Speaker 1: This time at the Spitfire factory. It's December and after
Speaker 1: two years hard work, the Greek Spitfire is nearly complete.
Speaker 1: But will she fly? As one project finishes, another arrives,
Speaker 1: but not everyone's happy.
Speaker 2: I'd like a new kitchen, but he's quite happy to
Speaker 2: keep the old kitchen another twenty years.
Speaker 1: And veteran George Dunn returns to the hangar hoping to
Speaker 1: see his Spitfire fly.
Speaker 3: You certainly had quite a war, George. You really did
Speaker 3: quite a war and you survive.
Speaker 1: That was the main thing.
Speaker 4: We were lucky.
Speaker 5: Who aren't we.
Speaker 1: It's been eighteen months since MJ seventy five to five
Speaker 1: returned to the UK from Greece to be restored to
Speaker 1: flying condition a Mark nine Spitfire that last flew for
Speaker 1: the Greek Air Force in nineteen fifty three. We've watched
Speaker 1: as they reassembled the fuselage, added the tail, the wings
Speaker 1: and the engine. They've restored and rebuilt almost seven thousand components,
Speaker 1: and with just four weeks left to go, they're at
Speaker 1: the snagging stage.
Speaker 6: All these hearts are handmade, you know, and they are
Speaker 6: not done to a jig, so they all need final
Speaker 6: trimming and maybe there's slight angle adjustments so it all
Speaker 6: fits nicely. There's quite a lot of bods on it
Speaker 6: at the moment because we're getting to the sort of
Speaker 6: like the final stages of getting it.
Speaker 1: Sort of finished.
Speaker 6: You just look at it and you think, oh, there's
Speaker 6: still so much to do.
Speaker 1: Panel specialist Mark is working on the four metal cowlings
Speaker 1: that wrap around the engine, some of which he's having
Speaker 1: to replace.
Speaker 7: Even though it came off with Greek aircraft. We've beamed
Speaker 7: it not fit for flight. It's too short down here
Speaker 7: around this area for some reason. But it looks like
Speaker 7: it's had different rivets in which aren't the right specification
Speaker 7: of its These holes here are all over size and large.
Speaker 8: They should be.
Speaker 7: There should be more this size for the fasteness.
Speaker 3: To go in.
Speaker 1: He's saving original sections whenever he can.
Speaker 7: This will fit to the underside of the Greek aircraft.
Speaker 9: There we had to.
Speaker 7: Make a new new bottom cow, new intake. This has
Speaker 7: all been replicated and wow, as it would have been
Speaker 7: done originally with ox Stelen and that this is the
Speaker 7: new part grafted to an old original bottom.
Speaker 1: Cown eighty years ago in the original Spitfire factories. Even
Speaker 1: in the height of conflict. Every finished part was given
Speaker 1: a stamp of approval.
Speaker 7: This is the original top cowling off the Greek Greek
Speaker 7: hair bar. That is the original inspection stamp. You could
Speaker 7: trace that right back in the data who held that
Speaker 7: stamp and who inspected this panel when it come off.
Speaker 5: The production line.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Gary is working on a part that is giving
Speaker 1: the boss a serious last minute headache. One of the
Speaker 1: radiator fairings.
Speaker 4: The other one we've sorted.
Speaker 8: We've got the original, it's been overhaored and it fits nicely,
Speaker 8: so that's completed. This one today is standing here.
Speaker 4: We seem to have nothing.
Speaker 9: Ur J.
Speaker 1: Mitchell's original design included an ingenious cooling system for the
Speaker 1: Spitfire's Merlin engine. He moved the radiators out of the
Speaker 1: wings and covered them with aerodynamically shaped fairings with controllable
Speaker 1: flaps to regulate airflow to the radiators and the temperature
Speaker 1: of the coolant circulating back to the engine. As part
Speaker 1: of the aerodynamic design. They have to fit perfectly. But
Speaker 1: one of the Greek spitfires radiator fairings needs major repairs.
Speaker 8: The options are, yes, we do repair the old one,
Speaker 8: saving only seventy five percent of it.
Speaker 5: That's going to take us time.
Speaker 8: We're going to gain a week by using a new one,
Speaker 8: We're going to lose money. But time is of the
Speaker 8: essence when it's a quicker solution and one that we
Speaker 8: need to take up to get the Serah plane out
Speaker 8: the door on time.
Speaker 1: Peter's already ordered a new fairing, but there may be
Speaker 1: a third option stashed away in his storeroom. End to here,
Speaker 1: at your peril.
Speaker 8: I spent days up here tidy in the place up.
Speaker 5: Look at it.
Speaker 8: The trouble is it when I tidy it up, it
Speaker 8: looks bloody worse.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna have to list this in.
Speaker 1: There out of the weight cataloging systems Peter's memory.
Speaker 8: There's a whole massive panels here, which I've had for
Speaker 8: donkeys' years. In fact, that's a bit of the radiator
Speaker 8: firing there. That's the actual flap itself. Here is the fairing.
Speaker 8: Of course, he hasn't been moved out of here in
Speaker 8: a what could be a chance, I can see that
Speaker 8: it's completely original.
Speaker 1: Sounds promising.
Speaker 8: There's a death left in the right hand to it,
Speaker 8: and this is the wrong hand.
Speaker 1: Back to square one.
Speaker 8: I'm going to make a decision on this fairing and
Speaker 8: make it today.
Speaker 5: Really, he just.
Speaker 1: Can't give up on that damaged original.
Speaker 8: It's had some temporary repairs here. The airplane was in
Speaker 8: a museum exhibit for some years, in fact decades, so
Speaker 8: it didn't need airworthy repairs, just cosmetic, which is what's
Speaker 8: happened here. So we'd have to remove this, so an
Speaker 8: issue there. I've noticed that there's some very light corrosion
Speaker 8: on the inside, which is what appears to be done,
Speaker 8: isn't it's aluminium oxide, so corrosion. That's treatable bit of work.
Speaker 8: But I think we're in good chance for saving.
Speaker 1: This decision made.
Speaker 8: Unfortunately, I'd already ordered the new one, so I've got
Speaker 8: nine thousand quid to find.
Speaker 5: But we'll use that on.
Speaker 8: Something else and the original one will go back on
Speaker 8: to perfect.
Speaker 1: Peter will always go the extra mile to save an
Speaker 1: original part. In the cockpit, Tony is putting the final
Speaker 1: touches to the electrical system.
Speaker 10: When people visit the hangar, they say, oh, you are
Speaker 10: so lucky. You've got a fantastic job. And this is
Speaker 10: the bit they don't see when you're wedged in some
Speaker 10: particularly uncomfortable position trying to do up a screw or
Speaker 10: something else. My job is basically to rewire the entire aeroplane.
Speaker 10: We're ninety five percent of the way through that now,
Speaker 10: and in the next day or so I'll have power
Speaker 10: on the aeroplane.
Speaker 1: Franco is left to do all the really fiddly bits.
Speaker 1: Right now, he's making spaces called fair leads for the
Speaker 1: undercarriage cables. Right it's going to see if they'll fit.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 6: I estimated the gap and it's not quite enough, and
Speaker 6: the cables are still touching, so I'm going to have
Speaker 6: to take them off, make them more and.
Speaker 1: Do it all over again. The Greek spit by us
Speaker 1: combination of original and replacement parts is almost perfect. But
Speaker 1: there's one part Peter's been wanting for years.
Speaker 5: The spitfire is British.
Speaker 8: We want to propeller on there.
Speaker 1: There hasn't been a British made spitfire propeller since the
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, but here at Hercules Propellers, Rupert Waysey is
Speaker 1: working very hard to change that. He uses a combination
Speaker 1: of authentic designs and materials with modern machinery to create
Speaker 1: propellers from all eras.
Speaker 11: Traditionally, propellers were made using hand tools, which is very
Speaker 11: time consuming.
Speaker 4: We use a computer controlled machine.
Speaker 11: Which will mil the propeller from our laminated block of wood,
Speaker 11: and it's much quicker and much more precise. This is
Speaker 11: the software which controls the machine and the tool is
Speaker 11: this mark here, and this shows the paths the tool
Speaker 11: is going to make over the block as it machines
Speaker 11: the wood away to leave a aircraft propeller.
Speaker 1: If he doesn't have the blueprints, Rupert can sometimes replicate
Speaker 1: original propellers from his collection.
Speaker 11: This is about the oldest propeller we have, which we've
Speaker 11: got here for copying, and this is off a Blowrio
Speaker 11: aeroplane from France, madely about nineteen ten.
Speaker 1: When Rupert was asked to make an authentic wooden spitfire propeller,
Speaker 1: it's complexity meant he needed detailed original drawings to work from,
Speaker 1: and that when fate stepped in.
Speaker 11: I got a phone call from a company about ten
Speaker 11: miles from here, and they were refurbishing their offices and
Speaker 11: found a whole chest full of original propeller drawings, and
Speaker 11: they googled found me, and I raced over there and
Speaker 11: found this amazing treasure trove of original spitfire propeller drawings.
Speaker 11: This was the original pen and ink drawing on linen paper.
Speaker 11: It was drawn on the twelfth of March nineteen forty two.
Speaker 11: We've got various dimensions of the blade width and the
Speaker 11: thickness of all the aerofoil shapes along the way. Importantly,
Speaker 11: it tells us what the material the propeller was made
Speaker 11: out of, and it tells us the density of the wood,
Speaker 11: which is very important.
Speaker 1: In another stroke of luck, Rupert discovered that the extremely
Speaker 1: rare material they used still exists today.
Speaker 11: This is called the hydlignum. It's basically made out very
Speaker 11: fine veneers of beach less than one millimeter thick, coated
Speaker 11: in a phonolic resin and compressed to make a very dense,
Speaker 11: extremely strong composite. So where we have carbon, fiber and fiberglass, now,
Speaker 11: this was the equivalent of the time. So these days
Speaker 11: it's used for electrical insulators, and interestingly it's on the
Speaker 11: belly pan of most Formula one racing cars, so when
Speaker 11: they bottom out on the racetrack it doesn't cause sparks.
Speaker 1: The spitfast propeller needs this strong material because of the
Speaker 1: immense forces it generates. Four separate blades attached to a
Speaker 1: central hub with variable pitch to increase and decrease thrust
Speaker 1: at full power. Phenomenal strength is required to simply keep
Speaker 1: the blades attached. After four years work. This is Rupert's prototype.
Speaker 11: If a blade detaches and comes away from the hub
Speaker 11: in flight, it will be catastrophic. The engine will be
Speaker 11: sort out of balance, that will be shaken out of
Speaker 11: the airframe, and the aircraft will crash.
Speaker 1: So Rupert has been stress testing his blades to breaking point.
Speaker 11: We calculated that the force throwing the blade away from
Speaker 11: the hub when it's running at maximum speed is about
Speaker 11: thirty tons, which is a huge force just for this
Speaker 11: section of wood to take. But we've carried out extensive
Speaker 11: tests and actually pulled a mock blade until it broke,
Speaker 11: and actually broke at eighty tons, so we know it's
Speaker 11: more than twice a strong enough.
Speaker 1: As the final touch the composite blade, it's are sealed
Speaker 1: with a thick coat of impact absorbing epoxy.
Speaker 11: I feel immensely proud of this. It's been a huge project.
Speaker 11: We've been working for many years to get to this stage,
Speaker 11: and seeing it all together being tangible and ready to
Speaker 11: go is a wonderful moment. I'm really ready to Now,
Speaker 11: I want to see it fly, I want see it run.
Speaker 11: It's going to be really exciting to see it take off.
Speaker 1: At the Spitfire factory, they're about to put the propeller
Speaker 1: on the Greek Spitfire. The new British propeller isn't certified yet,
Speaker 1: so they have to use a German made one. But
Speaker 1: Franco is still pretty excited.
Speaker 5: Very big moment.
Speaker 6: Here's what makes it go forward.
Speaker 1: Isn't it really about the fan on the front.
Speaker 9: You don't go anywhere here.
Speaker 1: It's a job they only want to do once.
Speaker 6: Once it props on, unless we have a problem. You
Speaker 6: don't like to take it off again. So we just
Speaker 6: make sure that Felt embraces that everything's done.
Speaker 10: It's ready to go.
Speaker 1: The original little hub has been restored with new blades added.
Speaker 6: It's a bit like I'm wrapping a present, really anything is.
Speaker 6: It's quite an expensive present, one hundred and fifty pounds there.
Speaker 1: Now, first they need to attach a backplate.
Speaker 6: Why do you get the bat play on? You can
Speaker 6: do it, but you can't do it for right up
Speaker 6: we go.
Speaker 1: The hub should now fit directly onto the protruding propeller shaft.
Speaker 9: Ekosa push so done.
Speaker 1: It takes a delicate touch to get it on and
Speaker 1: then a bit of brute force to lock it in place.
Speaker 5: My coat.
Speaker 1: It's a good day for the boss.
Speaker 8: It's another leap forward and actually convinced the owners that
Speaker 8: were actually getting somewhere.
Speaker 5: That's the biggest thing for me, and.
Speaker 1: For very different reasons. It's also a good day for
Speaker 1: his eldest son. Two years ago, Alex Mounk decided to
Speaker 1: follow in his father's footsteps and join the restoration team.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't just want to build spitfires. His dream
Speaker 1: is to fly them, and here at Biggin Hill he
Speaker 1: has the chance to follow in the footsteps of the
Speaker 1: young men who learned to fly them in the heat
Speaker 1: of war.
Speaker 12: Wartime pilots would have had many hours. The only difference
Speaker 12: between them and me is that that was what they
Speaker 12: were doing. They would fly a lot regularly. I don't
Speaker 12: get to fly that regularly because I'm working on the airplanes.
Speaker 1: Most aref pilots started their training in biplanes like the
Speaker 1: de Havelan Tiger Moth, top speed one hundred and nine
Speaker 1: miles an hour and pretty easy to fly. The next
Speaker 1: step before getting in a spitfire was one of these
Speaker 1: a North American Aviation T six Harvard, nicknamed the pilot Maker,
Speaker 1: and fortunately for Alex, there's one available to use here
Speaker 1: at the Spitfire Factory, with the top speed of over
Speaker 1: two hundred miles an hour. It has many of the
Speaker 1: features of a Spitfire, including adjustable wing flaps, a variable
Speaker 1: pitch propeller, and a retractable undercarriage.
Speaker 12: They call it the pilot Maker because it's quite a
Speaker 12: good aircraft. Got a lot of tendencies in it. If
Speaker 12: you can overcome those, it puts you in good stead
Speaker 12: for flying the next aircraft up from that.
Speaker 8: It's just getting used to wear the other carriage is
Speaker 8: that's yeah.
Speaker 4: And once he suddenly.
Speaker 1: Jess Bridger, one of the regular pilots here, has agreed
Speaker 1: to train Alex.
Speaker 12: I think I know where I'm going wrong with this,
Speaker 12: with what caught flying in the Harvard all the rest
Speaker 12: of it go on.
Speaker 13: I need a bigger watch. Has got a bigger watch.
Speaker 13: You need a bigger watch. You want a bigger to watch,
Speaker 13: the better the landing. He is exactly a training pilot
Speaker 13: of back in the day in the nineteen forties.
Speaker 8: He's a young man, he's just turned twenty one, and
Speaker 8: he's loving it.
Speaker 13: He's getting to play with amazing aeroplanes and this is
Speaker 13: his first experience in a big Harvard, so it's a
Speaker 13: big transition from his piper Cup to going into the Harvard.
Speaker 1: But Alex is not off to a great start.
Speaker 13: I'm just going to go tell Alex Brix flaptop.
Speaker 8: He's forgotten so he started up and left from hanging
Speaker 8: down at the moment.
Speaker 13: He's put the flap down for the walk around check
Speaker 13: and you've forgotten to put them back up again, which
Speaker 13: is quite normal.
Speaker 12: And I've done it.
Speaker 13: We've all done it, and you just feel like a
Speaker 13: bit of a tick when you realize that you haven't
Speaker 13: done something.
Speaker 5: Everyone's watching it.
Speaker 1: One of the toughest challenges for any aircraft is take
Speaker 1: offs and landings, which is what Alex will be focusing
Speaker 1: on today.
Speaker 12: What bak off a piece of this for Alivia is
Speaker 12: doing right. So al right, it goes off in a
Speaker 12: straight line and keep it straight. It's the main thing.
Speaker 14: Kimasabling Squeeve's gear is going up and they're up.
Speaker 1: Alex is flying the plane, but Jess is keeping his
Speaker 1: hands and feet firmly on the dual controls.
Speaker 2: So you've got a power back to twenty eight years.
Speaker 7: Call the propbacks about two thousand and my name is
Speaker 7: plain Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1: Okay, where we go?
Speaker 2: Then the right on my head off all seven eight.
Speaker 1: After a couple of circuits, Alex will start practicing landings.
Speaker 1: He'll need to be fully focused. The Harvard can be
Speaker 1: extremely dangerous. During the war, around eight thousand RF pilots
Speaker 1: and aircrew were killed in training, many while attempting to land.
Speaker 1: Alex is going to practice a type of landing called
Speaker 1: a touch and go. He has to learn to take
Speaker 1: the power off at exactly the right moment and then
Speaker 1: pull away.
Speaker 8: We just keep it coming down.
Speaker 2: You're a.
Speaker 1: Powering off.
Speaker 5: He's down, glad to comeing. Okata, I want to go again?
Speaker 9: Yep and clatter are up? Thank you?
Speaker 1: He's up again.
Speaker 5: I'm not going on.
Speaker 8: It's fine.
Speaker 1: So I guess that one was just a little witch
Speaker 1: too much of a flair, wasn't it.
Speaker 9: Just hold it up a little bit high and it bounds.
Speaker 8: Yeah, okay, wat round you go.
Speaker 1: Next time round he'll land it for real. During the
Speaker 1: Battle of Britain, the demand for pilots got so high
Speaker 1: that many had just a few hours of training before
Speaker 1: going solo in a spitfire to get.
Speaker 5: On the center line. I can conferve your gears down.
Speaker 4: You have green lives.
Speaker 5: You just got to rome around.
Speaker 1: Alex will probably need at least fifty before Dad lets
Speaker 1: him fly one of his spitfires.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, beauty's great.
Speaker 1: You don't want anything to stupid straight. He's nailed it.
Speaker 2: Very nice, Alex, very nice, well done.
Speaker 7: Identify the leaver with you, ad make sure it is
Speaker 7: the Flat're not gonna pull the gear up?
Speaker 8: Yeah, put the flaps up, all right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're traveling.
Speaker 3: Is very good.
Speaker 8: That's it.
Speaker 5: Never again, never been to.
Speaker 1: Stand it all my life.
Speaker 4: You did a great job.
Speaker 6: Oh thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Alex is a step closer to achieving his dream, but
Speaker 1: now he needs to get back to work. The deadline
Speaker 1: for the Greek spitfire is looming. But today there's a
Speaker 1: bit of a spanner in the works because they need
Speaker 1: to get the plane ready to be weighed as part
Speaker 1: of its safety registration.
Speaker 8: We're just putting all the panels on the airpap because
Speaker 8: it's going to be weighed. It's always quite interesting because
Speaker 8: we have to get a tear it up to get
Speaker 8: it in the FLI.
Speaker 1: It's going to be several hours work for a twenty
Speaker 1: minute weighing.
Speaker 12: We are slaving all the bits and pieces that aren't
Speaker 12: fitted finally on the aircraft. Well though it's also semi
Speaker 12: frustrating to it all come on and then we've got
Speaker 12: to take it all off again.
Speaker 1: Afterwards, Franco needs to add some lead weights to the
Speaker 1: tail of the aircraft to balance the way to the
Speaker 1: engine at the front.
Speaker 6: No one in there.
Speaker 1: Time for a game of guess the weight.
Speaker 6: I reckon. We'll weigh about three thousand, three and a
Speaker 6: half thousand kilos. I'm making it up. I don't know
Speaker 6: how much do you ottening?
Speaker 9: Get Alex out a quarter under that?
Speaker 5: Oh he wants to go a quarter under me.
Speaker 12: I'm going to quarter under just because we ain't got
Speaker 12: wings tips.
Speaker 5: We'll just go with that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So there a solid lead that is, it's heavy.
Speaker 1: You don't want to drop it.
Speaker 5: On your foot.
Speaker 1: The important parameter for a spitfire is not its overall weight,
Speaker 1: but the balance. The center of gravity needs to be
Speaker 1: close to frame five, where the engine, fuselage and wings meet,
Speaker 1: and it can't move more than a few centimeters as
Speaker 1: the fuel or ammunition load lights during the flight.
Speaker 6: I was looking for the weighing guy they're bringing the kitten.
Speaker 6: Tom had Tom. It's Franco, the chief engineer. The guys's
Speaker 6: just got a couple more panels to go on and
Speaker 6: then we'll just have a sweep of the floor and
Speaker 6: then we'll get it all ready for you to start.
Speaker 1: To get accurate readings. Everything has to be just as
Speaker 1: it would be during a flight.
Speaker 5: He betting the door on a nice one.
Speaker 1: Get almost ready.
Speaker 15: With vintage aircraft, especially when be built, they can be
Speaker 15: quite out if they've had extra fuel tanks and it's
Speaker 15: just put in them. With this one, I'm not expecting
Speaker 15: anything to outrageous.
Speaker 1: First, it's weighed with all three wheels on the ground.
Speaker 11: Are we on them?
Speaker 9: Okay?
Speaker 6: I got two six two six and the back should
Speaker 6: be three eight something. Now he's weighed it as a
Speaker 6: free point. We're now going to lift the tail up
Speaker 6: position the scales on the tailwheel and put it down
Speaker 6: whilst it's in the flying position.
Speaker 1: Go The overall weight shouldn't change, but the amount of
Speaker 1: weight on each wheel will go on in they're lifting
Speaker 1: about one hundred and fifty kilos right now. No hurry, Tom,
Speaker 1: I'm on our height.
Speaker 6: There we go. That was effing heavy. That was I
Speaker 6: think that was about three tons too heavy. That means
Speaker 6: now he can do another calculation of all the weights,
Speaker 6: add them all together to get the actual total weight
Speaker 6: at the aircraft.
Speaker 9: Was that five six'? Ten divide that by two point?
Speaker 5: Two is that?
Speaker 3: All it?
Speaker 5: Is five hundred and fifty? Kilos what DID i? SAY
Speaker 5: i don't?
Speaker 9: Know what did you?
Speaker 5: Say did? You?
Speaker 9: So you're the?
Speaker 5: Nearest?
Speaker 6: Right you make the?
Speaker 12: Tea?
Speaker 8: Oh, Join now he's just dropping plumbboards.
Speaker 6: And then you'll see that he'd be being chalk lines
Speaker 6: across the floor to work out the scent of.
Speaker 1: Gravity tom uses the plumb lines to calculate the exact
Speaker 1: dimensions of the.
Speaker 15: Plane so the aircraft weighs five six hundred and ten,
Speaker 15: pounds which is pretty much what we. Expected and the
Speaker 15: center of, gravity, ever is a slightly burned forward than i'd.
Speaker 15: Expect sommion netflix and ballast in the.
Speaker 4: Back just to bring that.
Speaker 1: Back now it's time to undo all the morning's hard.
Speaker 1: Work it might feel like a day's work, lost but
Speaker 1: they're a big rubber stamp closer to getting her ready to. Fly,
Speaker 1: meanwhile team Historian robin is heading off to visit the
Speaker 1: Last british pilot to fly, her ninety seven year Old.
Speaker 5: George.
Speaker 3: Done once these gentlemen have, gone is their memories are not,
Speaker 3: recorded then it is lost.
Speaker 1: Forever before he flew, Spitfires george was a bomber.
Speaker 3: Pilot, Now, george who were these?
Speaker 1: Guys that was my? Crew your?
Speaker 3: Crew they're all dead, now are they? Really you had
Speaker 3: a good crew, there you really.
Speaker 1: Did of the dozens of operations That george, flew one
Speaker 1: of the most important and dangerous came on the seventeenth
Speaker 1: Of august nineteen forty. Three we were told that.
Speaker 14: It was a research, station radar connected and was a
Speaker 14: very important target from the country's point of.
Speaker 1: View the target was a military research facility WHERE v
Speaker 1: one flying boars AND v two rockets were being developed
Speaker 1: deep Inside germany on The baltic coast At. Pinamunda THE
Speaker 1: v too fell without.
Speaker 14: Warning we had a speed of thirty three hundred miles
Speaker 14: per hour and it could not be intercepted by fighter.
Speaker 1: Aircraft or brought down by ana aircraft.
Speaker 14: Artillery we were told in the brief in if we
Speaker 14: didn't do the job that, night we go back the following,
Speaker 14: night and the night after and the night after until
Speaker 14: it Was.
Speaker 1: George's halifax was one of five hundred and ninety six
Speaker 1: bombers that took part that. Night he was fortunate to
Speaker 1: be one of the first de floying with the element of.
Speaker 14: Spruance they decided that the raid was going to be
Speaker 14: carried out in three. Waves we were originally going to
Speaker 14: go in the last, wave the third, wave but they
Speaker 14: moved us from the third wave to the. First, now of,
Speaker 14: course as you, know all the losses were from halfway,
Speaker 14: through so we had a fairly easy. Run we had
Speaker 14: a bit of, flak but no fighters or, anything so
Speaker 14: we got able to bomb and get away and get
Speaker 14: back on our. Return whereas the people in this halfway
Speaker 14: through the second and the third waves really copped. It
Speaker 14: so again.
Speaker 3: This is where that came Into it absolutely.
Speaker 14: Hadn't if we'd have been in the third, way, yes you,
Speaker 14: PROBABLY i might not have been talking to you.
Speaker 1: Now george still has his log book from that.
Speaker 14: Day the following day they did a spitfire record and
Speaker 14: saw saw the photographs that came back and decided that
Speaker 14: it had been a.
Speaker 1: Success it's thought the bombing raids put back THE v
Speaker 1: two rocket program by a Vital two months after the,
Speaker 1: War george was posted To egypt for a very different.
Speaker 14: Assignment suddenly found myself sent to one three to two
Speaker 14: maintenance here and it is my lear right and reported
Speaker 14: to the flight. OFFICER i, Said i've finished up. HERE
Speaker 14: i don't know What i'm doing. HERE i, said, well
Speaker 14: what do you what do you? Do he, said, oh
Speaker 14: we fly speitfires here finally for a lot of them
Speaker 14: going for sal To Greek greek. Airports SO i, said,
Speaker 14: WELL i haven't flown a single engine aircraft since My Tiger.
Speaker 8: Mathos, YEAH i, said.
Speaker 4: You'll be all.
Speaker 14: Right shut me a set of pilot's. Notes, yeah he,
Speaker 14: SAID i have a read of that and you'll be.
Speaker 14: Okay see, here.
Speaker 3: Is that as easy as that?
Speaker 1: One?
Speaker 3: So how many did you actually?
Speaker 8: Ferry in?
Speaker 14: ALL i did two, trips, Right we flew ten at a,
Speaker 14: time refilled At nicosia In, Cyprus lancaster did the navigation, right,
Speaker 14: yes and then we all came back in the.
Speaker 1: Lancash.
Speaker 3: Yeah you certainly had quite a, War. George you really
Speaker 3: did kind of war and you survived the.
Speaker 14: Thing we were, lucky weren't? We you?
Speaker 5: Know, yes.
Speaker 1: Yes robin Leaves george with an invitation to come and
Speaker 1: see His greek spitfire again when it's ready to. Fly
Speaker 1: my friend.
Speaker 5: Back at the.
Speaker 1: HANGAR a Dry december day is an opportunity for a
Speaker 1: big leap.
Speaker 8: Four hopefully we can get the aircraft to a state
Speaker 8: where we can run. It the engine's already been. Checked
Speaker 8: we've got to check the function of the propeller and
Speaker 8: make sure that it's harmonized with the. Engine and we've
Speaker 8: got the pipework to look. At there's lots of, joints
Speaker 8: lots of, connections and we need to make sure that
Speaker 8: none of those.
Speaker 1: Leak but they've been having some problems with the fuel.
Speaker 1: Tanks pill kock leak on the bottom.
Speaker 6: Tank hey, ho never.
Speaker 1: Mind finally they get the main fuel tanks.
Speaker 8: Installed daylight is an issue for us today got about
Speaker 8: an hour and a half before it gets. Start this
Speaker 8: is a frustrating. TIME i don't want to have to
Speaker 8: go back to the owners and say that things are
Speaker 8: taking longer than they should do and ask for more,
Speaker 8: money because that's not how we.
Speaker 4: Work we never.
Speaker 8: Have so each day that it goes on now becomes
Speaker 8: a little bit more of a worry and a few
Speaker 8: less minutes sleep at. Night so, yeah we need to
Speaker 8: get it.
Speaker 1: Done The yale rons are going, on but the light
Speaker 1: is fading.
Speaker 8: Fast we're not outside in probably twenty minutes we'll be
Speaker 8: in it because we won't have we won't have sufficient daylight.
Speaker 5: And we want to be able to see.
Speaker 8: That all we's got. Leaks we don't be running out
Speaker 8: and the artificial.
Speaker 4: Light there's no.
Speaker 1: Points time has run.
Speaker 5: Out is a down up and meat AND.
Speaker 8: I can't put pressure on the GUYS i dent because
Speaker 8: it's not the right thing to. Do so we still
Speaker 8: need a job done. Properly so it is what it.
Speaker 8: Is get the events with.
Speaker 2: Well we do what we.
Speaker 5: Do he's failed. Today the boss hasn't. Failed we failed the.
Speaker 8: BOSS i feel very shut.
Speaker 1: It but it's not all bad news Because Peter's christmas
Speaker 1: present to himself has. Arrived oh it's.
Speaker 8: Brilliant apart from being in the middle of winter and
Speaker 8: freezing cold as a something just a hear us all.
Speaker 8: Up we've got another spitfire, arrived another two, seater so
Speaker 8: that gives us quite a number action to. Hang an exciting,
Speaker 8: moment very exciting, moment.
Speaker 1: Quite a big dent in the. Bank balance though.
Speaker 8: Sometimes it's excitement is sometimes it's waking up at three
Speaker 8: o'clock in the morning, thinking what the bloody hell AM i?
Speaker 4: Doing more?
Speaker 5: Bits we'll just keep going.
Speaker 1: Sill it's a nineteen forty Five mark nine two, seater
Speaker 1: complete with ready to fly burn an.
Speaker 8: Engine the engines of their overhauled In england are generally,
Speaker 8: black so to see one.
Speaker 5: Gray, yeah it looks quite, different.
Speaker 1: Shiny and. Beautiful but the handle.
Speaker 8: With, Care, no, no, no, no no. Doubt we're not
Speaker 8: going to drag the. Engine it's too close to the. Side,
Speaker 8: look if that touches the side, once that could just
Speaker 8: destroy that.
Speaker 9: Kep.
Speaker 8: Coming he's not going to do. Anything it's going to
Speaker 8: go straight out and put it.
Speaker 5: Down we'll do.
Speaker 8: It that's, it that's. Fine we're going to put it
Speaker 8: over there beside that.
Speaker 1: Wing now for the, Fuselage oh the. Joy If i'm
Speaker 1: wrapping a new, toy fantastic another aeroplanes are put, together.
Speaker 9: Are we?
Speaker 5: In that would?
Speaker 4: Do?
Speaker 1: Then peter's a happy.
Speaker 8: Man oh looks to a good. Standard but this makes me.
Speaker 8: Laugh something he's actually written on, Here well he actually
Speaker 8: what it?
Speaker 5: IS i don't know.
Speaker 1: Why there's just one small. Problem he hasn't told the.
Speaker 8: Wife there might be one or two discussions With linda
Speaker 8: later as to how much it costs and so, on
Speaker 8: but we'll worry about that bit.
Speaker 1: Later uh, oh look who's?
Speaker 5: Here?
Speaker 9: Good look like by?
Speaker 8: It, no there's another one.
Speaker 1: Time for the third degree fly laugh a.
Speaker 5: Few years, ago ten, years ten years.
Speaker 2: Ago so how long do you think this is going
Speaker 2: to take before it's up a.
Speaker 5: Running i'm allowing six.
Speaker 8: Months it won't take six, months But i'm allowing six.
Speaker 4: Months. Fly next thing is in.
Speaker 1: There oh, yeah it's not really What linda wants For.
Speaker 2: Christmas i'd like a new, kitchen But pete's quite happy
Speaker 2: to keep the old kitchen another twenty.
Speaker 8: Years, okay so when was It?
Speaker 5: Phil and then?
Speaker 8: When early ninety forty? Five but it did take part
Speaker 8: in The battle Of britain Film peter seems to be.
Speaker 1: Winning so you've.
Speaker 2: Got a give and, take haven't you And peter given the?
Speaker 8: Kitchen maybe? Not now that it's, here that subject will
Speaker 8: come up over dinner.
Speaker 4: Tonight is all?
Speaker 8: Right how much did it? Cost when only two days
Speaker 8: AGO i suggested that a figure that we could spend
Speaker 8: on the, kitchen which is fifteen years old at, home
Speaker 8: so and the doors are starting to fall off, anyway
Speaker 8: who's worried about doors falling? Off the off the kitchen.
Speaker 8: Units when you can have a, spitfire.
Speaker 1: You can never have too many. Spitfires after days of
Speaker 1: setbacks and, snagging The greek spitfire restoration team has one
Speaker 1: last chance of getting a running Before christmas.
Speaker 6: Day hopefully engine running.
Speaker 5: Day we said this last.
Speaker 1: And you Last friday Or, thursday Last. Wednesday since then
Speaker 1: they've had to completely take apart the fuel, tank reseal
Speaker 1: it and put it back together.
Speaker 6: Fingers, crossed no fuel, leaps and then we'll tie it
Speaker 6: down and do some runs at.
Speaker 8: Nice to get it done now a couple of days Before,
Speaker 8: christmas a wegn all break, away go home and enjoy
Speaker 8: a bit of.
Speaker 6: Turkey got to do it, today otherwise we look like
Speaker 6: a bunch of.
Speaker 1: Idiots with the light starting to, fade they're ready to
Speaker 1: push her out and fuel her up At leafs. Right,
Speaker 1: yeah the tail is secured to the tarmac and the
Speaker 1: fuel system checked for.
Speaker 5: Leaks, no no.
Speaker 8: Leaks, NO i am just going to get some precautionary
Speaker 8: fire extinguishers and, yeah we're.
Speaker 1: Ready to give it a go as a qualified. Pilot
Speaker 1: peter's doing the honors in the, cockpit but the temperature is.
Speaker 8: Plummeting you're going to put the cover on underneath it
Speaker 8: a bloody draft and have come roll up my, trouser
Speaker 8: leg around my.
Speaker 1: Nuts it's now or never.
Speaker 5: A bit?
Speaker 8: Slow is this three eight two's battery by any?
Speaker 5: Chance what we always do is just.
Speaker 8: Run it's just for a few, seconds and we need
Speaker 8: to check to make sure that we've got no air
Speaker 8: locks in the coolant.
Speaker 1: System the coolant is topped up and they're ready for a.
Speaker 1: Second go, Clear.
Speaker 8: Barger i'm struggling at the minute to keep the engine.
Speaker 8: Running just quite likely that the idling system is running
Speaker 8: a bit.
Speaker 12: Lean it's not getting enough fuel to air, ratio which
Speaker 12: we call lean. Mixture so thanks richening that up with
Speaker 12: the mixture.
Speaker 4: Scroup so we'll give it another. Bash, now have you done?
Speaker 9: It?
Speaker 5: Okay clear, clere.
Speaker 1: That's more like. It the engineers crawl underneath to check for.
Speaker 8: Leaks, Right i'm happy with that for a first, run.
Speaker 1: Job done and a big sigh of relief all round
Speaker 1: and satisfying.
Speaker 8: It that's what it's supposed.
Speaker 6: To got to another, milestone so then we can move.
Speaker 6: On alex is being silly as, normal but you can't get.
Speaker 1: That it's the Perfect christmas present for everyone on the.
Speaker 1: Team but Come New, year will she?
Speaker 5: Fly? Now do you stop? There it's the.
Speaker 1: Big day and the engineers are polishing up SPITFIRE mj
Speaker 1: seventy five.
Speaker 16: FIVE i could go into A priori dealership them that's
Speaker 16: out for you and it's all, polished so why shouldn't
Speaker 16: you do the same for a.
Speaker 6: Spitfire here we are just going around getting all the
Speaker 6: grubby engineer's hands, off, lips finger.
Speaker 1: Marks alex is getting a bit emotional.
Speaker 12: With some pinnacle of the last sort of year and
Speaker 12: a half of my. LIFE i guess it's all accommodated
Speaker 12: into this, here so be nice and it.
Speaker 1: WORKS i lag the death end each ye makes it more,
Speaker 1: unique it, does adding a little extra. Pressure the money
Speaker 1: men have flown in From.
Speaker 8: Greece it's the most original spitfire that we've ever had
Speaker 8: in the, hangar and it's the, only probably one the
Speaker 8: most original would ever. Have they haven't seen, IT i
Speaker 8: think for nearly a, year and the last time they
Speaker 8: came through it was just in bits all over the. Floor,
Speaker 8: no we need to fly some hours on.
Speaker 5: It how many?
Speaker 9: Hours?
Speaker 8: Twenty and if we, can we need your.
Speaker 5: Permission it's your.
Speaker 8: Aeroplane, okay we can't just fly the.
Speaker 5: Aeroplane, no you can't say.
Speaker 8: That, no we've done as much as we can to
Speaker 8: make sure that we've mitigated all the possible risks and
Speaker 8: it's ready to. Go but, yeah slightly.
Speaker 4: Nervous.
Speaker 1: George done has arrived.
Speaker 5: AND i understand you're flying.
Speaker 12: It it's very rare that you get to rebuild an
Speaker 12: airplane and actually still meet the pilot of the.
Speaker 4: Aircraft how you.
Speaker 9: Doing he've done a sully good.
Speaker 1: Job The greeks are keen to Meet.
Speaker 8: George he knows the way and he perhaps he should
Speaker 8: fly it To greece.
Speaker 1: Again, Yes i've got next veteran pilot meets modern day spitfire.
Speaker 1: PILOT i know that you're going to take it back.
Speaker 14: Degree this is a.
Speaker 8: Plan, yeah, yeah setting off in more ten. Minutes it's
Speaker 8: a tremendous responsibility for me to be standing out there
Speaker 8: watching this scene.
Speaker 1: Takeoff it's a Perfect january day for. Flying.
Speaker 8: George did you want to go up in the air?
Speaker 9: Van? Oh, yeah that big black and you want to do.
Speaker 8: That, yeah big, day very big.
Speaker 5: Day finally she gets here up on.
Speaker 1: Again it could be great to see, it can't. Wait
Speaker 1: it's it's a group effort for. Efer Peter kinsey is
Speaker 1: an experienced test, pilot but flying in newly restored veteran
Speaker 1: aircraft for the first. Time it's not for the faint.
Speaker 1: Hearted alex is on ground crew duty. Today there seems
Speaker 1: to be a, problem, fortunately just a seat belt.
Speaker 12: ISSUE mj seventy five five o'cake two.
Speaker 1: Chucks. Away george is already in position at two thousand
Speaker 1: feet AS mj seventy five five starts her. Run about
Speaker 1: seven thousand, parts most of them seventy five year old,
Speaker 1: originals hundreds of them safety, critical, restored, rebuilt with no
Speaker 1: room for.
Speaker 17: Error everything is at stake right, here right, now.
Speaker 8: There goes is airborne this way if your carriage to
Speaker 8: go up now the carriage is.
Speaker 4: Up that's quite, something isn't.
Speaker 1: It tension gives way to relief looking back over how
Speaker 1: it's got from the back of the container in, bits
Speaker 1: dusty dirty, bits and there it.
Speaker 8: Is it's now flying on a beautiful, day blue, skies.
Speaker 4: And he's still up. There so he's obviously happy with
Speaker 4: it and enjoying, it and why.
Speaker 5: NOT i wish it was?
Speaker 4: Me actually right NOW.
Speaker 12: I think that might be flying for the.
Speaker 5: UNEDUCATED i think that's. Flying what do you reckon? About it's.
Speaker 1: Flying it's a deeply emotional moment for everyone.
Speaker 8: Involved so it's a special, airplane that, one.
Speaker 1: But especially for a proud dad whose son is following
Speaker 1: in his.
Speaker 8: FOOTSTEPS i Remember alex at two years, old running around
Speaker 8: the fuse larger of The kent Spit fire before it
Speaker 8: was thought it was, completed running around with bits in his,
Speaker 8: hand knowing what what he got in his, hand and
Speaker 8: the and the significance of those. Parts it is a
Speaker 8: way of life for. ME i have no doubt about.
Speaker 8: IT i can't see That i'll ever. Retire IF i,
Speaker 8: DID i wouldn't know what to. Do here we are
Speaker 8: first flight of The Greek. Spitfire the guy that originally
Speaker 8: delivered it in forty seven as seventy three years. AGO
Speaker 8: i sat, there think years AGO i was in that
Speaker 8: same see.
Speaker 5: So welcome back To.
Speaker 3: George how was?
Speaker 9: That that was a lovely?
Speaker 4: Flight was it?
Speaker 1: Good that is so close to?
Speaker 3: Us there you, go there you, go, fantastic.
Speaker 1: They've done. It a perfect flight and perfect bit of.
Speaker 5: Parking pretty.
Speaker 16: Good, yeah it goes, Well, yeah lovely everything, right, yeah pretty.
Speaker 5: Much, yeah very.
Speaker 1: Happy The greeks are keen for a full. Report it flies.
Speaker 8: Beautifully it's just a really nice, aeroplane nice, engine nice
Speaker 8: and smooth for, parlors smooth on daylight today when the
Speaker 8: air is smoothed as.
Speaker 4: Well it's just. PERFECT a few.
Speaker 8: Nervous moments, there but all went well and it's all
Speaker 8: wrapped up. Today airplane flu pilot was, happy The greek
Speaker 8: representatives were very, happy and we're just about to put it,
Speaker 8: away put it to. Bed it's been a super, day
Speaker 8: really has H.
Speaker 6: It's a lovely thing to, see you, know after you've
Speaker 6: done all this. WORK i do get emotional Because i've,
Speaker 6: seen you, know you go through it so many. Times
Speaker 6: are you restore an aeroplane and see it fly for
Speaker 6: the first, time and then we just move on to
Speaker 6: the next.
Speaker 12: One we stopped the next one, already so factory never.
Speaker 8: Stops we've got to keep these things in the, air
Speaker 8: So i've got.
Speaker 4: To keep going for a while longer.
Speaker 16: Yet, okay see you, soon.
Speaker 4: Mm.
Speaker 6: Hmmmm