Fighter Pilot (TV series)
British TV series or programme / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Fighter Pilot is a BBC television documentary series that was broadcast in the UK on BBC One, from 9 September to 28 October 1981.[1] It was about the training of fast jet pilots in the Royal Air Force and followed the progress of six candidates as they went through the three-year programme. The BBC and the RAF first agreed to work together on a documentary in 1978, when there was a poor level of recruitment and a shortage of pilots in the service. At the time it cost £1 million to train a pilot (£4 million in 2011[2]). The training process, from selection to operational service has a high drop-out rate and only one of the six original candidates went on to fly fast jets.
Fighter Pilot | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary Reality television |
Created by | Colin Strong |
Narrated by | Michael Dean |
Theme music composer | Don Percival |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One |
Release | 9 September 1981 (1981-09-09) |
Three of the candidates were airmen who already served in the RAF, while the others were from civilian backgrounds (qualified nurse, zoologist and milkman/farm worker). The series was produced by Colin Strong, who closely followed the candidates for three-and-a-half years. To gain a detailed insight in to the process, he undertook the RAF basic flying training course himself and flew solo in a Jet Provost. The series was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1982 for Television Factual Series.