The Spitfire Kids

A bestselling BBC World Service ten-part series and podcast that celebrates the men and women who built and flew the Second World War's most famous fighter plane - the Spitfire. The Battle of Britain was fought and won by teenagers. The average age of a fighter pilot was just 20 years of age. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger. Spitfire Kids is based on the hit BBC Worldwide podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, and uses contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of Britain's most iconic fighter aircraft through the voices of the young Britons who risked everything to design, build and fly her.This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. They were vital in keeping the Royal Air Force fully operational - building parts, constructing radar systems, coordinating supplies, ferrying planes - whilst the Luffwaffe above tried to bomb them into destruction.These were young people who won a battle that turned a war. Through fresh interviews and war diaries and personal correspondence, BBC radio producer Alasdair Cross recounts an incredible tale of courage and sacrifice that celebrates arguably Britain's greatest generation. THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft'. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love StoryDespite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just twenty years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.Based on the hit BBC World Service podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, we use contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the teenagers who risked everything to design, build and fly her.This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. Young people who won a battle that turned a war.