Introducing Spitfire: The People’s Plane

Spitfire: The People’s Plane by BBC

May 5, 20203:33Society & Culture

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.

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Spitfire: The People’s Plane.

Scramble

Jul 10, 2020 - 18:27

15th September 1940 was the moment the Germans chose to drive the Spitfire from the battlefield. The peop...

Teenage pilots

Jul 3, 2020 - 18:32

How does it feel to fly the plane that won the war? Two Spitfire pilots - one 18 year old from the Battle...

Faster and higher

Jun 26, 2020 - 18:33

It wasn’t just Spitfire production that needed to escape the bombs; the designers of the plane also need...

New planes, new rules

Jun 19, 2020 - 18:35

Ramping up Spitfire production requires another new factory. Bigger, better, full of cutting-edge machine...

The Shilling factor

Jun 12, 2020 - 17:58

As brilliant as the Spitfire is, it has one major flaw. Take her into a steep dive and fuel can’t reach t...

Women take control

Jun 5, 2020 - 18:26

The new Spitfires need to be flown to RAF bases desperate for reinforcements. That’s the job of the ATA G...

Makeshift wedding

May 29, 2020 - 18:28

Spitfire production is getting back on track, but the search for locations continues. Out into the surrou...

Makeshift factories

May 22, 2020 - 17:28

Amid the smouldering ruins of the Spitfire factory, a new strategy emerges: instead of building the plane...