Meet the American pilots who defied their country's neutrality to fly for the RAF in WW2.

In this Wings of Defiance episode, we tell the story of the Eagle Squadrons – American volunteer pilots who joined the Royal Air Force before the USA joined the war.

We explain how pilots were recruited and how what they did was technically illegal because the USA was neural in the conflict.

We take a trip to Little America and the site of the former US embassy in London's Mayfair.

And we follow in the footsteps of the Eagle Squadron pilots at an airfield in England – still working today after 80 years.

With thanks to Peter Gardner and Jack Holloway of North Weald Airfield Museum – well worth a visit.

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