The film begins by looking at the early days of air war at the start of the 20th Century. James flies in a biplane to get to grips with how difficult it was for the early aviators to hit any targets. Using flour bombs, he tries to hit a target on the ground. It’s a lot more difficult than he imagined.
He also meets a group of ex-Paras to try some "make up for men", camouflage paint. When he fails to spot the Paras hidden in the woods he turns to modern technology for help.
James moves on to look at "the biggest art show of the century", one of the most curious innovations to come from the military world. It’s called dazzle camouflage, and it involved painting warships in a confusing series of lines and stripes. Thousands of ships were painted like this to confuse German U boats during the First World War.
Finally James meets up with Squadron Leader Paul Godfrey. He’s been invited to fly in the Typhoon, the RAF’s latest jet fighter. He has a private pilot’s licence - but only at 4,000ft at 120 knots. The Typhoon is a plane that can go from a standing start to six miles high in 150 seconds.
After landing James admits he was slightly emotional: "Well, I admit I was a bit nervous when we set off but, absolutely unquestionably and not anything to do with bigging it up for television, that was the best thing I have ever experienced. It is, it is breathtaking, it really is, I can’t really describe what it’s like. It’s life-changing, frankly."
First broadcast: Tuesday 10 Jul 2007 on BBC TWO
James May's 20th Century in more depth:
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - About the series
Production team
Top Gear presenter James May takes a tour of the 20th century- trying out for himself some of the most surprising and influential technological advances... Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - About the series
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Big City, Bright Lights
Production team
Each day, 180,000 people move into a city somewhere on the planet. In Big City, Bright Lights, James sets out to discover how we’ve created... Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Big City, Bright Lights
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Blast Off
Production team
Like many small boys James May dreamt of becoming an astronaut. Even though he may not have realised his dream he sets off to find... Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Blast Off
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Body Fantastic
Production team
James sets out to discover how far he can push his body and finds out about some of the most remarkable medical advances over the... Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Body Fantastic
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Honey, I Shrunk The World
Production team
At the beginning of the 20th Century, long distance travel was for the military-minded, the uprooted and the plain rich, but the pioneers of flight... Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Honey, I Shrunk The World
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Inventing The Teenager
Production team
In the 20th Century the teenager emerged as a separate species. But how? Was it the promise of sex? The power of pop? Or the... Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - Inventing The Teenager
OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - John Naughton on The Social Life of Networks
OU
John Naughton delivered his inaugural lecture on The Social Life of Networks. Listen to the lecture. Read more : OU on the BBC: James May's 20th Century - John Naughton on The Social Life of Networks
![Polling Station signage [Image: kagey b under CC-BY-NC-ND licence]](/openlearn/files/ole/ole_images/places/general-urban-scenes/polling-station-sign/polling station sign_0_0.jpg)
Login or Register to post comments
Comments on: "Take Cover"
username has started a thread discussing Take Cover.
did he rirly fly in that jet?