Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A film by Glyn Jones.
The test pilot is one of the 20th century's hero figures. The mere name conjures up images of nerveless courage, death-defying heroism, "the dashing gallant lad," as one of them put it. But is he really like that? Or is he a much more skilled and calculating man? In this programme - presented in the week of the Farnborough Air Show - you can fly with the pilots, live with them, see how they are trained, and find out whether the myth remotely matches reality.
The BBC got willing help from the pilots. This was just as well since in some cockpits three is more than a crowd; remotely operated cameras mounted on various parts of the aircraft were also used to give some picture angles which have not been seen before.
Among the pilots appearing are such veterans as Jeffrey Quill, who test flew the Spitfire a few days after its first flight in 1936, and John Cunningham, still flying from Hatfield, where he pioneered the Comet.
Narrated by Derek Cooper.
Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary: Test Pilot, originally broadcast on BBC One, 1 September, 1970.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
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A film by Glyn Jones.
The test pilot is one of the 20th century's hero figures. The mere name conjures up images of nerveless courage, death-defying heroism, "the dashing gallant lad," as one of them put it. But is he really like that? Or is he a much more skilled and calculating man? In this programme - presented in the week of the Farnborough Air Show - you can fly with the pilots, live with them, see how they are trained, and find out whether the myth remotely matches reality.
The BBC got willing help from the pilots. This was just as well since in some cockpits three is more than a crowd; remotely operated cameras mounted on various parts of the aircraft were also used to give some picture angles which have not been seen before.
Among the pilots appearing are such veterans as Jeffrey Quill, who test flew the Spitfire a few days after its first flight in 1936, and John Cunningham, still flying from Hatfield, where he pioneered the Comet.
Narrated by Derek Cooper.
Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary: Test Pilot, originally broadcast on BBC One, 1 September, 1970.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
