War Above the Trenches

Thursday 12 April, 8pm

YESTERDAY The First World War was the first conflict where fighter planes battled it out for control of the skies over the battlefield. Drawing on archive footage, dramatic reconstructions and the diaries of veterans, this two-part documentary looks at how the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) battled the Imperial German Flying Corps above the killing fields of the Western Front.

The films are based in part on Bloody April by historian Peter Hart, a book with a title inspired by events in the spring of 1917 when, at the Battle of Arras, the RFC was sending up obsolete planes flown by new pilots, who lasted on average no longer than 11 days before they became casualties.