In Their Footsteps

Episode Synopsis

The story of a talented and heroic fighter pilot, the thrill of flying, and a life cut tragically short by war. Tony Boyd was an RAAF fighter pilot, a dangerous and glamorous job that took him to the skies above Malta during the Mediterranean island’s crippling siege during World War II. Young, talented and courageous, Pilot Officer Boyd flew Hurricanes and Spitfires and had the looks and charisma to fill the role of this new breed of pin-up - the fighter pilot. For the first time on a major scale, fighting has taken to the air and the men flying these new machines were very much celebrated. Tony Boyd was very good at his job. He was the best of the best. But, tragically, he would never return home. He was killed in action in 1942 and all these years later; his great-niece wants to find out what really happened in the skies where he flew. Megan MacDonald shares her great uncle’s love of flying. The 39-yearold mother of three from Gayndah in central Queensland is training to be a pilot. She knows and loves the feeling of being in the air, but cannot imagine what it was like for her great uncle to fly in combat, shooting down enemy aircraft and dodging bullets in the sky. Tony died at the tragic young age of 22. Megan never knew her great uncle, but she is determined to understand what he went through. Along the way, she makes an emotional discovery changing the way she views Tony and her own family forever.