Historian and broadcaster Andrew Lound returns to take a look at how Birmingham and the Black Country have had a long association with aviation from hot air and hydrogen balloons to the jet age of today. He takes a detailed look at the history of aviation in the Midlands, featuring the early days in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Walsall and the creation of the firm Boulton and Paul - and offers some surprising facts, as well as some amazing characters.

Photo: Tiger Moth G-ANCX at Pendeford Airfield, which closed in 1970. The proximity of the airfield, with a workforce skilled in engineering, helped attract Boulton and Paul aircraft manufacturers, originally of Norwich, to open a new factory in neighbouring Bilbrook in the 1930s. Photo courtesy of ATC History.