0:00:02 > 0:00:08Powered flight was just 11 years old when the First World War began.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12But a dedicated group of men transformed the aeroplane into one
0:00:12 > 0:00:15of the most important weapons in helping to win that war.
0:00:20 > 0:00:26Some of the pilots who flew these incredible machines are remembered as glamorous heroes.
0:00:26 > 0:00:33Germany's highest scoring ace was the aristocratic Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35In contrast, the top British aces were two
0:00:35 > 0:00:42little-known working class heroes, Edward Mannock and James McCudden.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44On two occasions, he shot down four aircraft in a day.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47On two more occasions. he shot down three on a day.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52They were called knights of the sky.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56But beyond the myth lay a brutal reality.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01There was no romance about this. The best way to kill someone is a bullet
0:01:01 > 0:01:04through the back of the head before they even knew you were coming.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11As the number of their victories grew relentlessly,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14the aces' reputations soared,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17but so did their chances of dying in flames.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20He feared it to the extent that he started taking a revolver out with him.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24If fire broke out, he would take the revolver and blow his own head off.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Timewatch tells the story of two unlikely heroes and their battle
0:01:30 > 0:01:35against the odds and themselves to survive...
0:01:37 > 0:01:42..and of a 90-year-old mystery surrounding the death of one of them.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21Just over 90 years ago, machines like this, constructed mainly
0:02:21 > 0:02:25from wood and fabric, were one of the most feared weapons of war.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40Today, only a handful of these historic aircraft are still capable of flying,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44the largest number of which form the Shuttleworth Collection,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47based at the Old Warden Aerodrome in Bedfordshire.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54The collection provides a unique link with the earliest days of powered flight.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11This is a Bristol Box Kite from 1910.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14And it really is a true flying machine.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16It's wonderfully basic.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19It's the kind of thing that our pilots
0:03:19 > 0:03:22who went out to France in 1914 would have learned on,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and what they would have flown before the First World War.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29They'd have been very used to this kind of thing. And it's beautiful.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32It's basic. It's got bicycle wheels.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36It's completely festooned with wires.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40And this is the reason why they called these early machines flying birdcages.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44You can see precisely why. And, really, it's an astonishing thing.
0:03:44 > 0:03:50When you think about the sophisticated aircraft that were being produced in 1918,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53we're only talking a few years on
0:03:53 > 0:03:58from the manufacture of this sort of contraption.
0:03:58 > 0:04:05In 1914, just before the outbreak of war, this was Britain's entire
0:04:05 > 0:04:10air force - a disparate collection of only 33 aircraft.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14It was called the Royal Flying Corps.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20The aeroplanes at the time were looked after by a new breed of soldier, the air mechanic.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25Among them was 18-year-old James, or Jimmy, McCudden.
0:04:25 > 0:04:31During the course of the First World War, Jimmy McCudden would rise from humble origins
0:04:31 > 0:04:36to become one of the most distinguished and highly decorated fighter pilots of the war.
0:04:43 > 0:04:50'Against military regulations, Jimmy McCudden kept a written account of his innermost thoughts and feelings.
0:04:50 > 0:04:56'It's also a unique record of the history of aviation in World War One,
0:04:56 > 0:05:02'and it's here at the RAF Museum in London where McCudden's writings are kept.'
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Well, this is the first of four books which form the manuscript
0:05:06 > 0:05:11for Jimmy McCudden's book Five Years In The Royal Flying Corps.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14It's written in pencil. It's an army exercise book,
0:05:14 > 0:05:20as are the other three volumes, ruled pages written in pencil by him in his own very neat handwriting.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23And he started writing, "One lovely morning
0:05:23 > 0:05:29"about the end of April 1913 found me very pleased with life in general."
0:05:29 > 0:05:34Jimmy McCudden came from a close working-class army family.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38In the phrase of the day, he was "born in barracks".
0:05:38 > 0:05:41One of six children of a non-commissioned officer,
0:05:41 > 0:05:48educated to the age of 14 in the army school, he became a bugler boy in the Royal Engineers,
0:05:48 > 0:05:55but soon followed his eldest brother Bill into the newly formed Royal Flying Corps.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Bill was really in at the very beginning of aviation in this country, a real pioneer.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05He was only the fourth non-officer pilot to be trained as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.
0:06:05 > 0:06:11Bill would frequently give his younger brother Jimmy unofficial flying lessons.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14It was his big brother. He was flying. He was doing what Jimmy wanted to do.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18So it's not surprising that it was the sort of motivation that would take him forward to fly himself.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22The archives of the Royal Air Force Museum in London
0:06:22 > 0:06:26also hold a number of other letters and papers from the McCudden family.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Aviation historian Alexandra Churchill
0:06:30 > 0:06:34has uncovered one which predicted a glorious war for the young Jimmy.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39This is an extraordinary letter from James's older brother Bill.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43It's written the day before war is declared, and here on the back he's almost prophetic.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47He says, "I can see Jim coming back with a VC or something of the sort."
0:06:47 > 0:06:50And here at the bottom he says, "You can bet your boots that the McCudden
0:06:50 > 0:06:54syndicate will not be missing when there is something doing."
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Bill's letter would prove accurate on both points.
0:07:00 > 0:07:07The following day, war was declared and the McCudden syndicate, Bill and Jimmy, were to be posted to France.
0:07:07 > 0:07:14But even before leaving England, Jimmy witnessed the very first fatal air crash of World War One
0:07:14 > 0:07:20when his friend and fellow air mechanic Keith Barlow was killed in a flying accident.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23We then heard the engines stop,
0:07:23 > 0:07:28and following that the awful crash which once heard is never forgotten.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33I ran for half a mile and found the machine in a small copse of firs.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36So I got over the fence and pulled the wreckage
0:07:36 > 0:07:39away from the occupants, finding them both dead.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44I shall never forget that morning at about 6.30,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48kneeling by poor Keith Barlow and looking up at the rising sun,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53then again at poor Barlow, who was killed purely by concussion,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56and wondering if war was going to be like this always.
0:07:59 > 0:08:05Flying these early aircraft was a shockingly dangerous profession.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Of the 14,000 British pilots killed in World War One,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13over 8,000 died while training.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17And yet Jimmy McCudden was not put off
0:08:17 > 0:08:19by his early experience of death.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25By mid-1915, he had been promoted to a sergeant and an observer -
0:08:25 > 0:08:29one step closer to his dream of becoming a pilot.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35Jimmy would have flown as an observer in aircraft like these,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39flimsy, two-seater machines not built for fighting.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45In fact, in the early days of the war, they were completely unarmed.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50The role of aviation at the start of World War One was seen, both by the
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Army and the Navy, as being one essentially of reconnaissance.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Using ordinary plate glass cameras, the observers leaned out
0:08:58 > 0:09:00over the side of the aircraft
0:09:00 > 0:09:03to take photographs of the battlefield below.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05They are there for observation.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09They are there to locate the enemy, to pinpoint them
0:09:09 > 0:09:11and then the second part of their job
0:09:11 > 0:09:14is that they will direct artillery fire to destroy that target.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25They also carried small bombs in the cockpit and dropped them over the side onto the enemy below.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31These were the first crude developments of the aircraft as a fighting machine.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36The problem was, of course, the other side was doing exactly the same thing
0:09:36 > 0:09:41and before very long, the crews of opposing aircraft started
0:09:41 > 0:09:45taking along rifles, pistols, having a crack at each other.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52No army in the world could allow the artillery observation aircraft of their enemies
0:09:52 > 0:09:54to cross over the lines and photograph them,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57to bring down artillery fire right
0:09:57 > 0:09:59into the very midst of their trenches.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03They just couldn't let it happen, so they had to stop it.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07It rapidly became apparent that the aircraft needed more than
0:10:07 > 0:10:12just pistols and rifles to fight this new kind of war in the air.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Guy Black restores vintage aircraft.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23He also has an extensive collection of aerial weaponry from the First World War.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Looks just like the picture.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29The easiest solution was to adapt a weapon that was already in use.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36The Lewis Machine Gun was standard issue for ground troops in World War One.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41It just needed a few alterations by the Royal Flying Corps.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45In order to convert it for aerial use, they removed the wooden
0:10:45 > 0:10:49stock off the back, replaced it with a spade grip.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51That reduces the length significantly.
0:10:51 > 0:10:57Initially, they started off with a 47-round standard infantry magazine.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00But that only gave you ten seconds of use.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05So that was very soon doubled up to 97 rounds, and that's 20 seconds.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Doesn't sound very much, but you would only fire it
0:11:08 > 0:11:10in one or two second bursts,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14well aimed bursts and the notion of hosing around the sky
0:11:14 > 0:11:16with a machine gun is absolute nonsense.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20It wasn't used in that way at all. Here is one
0:11:20 > 0:11:25fully loaded and... this length, I can barely lift it,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and to change one in the heat of battle is really quite a task.
0:11:28 > 0:11:35Like all observers, the young Jimmy McCudden was responsible for operating the machine gun.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40But it was difficult for the observer to fire at the enemy
0:11:40 > 0:11:44aircraft without running the risk of hitting his own plane.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47The easiest way to mount a machine gun is to mount it
0:11:47 > 0:11:53pointing forwards, because then you could actually aim the machine gun simply by aiming the aircraft.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57But on the majority of planes, where the engine and the propeller was at the front,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59you simply couldn't do that
0:11:59 > 0:12:02because the machine gun would shoot off the propeller.
0:12:04 > 0:12:10But it was the Germans who first adopted an ingenious device which synchronised the machine guns
0:12:10 > 0:12:15so they could fire between the blades of the propeller while it rotated.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22It absolutely revolutionised air fighting and it turned the aeroplane
0:12:22 > 0:12:24into a genuine fighting machine,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28not just a machine that could defend itself if it had to,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32but a machine that could actually go out and attack.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38The Germans were quick to capitalise upon their technological lead,
0:12:38 > 0:12:43tearing into the Allied observation aircraft.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47The German pilots would become aerial warriors.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51The first of note in 1915 was Max Immelman,
0:12:51 > 0:12:56who developed the tactics which gave them the upper hand in dog fights.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01They'd dive out of the clouds, they'd come out of the sun.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04They always tried to surprise you.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08There was no romance about this. The best way to kill someone is a bullet
0:13:08 > 0:13:12through the back of the head before they even knew you were coming.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16It was in this mayhem that the young observer Jimmy McCudden
0:13:16 > 0:13:23started to make a name for himself, successfully defending his aircraft from an attack by the German ace
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Immelman, who already had many kills to his name.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Jimmy was credited with actually holding him off by
0:13:31 > 0:13:34accurate fire from his Lewis machine gun fired from the shoulder.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38It's not suggesting that it did any damage to him or shot him down,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41but just by holding him off and keeping him out of range.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49I stood up with my Lewis gun to the shoulder
0:13:49 > 0:13:52and fired as he passed over our right wing.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55He carried on flying in the opposite direction.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59After this, he climbed to about 300 feet above us
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and then put his nose down to fire.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Having been waiting him, I opened fire at once
0:14:04 > 0:14:08and he promptly withdrew to a distance of 500 yards.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12I was very thankful indeed to return from this outing.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15I'd imagine that once Immelman in his Fokker saw us,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18there was not much chance for us.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20However, we live and learn.
0:14:20 > 0:14:27For his bravery in battle, Jimmy McCudden received the first of many decorations when,
0:14:27 > 0:14:34on 29 January 1916, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French General Joffre.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Two days later, the newly promoted Flight Sergeant Jimmy McCudden
0:14:40 > 0:14:46was sent back to England to fulfil his ambition and train as a pilot.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53But Jimmy's dream of flying alongside his elder brother Bill
0:14:53 > 0:14:54would never be realised.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59Bill had been killed in a flying accident while training a new pilot.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03He was the first of the McCudden family to lose their lives
0:15:03 > 0:15:05in the Royal Flying Corps.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07He wouldn't be the last.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13In his memoirs, Jimmy recorded his brother's death
0:15:13 > 0:15:17with the bland words, "I suppose it had to be."
0:15:17 > 0:15:21In reality, it was a devastating emotional blow.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24He was called into the orderly room
0:15:24 > 0:15:26and given a telegram informing him of Bill's death,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30and the people that were there said that he didn't appear to take it in.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33He left with the telegram.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38He sort of stumbled out of the office and one of the NCO pilots found him
0:15:38 > 0:15:42just inconsolably sobbing his heart out in between two hangars.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Whatever the emotional impact of his brother's death,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49it didn't slow Jimmy's rapid progress.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53He qualified as a pilot in April 1916 and
0:15:53 > 0:15:58within a few months was in France flying DH2 single-seater fighters.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02He recorded his first kill at the beginning of September,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07and in October received the second of his gallantry awards, the Military Medal.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16McCudden was honing his skills, developing a meticulous attention
0:16:16 > 0:16:21to detail which would mark him out as an exceptional pilot.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27When it came down round to early 1917, he'd by then got five victories
0:16:27 > 0:16:29and he'd served overseas for several months.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33And he was posted back to the UK as a trainer.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37And he would travel round the country with other experienced pilots
0:16:37 > 0:16:39lecturing to various courses,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42lecturing to various training schools on air combat tactics.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47It was here that the new pilots would come to grips with the techniques of aerial warfare.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56One of those Jimmy was to train was his younger brother Jack,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00the third of the McCudden brothers to join the Royal Flying Corps.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06But he was also to instruct an extraordinary character called
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Edward Mannock, who, like Jimmy,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12was to become one of Britain's highest scoring
0:17:12 > 0:17:15and most decorated fighter pilots of World War One.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Mannock and McCudden formed a close bond from the start
0:17:20 > 0:17:24and Mannock credited McCudden with saving his life during training.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28He'd just had his first spin and remembered my advice,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31which I think at the time was to put all the controls central
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and offer up a very short and quick prayer.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39Mannock was a typical example of the impetuous young Irishman
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and I always thought was of the type to do or die.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Born in Ireland, Edward "Mick" Mannock,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50like Jimmy McCudden, came from a working-class military family.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53But here the similarity ends.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Mannock's father abandoned the family,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00taking their meagre savings and leaving them in poverty.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Mannock left school at 14.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07He worked as a grocer's boy and then a variety of other jobs
0:18:07 > 0:18:10before joining the National Telephone Company,
0:18:10 > 0:18:11where he began to travel.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18At the outbreak of war, the 26-year-old Mannock was in Istanbul
0:18:18 > 0:18:20working as a telephone engineer.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Turkey had sided with Germany and her allies, and Mannock
0:18:24 > 0:18:29was interned, where he suffered depravation and serious ill health.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34In 1915, he was released back to Britain on medical grounds.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38He's released primarily because the Turkish authorities assume that
0:18:38 > 0:18:41he won't be a combatant, that his health is too poor
0:18:41 > 0:18:44for him to recover and then to join
0:18:44 > 0:18:47the fight against the Germans and their allies.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51In fact, Mannock made a remarkable recovery
0:18:51 > 0:18:54and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58But anxious to seek action,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04where he qualified as a pilot and was posted to France.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11At 29, Mick Mannock was some ten years older
0:19:11 > 0:19:14than the typical RFC pilots he was joining.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16He was also more worldly wise,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20which initially caused friction with his fellow officers.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24When he arrived there, he got off to a bad start.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27He makes the fatal error on the first night of sitting in
0:19:27 > 0:19:32the favourite chair of the pilot who had died that day.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37He was a man who certainly wasn't the average airman of his time.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41He was a socialist. He was a supporter of Irish Home Rule.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43He came from a broken home.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45He was all these things that on the face of it
0:19:45 > 0:19:48you would think he wouldn't fit into the military.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53But the Royal Flying Corps was an organisation of slightly irreverent questioning people,
0:19:53 > 0:19:59who were trying a new activity, an activity that had never really been carried out before.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04And, in a way, it was ideal for somebody with Mannock's edgy character.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08If Mannock appeared overly confident amongst his fellow officers,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11the writings in his personal diary
0:20:11 > 0:20:14reveal a much more fragile character.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19What's interesting about his diary is how frank he is
0:20:19 > 0:20:24in terms of recording his emotions, and it's quite clear that
0:20:24 > 0:20:27he is almost petrified
0:20:27 > 0:20:32by his initial experiences up in the air.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Mannock was very different from McCudden.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39There's no two ways about it. He was a nervy individual.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Business out here is still very chock full of excitement.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52I have an idea that my nerves won't take very much of it.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Old McKenzie goes away on leave today,
0:20:59 > 0:21:0114 days.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03He's in need of it.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06If ever a lad was cracked up Mack is.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09I wonder if ever I shall get like that
0:21:09 > 0:21:10and what my friends will think of me if I do.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Old Paddy, the devil-may-care with nerves.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18I feel nervous about it already.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Mannock's fear was justified.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26The life expectancy of a new pilot in 1917 was just 11 days.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30The aircraft they were flying were flimsy and dangerous
0:21:30 > 0:21:32and lacked basic safety equipment.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Even parachutes were deemed surplus to requirements.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44The view of the powers that be in the United Kingdom was that they did
0:21:44 > 0:21:47not want to give parachutes to their pilots
0:21:47 > 0:21:51because it was felt that with a parachute they might be encouraged
0:21:51 > 0:21:54not to make it all the way back with a damaged aircraft.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Without a parachute, being trapped in a burning aircraft
0:22:01 > 0:22:04was a constant fear amongst British airmen
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and one that haunted Mick Mannock in particular.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12He feared it to the extent that he started taking a revolver out with him when he flew.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14He had it in a small pocket in the cockpit.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19If fire broke out, he would take the revolver and blow his own head off.
0:22:35 > 0:22:41Mannock's friend Jimmy McCudden had been promoted to captain and sent back to the front.
0:22:41 > 0:22:48In August 1917, he was posted as a Flight Commander of the RFC's elite 56 Squadron.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53He would be flying the new SE5A, unglamorously named,
0:22:53 > 0:22:58but one of the most successful fighter aircraft of World War One.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01It might be described as the Spitfire of the First World War.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05It remained a predominant fighter,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07capable of dealing with any opposition
0:23:07 > 0:23:09right through to the end of the war.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23It was in the SE5A that McCudden and Mannock sealed
0:23:23 > 0:23:29their reputations as Britain's top fighter aces of the First World War.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34Wooden framed, fabric covered, able to survive being attacked by other aircraft.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37There's nothing much in here so bullets would pass through.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Jimmy McCudden talks about coming back from a dog fight.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45He was perfectly intact, the aircraft was flying and he counted 120 bullet holes in the side of the aeroplane.
0:23:48 > 0:23:55Within three days of arriving back in France with his new squadron, Jimmy shot down a German aircraft.
0:23:55 > 0:24:01But he faced a challenge of a different nature from his fellow British officers.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04The entire squadron almost is comprised of ex-public school boys.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Pretty much every major public school was represented.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11So, understandably, there are going to be times when,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16as a man who left school at 14, having been educated in an army setting,
0:24:16 > 0:24:22McCudden was not going to comprehend entirely what was going on in terms of conversation.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28I always wished I'd had the advantages of a public school.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32After I joined the officers' mess, I often felt ill at ease
0:24:32 > 0:24:35when the chaps were talking about things I didn't understand.
0:24:35 > 0:24:42But Jimmy's modest education didn't prevent him performing exceptionally well as a pilot.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46He started slowish but steadily and gradually that built up,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50so, over the next several months, he was shooting down regularly.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53On two occasions, he shot down four aircraft in a day.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56On two more occasions, he shot down three on a day.
0:24:56 > 0:25:04In just five months to December 1917, McCudden shot down a staggering 52 enemy aircraft,
0:25:04 > 0:25:12accounting for 40% of the entire squadron's total and making him Britain's top-scoring pilot.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Jimmy's tactics were one of patience, of stalking.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18There was absolutely no point as far as he saw
0:25:18 > 0:25:20in pressing on gung ho when your ammunition runs out,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22ram your aircraft into the opposition.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26You lose your aircraft and maybe your life. They lose theirs. One for one.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Nobody's going to get an advantage. It's just not professional.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32But McCudden had another advantage.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35He was able to fly higher than his fellow pilots
0:25:35 > 0:25:39and it was his training as a mechanic which gave him the edge.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44McCudden, using all his engineering experience,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46super-charged his SE5, his aircraft
0:25:46 > 0:25:49so that it would go another 3,000, 4,000 feet higher.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52And he would go up there flying long patrols.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56It's amazing, really, at that height, 20,000, 21,000 feet.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58No oxygen, freezing cold.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01He'd be up there waiting for them to come across.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And he would just shoot them down. He'd shoot two, three, four down. It was fantastic.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12But there's a cost.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14There's always a cost.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16He was starting to suffer.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19You just can't fly up there at that height. You need oxygen.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24I felt very ill indeed.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28This was not due to the height or the rapidity of my descent.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31It was due to the intense cold that I experienced up high,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34so that when I got down to a lower altitude I could breathe
0:26:34 > 0:26:39more oxygen, with the result that my heart beat more strongly
0:26:39 > 0:26:44and was trying to force my sluggish and cold blood around my veins too quickly.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46My word, I did feel ill.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50And when I got on the ground, the blood returning to my veins,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I cannot describe as anything but agony.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58While McCudden fought to overcome the physical difficulties of flying at high altitude,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02his friend Mick Mannock was winning his battles with his mental demons.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04And by the summer of 1917,
0:27:04 > 0:27:09Mannock had received the Military Cross for bravery.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12He had also become an ace.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15French journalists, I think,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19coined the phrase of "the ace", the top of the pack.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24An ace was a pilot who had shot down more than five enemy aircraft.
0:27:26 > 0:27:33But Mannock's diary reveals that he was having difficulties facing up to the consequences of his actions.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38I had the good fortune to bring a Hun two-seater down in our lines the other day.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Luckily, my first few shots killed the pilot
0:27:40 > 0:27:44and wounded the observer besides breaking his gun.
0:27:44 > 0:27:45The bus crashed south of Avion.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48I hurried out at the first opportunity.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54The machine was completely smashed and, rather interestingly,
0:27:54 > 0:28:01also was the little black and tan terrier dead in the observer's seat.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03I felt exactly like a murderer.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Despite his at times contradictory emotions,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Mannock was developing into a very effective fighter pilot.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18He's worked out the tactics.
0:28:18 > 0:28:25He now knows the most effective way of shooting down German aircraft,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28of flying from behind, flying from the east,
0:28:28 > 0:28:34of flying out of the sun and, crucially, flying extremely close
0:28:34 > 0:28:38to your target before you unleash a stream of machine gun bullets.
0:28:38 > 0:28:45And it wasn't long before Mannock's exploits were being recognised amongst his peers.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Even the newspapers back home were writing about Mick Mannock,
0:28:51 > 0:28:55although they had to refer to him as Captain X.
0:28:57 > 0:29:04The War Ministry refused to allow the press to name Britain's star pilots, preferring the view that
0:29:04 > 0:29:08it was the team effort which was important and not the individual.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13The authorities also became concerned
0:29:13 > 0:29:16that if a pilot had been raised to considerable
0:29:16 > 0:29:20public awareness as a very leading exponent of his art
0:29:20 > 0:29:25and was then killed in action, this could be bad for public morale.
0:29:25 > 0:29:30Unlike the British, the German authorities positively encouraged
0:29:30 > 0:29:32public adulation of their aces,
0:29:32 > 0:29:37the most famous being Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron,
0:29:37 > 0:29:42seen here with the British pilot he had just shot down.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45In Germany, the aces were household names.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48They were known to every man, woman and child in Germany.
0:29:48 > 0:29:54They publicised them throughout the newspapers. They were the supreme embodiment of German manhood.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59They stood for everything that was brave and good about German men at battle.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04By January 1918, the British press had had enough.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Hungry to personalise the exploits of our heroes, they began to put
0:30:08 > 0:30:13pressure on the War Ministry to change its rules on publicity.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16And so the Daily Mail wrote an article.
0:30:16 > 0:30:22This article is entitled Our Unknown Air Heroes, Germany's Better Way.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24So an inflammatory sort of headline in itself.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27And in the article, he says,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29"What I want to know is why an Englishman
0:30:29 > 0:30:33"whose hobby is bringing down sky Huns in braces and trios
0:30:33 > 0:30:36"between luncheon and tea and who can already claim
0:30:36 > 0:30:38"a bag of 30 enemy aircraft should have to wait
0:30:38 > 0:30:40"to be killed before a grateful nation
0:30:40 > 0:30:43"waiting to acclaim him can even learn his name."
0:30:43 > 0:30:45That was on January 3rd.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50Over the weekend, the War Ministry had obviously considered their position.
0:30:50 > 0:30:56So, by Monday January 7 1918, the Daily Mail again were actually
0:30:56 > 0:31:00producing an article that says Our Air Stars.
0:31:00 > 0:31:06And down here we have the story of Captain McCudden MC, "born in barracks", as the heading says,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09and describes his early life and achievements in the Royal Flying Corps.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14Not only does it name him and tell us something about him,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17but also, on the back of the paper, there's a picture of him for the first time as well.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21So people can now know his name but also they can see what he looks like.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26For Jimmy McCudden, the publicity was not welcome.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30This is the letter that Jim writes home to his sister Kitty on the day
0:31:30 > 0:31:32that his name becomes public in the Daily Mail.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36And he says to her, "Have you seen all the bosh in the paper about me?"
0:31:36 > 0:31:40And then he also says, "On no account whatever are any particulars or photos
0:31:40 > 0:31:46"of me to be sent to the papers, as that sort of thing makes one very unpopular with one's comrades."
0:31:46 > 0:31:52McCudden's modesty was made all the more remarkable by the fact that when he left France for Britain
0:31:52 > 0:31:59in March 1918 Jimmy had recorded 57 victories, making him the top-scoring British pilot.
0:32:02 > 0:32:08But the war was exacting a terrible toll on the McCudden family.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10Jimmy received news that his younger brother Jack,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14who he had helped train as a pilot, had been killed in action,
0:32:14 > 0:32:19the second of the so-called McCudden syndicate to die.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27As he absorbed the impact of his brother's loss, McCudden was to receive more welcome news.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31For his conspicuous bravery, exceptional perseverance and high
0:32:31 > 0:32:36devotion to duty, he was awarded Britain's highest decoration,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39the Victoria Cross.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43There's not a prouder man living than when on 6 April I went to Buckingham Palace.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48I shall ever remember how the King thanked me for what I had done.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58Jimmy McCudden's is one of only 19 VCs awarded to airmen
0:32:58 > 0:33:00in the First World War.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05So, before we see the VC, if I could just let you put some gloves on. Thank you.
0:33:05 > 0:33:11David Roland has come to the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, McCudden's home town,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14where his Victoria Cross is kept for safe keeping.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18- This is the original McCudden VC. - Wow.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21- There we go. - Thank you. Wow, what a moment.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23I've read about this, heard so much about it
0:33:23 > 0:33:26in all the work I've done and studying about McCudden.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30It's a real privilege to actually be able to handle it.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Wonderful.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34And yes, there on the back,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36as it should be, his name,
0:33:36 > 0:33:41Lieutenant Temporary Captain JV McCudden, DSO, MC, MM.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45General list and it gives 56 Squadron RFC.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48It's a delight and a privilege.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Do you know what happened when he received this? The day, 6 April 1918,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54he went to the Palace to receive the Victoria Cross,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57but not only did the King give him this, but also gave him two DSOs,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59a bar to his Military Cross.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03So he came away with an incredible display of medals in one presentation.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Despite his excitement, McCudden was typically modest about his award,
0:34:10 > 0:34:17travelling to Buckingham Palace alone, not even telling his family the investiture was taking place.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Meanwhile, the press continued to hound him.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25I see the papers are making a fuss again
0:34:25 > 0:34:27about the ordinary things one does.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29Why, that's our work.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Why fuss about it?
0:34:32 > 0:34:35I'm so tired of this limelight business.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37If only one could be left alone a bit more
0:34:37 > 0:34:39and not so much the hero about it.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46However McCudden felt about the intrusion, it was inevitable
0:34:46 > 0:34:48that this glamorous young fighter pilot
0:34:48 > 0:34:51would become the centre of attention
0:34:51 > 0:34:54while out enjoying London's clubs and theatres.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57London at the time is full of what have been termed
0:34:57 > 0:35:01"Whitehall warriors", which is men in uniform who haven't seen any service.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04And McCudden of course isn't one of those and,
0:35:04 > 0:35:09yes, he's got medal ribbons lovingly sewn on by his mother on his tunic.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11It wasn't just the club and theatre owners
0:35:11 > 0:35:14who were keen to have McCudden's company.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Jimmy had always been a bit of a one for the girls.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26There is one girl and that's Teddie O'Neil.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30She's a dancer in the West End and, as we know, McCudden is
0:35:30 > 0:35:35going to every show he possibly could on leave and he had met her there.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38I think he was seeing somebody else at the time,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41because there was a bit of a crossover, which causes him
0:35:41 > 0:35:43some problems, and he takes her up on a joy ride.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46And he was brash enough to write in his log book as well
0:35:46 > 0:35:48that he'd taken her up as a passenger.
0:35:53 > 0:35:59While on leave, Jimmy was to spend time with fellow pilot Mick Mannock.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03They were two decorated war heroes clearly enjoying themselves
0:36:03 > 0:36:04with the opposite sex.
0:36:07 > 0:36:14In Mannock's diary, McCudden was to write the enigmatic comment "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned,"
0:36:14 > 0:36:17to which he added the word "piffle".
0:36:19 > 0:36:21The frivolity was short-lived.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30By the spring of 1918, the war was reaching its savage climax
0:36:30 > 0:36:32both on the ground and in the air.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Aircraft were now being used to support the troops.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38The days of the lone aerial dog fights were over.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43But they were now even more vulnerable to attack from the ground.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Things have changed. It's not aerial jousting.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49It's just another part of mechanised warfare.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54In 1918, what you see is the aces falling one by one.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59One by one, they just make that one mistake too many.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03And the first of those aces to be brought crashing to earth
0:37:03 > 0:37:08was the now infamous German pilot, Baron von Richthofen.
0:37:10 > 0:37:17The British authorities afforded Richthofen, who had 80 kills to his name, a lavish funeral.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22Six British airmen bore his coffin to the French cemetery at Burtangles,
0:37:22 > 0:37:27where Allied newsreels recorded the event in all its pomp and ceremony.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35Not everyone mourned Richthofen's death.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40Mick Mannock refused to raise his glass and salute the downed German ace.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45Mannock wouldn't sign up to that and he's allegedly supposed to have
0:37:45 > 0:37:49said, "I hope the bastard burned the whole way down."
0:37:49 > 0:37:54He had a deep, deep loathing of the Germans,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58primarily, I think, it's because of his personal experience in the
0:37:58 > 0:38:04winter of 1914, 1915, the way he personally was treated by the Turks.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07He's not fighting Turks, so he's fighting the people
0:38:07 > 0:38:12who were responsible for bringing Turkey into the war, Germany.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17Against the odds, Mannock embarked upon an extraordinary run of victories.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22In May 1918 alone, he shot down 20 German aircraft,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26beginning to rival his friend McCudden, or Mack as he called him,
0:38:26 > 0:38:27as Britain's number one ace.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32My total is now 41.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35If I have a bit of luck, I might beat old Mack.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Then I shall try and oust old Richthofen.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50It looked as though Mannock might just do it, as McCudden
0:38:50 > 0:38:56had now spent three months away from the Western Front, teaching aerial fighting to new pilots in Britain.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00McCudden was desperate to get back to front-line duty in France.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04The authorities, however, were less keen for him to go.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Bear in mind now he's famous.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12The War Ministry, having decided that they're going to let people know
0:39:12 > 0:39:18who their heroes are, now want to use these heroes in a very constructive way to improve morale back home.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22So there's a reasonable conclusion to draw, that they would have been happy
0:39:22 > 0:39:24if he didn't go back out because they didn't want to lose him.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27He had every intention of going back to France
0:39:27 > 0:39:31and he'd talked about the men he left out there and the "young boys"
0:39:31 > 0:39:34still fighting and dying for their country and he wanted to go back and join them.
0:39:34 > 0:39:41Eventually, the War Ministry relented and McCudden was offered command of the elite 85 Squadron.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44But in an extraordinary move, the squadron rejected him
0:39:44 > 0:39:49on the grounds that he was the son of a non-commissioned officer and had risen through the ranks
0:39:49 > 0:39:52without recourse to a public school education.
0:39:52 > 0:40:00Despite his VC and being the top-scoring British ace, being "born in barracks"
0:40:00 > 0:40:03made him less worthy in some people's eyes.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Eventually, he was given command of 60 Squadron in France.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12On the day of his departure, he met with his sister Mary
0:40:12 > 0:40:16and handed her a package containing his VC and his other medals.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19It was the last time she was to see him.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30On the early afternoon of Tuesday, 9 July 1918,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Jimmy McCudden picked up his brand new SE5A from Hounslow aerodrome
0:40:34 > 0:40:39in London and set off for France where his new squadron was stationed.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04The flight across the Channel was straightforward
0:41:04 > 0:41:06and there was nothing on the journey
0:41:06 > 0:41:10to suggest that the new aircraft was in any way defective.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16Aware of the ever-changing front lines in the fast-moving conflict,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20McCudden landed at a British airfield at Auxi-le-Chateau,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23just north of Abbeville in Northern France
0:41:23 > 0:41:26to ask directions to his new aerodrome at Boffles close by.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Bonjour, monsieur. Je m'appelle Mike.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42- Mathieu de France.- Mon plaisir.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Aviation historian and former pilot Mike O'Connor
0:41:45 > 0:41:52has studied eyewitness reports and can describe the sequence of events that unfolded that day.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00This field is owned by the family of Mathieu de France,
0:42:00 > 0:42:06and until now he was completely unaware that in the First World War it was an RAF aerodrome.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09It was in this field that McCudden touched down.
0:42:13 > 0:42:19Right, Mathieu, this is the only known photograph of the airfield at Auxi-le-Chateau.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21We are here. Nous sommes ici.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25The hangars, along that edge of the wood
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and here's the line-up of some of the aeroplanes just there.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35McCudden landed and the two duty NCOs came out and spoke to him and
0:42:35 > 0:42:41they gave him directions to where he should be going, which was Boffles.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45McCudden taxied and took off again.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54As he banked steeply over the airfield,
0:42:54 > 0:42:56his engine was heard to misfire.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Then it cut out altogether.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06The plane was seen to nosedive into the woods just beyond the airfield.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13The first person on the scene was Corporal Howard.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18The aircraft was wrecked and McCudden was lying beside the aeroplane
0:43:18 > 0:43:24bleeding profusely from the nose and the mouth and was unconscious.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28A couple of other people then arrived and he was put on a stretcher and removed to a casualty
0:43:28 > 0:43:32clearing station quite close by, where he was found to have suffered
0:43:32 > 0:43:36a severe fracture at the base of the skull and the jaw.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38He didn't regain consciousness
0:43:38 > 0:43:40and died two hours later at eight o'clock.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46No-one will every really know what happened that day,
0:43:46 > 0:43:52but it seems likely that mechanical failure caused the aircraft to lose power and crash.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55After surviving three years of aerial warfare,
0:43:55 > 0:43:59it was a tragic accident which claimed Jimmy McCudden's life.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06The following day, a few miles from the scene of the accident,
0:44:06 > 0:44:11McCudden was buried at the tiny military cemetery at Wavans.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19'It seemed a terrible end
0:44:19 > 0:44:23'for such a brilliant pilot and notable ace
0:44:23 > 0:44:25'to die in a simple accident.'
0:44:29 > 0:44:32This is the grave of Jimmy McCudden.
0:44:32 > 0:44:39With all Victoria Cross holders, on their headstone is a facsimile of the decoration, which you can see here.
0:44:39 > 0:44:40Very distinctive.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44You can see a Victoria Cross headstone from a long way away.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48And beneath it most families had an epitaph, an inscription.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50I'm particularly fond of this one.
0:44:50 > 0:44:56"Fly on, dear boy, from this dark world of strife on to the promised land to eternal life."
0:44:56 > 0:45:00I find it very emotive, very moving.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04The style of his funeral, however, seemed less heroic than the manner
0:45:04 > 0:45:06in which he had fought the war.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11There's a lot of criticism of the funeral.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Two officers from McCudden's former squadron.
0:45:14 > 0:45:19One said that it was rather rushed affair and another one said,
0:45:19 > 0:45:28"It made my blood boil that the whole service was done in Latin, mumbled in Latin, and a very soulless affair."
0:45:28 > 0:45:32And, in fact, he compared it very unfavourably with the funeral
0:45:32 > 0:45:39that had been accorded von Richthofen, the top German ace, only three months before.
0:45:42 > 0:45:50In just four years, James McCudden had risen from the position of Air Mechanic First Class to Major.
0:45:50 > 0:45:57He had won the Victoria Cross and was one of the highest-scoring British pilots of World War One
0:45:57 > 0:46:02and yet, at the time of his death, he was just 23 years old.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21Jimmy's McCudden's death had hit his friend Mick Mannock very hard
0:46:21 > 0:46:23and he vowed to avenge him.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27By now, Mannock had nearly equalled McCudden's victories, but his demons
0:46:27 > 0:46:31were taking an increasing grip on his state of mind.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35He was willing but his mind was starting to let him down.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37And there's an awful tale.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41He was on leave, he was with one of his old friends, and the friend just
0:46:41 > 0:46:45watched aghast as something in the conversation triggered it off
0:46:45 > 0:46:47and Mannock started to cry.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49And he didn't just cry.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51He was crying, his nose was running,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53snot running everywhere, he was snivelling.
0:46:53 > 0:47:00He still hasn't been able to come to terms with his own private fears,
0:47:00 > 0:47:06most notably the prospect of being shot down and burning to death.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19Publicly, however, Mannock continued to be a hugely charismatic leader,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22and for bravery in the spring of 1918
0:47:22 > 0:47:26he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30not once but three times in just over a month.
0:47:30 > 0:47:37He does have amongst his peers an awesome reputation,
0:47:37 > 0:47:43and yet there is still this contradiction in that privately he's the tortured individual.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Mannock's mind was in a terrible state.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54If you read his letters, you can see it's jumping from subject to subject.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56You know, "Will I live? Will I die?
0:47:56 > 0:47:58"Shall I get married? Perhaps..."
0:47:58 > 0:48:01You can feel him leap frogging, jumping between subjects.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03He's a man who can't settle.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Things are getting a bit intense just lately
0:48:11 > 0:48:16and I don't quite know how long my nerves will hold out.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21I'm rather old now as airmen go for air fighting.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Still, one hopes for the best.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31These times are so horrible.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Occasionally, I feel that life's not worth hanging on to myself.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41But...hope springs eternal in the human breast.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48Mannock appeared as if he had a death wish.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51He flew more and more missions.
0:48:51 > 0:48:52He took more and more risks.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55He would fly low, acting as a decoy.
0:48:55 > 0:48:56He started to break his own rules.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59He wanted to kill more Germans.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02He wanted to be out with his lads in the squadron.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04There's no two ways about that.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16I think it's just a very confused man struggling with almost impossible
0:49:16 > 0:49:20pressures that are bearing down on him.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25On the morning of 26 July 1918, just three weeks after his friend
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Jimmy McCudden's tragic death, Mick Mannock set off on patrol.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33With him was 24-year-old New Zealander Donald Ingliss,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37an inexperienced pilot with no kills to his name.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43They were searching for a German observation plane
0:49:43 > 0:49:49which for the previous few days had been harassing British troops over the front lines near Merville.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02Mannock's plan was to give the rookie Ingliss the opportunity of making his first kill.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11It was not long before he spotted the German plane.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18Within seconds, Mannock got on the tail of the enemy aircraft.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22He fired a burst which killed the observer.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28He then moved aside to allow Ingliss to finish off the attack.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40The German aircraft fell to the ground in flames.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52It was now that Mannock was to inexplicably break his own golden rule
0:50:52 > 0:50:57by following the German down and observing the crash site.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06What he was doing was gobsmackingly stupid.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08It was a fateful error.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16German machine gun fire from the ground hit Mannock's plane
0:51:16 > 0:51:19as it pulled away and his aircraft caught fire.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24With his plane in flames, Mannock's nightmare had become realised.
0:51:25 > 0:51:30Eyewitnesses describe Mannock's SE5A as going into a glide
0:51:30 > 0:51:33before crashing beyond British lines.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36We don't know whether he was struggling with controls right
0:51:36 > 0:51:40to the last minute, whether he died quickly, whether he burnt to death.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45And it remains unknown whether in the final moments Mannock was able
0:51:45 > 0:51:48to use the revolver he carried in the cockpit to end his life
0:51:48 > 0:51:50before the flames devoured him.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06Britain's two greatest First World War flying aces
0:52:06 > 0:52:10were to lose their lives within three weeks of each other.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13But Mick Mannock's death brought with it a mystery
0:52:13 > 0:52:19that has endured for 90 years - the location of his final resting place.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Writer and historian Andy Saunders has come to France
0:52:28 > 0:52:29to resolve the mystery.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32For the past 20 years, he has been trying to find out what
0:52:32 > 0:52:34happened to Mick Mannock's body
0:52:34 > 0:52:39after his aircraft crashed in flames in the summer of 1918.
0:52:41 > 0:52:48His initial research leads Andy to the graves of the two German airmen who were Mannock's final victims.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53This is the German war cemetery, which is about 12 miles away
0:52:53 > 0:52:58from where Mick Mannock shot down his last aircraft.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01And buried here is Leutnant Ludwig Schopf
0:53:01 > 0:53:07and buried just a few graves away from him is Josef Hein, his pilot.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12And it's interesting, I suppose, that here they are both buried
0:53:12 > 0:53:17side by side and yet Mannock, the man who downed them, is still missing with no known grave.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21But there is some evidence which shows that immediately
0:53:21 > 0:53:25after the crash Mick Mannock's body was indeed found.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30And it is this evidence which brings Andy to a track called Butter Lane,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33close to where Mannock's plane came down.
0:53:33 > 0:53:39After the war, the British authorities received information from Germany
0:53:39 > 0:53:43that the German Army had found and identified Mick Mannock
0:53:43 > 0:53:48and had buried him somewhere very close to this road.
0:53:48 > 0:53:54The Germans were very specific as to where on Butter Lane Mick Mannock's body had been buried -
0:54:02 > 0:54:07But when the British authorities searched this location in 1921,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10they failed to locate Mannock's grave.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16Because of the failure of the British to find Mannock's body,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21his name is commemorated here at the Arras Memorial in France
0:54:21 > 0:54:25along with 1,000 other missing airmen from the First World War.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33Andy is meeting military historian Paul Reed.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38They suspect that the German records were incorrect, which might explain
0:54:38 > 0:54:41why the British authorities couldn't find Mannock's body.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45We've got the trench map of the area we are now, round Butter Lane.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48We've got the dotted blue line here. This is the German positions.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52This was their front line and then, right over on the far side of
0:54:52 > 0:54:55the map, we can see the red line, and that is our front line.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58We can see how close together they were.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03So this is La Pierre-au-Beure marked on the British trench map.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08And it was from this position that the War Graves Commission believed
0:55:08 > 0:55:11Mannock to have been buried 300 metres northwest of.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14That puts it out here in no man's land?
0:55:14 > 0:55:16So, really, that doesn't make any sense at all in terms of...
0:55:16 > 0:55:23No, no-one's going to sacrifice your own men to bury one of the enemy's dead in the middle of a battlefield
0:55:23 > 0:55:26where the war is still going on. It doesn't make any sense.
0:55:26 > 0:55:33During his research, Andy came across one other intriguing piece of information - a letter
0:55:33 > 0:55:38from official files which describe the exhumation of an unknown British airman,
0:55:38 > 0:55:42tantalisingly close to where the Germans said they had buried Mannock.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52Using satellite navigation combined with World War One trench maps,
0:55:52 > 0:55:56Paul Reed is able to pinpoint the position where in 1920
0:55:56 > 0:56:00this unknown British airman's body was found and exhumed.
0:56:00 > 0:56:06And if we refer to the GPS device, we're right on the spot.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09- Good Lord. So it was right here. - It was right here.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14- From this it would appear that we're actually just behind a German trench there.- It is.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17There's this sort of upside down T-shape trench and the grave,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20as you can see, Andy, is just behind that position,
0:56:20 > 0:56:24from the Germans' point of view, away from enemy observation.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28- They can bury the man that they found in the wreckage of that aircraft.- Yeah, exactly.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33Andy now believes that this is a much more likely place to bury
0:56:33 > 0:56:38Mannock than in the middle of no man's land on an active battlefield.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41Despite the proximity of the two sites,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45the British authorities have always refused to accept
0:56:45 > 0:56:47that the body of the unknown airman was Mannock,
0:56:47 > 0:56:52simply because it was not where the Germans said they had buried him.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06Andy has come to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Lavanty to visit the grave
0:57:06 > 0:57:13of that unknown airman, the grave that Andy believes should carry the name of Major Edward Mannock.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21In my view, this has to be the grave of Mick Mannock,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24and I just think it would be appropriate
0:57:24 > 0:57:28if the authorities were to review the case thoroughly
0:57:28 > 0:57:31and look at all the evidence again.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35After all, if this is a grave of one of the greatest heroes
0:57:35 > 0:57:39of World War One and it would surely be appropriate recognition of him
0:57:39 > 0:57:41to have some finality to this
0:57:41 > 0:57:45and have a headstone here that actually bears his name.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49A year after his death,
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Mick Mannock was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
0:57:56 > 0:58:02Mannock and McCudden were two of Britain's greatest fighter aces from the First World War.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Largely unknown today, they rose from modest backgrounds,
0:58:06 > 0:58:07and for a brief period
0:58:07 > 0:58:11they dominated the skies above the Western Front.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14Their skills and tactics helped turn a fledgling technology
0:58:14 > 0:58:17into a modern weapon which helped win the war.
0:58:17 > 0:58:22But it was a victory they would not live to see.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25The last of the great aerial warriors,
0:58:25 > 0:58:29they fell to earth just weeks before peace was declared.
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