''Fighter Pilot'' is a

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

series that was broadcast in the UK on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, from 9 September to 28 October 1981. It was about the training of fast jet pilots in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

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). 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. 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.

Candidates

Episodes

Book

A book of the television series was produced by Colin Strong and co-written with the author, Duff Hart-Davis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fighter Pilot (TV Series) 1981 British television series debuts 1981 British television series endings 1980s British documentary television series BBC television documentaries British military aviation 1980s British television miniseries Documentary television series about aviation British aviation television series British English-language television shows Television series about the Royal Air Force