Flights of fancy

RAF AT 100 WITH EWAN AND COLIN MCGREGOR | BBC1 8.30PM

“I just feel a bit serious about it, and I feel responsible about it. I’m very lucky to be given the opportunity to do it, and I don’t wanna barf.” So states Ewan Mcgregor as he sits inside the cockpit of an RAF Typhoon and resists the temptation to press all those enticing buttons. In this one-off documentary, Ewan and his brother, former RAF pilot Colin, look back at 100 years of the Royal Air Force.

Before Ewan’s allowed to get hands-on with a modern fighter jet, however, he and Colin have to consider what went before, so they board one of the more primitive planes used by the Royal Flying Corps (as was) in 1918, with no mounted weaponry (you had to use a handgun) and no protection from sub-zero temperatures…