The Spitfire:Britains Flying Past BBC 2 Tonight 9PM

[fflyingdog]

Just a heads up looks intresting to all us Spit buffs

ETA. Misclicked red face on topic oops.

[Mars]

Well despite John Sergeant being an annoying git, and the constant repetition, the stories told by the "guests" are brilliant - espcially the old lady who used to deliver them.

[davepoth]

I like his hat.

[Mrs Fish]

James here:

Why have we seen pictures of Hurricanes and footage of Typhoons......get the right footage BBC

Other than that really enjoying it..

[AngryApples]

Found it very emotional - great stuff!

[Eric Mc]

The triumph of emotion over fact and knowledge.

Why can't they tell us a story about the Spitfire that tells us something about the actual aircraft rather than just how people feel about it.

Typical modern TV bull to be honest.

[Mars]

Eric Mc said:

The triumph of emotion over fact and knowledge.

Why can't they tell us a story about the Spitfire that tells us something about the actual aircraft rather than just how people feel about it.

Typical modern TV bull to be honest.

Couldn't agree more. I was hoping for a run-down of what differences bnetween the Mk9 shown and the earlier models. They clearly showed pics of Spits with 3-blade props and the Mk9 had a 4. Why? What other developments were made during its lifetime? How did it compare with the contemporay German-made equivalents?

Of course, I know most of this already but it's always fun to read about/see it again. As it stands, this programme was lightweight nonsense.

[slipstream 1985]

Mars said:

Eric Mc said:

The triumph of emotion over fact and knowledge.

Why can't they tell us a story about the Spitfire that tells us something about the actual aircraft rather than just how people feel about it.

Typical modern TV bull to be honest.

Couldn't agree more. I was hoping for a run-down of what differences bnetween the Mk9 shown and the earlier models. They clearly showed pics of Spits with 3-blade props and the Mk9 had a 4. Why? What other developments were made during its lifetime? How did it compare with the contemporay German-made equivalents?

Of course, I know most of this already but it's always fun to read about/see it again. As it stands, this programme was lightweight nonsense.

history channel is your friend for all that sort of things,

[0a]

I missed this for other stuff- would you recommend i watch this on iplayer?

[RegMolehusband]

It seems the BBC is damned if they do and damned if they don't. It was probably the best thing on television last night at 9.00 and we got to see a Spitfire close up in flight with some nice wartime stories too. Good enough for me, sorry I neglected to count the number of blades.

[Eric Mc]

It was certainly better than Eastenders - but that's not saying a lot.

There is certainly space on TV for a bit more tecchie information on such matters and there has been the odd documentary on the Spitfire that covered such matters. Raymond Baxter's 1976 programme "Spitfire" is still one of the best documentaries on the aircraft ever.
Channel 4 did a good programme comparing the technical atributes of the Spitfire and 109 back in 1990.
Last year James Holland presented a good documentary on the Battle of Britain.

But the Spitfire flew with the RAF from 1938 right through to 1957 - not just in 1940. There were over 20 variants (almost 30 if you include the navalised Seafire - which almost never gets mentioned - and is a whole story in itself).

The technical development of the Spitfire can be told in an exciting and interesting way - especially as it was undertaken in a desperate race to keep the aircraft competitive against similar fighter developments in Nazi Germany.

It's not just about counting propellor blades - which frankly I find a rather insulting comment for those who enjoy a bit more content and facts in their TV compared to the modern trend towards "touchy - feely" TV.

[Meeja]

fflyingdog said:

ETA. Misclicked red face on topic oops.

Fixed that for you.

[RegMolehusband]

As a Rolls-Royce apprentice/graduate and engineer of the 70's I too would like to see more technical content in these programmes. However given the arty crafty nature of the people who work for the media I don't have high expectations. However it was a pleasant enough way to spend an hour even though I agree that John Sergeant was a little annoying at times especially using the stupid arty crafty journalistic term "swooping" when the report said "diving".

[Eric Mc]

100% agree.

You have hit the nail on the head. It's not the TV audience that's the problem - it's the programme makers.

[thatone1967]

Mars said:

Well despite John Sergeant being an annoying git, and the constant repetition, the stories told by the "guests" are brilliant - espcially the old lady who used to deliver them.

Reminds me of a story my late uncle once told me. He worked @ Heston Aerodrome during the war. They had a Spitfire delivered which, when the pilot tried to lower the undercarriage, it was locked up. The pilot made several low passes before making a pretty much flawless belly landing, damage to the aircraft was minimal, cockpit opened out popped the female pilot who was completely unfased by the whole incident!

[Eric Mc]

There was a better programme on a year or so back called "Spitfire Women" which covered the whole story of the girls of the ATA in much better depth. Of course, they flew far more aircraft than just Spitfires - including the heavy bombers and large flying boats.

[RegMolehusband]

I enjoyed that one. I recall one of the ladies saying they often had to read the aircraft instruction manual minutes before taking off and then during flight to see what approach speed and flap angles were required for landing

[Eric Mc]

RegMolehusband said:

I enjoyed that one. I recall one of the ladies saying they often had to read the aircraft instruction manual minutes before taking off and then during flight to see what approach speed and flap angles were required for landing

That was standard practice for all the ATA pilots - men and women. Most aircraft of that day did not have special two seat trainer vaersions so usually the first flight in, say, a Spitfire, was also the first solo flight.

Even the Lancaster was a single pilot aircraft.

[Steamer]

Mars said:

John Sergeant

I did have my reservations when I saw him at the start..

however, I think it was great - anyone else (the people I was thinking of as obvious choices) probably would have turned it into a bit of a 'boys own' doc. It wasnt pitched directly at pistonheads, and with that in mind it doesnt matter - so long as we dont forget the stories and people involved.

[Eric Mc]

Steamer said:

Mars said:

John Sergeant

I did have my reservations when I saw him at the start..

however, I think it was great - anyone else (the people I was thinking of as obvious choices) probably would have turned it into a bit of a 'boys own' doc. It wasnt pitched directly at pistonheads, and with that in mind it doesnt matter - so long as we dont forget the stories and people involved.

There have been dozens of docs on the Spitfire and the Battle of Britain over the past few years.

Because of dumbed down programmes like this we are in grave danger of forgetting that


a) the Spitfire was not the only fighter that served with the RAF in WW2

b) the engineering effort and technical aspects of how the Spitfire evolved and the story of the people behind these technical improvements is every bit as interesting as the stories of those who flew it

c) the ATA was mainly a male organisation. Even though the stories of the girl pilots are interesting, there have been so many programmes on the female ATA pilots that many people might think that it was an all female outfit

I would also like to see some sort of documentary on the operations of the Fleet Air Arm in WW2. You might be forgiven from looking at recent documemntaries that the Royal Navy had no aircraft in WW2.