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A recording of Flight Lieutenant Richard Hillary recalling his first day in action as a Spitfire pilot is intercut with reporter Charles Gardner's description of a dogfight. Then Flight Lieutenant JB Nicholson remembers a lucky escape as he parachuted to safety after being shot down over the Channel.

Richard Hillary claimed five enemy aircraft before being shot down over the North Sea on 3 September 1940. He sustained serious burns as a result and was treated by Archibald McIndoe, the pioneering plastic surgeon whose patients became known as the Guinea Pig Club.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Archive: Originally broadcast circa August 1940.