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In May 1940 eighteen-year old Geoffrey Wellum joins the 92 squadron of the Royal Air Force and is taken to the pub,where pilots who have seen action sign their names on a blackboard. Next day,with no flying experience,he is expected to pilot a Spitfire;he is nervous but exhilarated. Soon he is seeing action against the Luftwaffe,his sense of duty dispelling fear,and,having taken part in the Battle of Britain,is awarded a medal,though he never signs the blackboard. By 1941 he has flown fifty missions and feels invincible,though he sees friends die and in 1942 the stress causes him to have a breakdown. However he survives the war and,in the present,talks direct to camera,voicing his feelings about his service experiences.

70 years after the historic struggle, brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor take viewers through the key moments of the Battle of Britain, when 'the few' of the RAF faced the might of the Nazi Luftwaffe.