The Century of Flight — Season 1, Episode 17: Embracing the World
Documentary • 50 min • 1 season, 26 episodes
Episode synopsis
The airlines get back on their feet - immediate post World Ward II developments and how land-based aircraft took over from flying boats for long-haul flights. The coming of jet travel - the Comet and other early jet airliners, turbojets, turboprops, and turbofans (including diagrams to explain the differences), the Jumbo. Supersonic flight - Concorde and Concordski. Air crashes and accident investigation - some notable air disasters and miraculous escapes, and how air crashes are investigated to establish the cause. Terrorism and the air. Air safety - how air traffic control works (includes diagrams).
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?