Combat Pilot turns the lens on Squadron Leader Dave McBryde and Flying Officer Rich Fawkes who become training partners as they make their final preparations for the front line.

Rich Fawkes' dream of becoming a combat pilot started when he flew his first plane while he was still at school. Dave McBryde, 38, has held the ambition since he was nine years old, and has spent the past 18 years trying to get on the fast jet training course. But one of them is about to get the chop.

When they first arrived at RAF Valley, the pilots were reminded that their job was to kill. Yet it remains perhaps one of the toughest aspects of training to come to terms with, and failure at this stage is still a real threat.

Any psychological hang-ups are compounded by the fact that travelling at 500mph more than 20,000 feet above ground level is physically exhausting. Gravity increases sevenfold, scrambling thoughts and making a pilots head seven times heavier - even a simple, crucial action like turning the head to see is extremely hard work.

After a series of poor performances, the struggling pilot is offered one last chance - but he fails. It's time to face the grim reality of being axed from the course and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"We can't afford to send anyone to the front line that's going to need to be carried," explains Wing Commander Paul Comer.

"It's a hard thing for us to do to someone - to take away their dream. But we have to do it because it's for his own safety, for the safety of others and also because we need people on the front line who can do the job."