ESPRESSO T.V.

Classic Fighter

1 X 55'

Supermarine Spitfire MkXVI

Classic Fighter - the story of the great piston-engined fighters of World War Two. A tribute to the men who flew them, and to the men and women who guided them and kept them in the air.

Supermarine Spitfire MkIX

Made in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, this programme tells the story of these great war planes.

Stunning air-to-air flying sequences are intercut with interviews with pilots and aircrew of the British and American air forces.

Messerschmitt Bf109 'Gustav'

Some of the fighter aircraft featured are the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, Messerschmitt Bf109, Chance Vought Corsair, P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang.

North American Mustang P-51D

Interviews include:

8th US Air Force: Pilots and crew from the 56th Fighter Group and the 390th Bomb Group.

Royal Air Force: Air Vice-Marshal 'Johnnie' Johnson and Wing Commander George Unwin.

Avro Lancaster

(Battle of Britain Memorial Flight)

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"The squadrons thundered off the ground tirelessly. Off they pelted, those glorious, radiant boys. We were with them in sound and spirit, but that feeling of lead in the stomach when they failed to return was all too familiar.

There were so many – and all of them so young, and such a wicked, wicked waste.

I mourned them then, now, and forever."

Anne Turley-George

Radio Operator, Fighter Command, Royal Air Force

(Quote re: Battle of Britain, 1940)

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"I finished the war at a place called Celle, with Belsen right next door. And we didn't know what Belsen was until we smelt it – we were three miles away and we could smell it.

Then we saw Nazi Germany at first hand and we knew what it meant. So we were bloody glad we'd taken part in defeating that evil empire."

J. E. Johnson

Wing Leader

 144 Canadian Wing & 127 Wing, Royal Air Force

Aircraft: Supermarine Spitfires

(Quote re: Belsen Concentration Camp)

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"We made a pass on that aerodrome, shooting everything we could hit. When we got to the end, Bob Campbell turned around to make a second pass. Well that is an absolute no-no. I don't have no idea why Campbell did that.

But he did, he turned around and came back – and he got hit and he crashed into the runway. He blew up right in front of me, so I flew right through him. Then I pulled up and I looked down, and there was a church and a graveyard down there.

That was a bad day. That was a real bad day for me."

Charles Rotzler

Pilot, 56th Fighter Group, 8th US Air Force

Aircraft: P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs

(Quote re: USAAF attack on St. Trond airfield, Belgium, 1944)

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“I had a lot of holes, big holes in the wings, big holes in the flaps and the fuselage and everything – but they just got the one crucial cylinder, the one on the bottom, blew the thing completely off and my engine just froze up.

On that particular day, our group lost sixteen aeroplanes and there were I guess five or six people that didn’t come back. We got shot up real bad. Those days were pretty rough.”

Charles Rotzler

(Quote re: Battle of Arnhem, Holland, 1944)

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“When you got on your bomb run, the Germans would put up a curtain of flak and you had to fly though it. That was just about the scariest part of the mission.

As long as it was black there was no problem. But when you saw red, you knew that was real close.”

Jim Keelan

Radar Navigator, 390th Bomb Group, 8th US Air Force

Aircraft: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

(Quote re: bombing raids over Germany)

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“Well I tell you, I was here in 1935. I went all through Europe and I saw Europe at its aesthetic height. And it just killed me to see a beautiful town like Cologne in ruins.”

Fred Christensen

Pilot, 56th Fighter Group, 8th US Air Force

Aircraft: P-47 Thunderbolt

(Quote re: devastation of Cologne)

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“But it was a great experience, trekking through Europe – a nomadic sort of life in your tents, marvellous chaps with you, all your own ground crew, all together, one big team and finishing the job off.

Marvellous experience, the most marvellous experience I’ve ever had.”

J. E. Johnson

Wing Leader

 Royal Air Force

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(This programme is available soon on DVD)