The Century of Flight — Season 1, Episode 13: Cold War Skies
Documentary • 50 min • 1 season, 26 episodes
Episode synopsis
The role of airpower in the Cold War. Coming of the Cold War. Berlin Airlift - the story of the greatest air transport operation in history, including some colour. Cold War Combat Aircraft. Spies in the sky - US spyplanes, including the 1962 U-2 saga, Soviet probing of western air defences (including shots of fighters scrambling to intercept Soviet bombers), and spy satellites. Again, largely colour. The Nuclear Triad. The walls come down - the end of the Cold War and how the aircraft had played its part in preventing World War III.
About The Century of Flight
This definitive history of manned flight has been compiled into 26 hour episodes, with access to some of the rarest archive film ever taken. Unprecedented co-operation has been extended by the world's leading aircraft manufacturers and leading archive libraries. Included in the footage are shots of rare prototype accidents and failures which contributed to the inevitable achievement and success of man in the air. Since Charles Lindbergh became the first lone aviator to cross the Atlantic in 1927, air transport has greatly accelerated , revolutionised by the giant Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet - and what might we see in the 21st century?