HURRICANE HURRICANE FORCE FORCE
GUY MARTIN takes to the skies as a World War Two fighter pilot
NEW
HISTORY Guy Martin’s Battle of Britain
Sunday, C4 HD, 9pm
HIS FASCINATION WITH World War
Two has already seen ex-motorbike racer Guy Martin restore an iconic Spitfire fighter aircraft. In his latest TV adventure, Martin sets out to discover whether he could have cut the mustard as a Battle of Britain pilot, as he trains up to fly the less celebrated of the RAF’S wartime fighter planes, the Hurricane.
‘People have heard of the Spitfire more, and that seems to get all the glory,’ says the 39-year-old. ‘But they were a double act – you needed the pair of them. The Hurricane was not quite as fast, but what it did have in its favour was that it was a very stable gun platform.’
THE HISTORY
Ten months into the war, the Battle of Britain was fought to deny the Nazis the air superiority to launch an invasion across the Channel. The average age of the 3,500 RAF pilots was 20, and the two-part series follows Martin as he undergoes the training they would have had, before taking on a Messerschmitt Bf 109 German fighter plane in a dogfight in the skies over Kent.
Working his way up from a Tiger Moth biplane, Martin must master take-off and landing, before learning how to outmanoeuvre and gun down his opponent at 200mph.
THROUGH THEIR EYES
The more he learns about the reality of daily life for the wartime heroes, the more impressed he is.
‘There were stories of pilots getting in the plane and throwing up, because of nerves,’ he reveals. ‘You’re up there, waiting to be shot and watching your workmates falling out of the sky – it was not a nice life. Then you land, debrief and start waiting for the next call.’
Despite a shaky start, Martin impresses his instructors. However, after completing the final challenge, he dismisses any suggestion that he could have done the job in the 1940s.
‘Would you want someone like me protecting your country in one of those things?’ he smiles. ‘I bloody wouldn’t!’