Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Spitfire: The People’s Plane

Factual: History

Before a plane could save a country, the people had to build it

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.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Online

Spitfire: The People’s Plane: Spitfire: The People’s Plane: Women take control

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Crime & Justice

Women take control

06/06/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Spitfire: The People’s Plane, Spitfire: The People’s Plane, Women take control

The new Spitfires need to be flown to RAF bases desperate for reinforcements

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.

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

Spitfire: The People’s Plane: Spitfire: The People’s Plane

The story of the people who built the plane that won a war.

Before a plane could save a country the people had to build it. This is the story of how the beautiful and deadly icon of resistance was built against extraordinary odds.
 
The legend of the Spitfire rests on the reputation of the pilots who fought dogfights over England in the summer of 1940, but their success was based on the sacrifice of thousands of ordinary women and men. When a community comes together in a shared endeavour it can win a battle and save countless lives- a theme that resonates as powerfully today as it did 80 years ago.
 
When German bombs hit the Spitfire factory building the plane production ground to a sudden halt.  There would be no new Spitfires to replace those shot from the skies. As British resistance against the Nazis hung in the balance an extraordinary plan was hatched. The factory wouldn’t be rebuilt.  Instead, ordinary people in bus depots, car workshops and even a laundry would build the Spitfire piece by piece.
 
Across ten episodes we celebrate the heroes who put their towns and villages on the frontline of war and looked to the sky as their Spitfires fought for the future of civilisation.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Spitfire: The People’s Plane

Spitfire: The People’s Plane

Women take control

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service