0:00:03 > 0:00:07Every year, countless thousands of ordinary buildings are demolished.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Smashed down to make way for the new.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14For many, this fate is unavoidable.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17But some are so special they are saved.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Carefully taken down piece by piece.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Stored away until a new home for them can be found
0:00:25 > 0:00:28and they can be lovingly and painstakingly rebuilt.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32These are not grand buildings
0:00:32 > 0:00:36or always exceptional pieces of architecture.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40But preserved within the fabric are extraordinary stories.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Stories about who we are as a nation and what we have achieved.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47About the materials and the techniques we use.
0:00:47 > 0:00:48It's not as easy as it looks.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51And about why we build the way we do.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54It just feels like you're making it the way it should be made.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00In this series, I'm going to uncover the hidden history behind these seemingly humble buildings
0:01:00 > 0:01:06to reveal it's not just houses of the great and rich that have remarkable stories to tell.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10My grandfather was probably the first airman to die in the First World War.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12Goodness me!
0:01:12 > 0:01:16While I'll be seeing how these huge, incredibly complex jigsaw puzzles
0:01:16 > 0:01:20that were once buildings are actually put back together again.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40At a site in Hendon on the outskirts of London,
0:01:40 > 0:01:46getting on for 3,000 new homes are under construction.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51But 100 years ago, this was the centre of one of the greatest revolutions in human transport.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58It was here that the whole idea of modern air travel was born.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08From 1911, this was where Britain's first air mail was despatched.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Where the first-ever airliners were built and tested.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17And where some of the first fare paying passenger flights took off.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25Three years later it became a home to a massive 50-acre aircraft production centre.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31At the heart of this pioneering enterprise was this building.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34Here were the offices
0:02:34 > 0:02:39where the plans for Britain's first airliners and war planes were drawn.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45And above them, a 360-degree aviation watchtower,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47where the masterminds behind the operation
0:02:47 > 0:02:50could see their new aircraft being tested and launched.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Forgotten and neglected for 20 years, this was all that remained
0:03:01 > 0:03:04of one of Britain's first aviation buildings.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10It was on the site of the new development but it was listed.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Recognising the building's importance,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16English Heritage gave consent for it to be relocated.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18So it was taken apart brick by brick,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22and all the elements preserved until a new site could be found
0:03:22 > 0:03:24when it could be pieced back together
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and restored to its former glory.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30And happily that day has come.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Thanks to the persistence of local people and planners,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36the building is going to be brought back to life
0:03:36 > 0:03:39at the Heart of Hendon where it belongs.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43It's coming here to the RAF Museum
0:03:43 > 0:03:46which occupies part of the original aerodrome.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50And when here, the building will act as reminder of those days
0:03:50 > 0:03:54when Britain led the world in the field of aviation.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58'That iconic building has been dismantled
0:03:58 > 0:04:02'and moved across the old aerodrome to the museum site
0:04:02 > 0:04:04'and over the next nine months
0:04:04 > 0:04:11'we'll see the enormous task involved in piecing it all back together.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15'Property Developer Heston Atwell and Construction Engineer Derek Walsh
0:04:15 > 0:04:17'can at last begin the job of reconstruction.'
0:04:18 > 0:04:22- This is it. This is the entire building laid out.- Yes.- Yeah.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25These are the features we managed to keep from the salvage operations.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27There doesn't seem to be a lot of them.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29This was a big building, wasn't it?
0:04:29 > 0:04:32About 15,000 square feet but the ends were the only bits of interest,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37the North and South elevation, so this is all for those two ends.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Photographs taken before it was demolished reveal that it was
0:04:42 > 0:04:44a long narrow industrial shed.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50But at either end, in its heyday, were two grand entrances.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Facing onto the road, it was only single storey,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58but at the airfield end was a much more elaborate two storey structure,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01with a viewing balcony fronted by a balustrade
0:05:01 > 0:05:05and on top, what became the model for the world's airport watchtowers.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11So have you got a big instruction book?
0:05:11 > 0:05:14We do. We have a big set of plans that the architects have prepared.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17- Everything goes back together according to this.- That's it.- OK.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20That details the position of every single baluster,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22every single piece of stone, every single pediment.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27Well, it looks to me like you've got your work cut out
0:05:27 > 0:05:30if this is going to be a building.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The job of cleaning all the pieces of this jigsaw is under way.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40The foundations have been laid and the bricklayers have begun work.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Many of the old bricks were too damaged to be reused
0:05:43 > 0:05:46so some new ones have been substituted.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51In many ways, all buildings are like giant jigsaw puzzles
0:05:51 > 0:05:54but where this one is special is that
0:05:54 > 0:05:58half the pieces are missing or broken like this.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00So what Heston, Derek and the team have got to do
0:06:00 > 0:06:06is not only put together thousands of pieces in the right place,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08they have to find the missing pieces, remake the moulds
0:06:08 > 0:06:10to make the missing pieces.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11Put that all together,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15get the hundreds and thousands of pieces in the right place
0:06:15 > 0:06:20and then make it look like a unified dignified whole.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22It's an enormous challenge.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25But an intriguing one.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27To put this building back together,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31you first have to enter the mind of the man who built it.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34One of the great pioneers of air travel.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Airports seem commonplace today.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47They're something we take for granted.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51But 100 years ago, the idea that you could jump on an aeroplane
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and fly to virtually anywhere in the world
0:06:54 > 0:06:58had barely entered the realm of science fiction.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03But for one visionary, flight opened up a world of possibilities.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08The man with his eye on the future and an unbounded love of aircraft
0:07:08 > 0:07:15was a flamboyant, wealthy car dealer called Claude Grahame-White.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18He won a fortune in early flying competitions
0:07:18 > 0:07:22but his sights were firmly fixed on something even more ambitious.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24He was on a mission to inspire the nation
0:07:24 > 0:07:27with his dream for the future of air travel.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33People at that time regarded a flying machine as unlikely to
0:07:33 > 0:07:36be in any way the future of transport.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42I announced that I would take up seven passengers
0:07:42 > 0:07:45in the Grahame-White flying Charabanc.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48The flight was successfully made at Hendon,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51not with seven but with nine passengers!
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It's true that some passengers were simply perched on the wings.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58There wasn't room for them all in the cockpit.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02I believe that someday there will be airliners circling the globe.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Claude Grahame-White always envisaged that one day
0:08:06 > 0:08:10there would be international airlines circling this very building.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12It might not look like it today
0:08:12 > 0:08:17but it was here that he nurtured his great dream of civil aviation.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24'In the off-site carpentry shop,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27'work is under way on the mammoth job of restoring the woodwork.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32'Much of which was badly water damaged through decades of neglect.'
0:08:32 > 0:08:35- So is this a new window then? - No, this is one of the originals.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39'Master carpenter Ian Fortune and his team will have their work cut out
0:08:39 > 0:08:42'patching up the existing pieces
0:08:42 > 0:08:46'as well as replacing all those that have vanished or are beyond repair.'
0:08:46 > 0:08:48So what's that? Is that the stairs?
0:08:48 > 0:08:50That's part of the original staircase.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51So that's all in oak?
0:08:51 > 0:08:53That's all in oak and in a terrible state.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56- Isn't it?- Yeah.- So that's going to be a big job.- It needs a lot of work.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58And what's this?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01That's part of the panelling that came out of Grahame-White's office.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03Is it? Wow! So that was all panelled out?
0:09:03 > 0:09:05It's something we've got to match at a later date.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07And then this is quite a simple balustrade, isn't it?
0:09:07 > 0:09:09It is quite a simple balustrade
0:09:09 > 0:09:13when you consider the elaborateness of the staircase all in oak.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16I suppose that shows its period, that Edwardian thing,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18where they were starting to simplify.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20The fancy work was disappearing.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23At the end of the day, it was the work place, wasn't it?
0:09:23 > 0:09:26What about this, talking of fancy work? Wow!
0:09:26 > 0:09:28That's one of the feature windows off the balcony.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30These are something else, aren't they?
0:09:30 > 0:09:32There's quite a bit of work needed.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37- So these would have looked out onto the airfield.- That's right.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Suddenly you get a sense of what this building was about.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43It's like Newbury Racecourse. It's like Henley Regatta.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45It's almost like a sporting event, isn't it?
0:09:45 > 0:09:50So you start to understand that this building's really all about the spectacle of flight.
0:09:50 > 0:09:51That's right.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57In Claude Grahame-White's day
0:09:57 > 0:10:01the spectacle of flight came to define Hendon.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05In 1911, he transformed his airfield into a popular venue
0:10:05 > 0:10:10for pioneering air races and aerial displays.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13That legacy lives on today at The Shuttleworth Collection
0:10:13 > 0:10:16in Old Warden.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Here daredevil pilots still loop the loop in fragile period planes
0:10:21 > 0:10:24in the tradition of Grahame-White.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28- GRAHAMEWHITE:- I had 20 or 30 pilots whom I trained in my flying school.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Some of them were rather daring characters,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35eager to show of all sorts of aerial stunts.
0:10:37 > 0:10:43'To a world that had witnessed the Wright brothers' first flight only eight years earlier,
0:10:43 > 0:10:48'these aerial antics were as awesome as space travel is today.
0:10:48 > 0:10:54'My guide to the daredevil, topsy-turvy experience Grahame-White
0:10:54 > 0:10:59'called the "Hendon Habit" is aviation historian Josh Levine.'
0:10:59 > 0:11:03It's probably difficult now for us to imagine the spectacle
0:11:03 > 0:11:05that this would have been in 1911.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11Absolutely unheard of, the idea of going up and flying through the air.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Thousands and thousands of people would come along to watch it.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Yes, so Hendon at that time was really the greatest show on earth.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Biggest show on earth. It was a circus.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23It was absolutely the place to be.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27It was Lords, it was London Zoo, it was Ascot, it was Henley.
0:11:27 > 0:11:28It was glamour.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34- GRAHAME-WHITE:- We also made the first parachute descent from an aeroplane in flight.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38Mr Newell, the chap who dropped,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42didn't have his parachute strapped on his back as they do nowadays,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46but simply folded it up on his knee haphazard.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51And at 3,000 feet, he was shoved off with a hefty kick from behind.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59Very often people did crash and one pilot who flew for Grahame-White,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01crashed at one of the displays.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04He lost a leg. He fashioned a leg for himself.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06He created his own false leg,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08and three months later he was flying again.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10That's the kind of people you had.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13These were daredevils, you know. This was a new breed.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15These airmen were great celebrities
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and he himself, his waxwork was in Madame Tussauds.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21- Incredible, yes, yes. - That is real fame.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25But it wasn't all thrills and spills.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29He was also keen to demonstrate how powered flight could be deployed
0:12:29 > 0:12:32for military operations.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37In May 1911, he staged Britain's first military air display,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41inviting Winston Churchill and members of the defence ministry
0:12:41 > 0:12:44to this very site in Hendon.
0:12:47 > 0:12:48Oh, look at this. Grahame-White.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51This was the central insignia, the Claude Grahame-White insignia.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54- 1915. So this was the centrepiece, was it?- Yeah, yeah.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58And was this what you saw when you first arrived?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Above the entrance door, yeah.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03So I see wings obviously for a plane.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05He already had global ambitions.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08'It's July, the forth month of the rebuild,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11'and while the badge of Grahame-White's global ambitions
0:13:11 > 0:13:13'has scrubbed up well,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17'many of the other elements of the building have not.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19'This is an increasing problem for Heston
0:13:19 > 0:13:22'whose employers are funding the operation.'
0:13:22 > 0:13:25It was a real poorly built, jerry build kind of building in 1914-15.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28A lot of them we've shot with sort of frost action on them
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and you can see there's layers and layers of paint over them.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36Is it going to be quite a difficult job to reconstruct it
0:13:36 > 0:13:39if all of the constituent parts are so badly aged?
0:13:39 > 0:13:40It will be, yeah.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43There's a lot of detail particularly with these heavy stones here
0:13:43 > 0:13:48and how they were originally supported quite poorly from the first floor that was put through
0:13:48 > 0:13:51so we're going to have a lot of fun in getting those put up properly.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53- So very badly made? - Badly built, yeah.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58No, this was put up rather quickly I think by an aviator not a builder.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07But there was a good reason why this building had to be put up so quickly,
0:14:07 > 0:14:12and the clue is in the date of completion - 1915.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19The previous year had seen the outbreak of World War One.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23The military thought this would be a war like any other.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27But Grahame-White knew only too well
0:14:27 > 0:14:29that new technologies were transforming the battlefield,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34making it more brutal, more bloody and opening it up to the air.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41Three years earlier he'd shown how planes could be used for reconnaissance and aerial bombing.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46If Britain was to survive he would have to renew his campaign
0:14:46 > 0:14:48to get the old guard to up to speed.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53With great reluctance, he put his plans for civil aviation on hold,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56handed his airfield over to the Admiralty
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and set out to build a warplane factory.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07In doing so, Claude Grahame-White faced another problem,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12because the government had imposed wartime restrictions on the supply of building materials.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Not a man to be beaten, he got in his car
0:15:15 > 0:15:18and travelled the country buying up timber and brick yards.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24You can see here from the old brick created by hand around 1900
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and what they would have done is they would have made it up wet
0:15:28 > 0:15:31and their fingerprints would be left in the brick from lifting it
0:15:31 > 0:15:34so it would have been lifted and put into the oven.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36The oven would have cooked the fingerprints in place
0:15:36 > 0:15:39so it's marvellous to see something like that now.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41You don't see that nowadays
0:15:41 > 0:15:45cos machines have taken over, basically.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47In the choice of bricks for this building
0:15:47 > 0:15:50you get a sense of Claude, the great hustler.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Now, I would imagine a building like this, in this part of the world,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57to be built of local materials which would mean London Stocks.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Hard wearing yellow bricks made from London clay.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06But it wasn't. It was made of these soft reds.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Now these are made from Wealden Clay.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13That's not a local clay, which means that Claude got all these bricks
0:16:13 > 0:16:18from over 130 miles away during war time.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23He had a tougher problem sourcing steel
0:16:23 > 0:16:26because most of that was on its way to munitions factories.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31So he purchased a fleet of lorries and by providing his own transport,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36he swayed the northern ironmasters into parting with the steel I-beams
0:16:36 > 0:16:41he needed to create this very modern steel structure.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45The I-beam is a very clever piece of design and of structure.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49This is the principles of why it works and why it's so clever.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53If you take a ruler like this and imagine it's a beam and load it up,
0:16:53 > 0:16:54it flexes quite easily.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58But if you turn it on its edge like this it's incredibly stiff
0:16:58 > 0:17:02and a lot stronger and that's the principle of the I-beam.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07So an I-beam is a shape like this.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08And what the thinking is,
0:17:08 > 0:17:13is that all the work of the beam is done in the top and the bottom.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17If you imagine this is a slice through a long beam like that.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22If you imagine the amount of material to make a metre section of that,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27is the same as to make a square beam, a square section like that.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29So imagine these two are a metre long.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34This one is 7.9 times stronger
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and over 29 times stiffer.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40So you're making the least amount of material possible
0:17:40 > 0:17:42do the most amount of work.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44You're optimising the structure.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48I can imagine this would have really appealed to Grahame-White,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51the engineer and aviator, because that is what planes are about.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55it's about making them as light as possible and as strong as possible.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00And the implications of optimisation of structure and the I-beam
0:18:00 > 0:18:03has been as revolutionary for architecture
0:18:03 > 0:18:07as powered flight has been for humanity.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12'But having gone to such trouble to scavenge I-beams often used
0:18:12 > 0:18:17'to build the latest skyscrapers, it seems odd that Grahame-White
0:18:17 > 0:18:20'then created a building rooted in the past, not the future.'
0:18:20 > 0:18:23It seems to me it's quite a mishmash.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25It's so classical, it's so backward looking.
0:18:25 > 0:18:31You'd imagine, aircraft, flights, modernity,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34and this is Roman stuff.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37'And alongside classical architraves and window surrounds
0:18:37 > 0:18:40'we have Elizabethan-style bottle balustrades.'
0:18:42 > 0:18:44To find out what was going on,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48I'm visiting the architects who drew up the plans for the rebuild.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Their offices were designed around the same time.
0:18:52 > 0:18:58Now this is a proper architects building, Voysey 1904.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Beautiful.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03'With its modern styling this more the kind of thing
0:19:03 > 0:19:06'I would have expected Grahame-White to go for.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10'Hopefully, Anna and Wyndham will be able to tell me
0:19:10 > 0:19:14'how he ended up with a retro building.'
0:19:14 > 0:19:19What really I find fascinating and also slightly frustrating is
0:19:19 > 0:19:21we're standing in a building here that's 1904,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25that's 10 to 12 years earlier than this building,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29yet this building is so much more modern and contemporary so we've gone backwards.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Well, as we approached the First World War
0:19:31 > 0:19:36there seemed to be a sort of loss of nerve amongst architects
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and they sort of reverted back to old styles.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43Maybe Claude Grahame-White had the vision when it came to aeroplanes
0:19:43 > 0:19:46but didn't know how to put it in terms of architectural styling.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Maybe people who were guiding him with the initial ideas
0:19:48 > 0:19:52for the building weren't necessarily forward thinking either at the time.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56It had the grandeur of historical context.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01It demonstrated elegance and class, without actually screaming out
0:20:01 > 0:20:03that he was trying to be controversial in any way.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10Grahame-White was clearly a complex and interesting man.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14I wanted to find out more from someone who knew him first hand.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17I had hoped he might have a surviving relative
0:20:17 > 0:20:22but it turns out he had no children, despite having had three wives.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29- Hello, Richard.- Hello. - Very nice to meet you.- And you too.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32'But the person I've come to meet at the British Library
0:20:32 > 0:20:33is the next best thing.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Richard Gates, the grandson of Richard Thomas Gates.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Grandfather was the manager
0:20:41 > 0:20:45and I think Claude Grahame-White was the entrepreneur.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48And one of the small photographs I've got here,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50that's Claude Grahame-White and my grandfather
0:20:50 > 0:20:53in an aeroplane they bought.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57They, both of them, and particularly Claude Grahame-White, as you see,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59it's got "Wake Up England".
0:20:59 > 0:21:02That was the big slogan, wasn't it?
0:21:02 > 0:21:06They wanted people to realise that flying had a proper future.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Oh wow, a blueprint, a drawing, oh my goodness!
0:21:09 > 0:21:12- Military bi-plane. - Oh lord, look at that.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16So they are thinking in military terms.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Well, as you can see on the photo there.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23But when the war starts late 1914 what happens then?
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Your grandfather should be up there in the front, but what happens?
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Well, both of them joined the Royal Naval Air Service.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34And, of course, the Navy was slightly more go ahead than the army
0:21:34 > 0:21:39because the army were still thinking in terms of cavalry
0:21:39 > 0:21:43and what they then started to do out of Hendon Aerodrome,
0:21:43 > 0:21:44was defend London.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49They went up together because there was a Zeppelin warning
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and landed safely at night
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and about three or four days later there was another Zeppelin warning,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59but Claude Grahame-White wasn't at the aerodrome at that time,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02so grandfather went up on his own.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06The aeroplane crashed.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11I think my grandfather was the first airman to die in the First World War.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Goodness me.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15'Grahame-White was devastated.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19'He'd lost his co-pilot and company manager
0:22:19 > 0:22:22'but it didn't deflect him from his mission to convince the military
0:22:22 > 0:22:26'that aircraft could play a vital role in the war.'
0:22:27 > 0:22:32His new headquarters at Hendon became a showcase for that ambition.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36'Now the period features are going back in,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40'I can at last understand what Grahame-White was up to
0:22:40 > 0:22:43'with this the design of this building.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47'It's a traditional facade disguising a modern internal structure.'
0:22:48 > 0:22:51At last we're starting to see the shape of this building.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54You can start to understand what makes it so important.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57It's built in three sections.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01The middle is a steel shed and at the back and at the front
0:23:01 > 0:23:04you've got brick bits that make it look posh,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08that make it seem much more important than it really is, much more special.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14As you approached from the road you'd see this typical Georgian exterior
0:23:14 > 0:23:16with its porthole windows and classical architrave.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21On entry you'd find yourself in this smart brick-built vestibule.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24But beyond that, the working body of the building
0:23:24 > 0:23:29consisted of a modern, unadorned and highly versatile steel structure.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31But this was always hidden.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36At the airfield end of the building, was a two-storey brick-built section.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Its facade laden with architectural details
0:23:39 > 0:23:42straight out of the style book of old England.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48It's an all fur coat and no knickers approach to building
0:23:48 > 0:23:50which is so ubiquitous today.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55It's in all those out of town shopping centres, those office buildings, those call centres.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58But in 1915, this was revolutionary.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Grahame-White's architectural facades were, I suspect,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09part of his strategy to get the old school military authorities
0:24:09 > 0:24:11on board with the new technology.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17By 1916, they'd finally woken up to the fact
0:24:17 > 0:24:21that aircraft had changed the rules of warfare forever.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Each side was now engaged in a technological race
0:24:26 > 0:24:28to produce, better and ever more deadly fighting machines.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Many followed Grahame-White's example
0:24:32 > 0:24:35and Hendon became an important centre
0:24:35 > 0:24:39for the manufacture of aircraft and aircraft components.
0:24:41 > 0:24:4595 years on, it's little wonder the RAF Museum is pleased
0:24:45 > 0:24:48to have the great man's headquarters and watchtower
0:24:48 > 0:24:52rebuilt on the Hendon site alongside his one remaining factory building.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58The museum's gearing up to take over the reconstructed watchtower.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00What will you do with it?
0:25:00 > 0:25:02'I'm meeting the Director General of the museum,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04'Air Vice Marshall Peter Dye.'
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Well, it will allow us, together with this building,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10the Grahame-White factory, to tell the story of Grahame-White
0:25:10 > 0:25:13and his efforts here in the First World War.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16We intend to punch through the wall where the watchtower is
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and then we'll have a much larger space which will be focused on
0:25:20 > 0:25:23the early history of aviation here and Grahame-White himself.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27This means that Claude Grahame-White will at last get his due.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30He is of course one of the world's greatest pioneers of aviation
0:25:30 > 0:25:32but he's not very well known, why?
0:25:32 > 0:25:37No, he isn't, and that's something that we intend to put right.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41He was a leading figure in British aviation before the First World War.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43He was seen as a hero.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46He was as well known as Yuri Gagarin in his day
0:25:46 > 0:25:49but he was also a great propagandist.
0:25:49 > 0:25:50He was a bit like Richard Branson.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52He was seen as pushing the boundaries,
0:25:52 > 0:25:57and then he was also a great persuader, a great lobbyist.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59He was the Jamie Oliver of aviation.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03He was determined to make people change their mind.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07He was determined to influence politicians to ensure that they saw the value of aviation.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11This building we're in, this wonderful building,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15dates from Claude Grahame-White's time as part of his factory.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18- But what actually happened here? - Yes, this was built in war time.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21This is where aircraft were build and in the watchtower alongside us
0:26:21 > 0:26:24was a drawing office where a lot of the plans were produced.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28During the course of the war some 2,000 aircraft were built here
0:26:28 > 0:26:29to help win the war.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34'Grahame-White was meticulous in the way he built aircraft.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37'He was equally scrupulous in his treatment of his employees.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'Unlike so many wartime factories, his were clean, efficient,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45'well ventilated and well lit.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51'He made a point of welcoming women to the factory floor
0:26:51 > 0:26:54'and boasted that he could rely on them to perform well
0:26:54 > 0:26:57'in the male preserves of welding and woodwork.'
0:26:59 > 0:27:04Sleeping cubicles were provided for those who had transport problems.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09The work was hard and times were tough
0:27:09 > 0:27:15but he but made sure there were regular outings and sports events.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21And here we have another Grahame White architectural innovation.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27His dual purpose aircraft hangar cum staff tennis court.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31At the start of the war he employed just 70 people.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35By 1915 that number had swelled to over 1,000
0:27:35 > 0:27:39and by the time this photograph was taken in 1917,
0:27:39 > 0:27:45he had over 3,000 fully trained up, happy factory workers.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49And where are they standing? In front of our building.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58'It's October, eight months into the reconstruction of the building,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02'and things have come on a long way since my last visit.'
0:28:02 > 0:28:04- Hello, Derek.- Hello, Charlie. How are you?- How are you?
0:28:04 > 0:28:08- Not a bother now, not a bother. - That is a building.- It is indeed.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12- It's finally come together. - Shall we have a look around then?
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Go on, show me your handy work.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18- Wow, it's really coming on.- We have our original steel trusses here.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21That's amazing, all this original steelwork is more than 100 years old
0:28:21 > 0:28:25and it feels as though it could have been made last week.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31'At last the moment has come when the iconic part of the building
0:28:31 > 0:28:32'is flown back into position.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36'The Crowning pinnacle of Grahame-White's HQ,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40'the great man's watchtower.'
0:28:41 > 0:28:44So do you think it's going to fit?
0:28:44 > 0:28:47- Well, it's an extremely nervous moment for me.- I bet it is!
0:28:47 > 0:28:51- I have my fingers crossed.- How many times have you measured it?
0:28:51 > 0:28:52Four times.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01The reason Derek is nervous is that the watchtower's corner posts
0:29:01 > 0:29:05must fit exactly into four supporting steel shoes
0:29:05 > 0:29:08which have already been concreted into the building.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17It's a very big moment for us, Charlie.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20It's going to be a very significant part of the building now.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22From a distance you're going to see it from the north elevation.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25You're going to see it when you're walking up.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28It's sort of the pinnacle of the external structure.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33'The watchtower is now firmly in place, but what was its purpose?'
0:29:33 > 0:29:35So what do you think the watchtower was for?
0:29:35 > 0:29:37We just think it was there for show really.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39There's no actual functionality to it whatsoever.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42We guessed that from looking at the original building. No use to it.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44Just a folly, really, I think.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47'But was it just a folly
0:29:47 > 0:29:50'or did Grahame-White have something else in mind for his watchtower?
0:29:51 > 0:29:55'Did it have a function or was it simply for him to cast an eye over
0:29:55 > 0:29:58'the aviation empire he'd created?'
0:30:02 > 0:30:09Evidence of this empire can still be found all around Hendon today.
0:30:09 > 0:30:15And it's not just the street names, parts of the factory still remain.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18I'm standing on Aerodrome Road
0:30:18 > 0:30:23which ran right through the centre of the factory.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Indeed standing here during the war looking in that direction,
0:30:27 > 0:30:31there would be factory buildings on either side of the road
0:30:31 > 0:30:33as far as the eye could see.
0:30:33 > 0:30:34I know over there,
0:30:34 > 0:30:39just to my left was the work's canteen,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42which had a welfare facility
0:30:42 > 0:30:46organised by Winston Churchill's wife - very impressive!
0:30:46 > 0:30:52Few of the buildings survive, though there in front of me on the left,
0:30:52 > 0:30:56is a building that appears to date from the time of Grahame White.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03'According to my plan, this charming building was once the site of a garage
0:31:03 > 0:31:06'with workers' sleeping cubicles on the floor above.'
0:31:08 > 0:31:12Golly, it is one of the original factory buildings. There it is.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17Two stories, mansard roof and the wide opening now bricked up.
0:31:17 > 0:31:23And beyond it stood what was originally the wood store.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Look at the charming double pitched Georgian-style mansard roof,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30the chimney stacks, the cupola, the lovely brickwork.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33A wonderful piece of vernacular classical architecture.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36But originally it didn't stand alone as now,
0:31:36 > 0:31:41but formed the front to a whole range of factory buildings.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45If you look at this picture, you can see -
0:31:45 > 0:31:48rather like Grahame White HQ - the brick part was
0:31:48 > 0:31:52a disguise for the modern industrial buildings behind.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56What I love about Grahame White is that at the time
0:31:56 > 0:32:01when the world was in turmoil, he created a modern factory that
0:32:01 > 0:32:05was not monstrous and industrial in feel, but in it's forms
0:32:05 > 0:32:10and details as comfortable and cosy as an English country village.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16A walk up Aerodrome Road to what was the heart of his factory
0:32:16 > 0:32:20brings us to another charming outpost of Grahame White's vision of England.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Where I'm standing now was the site of the tea room
0:32:26 > 0:32:28and the starting point of the famous aerial races...
0:32:28 > 0:32:31but during the First World this happened -
0:32:31 > 0:32:39the tea room was rebuilt in a splendid neo Tudor Manor dated 1917.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Wonderful building, very well preserved.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46The interior is also in neo Tudor/Jacobean style,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49I love this staircase, wonderful thing.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52I suppose this historical style does appear to be
0:32:52 > 0:32:55in strange contrast to Grahame White's business
0:32:55 > 0:33:00as a designer of futuristic aeroplane, very much cutting edge technology.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04But this was the fashion of the time and more to the point I think,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07he would have felt this architecture offered a sense of solidity.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16This was important at a time when the world was changing fast
0:33:16 > 0:33:20and people needed something quintessentially British to hold on to.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26None more so than the young pilots, some just 17,
0:33:26 > 0:33:31who'd left home to come to Grahame White's flying school at Hendon
0:33:31 > 0:33:35to face the perils of aerial training...
0:33:35 > 0:33:38It was a risky undertaking...
0:33:39 > 0:33:44Of the 14,000 pilot casualties of World War One,
0:33:44 > 0:33:48a large percentage occurred while they were still at flying school.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55Many would have known this building because it became the Officers' Mess.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05There are 6 weeks to go before Grahame White's HQ
0:34:05 > 0:34:10and watchtower have to be handed over to the RAF Museum,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12and there's still a lot to do...
0:34:12 > 0:34:16Replicating all the original "quirks"
0:34:16 > 0:34:20or dare I say "faults" has been a hugely time consuming process...
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Though I have to admire the loving care and attention with which it's being done.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28- So your brickwork's looking good, isn't it? - Yeah, it's coming on very well.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30We're delighted with it, how it's turned out.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34This is normal Flemish bond isn't it? So, long-short,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36long, and here it goes short-short-short.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39- You've got real clusters of shorts, haven't you?- Yeah. - It's quite unusual.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44Yep, it adds a nice bit of quirkiness to this terrace level.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49- And that was like that on the original building.- It was and we've created it brick from brick.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Nice. Why do you think they did that?
0:34:52 > 0:34:54It's very, very hard to know, Charlie.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59Possibly they had a load of half bricks instead of full bricks
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and they just decided to integrate it into the building.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Who knows, maybe there was a shortage of supplies during the war.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09- Either that or a very artistic bricklayer.- Well, yes. Who knows?
0:35:09 > 0:35:11We'll never know...
0:35:14 > 0:35:17But it's not only the brickwork that's beginning to reveal its quirks.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Everywhere the builders turn they discover puzzling irregularities.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25Wow! 'The old grandstand windows I saw back at the beginning
0:35:25 > 0:35:27'have now been fully restored
0:35:27 > 0:35:30'and are ready to go back in place.'
0:35:30 > 0:35:33So these are the ones that we saw in a terrible state.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36- How much have you managed to salvage from them?- Nearly all of it.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38A good 80% of the frame remains.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43'But there's a bit of strangeness here - one doesn't match the others.'
0:35:43 > 0:35:46- So this is leaded lights going in? But they're not, are they?- No.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49- So what happened there?- I don't know.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53'And now it's the turn of the original oak staircase.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57'It, too, has had the benefit of months of painstaking restoration.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01'But here we have a serious problem.'
0:36:01 > 0:36:05- The housing's too tight. - I wonder if the bottom of the housing here...
0:36:05 > 0:36:07- We'll take a bit more out there. - And a bit off here.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Put simply, Ian's stairs don't fit.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13The old building wasn't as straight as it should have been.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15There was a lot of hand work done,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18it could have been made on-site to the shape of the building.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20We've had trouble fitting it in the new building,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22because the new building's square and plum.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25So the entire staircase was made on the wonk
0:36:25 > 0:36:28because the original building was on the wonk,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31so you had to sort of shufty it over to get it fitting in.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35A round plug in a square hole, really, that's the only way to explain it.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37We could have replaced the whole staircase,
0:36:37 > 0:36:41state, but I think the job was really to retain the history of the building,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45so that you can see the staircase is old, see the wear on it.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53The fact the stairs are on the skew has revealed something I really hadn't expected -
0:36:53 > 0:36:57The watchtower, the crowning pinnacle of this building,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00is actually way off centre.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05You could blame the war. It wasn't a good time for building.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Most of the nation's architects had been drafted
0:37:07 > 0:37:11into the engineering services, and the youngest and best
0:37:11 > 0:37:15of Britain's labour force were fighting on the Western front.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18But in my efforts to establish who was responsible
0:37:18 > 0:37:21for the idiosyncrasies of Grahame-White's building,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24I've made a rather interesting discovery.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26And it comes from a magazine called Flight,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30and it's the edition from August, 1917.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33And there is a headline here that says,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36"Alien Enemies At Aerodrome" and it's by a Mr George Faber,
0:37:36 > 0:37:40and he asks the Undersecretary for War whether German prisoners
0:37:40 > 0:37:45had been used at the Hendon aerodrome, and he replied that
0:37:45 > 0:37:48"The employment of German prisoners in the construction of aerodromes
0:37:48 > 0:37:52"and sheds and the enlargement of existing establishments
0:37:52 > 0:37:56"had been found necessary in order not to delay the completion of urgent services."
0:37:56 > 0:38:01I think, in a very roundabout way, he's saying yes,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06that German prisoners of war are here at Hendon building stuff.
0:38:06 > 0:38:12Now, I think we can't assume from that that POWs worked on our watchtower,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15because the date on the front of the building is earlier,
0:38:15 > 0:38:20but I think it shows you how much pressure Grahame-White
0:38:20 > 0:38:24must have been under to expand his operation, to build more planes.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28And what a disorientating experience for him,
0:38:28 > 0:38:32because he was building things to kill Germans all day, basically,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35and then coming outside and seeing groups of them
0:38:35 > 0:38:40building his roads and expanding his empire, building his buildings.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53As our building nears completion,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57I finally managed to track down someone who has a direct link to it.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00Ken Pattinson grew up in Hendon.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07- Ah, Mr Pattinson, how very nice to meet you in the flesh.- Yes.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10'He remembers having not one but two close relatives
0:39:10 > 0:39:13'working in the Grahame-White factory during World War I.'
0:39:13 > 0:39:17So, there's this wonderful family album of all sorts of bits and pieces here.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Your father, pride of place in the front.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22His sister, May.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27- Very strong, characterful face. - She worked as a fabricker.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30She stitched the fabric around the fuselages of the plane,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33because they were wood with fabric.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37But I believe the effect of the doping,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40which went on afterwards, made her ill.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43'Dope was a varnish applied to the aircraft's fabric
0:39:43 > 0:39:46'to make its stiff and waterproof, but it was dangerous stuff.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51'Fumes from the solvent were known to be highly toxic.'
0:39:51 > 0:39:54So, the dope, the varnish affected her health.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56And she never really recovered, then?
0:39:56 > 0:39:59She did, more or less, but she could never have children.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Now, whether that was any result of that, I don't know,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06but they never had any children.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11Hang on, I feel I've seen her before because she's so...
0:40:11 > 0:40:14strong-armed as you, partly, but, no, honestly...
0:40:14 > 0:40:18Hang on, see what you think. Look at this - where is it?
0:40:18 > 0:40:21Ah, here we are.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Um... Look, what about that?
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Is that not your...? Surely that's your aunt?
0:40:31 > 0:40:33You haven't seen this picture before?
0:40:33 > 0:40:36I haven't seen that picture before, no.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39- And do you think that's your aunt? - That's most peculiar, isn't it?
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Her eyes...
0:40:42 > 0:40:45- They're the same, aren't they? - They are, they are the same.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48- And, indeed, the hair, to a degree.- Yes.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54But she's here, apparently in the drawing office.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57'There she is, sitting in the very drawing office
0:40:57 > 0:41:02'in Grahame-White's HQ that we are rebuilding.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05'But she's not the only one of Ken Pattinson's relatives
0:41:05 > 0:41:09'who was busy working in the factory during the First World War.'
0:41:09 > 0:41:11So what else do we have? Ah.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14That was my dad, who used to work for a Grahame-White.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15There he is, looking very dapper.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19He left school and he went as an apprentice
0:41:19 > 0:41:23to the Grahame-White Company as an engine fitter-cum-door maker.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28What did your father think of Claude Grahame-White as an employer?
0:41:28 > 0:41:30I think he respected him,
0:41:30 > 0:41:34and what he respected most was that he wanted perfection.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36My father was like that,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39and he learned that from Grahame-White, I'm sure of that.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41'In the light of what I'd just been told,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44'I was saddened to read a letter he then showed me
0:41:44 > 0:41:48'in which Pattinson Senior was clearly being laid off.'
0:41:50 > 0:41:54"Owing to the approaching termination of the existing contract
0:41:54 > 0:41:58"placed by the Ministry of Munitions with us, the management regret
0:41:58 > 0:42:02"that it is necessary to reduce the hands in some of the departments.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05"We therefore regret having to dispense with your services."
0:42:05 > 0:42:07So, he's being made redundant.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10'It's clear from the letter that Grahame-White
0:42:10 > 0:42:14'was forced to lay off staff because of government miscalculations.'
0:42:16 > 0:42:21Initially having taken too long to engage with the war in the air,
0:42:21 > 0:42:25the Ministry of Supply then ordered more planes than it needed.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27But orders were now being cancelled
0:42:27 > 0:42:33and manufacturers instructed to destroy existing stock.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Compensation was not always forthcoming.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39It was a bad time to be in aviation.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44And now that work has finally started
0:42:44 > 0:42:46on the interior of Grahame-White's HQ,
0:42:46 > 0:42:49I can begin to imagine the great man
0:42:49 > 0:42:52anxiously pacing around this building.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55There's now only a month before the handover.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59The windows are in and the building is waterproof,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01and, at last, master carpenter Ian
0:43:01 > 0:43:04can get to work on Grahame-White's office.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06I mean, all the panelling here looks totally new.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Yeah, there's none of the old retained.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11There was one door that was plastered into the wall, which
0:43:11 > 0:43:15is probably where they got all these details from, the moulding details.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19'Restoring the oak panelling with nothing more to go on than
0:43:19 > 0:43:22'one hidden door and this photo has clearly been a challenge.'
0:43:22 > 0:43:24I mean, if you look at the wall,
0:43:24 > 0:43:26it looks like it hasn't been set out properly,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28cos the modules the panels are different sizes,
0:43:28 > 0:43:30under the windows are larger than here.
0:43:30 > 0:43:36That says to me that the panelling is a total afterthought.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38- Maybe, maybe it is. - It's kind of weird,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41and you've obviously replicated all of these mistakes.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43Yes, as much as we can, yeah.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Does that slightly go against the grain?
0:43:46 > 0:43:47Oh, no, we find that bit easy!
0:43:49 > 0:43:53As virtually nothing remained of the original grand interior,
0:43:53 > 0:43:58the architects have had to reconstruct every aspect of it from scratch.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Not an easy task when nothing about this building quite adds up.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09'While the final touches are being applied to the building,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11'I've just made an unexpected find.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15'These papers originally came from Grahame-White's office,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19'and I have to say, they have a rather shocking tale to tell.'
0:44:22 > 0:44:25When I started this research I expected to find,
0:44:25 > 0:44:30amongst other things, I suppose, a list of the honours awarded
0:44:30 > 0:44:35to Grahame-White, but a rather different, sadder story has emerged.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39While he offered advice, informed advice, to the government about
0:44:39 > 0:44:43how to conduct the war in the air, how to manufacture aeroplanes,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47he was met, increasingly and consistently, by a kind of wall,
0:44:47 > 0:44:52I suppose, of incompetence and bureaucratic muddling.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56The chap was clearly driven mad by these people,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59forced in the end to resign his commission.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03Even before the war ended, Grahame-White was not only compelled
0:45:03 > 0:45:07to leave the military, but asked to expand his factory.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10He'd been promised orders for more aircraft,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13but they were then repeatedly withdrawn.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18After the war, Grahame-White not only faced ruin,
0:45:18 > 0:45:23but was shown no gratitude for everything he'd contributed to the war effort.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29He tells us, "I could hardly believe that our British government
0:45:29 > 0:45:34"could treat me - a pioneer - in such a harsh, unsporting and unappreciative manner."
0:45:36 > 0:45:39So, why on earth was he treated so badly?
0:45:39 > 0:45:42To find out, I've asked historian Josh Levine.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46So, what went wrong?
0:45:46 > 0:45:50The British military, whether you're looking at the Army or the Navy,
0:45:50 > 0:45:54the British military is a very conservative institution,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and they don't trust a certain type of person.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Here was a man who was irreverent, who was freethinking,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04I think it was a definite challenge to the way they viewed things,
0:46:04 > 0:46:06and you get a sense of this, actually.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10When he was given his commission into the Royal Naval Air Service,
0:46:10 > 0:46:12he showed up at Admiralty Arch
0:46:12 > 0:46:15and he met a man called Lord Edward Grosvenor.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20And he was wearing spats and he was dressed up beautifully,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24and he showed up and presented himself in front of Lord Edward Grosvenor
0:46:24 > 0:46:28and said to him, "Look at me, how is this, will it do?"
0:46:28 > 0:46:30And Lord Edward Grosvenor looked at him and said,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34"My dear fellow, you've forgotten just one thing - the earrings."
0:46:34 > 0:46:36And that gives you a sense of, you know,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40"This man is a dandy, this man is not quite one of us.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44Claude Grahame-White, even though he was from a good family, he was a mechanic,
0:46:44 > 0:46:46he was a man who liked getting his hands dirty,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49who didn't mind showing up at a factory at 6am,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52working through to 8pm, and coming away with oil on his face.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Not only was he incredibly technically advanced
0:46:55 > 0:46:59and pioneering with aeroplanes, but he was a very brave man.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01He was an extraordinarily brave man,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04and the fact is that they pushed him away.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08They repeatedly pushed him away when they should have relied on him more.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11They actually showed him no respect and no thanks,
0:47:11 > 0:47:15no gratitude for what he'd been doing for so many years.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17The time has come to write a great wrong, then,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21and put his name back on the national map of heroes.
0:47:23 > 0:47:28It was shabby treatment of a man who'd led the country in the field of aerial combat.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Who'd flown many perilous missions,
0:47:31 > 0:47:34and trained many of the nation's famous fighter pilots.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Who'd put his life's blood, his aerodrome,
0:47:37 > 0:47:40at the service of his country,
0:47:40 > 0:47:42and fought to maintain the highest standards
0:47:42 > 0:47:45in wartime manufacture and employment.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49But, for all that he suffered at the hands of the government,
0:47:49 > 0:47:51he never stopped looking to the future.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Towards the end of the war in 1918, Grahame-White -
0:47:58 > 0:48:01then recovering from a nervous breakdown -
0:48:01 > 0:48:03was asked what sort of war memorial
0:48:03 > 0:48:07there should be for airmen who'd perished in the fighting.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11His response was poignant and it was wise.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17He said, "The finest war memorial we can devise
0:48:17 > 0:48:19"would be to pledge ourselves
0:48:19 > 0:48:22"to a vigorous development of aeronautics."
0:48:22 > 0:48:25"Thus, on the foundations of their heroism,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28"can be built a great peace movement
0:48:28 > 0:48:31"which will break down the barriers between nations
0:48:31 > 0:48:37"and stimulate all that is best in the relations of mankind."
0:48:37 > 0:48:38Stupendous.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47Grahame-White's building is also a memorial to the fallen pilots.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51He never wavered in his conviction
0:48:51 > 0:48:54that the true role of aviation should be civil and peaceful.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02He published proposals for a chain of civil aerodromes
0:49:02 > 0:49:06with aids for night flying and direction finding,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10demonstrated that airlines could be reliable, safe and profitable.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16With all his brooding over his bold idea,
0:49:16 > 0:49:21I picture him in this building, bent over plans late into the night.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31So here it is, the relocated
0:49:31 > 0:49:36and rebuilt Claude Grahame-White headquarters and watchtower.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40'There it was, looking as it would have done when first constructed -
0:49:40 > 0:49:43'the building that should have been the nerve centre
0:49:43 > 0:49:46'of Britain's first international airport.'
0:49:46 > 0:49:49Very English, I mean, it's quintessentially English,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51and quite playful, I can imagine it on a race course
0:49:51 > 0:49:56or by the Thames at Henley, sort of grandstand meets pavilion.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00Absolutely. It's very calculated to impress,
0:50:00 > 0:50:02making a sort of heavy point
0:50:02 > 0:50:05about the importance of him and his company.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09And the balustrade is like it's from St Paul's Cathedral.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11'I can already see the building
0:50:11 > 0:50:14'as a striking testimony to Claude Grahame-White.'
0:50:15 > 0:50:18When people landed on the airfield or came from the airfield,
0:50:18 > 0:50:22they would have been received here, so the posh front of the building
0:50:22 > 0:50:25sits here next to the airfield, but come with me.
0:50:25 > 0:50:26'From the reception,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30'the world of Grahame-White the entrepreneur and campaigner,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33'we move to the world of Grahame-White the innovator.'
0:50:33 > 0:50:36This is the business end of the building.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40This is the heart and soul of the whole operation in many ways.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42This was the drawing office.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47This is where he would have drawn up his plans
0:50:47 > 0:50:51for Britain's first airliners and airports.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54And in those days, as you approached through the reception area,
0:50:54 > 0:50:56your eye would have been drawn to this.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01- It's a fuse box isn't it, glorified fuse box.- It is a fuse box.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04You can see the draw of various circuits.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08It sums up Claude Grahame-White to me in so many ways in his attitude.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10You know, he's fetishising technology.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12You've got the latest 20th-century technology
0:51:12 > 0:51:14surrounded by a piece of furniture
0:51:14 > 0:51:17which is looking back to the Romans to try and give it gravitas.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21You can trust this, this is trustable, dependable technology.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23It's in a way very modern, isn't it?
0:51:23 > 0:51:26It's an honest expression of power,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29of the practical aspect of the factory,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31make a virtue, make an ornament of it.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33He's got notice boards right next to them.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37I mean, it really is a conscious act, he wants people to see it.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39"This is the future, this is MY future. Welcome to it."
0:51:39 > 0:51:41That's exactly what it's about, isn't it?
0:51:41 > 0:51:43A display of the future for his visitors.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47These are the stairs to mission control.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50'You can imagine Grahame-White leading government officials
0:51:50 > 0:51:53'and politicians, maybe even Churchill himself,
0:51:53 > 0:51:55'up here to try and persuade them
0:51:55 > 0:51:57'of the advantages of powered flight.'
0:51:59 > 0:52:02This is the inner sanctum if you like,
0:52:02 > 0:52:04this is his office.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Good heavens, this is absolutely astonishing.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11Uncanny. It's all familiar, I feel I've seen it before
0:52:11 > 0:52:14and, of course, in a way I have. In the early photographs.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Although impressive at first sight, I found it surprisingly dark
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and old fashioned, almost oppressively so.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27They've really gone into detail.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31Not only is it convincing in its detail based on photographs,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34there's...an atmosphere.
0:52:35 > 0:52:40Everything about this office speaks of man straining to impress,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44a man who would go to any lengths to win over the old guard.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47You can imagine him rolling out his plans for airports,
0:52:47 > 0:52:53aids for night-flying and his grand vision for the people's airlines.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55It's such an insight into the man, this, isn't it?
0:52:55 > 0:52:59This way this chap's running an utterly futuristic factory,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02looking to the future of aviation.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05But yet to make that acceptable, he found it necessary
0:53:05 > 0:53:10to be surrounded by history in this way gave him the right gravitas,
0:53:10 > 0:53:11the right status.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14But there was one important bit of this building
0:53:14 > 0:53:19that was neither status-seeking nor dripping in historical detail -
0:53:19 > 0:53:22the room at the top - the great man's watchtower.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27What do we think this watchtower was really used for?
0:53:27 > 0:53:30We now know that it wasn't actually built at the same time
0:53:30 > 0:53:31as the head office here.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35It was built some time afterwards, around about 1919.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39You look around and it's got a tremendous perspective
0:53:39 > 0:53:41over the entire site.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43It as a vantage point, a viewing platform.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46But then without realising it, it sort of creates
0:53:46 > 0:53:51the prototype for the control tower without even meaning to do it.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53We'd rather like to think
0:53:53 > 0:53:57that it was very much a part of that ambitious Grahame-White,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59he was finding his feet again after the war,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03he was looking to the future and the watchtower symbolises that ambition.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Grahame-White, the man of vision,
0:54:10 > 0:54:14never got the recognition in his lifetime he so richly deserved.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16But almost 100 years to the day
0:54:16 > 0:54:20since he first arrived in Hendon, the local people have turned out
0:54:20 > 0:54:24to celebrate the return of a local hero.
0:54:24 > 0:54:29A hero immortalised in this wonderful, resurrected building.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33And it's even being given the royal seal of approval.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37Your Royal Highness, may I on behalf of the trustees
0:54:37 > 0:54:40of the Royal Air Force Museum, welcome you here today
0:54:40 > 0:54:44to this formal unveiling of the Grahame-White Watch Office
0:54:44 > 0:54:47and indeed, this whole complex including the factory.
0:54:47 > 0:54:48APPLAUSE
0:54:50 > 0:54:52Ah, guys, there you are!
0:54:52 > 0:54:53How's it going, Charlie?
0:54:53 > 0:54:55- Congratulations.- Thank you.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57What can I say? It looks fantastic!
0:54:57 > 0:55:01It must be the best built, Jerry-built building in history.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04It certainly is and it will last, unlike the original construction.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07It's given us an unbelievable feeling of pride
0:55:07 > 0:55:09in constructing this building.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11it's turned out well. We're so happy with it.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14And we hope that the great man, if he did come back, would love it.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19I think if he was with us today, Claude Grahame-White,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23he would really be really stunned I think, and very proud.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26It's a practical building but it's got that edge,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30that flamboyance that the man quite clearly had.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35She was a very kind person, she would help anybody.
0:55:38 > 0:55:39I was very fond of her, yes.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42She made a fuss of me, I must admit.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46I'm very proud of her being a part of all this.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52I can't help thinking Grahame-White would be delighted
0:55:52 > 0:55:54to see what was happening in his building today.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Grahame-White the employer, the educator,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01the visionary, always looking to the future.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04And here we have the future - the young people of Hendon getting
0:56:04 > 0:56:09excited by and drawing inspiration from his building and his vision.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19For all his drive, for all his dedication,
0:56:19 > 0:56:21Grahame-White never realised his dream
0:56:21 > 0:56:23of putting Hendon at the centre
0:56:23 > 0:56:25of the development of global air travel.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29When the war ended,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32the government refused to return his airfield to him.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34As if that wasn't enough,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37they later took possession of his entire factory.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39He took proceedings against the Treasury
0:56:39 > 0:56:42and was eventually awarded compensation.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44But by then he was too disheartened
0:56:44 > 0:56:47to return to the business of aviation.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51A tragedy for Hendon and for Britain.
0:56:52 > 0:56:57When I first saw the jigsaw puzzle, the fragments of this building,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00I never really imagined that in putting it back together,
0:57:00 > 0:57:06we would build up such a rich and complex picture of a man.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10But then again, buildings are all about people.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14And no matter how grand or humble,
0:57:14 > 0:57:16they all have stories to tell.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22Claude Grahame-White came close to being airbrushed out of history,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25he was almost a forgotten man,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29but in saving and reconstructing this building,
0:57:29 > 0:57:34all that he did is now enshrined in bricks and mortar.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37Surely there could be no better,
0:57:37 > 0:57:42no more inspirational monument to Grahame-White than this building,
0:57:42 > 0:57:48because it embodies the man himself and his vision of aviation.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd