Germany,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55the same as I had no problem whatsoever to bomb Russia
0:40:55 > 0:40:56if I had to.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01The V-Bombers were emblematic of the brilliance
0:41:01 > 0:41:05but also the extravagance of the British Aircraft Industry
0:41:05 > 0:41:06in the 1950s.
0:41:08 > 0:41:09The big problem was,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12there wasn't enough funding to pay for all these.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15As well as all the bombers,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19there was now an almost bewildering array of fighters in
0:41:19 > 0:41:21or about to come into service
0:41:21 > 0:41:23with both the RAF and Navy.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Gloster was building Javelins.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30Hawkers had Hunters, Seahawks.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33De Havilland made Vampires,
0:41:33 > 0:41:34Venoms and Sea Vixens.
0:41:34 > 0:41:39And Supermarine had their Scimitars and Swifts.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44And even more potential new aircraft were already in development.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The government of the day,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51when they looked at the requirements for the next 20 years
0:41:51 > 0:41:55concluded that you couldn't afford to operate so many different types.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58Something had to go
0:41:58 > 0:42:00and the government was ready to bite the bullet.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08In 1957, Duncan Sandys,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12who was then the Conservative Defence Minister,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15unleashed his White Paper for the future of defence.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21Sandys was a great believer and had been since the war,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23in guided missiles and rocketry,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27and what he really wanted to do was to do away with aircraft
0:42:27 > 0:42:29and just have guided missiles.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Missiles, not fighters, were supposedly going to be the future.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39Which meant that the once sacrosanct RAF
0:42:39 > 0:42:42would be first on the chopping block.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46At a stroke, 14 Day-Fighter Squadrons
0:42:46 > 0:42:48and about eight Night-Fighter Squadrons
0:42:48 > 0:42:50had been disbanded virtually overnight.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53A savage reduction in capability.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Aircraft companies were told they would have to merge.
0:43:00 > 0:43:01Within three years,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05most of the multitude had been rationalised down to just two.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10The first big group - the British Aircraft Corporation.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Now that includes Bristol Aircraft, Hunting Aircraft,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18English Electric and Vickers-Armstrong.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22The second big group is Hawker-Siddeley Aviation.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27But from these ashes, a phoenix would rise.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31A shining hero that escaped the defence cuts...
0:43:33 > 0:43:35..The English Electric Lightning.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39When it was first released to the public
0:43:39 > 0:43:42I think it had a huge media impact.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46There was this utterly bizarre, silver aircraft,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50which was then called the English Electric P1.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53The fact that it was called English Electric was wonderful
0:43:53 > 0:43:55cos it made it sound like it should be a washing machine.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Indeed, the company who had built this new prototype fighter
0:43:59 > 0:44:02also made a variety of kitchen appliances.
0:44:02 > 0:44:03'In this jet age,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06'the English Electric Company is supreme with the Canberra Bomber
0:44:06 > 0:44:10'and the P1 fighter, which exceeds the speed of sound in level flight.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14'You will find the same supreme quality and workmanship
0:44:14 > 0:44:17'in every English Electric domestic appliance...'
0:44:17 > 0:44:18And if this happy couple
0:44:18 > 0:44:21could be dragged away from the blissful perfection
0:44:21 > 0:44:25of their English Electric kitchen to cast their eyes skyward,
0:44:25 > 0:44:29there was this magnificent, shiny aircraft to behold.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Those P1 prototypes became... the Lightning.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Soon they began to be spotted in skies over Britain.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42It just went, "Zoom!", straight over my head and I thought,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44"That's for me, love it. Love it, love it."
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Seeing a Lightning that day inspired Lesley Hayward-Mudge
0:44:49 > 0:44:53to join the Air Force, where she worked in air-traffic control.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58In those days, women weren't allowed to be jet pilots
0:44:58 > 0:45:02but at least she could get closer to her beloved Lightnings.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05The Lightning was something totally different altogether.
0:45:05 > 0:45:10It was a rocket-fuelled delivery vehicle
0:45:10 > 0:45:12and it just went like the clappers.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17I'd have given me eye-teeth to have flown it!
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Everybody loved the Lightning, it was so powerful.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29It looked an utter thoroughbred
0:45:29 > 0:45:32in gleaming aluminium when it first came out.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Two hugely powerful engines, one on top of the other,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39were what made the Lightning really stand out.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44'The Lightning, equipped with Firestreak guided missiles,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47is the first fully supersonic fighter for the RAF.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51In late 1959, Lightnings entered service with the RAF.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56Future fighter pilot John Ward remembers seeing one up close
0:45:56 > 0:45:57for the first time.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04We watched as a Lightning taxied in past the hanger and to me then,
0:46:04 > 0:46:10as an 18-year-old teenager, it was just a huge, powerful, awesome beast.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Above all else, the Lightning was about speed and acceleration.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19That plane was so fast
0:46:19 > 0:46:21it could break the sound barrier in a vertical climb.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24It was a quite extraordinary aircraft.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29'Want to fly a Lightning?'
0:46:33 > 0:46:36'Want to climb two Everest's... in three minutes?'
0:46:39 > 0:46:44With a top speed of 1,320 miles per hour,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47this aircraft was the ideal recruiting tool for the RAF
0:46:47 > 0:46:49in the early 1960s.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Under your left hand you've got something like
0:46:57 > 0:47:00120,000 horsepower instantly responding.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03And it's... It's a good feeling.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05A brilliant feeling.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17All that performance, though, came at a price.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24As an RAF engineer, Tony Clarke spent seven years
0:47:24 > 0:47:27toiling on this notoriously complex aircraft.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Everybody on the ground crew used to think
0:47:31 > 0:47:35it was a great piece of aircraft to work on
0:47:35 > 0:47:37and everybody liked it to start with.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39Once you'd been there a little while, you didn't like it so much.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44Tony, like all Lightning ground crew, had to put in
0:47:44 > 0:47:48huge efforts to keep these high maintenance aircraft operational.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52Lots and lots of hours were put in on the Lightning all the time.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Pilots generally done their job and went home
0:47:55 > 0:47:59and we were there through the night, fixing it for them.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02It wasn't so much a simple job - you had to get to it,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04which meant taking engines out,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08reheat pipes or ejection seats, anything.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Get to the problem and you'd probably fix it in an hour or so,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14then you'd have to put it all back together.
0:48:14 > 0:48:19An hour's job would properly turn into 25, 30, 40 man-hours.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23The Lightning was also a thirsty fighter.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26You were always watching the fuel gauges.
0:48:28 > 0:48:29I could empty this in 15 minutes.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Shuuucck! And it was gone.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37To tackle this problem, V-Bombers were used as tankers
0:48:37 > 0:48:39for air-to-air refuelling.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42The RAF had to spend a lot of time
0:48:42 > 0:48:44working out ways of getting enough fuel on board
0:48:44 > 0:48:47to keep the plane up long enough to do its job,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50which was to shoot down the various Russian planes.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56In the early 1960s, Cold War tension was at its height,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Britain's Lightning squadrons
0:49:01 > 0:49:04were almost in a permanent state of alert.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09Leuchars - alert. Two Lightnings to two minutes. Acknowledge, over.
0:49:09 > 0:49:10Suddenly the telephone would ring
0:49:10 > 0:49:13and it would be one of the radar controllers from around the UK
0:49:13 > 0:49:16ordering you to scramble immediately.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18You would run to the aeroplane, jump in...
0:49:21 > 0:49:24Russian Bear and Bison bombers approaching British airspace
0:49:24 > 0:49:28were usually the trigger for these scrambles.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31'Receiving - scramble, scramble. Acknowledge.'
0:49:31 > 0:49:33Being in air traffic we used to count them out
0:49:33 > 0:49:38and watch two or three taking off on QRA - Quick Reaction Alert.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42Bears and Bisons coming in and you'd think,
0:49:42 > 0:49:44pray, "Please let them come back."
0:49:46 > 0:49:49You then start working out where you're going,
0:49:49 > 0:49:50how far you've got to go.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56Their job was to intercept Russian bombers over the North Sea.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01It was a cat and mouse watching game at 50,000 feet.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08They were just monitoring, listening, recording everything that went on.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12You would get up alongside and normally they would wave.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Quite often there'd be a little white face at every window.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19They knew that we were there just to watch them.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23Sometimes these encounters became very tense.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26One I intercepted when he violated the airspace
0:50:26 > 0:50:29and I was trying to get him to land, it was scary.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31He just wanted to get out of there.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34He was out to dodge as fast as he could go.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36He didn't want to mix it with me.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40In the Cold War, Britain was privileged
0:50:40 > 0:50:43to have a fighter like the Lightning guarding her shores.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49By now though, building military aircraft as purely fighters
0:50:49 > 0:50:51or bombers was not enough.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56The Lightning was good, but only really in one role.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59Versatility was the thing.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05And Britain was ahead of the pack with a new development...
0:51:08 > 0:51:09The TSR-2.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15When it first flew in 1964, great hopes were pinned to it.
0:51:15 > 0:51:20All the effort was ploughed into making TSR-2 something special,
0:51:20 > 0:51:24right across the range from its engines to its aerodynamics,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27to very advanced terrain-following radar.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30It was years ahead of any opposition.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34'It's the most advanced airborne weapon system ever developed.'
0:51:37 > 0:51:41Returning from the TSR-2's maiden flight, test pilot Roland Beamont
0:51:41 > 0:51:45was impressed by the aircraft's handling.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47On the surface, everything looked sunny.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52The TSR-2 had rave reviews in the press
0:51:52 > 0:51:55when it went through its test flying phase
0:51:55 > 0:51:57and everybody still views it
0:51:57 > 0:52:00in the rosy glow of the reports of the test pilots.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06Under this carapace of optimism, problems were mounting.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09The very length of the title of the TSR-2
0:52:09 > 0:52:14is a bit of a giveaway - it stood for Tactical Strike Reconnaissance.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16It kind of beats as it sweeps as it cleans.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19It is expected to do so many different things.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23It was very difficult to get all this in one aircraft.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25It had to fly very high, very fast.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28It had to fly at a reasonable speed on the ground.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32It had to carry an atomic weapon at low altitude a long distance.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37Too much was being expected from a single aircraft design
0:52:37 > 0:52:38and there was trouble at the top.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41There was nobody in charge.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43The air staff wanted certain things done.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The Ministry of Technology, as it came about, wanted certain things done.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51Everything that was demanded by anybody was put on the TSR-2 budget,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53which escalated the cost enormously.
0:52:53 > 0:52:54In some respects,
0:52:54 > 0:52:58TSR-2 was the aircraft that never actually had to confront reality.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01It was a brilliant aeroplane, the test pilot said so,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03but that's all we know.
0:53:03 > 0:53:09Reality came crashing in on TSR-2 with a new Labour government.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Harold Wilson was dead against TSR-2,
0:53:12 > 0:53:17even before he came to power in the general election in October 1964.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19TSR-2 was heavily over budget
0:53:19 > 0:53:23and it became clear that the government was going to cancel it.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27When BAC factory workers got wind of this,
0:53:27 > 0:53:3110,000 of them marched in protest through London.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35The British aircraft workers demand a national plan for the industry.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37The demonstrations were to no avail.
0:53:39 > 0:53:45In April, 1965, TSR-2 was scrapped.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47There was a public outcry, of course,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50because it looked as though it was just another occasion
0:53:50 > 0:53:53of throwing an immense sum of money down the drain
0:53:53 > 0:53:55with nothing to show for it.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57Roy Jenkins, the Minister for Aviation,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00defended the government's decision
0:54:00 > 0:54:03against furious attack from the opposition.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05We can't go on spending £1 million a week
0:54:05 > 0:54:08which is what we've been spending on this plane.
0:54:08 > 0:54:09What this has done,
0:54:09 > 0:54:13is it is the death knell for the British Aircraft Industry.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18But there was no going back.
0:54:19 > 0:54:25All that remains today of TSR-2 are a couple of mournful museum pieces.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32TSR-2's downfall was a signal moment for British aviation.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37By the early '60s, the climate had changed.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39It was all about money.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Test pilots no longer had quite the say that they used to have
0:54:43 > 0:54:46and nor did the companies that they belonged to.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49If a company produced an aircraft that was extremely flyable
0:54:49 > 0:54:51and got it to prototype stage, this was no guarantee
0:54:51 > 0:54:55that it couldn't just be axed by the government at the last moment.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01Amidst all this, one example of idiosyncratic British ingenuity
0:55:01 > 0:55:06managed to counter the trend of cancelled projects.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11In 1962, it made its debut at the Farnborough Airshow.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15'The fighter of the future - the Hawker P1127.'
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Better known today as the Harrier Jump Jet,
0:55:21 > 0:55:23this was an astonishing,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26revolutionary piece of engineering genius.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32You suddenly could fly almost like a bird.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36You could stop and hover like a kestrel
0:55:36 > 0:55:38and the original design was called a kestrel,
0:55:38 > 0:55:41and then accelerate forward again.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45You could turn so tightly that nobody else could follow you around
0:55:45 > 0:55:47unless they were in a comparable aeroplane.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Here was the world's first vertical takeoff and landing fighter.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56A product of more than a decade's experimentation
0:55:56 > 0:55:58by several different companies.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00From Rolls-Royce's Flying Bedstead...
0:56:02 > 0:56:03..to Short's SC1.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07But it was Hawkers who had the drive to turn a concept
0:56:07 > 0:56:09into a successful aircraft.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13Sydney Camm, their chief designer,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17wasn't prepared to do just another research aeroplane.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Camm's team took a French concept - vectored thrust -
0:56:21 > 0:56:24and adapted it to their own aircraft design.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28The idea was that you could swivel the thrust of a jet engine.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Point it downwards when you wanted it, out of the back when you didn't.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Simple, but clever.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39What really added to the Harrier's brilliance
0:56:39 > 0:56:41was that Hawkers had foreseen a need
0:56:41 > 0:56:42for this kind of aircraft.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46The concept that Hawkers had was
0:56:46 > 0:56:49aerodromes are very difficult to defend
0:56:49 > 0:56:53and all you've got to do is knock a few holes in the middle of the runway
0:56:53 > 0:56:56and it doesn't matter how good the aeroplanes are in the hangers,
0:56:56 > 0:56:58you can't fly them.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00The Harrier didn't need a runway.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05As Eagle comic proudly proclaimed,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09the Harrier was so nimble it could land on a tennis court.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12The Harrier was a stunning success.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16It wowed the crowds at airshows, entered service with the RAF
0:57:16 > 0:57:19and was sold to air forces all over the world,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22most significantly, the United States.
0:57:24 > 0:57:25A wonderful aeroplane.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29Absolutely wonderful. And, of course, the Americans are still flying them.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35In the mid-1960s,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39the Harrier demonstrated that despite the debacle of the TSR-2,
0:57:39 > 0:57:44Britain's aircraft industry could still be a world beater.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48It was to be a final hurrah.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52The last all-British-made fighter, perhaps the crowning achievement
0:57:52 > 0:57:57of more than 20 years of creativity in British military jet aviation.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02When we started it was like a one-man band,
0:58:02 > 0:58:06but of course, what happened was, we became very much part of a team.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09And that team was expanding all the time.
0:58:09 > 0:58:14No longer was it exclusively the RAF and test pilots
0:58:14 > 0:58:16experiencing the jet age.
0:58:17 > 0:58:18It was the British public.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23Not just appreciative spectators, they were now participants.
0:58:24 > 0:58:25Next time...
0:58:25 > 0:58:30Comets, cocktails and continental jet travel.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33Things could happen. Britain could make it.
0:58:33 > 0:58:35We were going to reach for the sky.
0:58:35 > 0:58:37'Tales up for Britain.'
0:59:01 > 0:59:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd