Eurofighter Typhoon - German documentary: The Heir to a century of air power (Long version)

Video from the channel Eurofighter Typhoon about Eurofighter Typhoon, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:42. Language: German. Video type: Documentary.

German-language documentary from Eurofighter's official channel that compares the Typhoon with milestones of German and European fighter aviation to present it as the heir to a century of tradition.

It opens with Baron von Richthofen's Fokker Dr.I, painted red, which he valued for its manoeuvrability and climb rate. It continues with the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which first flew in 1935 and of which more than 33,000 units were built until 1945, and with the Me 262, the first production jet fighter. After the war, German industry rebuilt itself by building the Fiat G.91 under licence and, in the 1960s, the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter. The Flugzeug-Union Süd consortium, formed by Messerschmitt, Heinkel and Dornier, built more than 300 G.91s in the 1950s. Then came the Tornado, with more than 900 units built in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The Eurofighter is aerodynamically unstable in pitch at subsonic speeds and is stabilised by a quadruple-redundant digital fly-by-wire flight control system. Its high thrust-to-weight ratio gives it short take-off runs and strong climb performance, and it can supercruise with a full weapons load. German production and the centre fuselage section for all aircraft are made at Manching, where its first flight took place in 1994. It uses extensive carbon fibre and superplastically formed titanium, and its cockpit offers voice command and multifunction displays. It is developed by Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom and has been exported to Austria and Saudi Arabia. Its Austrian pilots highlight its use in air-defence alert duty.