Derek Smith (television producer) looking at life at a US Air Force base at Mildenhall in East Anglia. (1967) Smith produced "The Flight Deck Story", the history of the aircraft carrier, filmed on HMS Eagle and on USS Enterprise off the coast of Vietnam. He also produced "Mission To Hell", which followed the Bishop of Birmingham Leonard Wilson returning to Singapore to tell his story of war time imprisonment by the Japanese Army. Another military history film Smith made at this time was "Jump Jet", the history of the Hawker Harrier, vertical take-off or land aircraft. A film for the series The World About
First-generation jet fighter American jet fighter to be put into service. It was never used in combat, as was mainly useful as an experimental fighter as its performance was inferior to the piston-engined North American P-51 Mustang which could reach higher top speeds and had a much greater range. Japan had some experimental models, such as the Nakajima J9Y "Kikka", but none saw operational use. The plans for the first operational jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" were drawn up in 1939, and the airplane first flew under jet power in 1942. The Me 262 was not operational until 1944, and its