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A Super Jumbo Wing

Episode 1 of 3

Documentary following some of the people who work at the two main Airbus factories in the UK, including engineers, designers and the people who build the massive A380 wings.

Britain is one of the world leaders in aerospace manufacturing and there's one part of a plane the UK is reputed to make better than anyone else - the wings. It's often said that no matter what else is done and what innovations are introduced, the wing defines the aircraft.

The A380 wing is the largest ever produced for a civil airliner, at 17.7 metres from front to back and 36.3 metres from fuselage to wingtip. The maximum length of metal in a single wing is 46 metres and the result is an aircraft with a tip-to-tip wingspan of 79.8 metres, making the A380 the world's biggest passenger aircraft.

The film follows some of the people who work at the two main Airbus factories in the UK. In Filton, near Bristol (which has manufactured aircraft for almost 100 years, including Concorde) we meet engineers and designers at the company's cutting-edge research and development facility, and in Broughton, in North Wales, one of Europe's biggest factories, we meet the people who actually build the massive wing.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 16 Feb 2020 21:00

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Credit

Role Contributor
Executive Producer Tina Fletcher-Hill

Broadcasts

  • Sun 13 Nov 2011 20:00
  • Mon 14 Nov 2011 23:50
  • Tue 15 Nov 2011 00:20
  • Tue 15 Nov 2011 00:50
  • Wed 23 Nov 2011 01:00
  • Sun 16 Feb 2020 21:00