Overall I thought it was very effective and I liked the emphasis towards the end on the importance of people in the RAF’s history: exactly why Trenchard put such emphasis on training and expertise. The section about Halton with Cliff Spink was very good.
If you want comprehensive coverage of all aspects and Pathe News footage and all that jazz, then you have series like ‘The World at War’ and ‘Reaching for the Skies’, masterpieces for sure but there’s a reason they’re shown on the History Channel and not on prime time BBC1. To the high-profile omissions can be added Tornado, Buccaneer and Lightning (don’t think I even saw a Harrier either) but it’s missing the point of the programme to get wrapped up in that.
The *one* area I would criticise has already been mentioned. After the treatment of the BofB and the Bomber offensive, the narrator said something like “but there was another largely unsung effort which was critical to winning the war”. Aha, I thought, they’re heading for a 10/10 now; unfortunately it wasn’t Coastal Command which followed, but photo recce. I’ve dug out my copy of Terraine to remind everyone:
“Operation OVERLORD was the supreme offensive action of the Western Allies in the war. It could not have taken place without the Atlantic victory to which Coastal Command made such a magnificent contribution”.
Welcome back 120 Sqn (soon)!