History's Greatest Aircraft

The Avro Lancaster is the legendary British heavy bomber that carved its place in history with Bomber Command during World War 2. That conflict saw over seven thousand of these iconic aircraft come off the production line.

Unusually, we look at the later, clipped wing version flown by Czech refugee pilots in the UK during WW2. We get close-up with a beautifully restored example, fly her and unearth long-unseen test and operational footage.

The definitive, if not the best, Axis fighter of World War two: we delve into the story of legendary ace Adolf Galland and examine in detail and example of the type in his colours. We also look at the technical heritage the 109 designers left.

The story of the prolonged development and the initially troubled operational history of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Forever known as the airframe that dropped the first atomic weapons on Japan, the B-29 lived on well beyond its war years.

The Heinkel He 111 is one of the most recognised German aircraft of WW2.� The broad winged design was a guinea pig for future bombers, with more variants than any other military aircraft of the time.

We trace the astonishing story of designers turning away from metal and back to wood to create a twin-engine bomber that could outrun almost any aircraft in the sky, yet deliver a bomb load greater than an Avro Lancaster.