Petrolhead Guy Martin nearly crashes WW2 hurricane in latest TV stunt
GUY MARTIN’S daredevil antics have seen him get his lungs punctured, hands screwed back together, ribs shattered and back broken . . . twice. Even his latest TV challenge — learning to fly the Hawker Hurricane fighter that helped win the Battle of Britain — saw him nearly crash the plane. So it’s no surprise the petrolhead is unimpressed […]
GUY MARTIN’S daredevil antics have seen him get his lungs punctured, hands screwed back together, ribs shattered and back broken . . . twice.
Even his latest TV challenge — learning to fly the Hawker Hurricane fighter that helped win the Battle of Britain — saw him nearly crash the plane.
So it’s no surprise the petrolhead is unimpressed by the stunts performed by Top Gear stars Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris.
Guy, 39, said: “What a great job they make of that, but it’s not real, is it? It’s all a bit fake.
“I’m not saying I’m a daredevil, but they’re only mucking about, and no one is going to die.
“All the Top Gear stuff is done for the camera. It’s an entertainment programme. It’s not like stuff I do.
“I know it’s all entertainment, but I’m usually trying to achieve something by building something.
Rough-and-ready image
“I’ve not got a team of blokes behind me helping me to do things.
“What made my mind up, I was at Elvington (RAF base in Yorkshire) and I think Top Gear must have been there last year, they were doing some racing between an Aston Martin, Ferrari and a Porsche.
“There were the three lads that do it and there was a team of 20 people there.
“I thought, ‘I’m glad I’m not part of that job. I’d rather be doing it real world and not just for the camera’.”
Guy actually turned down an offer to co-host the motoring show when it was relaunched following the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
But he doesn’t want to waste any time with the life of a presenter — particularly the nightmarish prospect of getting tweaked by stylists and make-up artists.
The no-nonsense, self-confessed grease monkey from Grimsby seems insulted by the mere suggestion that he’s been preened for any of his 16 documentaries.
He said: “Wash your mouth out! Have you seen the state of me?
“I look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. Do I look like I’ve got a stylist or a make-up artist? Ask yourself that question.
“If it got to that stage I’d have to have a proper word with myself.
Moving targets
“The boys I work with might say, ‘Hey, mate, you’ve got a bit of snot hanging out your nose or you’ve got a big zit on the end of your chin — sort that out’.
“But that’s about it. There’s none of that styling business going on. You can’t shine s**t, can you?”
Guy’s rough-and-ready image hasn’t stopped him becoming a TV star after he was spotted by TV executives at a 2009 motorbike race.
Nor has it prevented him from getting a stunning partner — long-term girlfriend Sharon Comiskey, 42, from Dublin.
Although they have a three-year-old daughter, Dot, he insists he won’t be marrying any time soon.
Guy said: “She wants to get married, I’m not up for it.
“I’m not the marrying sort of man.
“No one trusts anyone. My missus obviously doesn’t trust me, that’s why she wants to get married.
“But I’m not bothered, I don’t need it. Getting married just to keep her happy is the wrong reason.
“I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing. I don’t cheat, I don’t f*** about.
“I can’t see that day ever coming.
“We’ve been together about seven years and she keeps wittering on about it.
“I just go to the default — nod, smile and agree.”
But he admits he has turned his back on his most dangerous pursuits now he’s become a partner and father with responsibilities.
In 2010 the motorbike racer hit a wall at more than 160mph at the Isle of Man TT Races.
His machine exploded into a fireball and he broke his back in three places as he was thrown down the road.
HAWKER HURRICANE FIGHTER
- Crew: 1
- Length: 32ft/9.8m
- Wings: 40ft/12.2m
- Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V-12 producing 1,185hp @ 21,000ft/6,400m
- Max speed: 340mph
- Range: 600miles
- Ceiling: 36,000ft
- Guns: 4x20mm Hispano Mk II cannon
- Bombs: 2 x 250lb or 500lb
Then he broke his spine again at the Ulster Grand Prix in 2015.
Admitting he “likes to scare himself” Guy has also attempted the Wall Of Death and the two-wheel land speed record on a Triumph Rocket Streamliner, reaching 274mph, short of the 376mph record.
As well as indulging his love of speed and thrills, his TV work sees him explore his links with the military.
His new show, Guy Martin’s Battle Of Britain, which starts this Sunday on Channel 4, isn’t the first time he has looked at this momentous event.
He is intrigued by the decisive air battle of 1940 that prevented Hitler from crossing the English Channel, where he was likely to overwhelm Britain’s land forces.
He has followed up his 2014 programme about the Spitfire with this new show which celebrates the unsung hero of the clash with the Luftwaffe — the Hurricane.
Guy said: “Anyone who knows anything about the Battle of Britain talks about the Spitfire, but the Hurricane gets forgotten.
“So this programme is dedicated to that plane — and what a great experience it was. I’m a lucky b****** to do this job.”
The Hurricane didn’t look as slim or elegant as the Spitfire but in many ways it was a far greater threat — with its better stability and accuracy.
Also, as it was made of wood and fabric — unlike the metal-plated Spitfire — it could be repaired more easily and quickly.
Which is why during the Battle of Britain there were 19 squadrons of Spitfires and 32 squadrons of Hurricanes.
HURRICANE FIGHTER'S DURING BATTLE OF BRITAIN
- 32 Hurricane squadrons
- 19 Spitfire squadrons
- 14,487 were built between 1936 and 1944 by Hawker Aircraft Ltd
- 60% of enemy losses in the Battle of Britain were inflicted by Hurricanes
But firstly Guy had to learn to fly. He was put through his paces by Anna Walker, the only female pilot to fly Hurricanes in the world today.
Before he could get into the cockpit of the iconic wartime plane, Guy had to learn in a Tiger Moth biplane.
But even this saw him almost clip the wing and topple it over — though Guy plays it down.
He said: “There might have been the odd hairy moment or two, but there was never gonna be anything that would kill anyone. Not this time. It was all part of the learning process.”
He then graduated to the Harvard aircraft to learn combat manoeuvres and even tried his hand at clay pigeon shooting to perfect firing at moving targets.
But Guy, who’s made a string of high-speed record attempts in a long line of vehicles over the years, faced the biggest challenge when he finally got into the Hurricane.
His love for planes stems from his Lincolnshire home. It was from airbases in the county that the famous Dambusters raid was launched in 1943.
They carried out Operation Chastise, a successful bid to cripple the Nazis by using Barnes Wallis’s “bouncing bombs” to destroy critical dams in Germany.
And one of the key heroes of the raid, celebrated in 1955 movie The Dam Busters, was Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
Guy added: “That’s who I’m named after. Guy was big bomber man, a legend, in fact all the big bomber crews took off from Lincolnshire.”
Blown away
Guy has previously recreated other wartime escapades.
In 2019 he recreated scenes from movie The Great Escape to see how the war heroes it is based on got out of their prisoner of war camp.
He even successfully attempted the motorbike jump over a German fence that confounded Steve McQueen in the legendary film.
But when Guy got behind the controls of the Hurricane he was totally blown away by the plane’s power and the concentration needed to harness it.
Guy said: “It was three times the horsepower of anything else I’d been in, they’re big engines.
“I was only in the thing for about 45 minutes and trying to get control of something that nimble and powerful was a handful.
“I didn’t feel comfortable, to be honest. If I’d been in the Battle of Britain I think I’d have been hitting the ground fairly fast. I had a tiny piece of what those boys went through.
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“They were having to fly those things while being shot at and keeping an eye out for where the enemy was coming from.
“It wasn’t that physically taxing, but mentally it really challenged me.
“I’ve done lots of daft things but never anything like what those boys did. It gave me even more respect for them than I had already.”
- Guy Martin’s Battle Of Britain is on Channel 4 on Sunday at 9pm.