Spitfire: The People’s Plane
Before a plane could save a country, the people had to build it. This is the story of a beautiful and deadly icon of resistance, built and flown against extraordinary odds.
Episodes
Scramble
15th September 1940 was the moment the Germans chose to drive the Spitfire from the battlefield. The people on the ground, guiding the Spitfires - spotters, plotters and fitters- will play a vital role in a day that changed the course of World War Two.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
10/07/20•18m 27s
Teenage pilots
How does it feel to fly the plane that won the war? Two Spitfire pilots - one 18 year old from the Battle of Britain, one from today’s
RAF - compare their experiences of unparalleled ecstasy and paralysing fear.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
03/07/20•18m 32s
Faster and higher
It wasn’t just Spitfire production that needed to escape the bombs; the designers of the plane also need to find a safe place to improve the Spitfire to deal with Germany’s latest fighter developments.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
26/06/20•18m 33s
New planes, new rules
Ramping up Spitfire production requires another new factory. Bigger, better, full of cutting-edge machinery and the best workers in the business. But it’s a catastrophe – one that nearly costs Britain dearly.
19/06/20•18m 35s
The Shilling factor
As brilliant as the Spitfire is, it has one major flaw. Take her into a steep dive and fuel can’t reach the engine. A solution is urgently needed. That’s a job for the fastest woman in Britain: champion motorcycle racer and pioneering engineer, Beatrice Shilling.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten LassThe audio for this programme was updated on 16 June 2020.
12/06/20•17m 58s
Women take control
The new Spitfires need to be flown to RAF bases desperate for reinforcements. That’s the job of the ATA Girls - the female flyers of World War Two, some of the first women in Britain to receive the same wages as their male counterparts.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
05/06/20•18m 26s
Makeshift wedding
Spitfire production is getting back on track, but the search for locations continues. Out into the surrounding countryside, from brickworks to country manors to empty fields, the dispersal continues.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
29/05/20•18m 28s
Makeshift factories
Amid the smouldering ruins of the Spitfire factory, a new strategy emerges: instead of building the plane in one factory, it will be built piece by piece in garages, workshops and laundries.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
22/05/20•17m 28s
Crowdfunding
The struggle against the Nazis has to be fought by ordinary people as much as by the army and air force. Communities across Britain are enlisted to raise funds for Spitfires. Villages, sports clubs, trades unions and churches devise money-making stunts and give their names to individual planes and whole squadrons.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
15/05/20•18m 30s
Phoenix
The Spitfire factory was a priority target for German bombers. The workers endured raid after raid. If vital Spitfires are going to continue to be built, then a plan is desperately needed.Presenter: Tuppence Middleton
Producers: Alasdair Cross and Emily Knight
Editors: Chris Ledgard and Kirsten Lass
08/05/20•18m 27s
Introducing Spitfire: The People’s Plane
Before a plane could save a country, the people had to build it. This is the story of a beautiful and deadly icon of resistance, built and flown against extraordinary odds.
05/05/20•3m 33s