Detailed text transcripts for TV channel - BBCNEWS - 20201225:09:29:00 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
time which is great credit to the negotiating teams on both sides. they were the planes that won the battle of britain and turned the tides on world war ii. but behind the success of spitfires and hurricanes, there was an untold story. the mathematical coloured collations of a schoolgirl.
now on bbc news, the untold story of 13 year old hazel hill and her crucial role in the design of the famous spitfire and hurricane fighter planes in the run up to the battle of britain. it s a wonderful aircraft, absolutely wonderful. it fitted you like a glove, you see, that s what i liked about it. without victory in the battle of britain, i think it s almost certain that we would have been invaded by germany. it was a darn close run thing. it is the most famous plane from world war ii. it played a crucial role in the battle of britain. but what we didn t know until now was the role that a 13 year old girl played in its design. hazel‘s role, like so many others, has hitherto been untold. i think we can look back and be extremely grateful
people were very sparse, if indeed they had any budget at all. and in the accounts given by a lot of them, they talk about burning the midnight oil and coming into the office late after everybody‘s gone to carry out further calculations and borrow some bits of equipment to carry out experiments, more or less off their own bat, where they re working very long hours, because they were really dedicated to these things, and of course people taking their work home. this is raf duxford in cambridgeshire, home to many of the spitfires and hurricanes during the war. so this is a spitfire piece of history, almost? absolutely, yes. and today, hazel‘s sons have brought their mother s kitchen table here for us to see. so, you have brought your kitchen table all the way from cornwall to here, the control tower at duxford. explain why. i think it s important for you to see it. this is the kitchen table
like hazel in the early 1930s making such an important contribution to our later success in the battle of britain, which was vital to this country s survival. the calculations carried out by hazel and her father resulted in both spitfires and hurricanes being armed with eight rather than four guns. over the next six years, as britain headed towards war with nazi germany, the planes were tested and put into production. each gun carried just 300 rounds. it took around 15 seconds for them all to be fired. it meant that every bullet had to count. the spitfire was a nimble aircraft, perfect for dog fights, and their pilots loved them. so, you d got three german fighters that day? 98 year old squadron leader allan scott flew both spitfires and hurricanes.