Episode list

At the start of WWII, eager-beaver RAF squadron Hornet gloats over their kills until they learn they actually shot down British fliers. The squad is transferred to France and acquires an American pilot.

Squadron bully Moggy is the first to fly under the local bridge, leading others to try as well.

By December 1939, Hornet Squadron finally see some action when they spot a lone German bomber trying to get home. They shoot it down and subsequently visit the crash site and see firsthand the deaths they have caused. Chris Hart thinks they were just lucky and that their guns need to be re-sighted but Rex has taken a dislike to him and wants him out. They get their first real test however when they come across three bombers with a fighter escort. Not all of them survive the encounter. Flash develops his relationships with his new girlfriend Nicole. Fitz is having some problems with Mary and while he goes on leave to London, Moggy makes his move on her.

It's March 1940 and the squadron loses another pilot, Treveylian, who has just arrived. Hart challenges Rex's tactics of flying tight formations and feels its what brought Treveylian down. Flash and Nicole decide to get married and Fitz asks Mary to marry him and they have a double wedding. The reception is interrupted when the château is bombed. The Nazi invasion of France has started in earnest and Rex is wounded. Despite being on pain killers, Rex insists on leading his men on patrol, with deadly results. Mary and Nicole are on their way to the British Embassy in Paris as a first step in relocating to England. They are strafed by a German fighter.

With the German invasion in full swing, Hornet squadron is down to four aircraft. After one of several sorties, they lose two of them. Air Commodore Bletchley tells them there are no new aircraft available and what's left of the the squadron is to be relocated to England. It's left to 'Uncle' Kellaway to tell Flash what's happened to Nicole. Once in England, the men get a bit of leave. For his part, Flash has stayed at the airfield, drinking too much and generally giving up on life. The German air offensive continues through the summer with new recruits being killed almost as fast as they arrive.

Now relocated to England, Hornet Squadron is involved in defending England from what are now daily Luftwaffe bombing raids. Only a few of the original pilots are still alive. When Fitz is listed as missing in action, his wife Mary takes to parking her car near the airfield in the hopes he will return. Seeing her there is starting to affect the men's morale. On September 7, 1940 the Germans launched their largest ever attack. The men of Hornet Squadron perform brilliantly on what is now considered to be the turning point in the Battle of Britain. The cost is high however and few have survived.