Guy Martin's Spitfire Filmed At Skydock

Wednesday, 15th October 2014

Guy Martin's Spitfire Filmed At Skydock

A recent Channel 4 programme which featured the restoration of a World War 2 Spitfire plane was in part filmed at Skydock.

The show, which first aired on Sunday 12th October, detailed the story of the plane and the epic rebuilding project undertaken by Guy Martin.

The Spitfire was flown by RAF Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson – who later went on to become the Queen's pilot – when it was shot down over Northern France in 1940. The wreckage remained on the beach where it landed, having sunk into the sand over several decades, before being recovered in the 1980s.

From then, it was stored in an anonymous location in France, before it came into the possession of Guy Martin, a motorcycle racer, lorry mechanic and occasional TV presenter.

As a Spitfire enthusiast, Martin chose to devote two years of his time to rebuilding and restoring the aircraft, whilst also detailing the skill and engineering that went into the construction and operation of the planes. Once the renovation work had been undertaken, and Guy Martin's Spitfire engine roared the plane back into the skies once more, it was time to examine some of the aircraft's other features.

Amongst the assets of the Spitfire, Martin was keen to showcase the fire power offered by the plane's weaponry. The explosive scenes in the programme which feature the testing of the fighter plane's Browning machine guns were filmed in the firing range at Skydock.

See the Guy Martin's Spitfire trailer below.

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