Episode 1 The Great Flying Challenge

MUSIC: Ride Of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner

For as long as we've looked to the skies,

people having dreamed about flying like birds.

The Wright brothers proved that powered flight was possible,

making history in America in 1903.

And where they led, other daredevils followed.

One of those pioneering aviators was this man - Harry Ferguson,

the genius inventor from County Down who's world-famous for his tractors.

But, long before he revolutionised agriculture,

back in 1909, our Harry was the first man to design,

build and fly an aircraft in Ireland.

I'm Dick Strawbridge, and we're on a mission to make and fly that little

plane from the early 20th century.

William, you're on, sir.

Our test pilot will bravely follow Ferguson into

the grey skies of Ulster.

Are you ready, William? No, but let's go.

It's the chance of a lifetime.

It really, really is.

Stop there.

We're searching out the final few craftsmen,

engineers and technicians with the traditional skills to recreate

Harry's plane.

It's never been done before,

and I'm really not sure if it's even possible.

Dangerous, maybe, but one thing's for certain -

we're going to give it a go.

Welcome aboard The Great Flying Challenge.

These are the fields.

We're flying over the spot, just near Hillsborough,

where Harry Ferguson took his first flight, New Year's Eve, 1909.

He was a brave man and a brilliant engineer,

not unlike the man beside me here, William McMinn.

You couldn't be talking about me. You think I am?

Hold on, mate. You've built your own aircraft,

you're going to build Harry's plane with us.

You're going to be our test pilot. You are the right man for the job.

Well, I think you're being very generous, but, yes,

I have built a couple of aircraft,

and I have about 1,200 hours flying time

and plenty of experience.

If you look out this window,

we're actually flying over Harry's home place.

That's his farmhouse? That's his farmhouse.

You know, he's one of 11 children,

and that's where he learned about farming.

And, by all accounts, he didn't like the hard work,

which could be the reason why he came up with the old tractor and

plough system he's so famous for.

Well, I think if you're an engineer, it's in your blood.

And he didn't want to be standing in a field.

It wasn't doing his mind any good.

He needed to be making things and taking things apart.

That's the long field. He brought the Ferguson Flyer to that field to

show his family. He took off out of that field,

flew across the lake, and landed in a field just at the other side.

Harry started building his plane in the autumn of 1909,

spurred on by the first flight across the English Channel by the

Frenchman Louis Bleriot.

But that success was a rare feat,

and many early aviators were killed or badly hurt.

In fact, Harry was lucky to survive several crashes in the years after

his maiden flight.

There are trees, hedges and everything around here.

Would you be happy flying a plane down there?

No. It's far too small for me.

HE LAUGHS

But, obviously, his plane flew at 35mph.

We're sitting, at the minute, at 90mph.

That's a big difference. Everything happened a lot slower.

Harry brought his plane to the farm after he had flown it for probably

a year, 18 months, so he was confident flying it, he knew how it

performed, and that showed you the make-up of the man.

And after our trip over Harry's old flight path,

William is in inspired form.

Are you up to the challenge? Yes, I'm up for the challenge.

I'm going to be the only person in a long,

long time to have flown the same plane as Harry.

And I can tell you what it's like,

I can tell you what it feels like in the air and, you know something?

It's a dream. You've got a lot of work to do, fellow.

You have a lot of work to do.

He was reared with three sisters and seven brothers, on the 100 acre

family farm near Dromore in County Down.

Born Henry George Ferguson in 1884,

but known the world over as Harry.

He went on to become a famous industrialist -

the man responsible for the wee grey Fergie tractors.

That's all well known, but our story begins with a boy who dreamed

of escaping the farm...

..a teenager who went on to race motorcycles and cars,

and a man who, at the age of 25,

had earned his place in history, as the first Irish aviator.

Driving past the city airport,

it's incredible to think that the entire aviation industry...

..started with those flying machines,

a little over 100 years ago.

But if I'm going to turn back the clock

and actually build Harry's plane,

I'm going to need expert help.

Thankfully, there's a man with a plan just up the road, in Hollywood.

I did try to get into the RAF...

I've tracked down retired architect and Ferguson expert Michael Clarke.

How many people do you know, Michael,

that have written books about Harry Ferguson before tractors?

Oh, I don't think there's any before me.

Right, so you're the world authority on Harry Ferguson.

I'm the world authority on it, if you believe that.

I do believe it. That's why I'm here!

How did you produce diagrams and maps

that you believe represent his aeroplane?

The only small drawing was published

in Flight magazine after, you know,

he'd established being the first Irishman to fly, indeed,

only the third in Britain to fly.

That was the only drawing that there was,

but there was a lot of descriptions of the detail of it, you know,

written descriptions, printed with it. Plus, fortunately,

a lot of photographs appeared.

Michael's drawings were made after extensive research, which included

first-hand accounts from those who worked for Harry and by surveying

replica aircraft never intended to fly.

We even have catalogues of the time, that...

Oh, right! Yeah.

Hold on, I did see some catalogues.

What do these show us? We have a catalogue from this guy TWA Clarke,

who Harry dealt with.

So Harry would have used this man.

He bought propellers from him. Almost certainly. Yes.

He would. This was one of the few people in those days who covered all

the things that aeroplane manufacturers needed.

You name it, it's in it. Well, we've got sizes, shapes,

construction material.

Do you think we are able to build Harry's plane from this information

that will fly?

There's no reason why not.

I mean, if you make it to those drawings I'm pretty confident, yes,

you'll get it to a state where it can fly.

I'm loving this. What you're telling me is you've got enough confidence

that all your work to date is going to be turned into

a Harry Ferguson monoplane. I hope so.

You've said it here now. I don't need to hear any more.

I'm allowed to take this with me, am I? Yes, of course you are.

Now, I'm not giving any guarantees or anything.

I don't want any claims if it doesn't work.

THEY LAUGH

I actually heard it here first.

It's definitely going to work. Oh, it is definitely going to work. Yes.

Yes. And I'm looking forward to it.

Belfast was an industrial powerhouse when 25-year-old Harry Ferguson

decided he was going to fly.

He would have been surrounded by old-school craftsmen

and, over a century on, we need the same skills and materials too.

Irish linen to cover the plane,

cables, fixings and an undercarriage,

plus the metalworkers and carpenters capable of doing the work.

It's a tall order, because many of those trades have been lost.

But some survive...

just.

Alistair Duffin says he's the last of the Mohicans -

the very last traditional boat builder left in the city.

Alistair! Hello, sir.

Hi. Good to meet you.

Lovely to see you. OK, where's the water?

We have a boatyard and no water, mate.

An awful lot of skill goes into making or fixing one of these,

isn't there? Yes, it's an old skill that's sort of dying out.

How many people around Northern Ireland do you reckon can do this?

The fishing thing at Portaferry and

Ballyhalbert would still make

this type of boat. But they're about

the only ones that do it now.

We're not being rude here, but how many years have you been doing it?

THEY LAUGH

I personally have been doing it for about 50 years.

I came to you sort of thinking I need to find a man with the skills

to build like this. What's the chances of you giving me a hand?

I'll try. Right, look at this.

This is a minor issue for a man like you.

Well, it's not a boat.

Harry Ferguson. Oh, it's Harry... He's the tractor man.

He's the tractor man. Do you get a nice warm feeling that it's the sort

of thing you could build?

Yeah, it would be a challenge but, you know,

that's what life's all about.

I think the wings will be the most awkward bit to do.

The size, as well as everything else. The size of them.

I would have to think what I was doing.

If you look at the size of these struts... Yeah.

They're very light. 5/8ths.

That's just over half an inch.

You know, we're talking no size at all.

It's like building a boat, to a certain extent.

You know, you have your frames and then you have your cross members,

which have to go in and be glued.

I think more of an interest to me is what is made of?

It's probably made out of silver spruce, the same as that boat there.

If you can get it done in about three weeks,

I think we're on schedule for doing something similar to what Harry did.

Well, it's a challenge.

It's a challenge.

You get me the wood,

and we'll have a go at it.

We were once the linen capital of the world.

But the industry that turned the landscape blue

with flax flowers in summer...

and which provided work for thousands on the land

and in the mills all over the country

has shrunk since Harry's day.

Many of the earliest aircraft were covered in linen,

so that's why I've tracked down one of the last factories where

Irish linen is still in production.

Harry Ferguson - you know, what sort of quality of linen would

he be able to deal with?

Well, you've got to bear in mind

that Harry is going to have come

from a linen world.

He's going to have slept in linen,

he's going to have worn linen,

eaten off linen, he's even going to have dried himself with linen.

So there would have been no other fibre

that would have even crossed his mind.

That looks like a blanket. It is a traditional fever blanket.

Linen's antibacterial,

and it's wicking so it takes the sweat away from you.

So they would have wrapped you up in that when you were dying of the flu.

Really? Take the sweat away from you. So that's a nice heavy one.

I think this is linen. This looks like linen to me.

That linen there is obviously made for tableware.

These would be shirtings and sheetings.

Right, what about strength?

Cos, you know, for aeroplanes,

I'm worried - this thing's got to leave the ground. Are these...?

Linen is really, really strong.

It gets stronger when it's wet as well, but...

Wool has a filament of that big.

Cotton has a filament about that big.

Linen is this big.

So that's the actual length of the fibres?

That's the actual fibre that's in it. That's what makes it so strong.

That's why it's used a lot,

or has been used a lot, and still is, in aeroplanes.

For our aircraft, what is the linen I need to use?

Well, if I was Harry coming in here I think I would have gone for what's

known as eight bar eight.

It's one of our oldest fabrics.

It's sort of like the balance of strength over weight.

And those are the key characteristics that we'll wrestle

with repeatedly over the course of our build.

Can we make Harry's plane light enough to fly,

yet strong enough to keep William safe?

It's a big problem that held back the earliest aviators too,

and their ingenious solutions are on display in Bedfordshire.

I'm on my way to look at some magnificent flying machines

from the earliest days of flight.

The Shuttleworth Collection is home to the oldest flying aeroplane

in the world. It may look primitive,

but there's a very good chance Harry would have used it as a blueprint

for his own build.

What an amazing collection! Where do you get all the planes from?

Well, they've come from everywhere,

really. But, you know, for example,

this Blackburn, here, was found

in a haystack in 1947. A haystack?

A haystack, yeah. And they get restored to flying condition,

and away we go.

But when we look at these old aircraft from the beginning of

flight, there seems to be no rules.

No, they didn't really know what a good aeroplane was supposed to

look like. So they just copied other people, they made them in all shapes

and sizes, some flew better than others.

Beginning of the 20th century -

everybody wanted to fly, didn't they?

They did. The Wright brothers flew in 1903, then there was a bit of a

pause, and then things started to take off in Europe a few years later

with various designers coming up with aeroplanes,

and there was a Frenchman

called Louis Bleriot who was one of the most successful of that time.

He was the first man to go across the Channel? He was, yeah.

In 1909, in the summer,

in a machine pretty much identical to this one.

This is a 1909 Bleriot,

and it's the oldest airworthy aeroplane in the world.

So this still flies? Yes.

Harry Ferguson knew this plane too.

He would have seen it for himself at air shows in France,

just before starting to build his own plane.

How does it work? If you notice, the wings are very, very curved

to help it create lift.

And they're slightly upswept and what we call dihedral.

It's quite a big wing, isn't it, in surface area?

Yeah, but it's fat rather than long and thin.

The other thing he has is wing warping,

to control the aeroplane laterally.

Can I see that happen on this?

That's how you control it - bend the wings?

Yes. For the roll control on the aeroplane.

So what you have is the front spar of the aeroplane is stiff cos it

needs to support the lift. Right.

But the rear spar is made to be flexible,

so that the pilot can move it.

And the pilot's control is inside,

but if I move this you can see this moving the wing

and it changes the angle of the outer wing.

The wing has to be strong enough, it has to move enough.

Yes, it has to be strong to take the lift forces, but also be flexible

enough at the rear to be able to twist differentially like that,

to make the aeroplane roll from side to side.

Just like all these elegant aeroplanes

from the dawn of powered flight,

Harry Ferguson's plane was a rare and special thing.

We're going to actually build a version of Harry Ferguson's plane.

Do you think we can do it? Yes.

You can do it.

You've got some drawings and some idea of what it was like

and it does work.

And this is what we'd love to achieve.

The Bleriot flies beautifully in the right conditions.

With little or no wind, it's stable.

In stronger winds it's downright dangerous, just like Harry's plane.

It's going to be quite a risky business for William.

Well, nowadays we do manage risk.

We decide when it's safe to do something and when it's not.

Back in Harry's day, they just took the risks.

But my advice would be don't fly any higher than you're prepared to fall.

HE LAUGHS

Harry cut his teeth as an engineer

working at his brother's car business in Belfast.

Most of the models he worked on survive only in old photographs.

And yet, surprisingly, that same market for custom-built,

beautifully engineered vehicles lives on.

I'm in deepest County Down and I'm searching for a world-famous

motor racing car manufacturer.

I'm searching for it. It is here.

They've been known throughout the world for years,

and I think they can help me.

How come I didn't even know you existed?

Look at this place!

Yeah, it's a special place. But, you know, Crossle is a well-kept secret.

We've been here for...

Well, since 1960.

The Crossle name, as a racing car manufacturer, is much better known

in places like the USA, even in France,

than it is here in Northern Ireland.

And that's because most of the cars were exported.

They've been driven by some pretty well-known people.

Nigel Mansell drove one, on his way to stardom.

You're actually still manufacturing this car, are you?

Yes. This is the Crossle 9S, built originally in 1966.

It's a two-seater sports racing car.

This car goes back in the golden era of beautiful racing cars.

But they get raced? They certainly do, yeah.

And this may look like an old racing, but it's a quick car.

This will see off modern supercars.

And all those skills are here?

We build racing cars in the same way that we've done for many years.

And the team that we have here are highly skilled craftsmen and they're

very proud of their work.

Look at this.

It's a thing of beauty.

Just over 21 feet long.

The bit I think that you're going to be to help me with, I'm hoping,

is the whole undercarriage and the metalwork.

It will have to have the right balance between rigidity and weight.

Yeah, absolutely. You'll notice I can't find any other suspension

anywhere. No, it looks as if it's designed for stiffness rather than

for flexibility. And I don't see any way to steer this front wheel,

by the way. I guess he would have been landing this on grass.

Yes, he would be. Of course,

that's even worse because any little holes or little ruts can put shocks

onto it. That's what I'm thinking, yeah.

OK. Well, we'll take a look at that.

We can do some calculations, I guess.

But, yeah, it'll be interesting.

But if you look her, what I'm interested in, see the axle? Yeah.

Notice the way the actual wires go through a hollow axle.

OK. Well, why's that?

DICK LAUGHS

When it comes to steering this,

the wings bend when you actually warp them.

Right. So the wings are made to bend and, by the way,

I haven't got to this page yet, but you may as well have a quick look at

the other part of the commitment, here.

This is the wing warping actuating rod.

Sounds impressive. It is.

It's the lever for bending the wing so it turns.

When was the last time you made a wing warping lever?

It's not every day we would hear that term, let alone make one.

You won't be able to say that very soon.

It took just six weeks for Harry's craftsmen to construct his plane,

and our man, Alistair Duffin, is cracking on.

I recognise that. That's the tail end, isn't it?

Yeah, that's the tail end. Difficult?

No. It's a lot easier than what I thought it was going to be.

What can I do to help? You can cut some of these, if you like.

Do you trust me? Yeah.

This is how I made...

..these bits, because they're all different lengths. Right.

So, two bits of plywood...

Right. One fits that end, one fits that end.

And you put them in, and you draw a line...

..then you take that and you transfer that onto a piece of wood.

And, of course, if it needs to be longer or it needs to be shorter...

You can lengthen or shorten.

That is so simple.

I love it.

You put that in - it goes in like that - whenever I lift this.

Simple as that.

Simple as that. That's it.

We still need to find a workshop -

somewhere to start the next part of the build.

What I need is somewhere with a plentiful supply of skilled aircraft

engineers, all willing to work long hours for no money.

Doesn't sound likely, does it?

But, actually, there's all that and more just up here,

at the Ulster Aviation Society, at the old RAF air base, Long Kesh.

You come into the hangar, the first thing you see is a Spitfire!

Unbelievable.

Everywhere you look, there's historic aircraft.

Helicopters, planes - I've only seen some of these in books.

Ray, where do you get these from? Good morning, Dick.

Welcome to the society's collection. Oh, man! I'm so jealous!

Where did you get a Buccaneer?!

We got that from the Ministry of Defence, for ?8,500.

You've just bought it? Yes.

And that included the delivery flight from Scotland

to Northern Ireland.

So it's complete? Absolutely complete.

The engines and all are still in it.

It almost looks like a toy, doesn't it?

It does. But this was an actual war bird -

took part in the Suez crisis.

And actually destroyed an

Egyptian aircraft in 1956.

Not such a toy.

So not such a toy.

All these aircraft together - how do you keep this going?

Who does this? Well, we have a set of about 50 volunteers,

and they preserve them and restore them,

and keep them in pristine condition.

There's an awful lot of engineering in these aircraft.

Where do you get the skills, the right people to do this?

We have people who come to us,

and they come from all walks of life.

We have solicitors, we have architects,

we have investment brokers,

we have lorry drivers.

The passion is they love aircraft,

and once they start to work on an aircraft you can't pull them away.

That's a Doodlebug. Absolutely correct.

Do you know how I know that? No.

Second World War, my grandfather, bomb disposal,

was the first man to make safe a doodlebug.

Wow. That is something. This is part of my family history.

That is something.

If I was looking for somewhere to build Harry's plane,

is there anywhere better than this? Look no further. This is the place.

We should be able to replicate it.

But as to whether it will fly or not...

In Alistair's workshop, a master craftsman labouring away.

Echoes of Harry.

And with the airframe finished ahead of schedule,

William beats a path to Alistair's door.

That looks fabulous!

Do you still want to fly it?

Oh, yeah. It's surprising that it's a lot bigger in length.

Do you think it'll fly?

It'll have to fly, that's for sure.

The finish is superb.

Not too bad, no. It's surprising how big...

Yeah. It's so long, is the thing that catches you out.

Well, I tell you, it looks superb.

It really does. How do you find this, as far as rigidity,

building it off the plan? The plans are very accurate.

The plans are very good to work off.

I like the way you've done the A-frame. Is that glued?

That's glued. That's glued, because

you're going to be putting something in, over there.

And if I glued it and pinned it,

I might disturb where you're going to put your pins.

The wood, to me, looks really good as far as finish.

And as far as strength,

it's all triangulated which is normal engineering practice.

I don't know what it's like for weight, and I suppose...

Try lifting it.

We're lifting it against the A-frame, but...

Yeah, there is a bit of weight in it, OK.

It's surprising, just...

I didn't think it would be so heavy.

Well, there's quite a lot of wood in it. Yeah.

I wonder what the weight is like in the front.

Let's have a look in that.

This is a hefty bit of wood, there's no doubt. Yeah.

Oh...

Yeah.

You can feel the weight in that OK.

You getting worried? Yeah, I am worried.

It's heavier than I imagined.

There's not a lot you can cut out, you know?

It's as per plan.

The heaviest bits of timber, probably,

is the A-frame and some of the ash in the back.

You know, you could put a lighter timber in,

but I don't want to see you coming down and the fuselage breaking.

It has to be strong. That's my seat, so it has to take me.

Over in Hollywood,

they're getting the measure of Harry's undercarriage.

Every modern workshop, you've got all these tools around the place.

And I think what'll Harry be doing? You know, what's his workshop like?

100 years ago - must have been difficult.

But then you think his workshop had electricity, he had power tools.

It was one of the most advanced workshops in the country.

It would have been a bit like this.

So what are we doing? These bends. Bending it.

So if you want to set the backstop at 25 degrees...

The front edge of this goes to 25 degrees?

Yup.

Right. Back towards you.

39 to the... Back towards you, back, back, back, back...

And it's 39.

That's 39 exactly to the yellow, OK?

Yeah. Spot on.

Former in.

This just seems, to me, to be too easy.

Right. Whip it out.

Two of these, one axle - we've got an undercarriage.

Yup. Good man.

And in the Ferguson factory in Banbridge,

the proud tradition of weaving Irish linen is still alive and well.

We need one of the oldest fabrics the company makes,

a grade known as eight bar eight -

light enough yet strong enough to cover Harry's plane.

Is this it? This is it. Eight bar eight.

I think this is the best option,

and I think this is what he would have used.

Right. Have you got much of it?

Well, we've got lots of it. How much do you want?

100 square yards?

No problem.

That was easier than I thought.

So the linen's in the bag.

And Alistair's airframe has come along beautifully.

But there's many a slip twixt cup and lip.

Let's hope that's the last time William crashes.

Next time...

Harry's plane takes off...

to its new home at the Ulster Aviation Society.

I probably look like James Bond.

There's enough string.

We are at 1,300.

And I get a spectacular view of Newcastle, in Harry's slipstream.

He crashed several times, he buckled wheels, he broke wings,

but the man was stubborn and very brave.