The Spitfire: Britain's Flying Past

00:00:04 We're talking about being British, aren't we?

00:00:07 What really matters to us.

00:00:09 Fair play, roast beef, the Queen?

00:00:12 Yeah, OK.

00:00:14 But I'd like to nominate something quite different

00:00:17 something I've loved all my life and it's celebrating its 75th birthday.

00:00:22 It's the most wonderful...

00:00:25 the most beautiful...

00:00:27 greatest...

00:00:29 aircraft in the world.

00:00:31 It is, of course, the Spitfire.

00:00:33 Oh, gosh! A victory roll.

00:00:36 But our story isn't just about a plane, it's about people -

00:00:41 the men and women who've loved this thing for three-quarters of a century.

00:00:45 It was the nearest thing to flying oneself.

00:00:48 You went into combat daily with it together.

00:00:51 The people who gave the Spitfire its soul.

00:00:54 My Spitfire and me.

00:00:57 Ordinary people who did the most extraordinary things.

00:01:01 Anything that moved, short of a horse, was an enemy.

00:01:05 You would have done the same.

00:01:06 First you hear it, then you feel it.

00:01:10 ENGINE ROARS It's so exciting.

00:01:17 Of course it does!