Over 120 million passengers take to the skies from British airports every year. Most of us fly economy with only 1% choosing first class. First Class vs Economy: Is It Worth It? Channel 5 2019
Whether it’s worth it spending the price of a small car on first-class travel … You can pay between £600 and £1000 for an economy seat to Washington: for that you get snacks and a four-course meal; a free bar can help relax the joints … If you’re prepared to shell out around ten times the amount, you get a whole lot more: each first class seat takes up the space of six standard … a completely different level of luxury. ibid.
For over a hundred years battles have raged in the air for command of the skies. Since its earliest beginnings in World War I, the aeroplane is the supreme weapon of the armed forces. It revolutionised battle and changed the ways war was fought and won. Wings of War s1e1: Bombers, Discovery 2019
A new kind of warfare is unleashed: blitzkrieg. ibid.
At the height of the Cold War between the Superpowers, the B52 … goes toe to toe in a global face-off. ibid.
The largest payload of any World War II bombers … Over 7,000 Lancasters were built … 150,000 sorties during the course of the Second World War. ibid.
The British now had a bomb which could bounce … The Lancaster’s approach run had to be spot-on. ibid.
The B17s were at their most exposed on a bomb run. ibid.
Aircraft bred a new kind of hero. The fate of entire nations depended on the bravery of a handful of men. Wings of War s1e2: Bandits, Secrets & Spies
The Nighthawk – the world’s first stealth bomber. ibid.
In 1954 President Eisenhower approved the ultra-secret project the U2. ibid.
Gary Powers’ trial began on 17th April 1960. He apologised to the Soviets and was sentenced to three years imprisonment. ibid.
Enter the Blackbird – generally regarded as America’s most successful spy plane. ibid.
War drove innovation in the skies … The Sopwith Camel becomes the most dangerous dogfighter. The Germans unleashed a scourge with their Fokker and Dekker. The allies launch the Spitfire of its time – the SE5. Wings of War s1e3: Flight for the Skies
It was the dawn of aviation when the world went to war in 1914. Daring young men took to the skies in flying machines and blazed a trail for a radically new type of battle. ibid.
By 1940 Germany had conquered most of Europe. Hitler’s next target was a small island across the English channel – Britain. In the summer of that year Britain prepared for an all-out air attack to defend the country from Nazi Germany. Britain’s Royal Air Force was in the front line to defend against the German invasion. This would be an air battle that would decide the fate of Britain and the course of World War II. Wings of War s1e4: The Battle of Britain
Armed with eight 7.7 Browning machine guns, the Spitfire could attack at speeds of over 360 mph at high altitude. Flying alongside the Spitfire was the Hawker Hurricane. ibid.
The race to build the world’s first jet engine. The first combat-ready jet plane that could have helped the Nazis win the War. Wings of War s1e5: The Jet Engine
Perhaps the most iconic jet-powered fighter plane is the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier Jump Jet. ibid.
In 1930 Whittle took out a patent on his jet engine design himself. ibid.
In the 1930s England and Germany were in a race to build the world’s first jet engine … Whittle won the race. ibid.
In the race for aerial supremacy the communists and the Migs had just burst into the lead. ibid.
Naval airmen face the fire in the heat of the battle. Bismark is dealt a fatal blow by the Swordfish Torpedo bomber. Ship-launched planes were created almost at the birth of manned flight. The Sopwith Camel pioneered new ways to attack the enemy. Even more ingenious ways were developed to strike deep into the heart of enemy territory. When the Navy takes the plane to the seas, the plane takes the fight to the heart of the enemy. Wings of War s1e6: Naval Aviation
The combat planes that decided the greatest Naval encounter the world had ever seen: the Battle of Midway … It was combat aircraft that determined the outcome of the most decisive Naval battle of World War II: the epic clash between the Japanese imperial forces and the United States of America took place on June 4th 1942 off the tiny island of Midway. Wings of War s1e7: Battle of Midway
Crisis during the fall of Saigon and the largest helicopter evacuation ever mounted. Wings of War s1e8: Crisis Ops
The daring American B-25 raid on Japan to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor. ibid.
The crisis operation marked the end of America’s involvement in a war that had begun in 1950. ibid.
As big as a double-decker bus the [Sikorski helicoper] DH53 was designed to carry a maximum payload of 42,000 lbs or up to 55 combat troops. ibid.
Helicopters take the fight to where no other plane can go; from the south Atlantic sea to the urban wastelands of Somalia the helicopter reigns supreme. In dangerous terrain the Huey took soldiers out of harm’s way: when it takes to the air the helicopter becomes the cavalry. Wings of War s1e9: Helicopters
Only a helicopter can get combat troops in quickly and with a high degree of precision: enter the Sikorski Black Hawk. The Black Hawk is a multiple role utility aircraft: with its two powerful turbo-shaft engines its capability of lifting up to nine tons of cargo … but in daylight the Black Hawk has little defence. ibid.
Chinook: lift up to eight tons of cargo. It’s able to operate in conditions that limit other helicopters. The high altitudes and low temperatures of Afghanistan are no obstacle for the Chinooks. And with significant upgrades it just keeps getting better. ibid.
The US army deployed the first cavalry division in Vietnam. ibid.
As well as troop and cargo carrier the Chinook was adapted as an assault aircraft. ibid.
It’s served in Iraq and Afghanistan: equipped to take out both armour and infantry, the Apache A864 is loaded with helicopter launched fire and forget missiles, or Hellfire. ibid.
The Wasp merely stung the submarine ... Other Wasps from the British frigate HMS Plymouth began to swarm around the submarine … In the confusion, the runaway torpedo missed its target. As the Argentine submarine slipped away, the torpedo found a new target: a British submarine. Down but not out, the Santa Fe submarine was still seaworthy and still on the move. It evaded its British attackers. ibid.
The world’s deadliest air superiority and ground attack aircraft: the top guns that rule the skies and the tankbusters that support the troops, including the smart and stealthy F-35 Lightning; the supersonic fighter plane that dominates the skies today: the F-22 Raptor. Wings of War s1e10: Top Guns & Tankbusters
The Raptor can hit a blistering supersonic speed of Mach 2. ibid.
What makes the F-22 an exceptional fighter is its two super-computers. ibid.
The emblematic fighter of the US Navy’s Top Gun program … F-14 Top Cat. The Top Cat’s first fight was on 21 December 1970. ibid.
Gulf War 1990-1991: The A-10s provided critical support to the coalition ground-forces. ibid.
When a major airliner crashes the tragedy is overwhelming, the destruction sudden and complete. In the spring of 1979 a New York woman has a series of dreams of an airliner disaster in the mid-west; two months later a Cincinnati man dreams of a large jet in peril: it crashes and explodes. The dream repeats ten nights in a row and no matter what he does, it will not leave him alone. Were these dreams just nightmares or will they prove to be prophecies? In Search of s4e21 … Air Disaster Prediction, History 1980
New Jersey 7.25 pm May 6th 1937: Delayed by storms, the airship Hindenburg was finally preparing to land. Passengers peered down looking for familiar faces as the ship turned for the final descent. Water ballast was released to bring her into trim. Engines were reversed from Idle Ahead to Idle Astern … Was it an accident or sabotage? In Search of s5e21 … The Hindenburg Mystery
For almost all of human history the dream of flying remained just that: a dream. But we’re a strange creative species. Over the ages the idea of human flight passed from one mind to another and eventually it would change the world. But the story of how we took to the sky is full of extraordinary accidents and bizarre connections. Jim Al-Khalili, Revolutions: The Ideas that Changed the World I: The Aeroplane, BBC 2019
A story of ingenuity, of wonder, of revolutions. ibid.
At this very moment at least half a million people are flying … The invention of aeroplane has been a true revolution. ibid.
Aviation has shrunk the world. ibid.
The story of human flight is older than you might imagine. ibid.
Leonardo da Vinci: Instead of attaching the wings to the arms, they will be part of a machine that will have beating wings like a bird … He designed more than a dozen machines that flapped their wings. ibid.