To celebrate the centenary of the Royal Air Force, Ewan and Colin McGregor take to the skies in some of the world's most iconic planes. These are the planes that were involved in aerial combat at every stage of the RAF's story, from the biplanes used in the early days of dogfighting in World War I to the beautiful Spitfire of the Battle of Britain, the plucky Lysander and on to mighty Vulcan nuclear bomber, as well as the Chinook helicopter and supersonic Typhoon that are still in service today. It is a story of amazing machines and epic battles, but above all it is the story of the men and women whose courage and ingenuity have been at the heart of the RAF for 100 years. On their journey Ewan and Colin meet an amazing cast of characters.
Engineer Jem Stansfield investigates how the crash test dummy has become an icon for safety. For 65 years he has been crashed, smashed and impaled, evolving from a simple military mannequin into a highly sophisticated measuring tool. Jem meets a whole range of dummies from the past, present and future at crash laboratories in Sweden, the UK and US to discover how their evolution has mirrored car safety improvements. An affectionate look at a unique feat of engineering which makes you laugh, gasp and wince all at once.
Brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor follow up their documentary The Battle of Britain with a film exploring Bomber Command, a rarely told story from the Second World War. The film focuses primarily on the men who fought and died in the skies above occupied Europe, with numerous examples of individual heroism and extraordinary collective spirit, and Colin learns to fly the key aircraft of the campaign: the Lancaster bomber. But this is also the story of a controversy that has lasted almost 70 years. The program covers six years of wartime operations, and traces the obstacles and challenges that were overcome as the RAF developed and deployed the awesome fighting force that was Bomber Command.
Seventy years on, brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor take viewers through the key moments of the Battle of Britain, when 'the few' of the RAF faced the might of the Nazi Luftwaffe. As they fly historic planes, meet the veterans, explore the tactics and technology, Colin and Ewan discover the importance of the Battle and the surviving legacy of the 1940's campaign for the modern RAF.
A "What if?" alternative history sees Nazi Germany prevailing in the second World War. First the occupiers establish their power bases, before they find themselves under attack from the underground resistance.
