coverings, after the prime minister said a stricter approach was needed in england. massacre, in which 8,000 bosnian muslim men and boys were murdered. now on bbc news. this week marked the 80th anniversary of the start of the battle of britain, when the raf defended the country as nazi germany launched wave after wave of bombing raids over britain. the raf‘s young pilots held them off with their new fighter planes, the spitfires and hurricanes. the aircraft became iconic, a symbol of britain s resilience under attack. but what has never been revealed before is the role that a schoolgirl from london played in their success, as sophie raworth has been finding out in the schoolgirl who helped winawar.
most people assumed that eight guns would be too heavy for the spitfire, that the extra load would make the nimble new aircraft slower and less manoeuvrable. fred knew that a four gun design for the new fighters had already been agreed. if the plans were not changed quickly, it would be too late. so, it s 1934. you ve got the hurricane and the spitfire under development. but it s said that they only need four guns. you know they can catch the bombers, but now you ve got to be able to kill them, and you ve got three potential weapons available. one of them fires shells like this. this was a french hispano 20mm cannon, and it s obviously very tempting to go for these. this one hits an airframe, it s going to come down. though there are problems with it.
load would make the nimble new aircraft slower and less manoeuvrable. fred knew that a forgone design for the new fighters had already been agreed. four gun design. if the plans were not changed quickly, it would be too late. so, it s 1934. would be too late. so, it s1934. you ve got the hurricane and the spitfire underdevelopment. but it is said that they only need four guns. you know they can catch the bombers. but now you ve got to be able to kill them, and you ve got three potential weapons available. one of them fires shells like this. this was a french hispano 20 mimetic canon, and it s obviously very tempting to go for these. this one hits on our it s going to come down. though there are problems with it. in order to be able to fire them accurately, they ve got to have a very stiff mounting, and as you can
it is such an elegant and agile fighter. speed and surprise were the key to its success. and, of course, its firepower. in we come to land. pilots reckoned that they could keep their sights on for about two seconds. so you had to find a way of bringing down an enemy bomber in just two seconds. in 193a, as war with germany looked increasingly likely, the british government took what many thought to be an extraordinary decision. the new generation of fighters, they said, should be armed with not four but eight browning machine guns. newsreel: give it up, mrs smith. or is it miss? the battle of britain is your battle, too.
victory in the battle of britain was by no means certain, and depended on the skills and bravery of young raf pilots from britain and her allies. there they were flying the latest generation of fighter planes, the legendary spitfires and hurricanes. a key feature of these fighters was the way they were armed. the new planes were initially designed to carry four machine guns, but in the run up to war, or that would change. earlier this year i was lucky enough to find out what it was like to fly in one of these iconic planes. there we go. snug, isn t it? amazing!