Don't Feed the Birds

The next phase of flight testing for the top secret F35 jets is underway. Coping with a rolling, pitching, wind-blown deck is hard enough, but a full-blown hurricane is looming.

After five weeks at sea and on the eastern seaboard of the USA they land the state-of-the-art F35 stealth fighter in a dramatic display of flying. But this is just the beginning of the story. For the next phase of flight testing, HMS Queen Elizabeth, along with her escort and bodyguard HMS Monmouth, must test the F35 on the rolling, pitching, wind-blown flight deck in all weathers and wind strengths. The captain, Jerry Kyd, has to seek out stronger and stronger winds to push the aircraft to its limits but is then confronted by a massive full-blown hurricane heading straight for him. Does he run for it or does he hunker down? After consulting with his commanders, he decides to stay put and the ship braces for impact.

In the midst of hurricane-driven seas, the F35 is tested almost to destruction. Meanwhile, HMS Queen Elizabeth must take on 1,000 tons of fuel from a tanker in a raging ocean in an operation called Replenishment at Sea – the most dangerous thing a warship can do short of battle itself.

It is not just the flight team who are responsible for the testing of the aircraft - each of the 1,500 members on board has a part to play in this vital deployment. And all life is here. This episode meets the captain's personal steward, who confesses to his own violent past before he joined the Royal Navy, and discovers what happened to a young Marine engineer who went missing on port leave.