Warbird Workshop - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Spitfire
The engineering team at the Biggin HIll Heritage Hangar begin the rebuild of RAF Spitfire MJ772, a war veteran fighter that saw action in the skies over the D Day beaches and the battle to liberate Europe. The ambitious restoration begins with the left wing, torn off in a crash landing in a field in Kent after an engine failure. Chief engineer Franca Tambascia and his young team must replace the main spars and repair damaged metalwork twisted and buckled in the accident.
DC3 (C47)
A US Army Air Force C47 that dropped paratroopers on D-Day is at the centre of one of the UK's most ambitious warbird rebuilds.
Westland Wessex
A team of engineers fight to return a veteran Westland Wessex helicopter to the skies - 30 years after its last flight.
Defender
Aircraft restoration expert Mark Masters and his son James rebuild a 1943 US Army Aeronca Defender liaison plane for its German owner.
Piper Cub
Members of the Lincoln Aero Club discover a war hero in their rural hangar.? Golf Oscar Romeo was used as an artillery spotter plane by the US Army in North Africa and at the siege of Monte Cassino in Italy.
Engineer Rob Stephens takes on the massive task of stripping 1980s fabric and paintwork off the plane and restoring it to its military markings at his workshop in the Fens. There's a deadline to meet - the owners want to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day with an ambitious flight across the English Channel.
Restoration specialist Ken Riordan begins the painstaking task of hand-stitching new fabric onto the Cub's wood and aluminium skeleton but then Rob spots a problem with two vital components that help hold on the wings.
The deadline is looming – and then the weather springs one last surprise on the team…
L39 Jet
Businessman Steve Hartley has dedicated his fortune to a quest for speed. He already owns a McLaren Formula 1 car and two helicopters. But his latest project leaves both standing.? His L39 jet is a Cold War-era plane rescued from the corner of a hangar in the Baltic States.
At St Athan in Wales, engineer John Sparks and his team of ex-Navy and RAF? engineers begin the task of reassembling the Czech-built jet from nine parts delivered by lorry. In a hangar that was once one of the most secret places in NATO, dedicated to servicing the RAF's front line jets, British engineers must begin puzzling out the workings of an Eastern Bloc plane that they once regarded as the enemy.
The first engine run goes well... then the team hit a major hurdle.? An ejection seat is found to be unusable and Steve must launch a worldwide search for a replacement. In a real-life story with some of the ingredients of a thriller, his quest comes up with an unusual solution...buying another jet.? But will his first plane ever take to the air?
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