that is his royal flying corps had. cap my grandfather was wearing when he posed with fellow pilots for the only photo we have from his short flying career. we have now got all this extraordinary step, which when you look at it is incredible. it is. about 100 years old. what did you think we need down all of this?” was astonished. first i was astonished by the weight of the case. and also, these things here. the cap is obvious. that he wore that. and the cats, we knew somehow that. and the cats, we knew somehow that he had that for good luck.” love this. i find that extraordinary. that is absolutely beautiful. it's100 years old, is that the? yes. do we know, did he carry it in the aircraft with him? yes. did he? he flew with the cat for luck. and he was lucky because he was one of the pilots who did come back alive. he did. how much does grandpa tell you about what he did in world war i? very little indeed. he never really spoke about it at all. i'm immensely proud of him, even though he was very secretive about what he

my grandfather had rarely spoken about his service with the royal flying corps. cap, were clues to his experiences in the closing months of the first world war. the role of air power changed dramatically during the war. unarmed tiny machines designed for taking pictures of the battlefields quickly evolved into fighter planes and bombers. amazing, these planes. yeah, absolutely, and here is a be2. that's what my grandfather flew, the be2. absolutely, it's this type here. the construction is amazing. it's a wooden frame around which is stretched the irish linen, and you can hear — it's tight and it's also been lacquered. my grandfather would have been only too aware of the risks he faced. more than 14,000 british pilots were killed, many more simply disappeared over the battlefields. atan airfield at an airfield in the thames valley i could at least get a sense of what my grandfather went through. my father had spoken of the aircraft that my grandfather had trained in. this replica is virtually identical. i never met my grandfather, but for a few moments, i had an

among them was a teenager who joined the royal flying corps in 1916.

my grandfather had rarely spoken about his service with the royal flying corps.months of the first world war. the role of air power changed dramatically during the war. unarmed tiny machines designed for taking pictures of the battlefields quickly evolved into a fighter planes and bombers. the faces of the men who flew them line the walls at the raf museum in hendon. around and above them are aircraft so flimsy, it makes you wonder how they stayed in the air. amazing, these planes. absolutely, and here is a be2. that's what my grandfather flew, the be2. absolutely, it's this type here, the construction is amazing. it's a wooden frame around which is stretched the irish linen and you can hear, it's tight and it's also been lacquered. it looks so fragile, so flimsy. that's right. well, early construction techniques were a bit of trial and error, the whole thing, the wings are braced in shape with piano wires. my grandfather would have been only too aware of the risks he faced. more than 14,000 british pilots were killed, many more simply disappeared over the battle

fly past up to 100 aircraft going up and over the top of buckingham palace. sophie gardner, 20 years with the royal aircraft. the raf was formed after the royal flying corpsindependence. they scrapped hundreds of the aircraft? they did and a lot of the older aircraft were out of date and in fact, they create —— they paraded at hendon but what they concentrated on and what the chief concentrated on and what the chief concentrated on was on the foundations as you would call them, the people, the training, so the apprentice training scheme, and making sure they had a basis to build rather than trying lots of shiny new our craft. they moved very quickly. you go from the ca nvas moved very quickly. you go from the canvas and would to the spitfire, the meteor hitting, one of the first jet aircraft, the very short space of time. it was changing so fast. probably causing some of attention. these were reasonably expensive aircraft to have. they advanced very quickly. i would say not so much in the 19205, it was more in the 19305 when the threat of war got things going. we talked about the competition right at the start, there was always been a needle over there wa

my grandfather had rarely spoken about his service with the royal flying corps. the role of our power changed dramatically during the war. unarmed tiny machines designed for taking pictures of the battlefields quickly evolved into a fighter planes and bombers. the faces of the men who flew them to line the walls at the raf museum in hendon. around and above them are our craft so flimsy, it makes you wonder how they stayed in the air. amazing, these planes. absolutely, and here is a b—2. that's what my grandfather flew. absolutely, this type year, the construction is amazing. it's a wooden frame around which is stretched the irish linen and you can hear, it's tight and it's also been lacquered. it looks so fragile, so flimsy. that's right. early construction techniques were a bit of trial and error, the whole thing is, the wings are bracing shape with piano wires. my grandfather would have been only too aware of the risks you face. more than 14,000 british pilots were killed, many more simply disappeared over the battlefields. as a bomber pilot, edwin raworth's ch

my grandfather had rarely spoken about his service with the royal flying corps.s of the first world war. the role of air power changed dramatically during the war. unarmed tiny machines designed for taking pictures of the battlefields quickly evolved into fighter planes and bombers. amazing, these planes. yeah, absolutely, and here is a be2. that's what my grandfather flew, the be2. absolutely, it's this type here. the construction is amazing. it's a wooden frame around which is stretched the irish linen, and you can hear — it's tight and it's also been lacquered. my grandfather would have been only too aware of the risks he faced. more than 111,000 british pilots were killed, many more simply disappeared over the battlefields. at an airfield in the thames valley, i could at least get a sense of what my grandfather went through. my father had spoken of the be2 aircraft that my grandfather had trained in. this replica is virtually identical. i never met my grandfather, but for a few moments, i had an idea of what it must have been like for him up there — a frighte