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The Shape of Things to Come

Episode 2 of 2

Series celebrating the British aviation industry looks at how, by 1960, the UK's passenger airline industry was the largest in the world.

In the heady years following World War II, Britain was a nation in love with aviation. Having developed the jet engine in wartime, British engineers were now harnessing its power to propel the world's first passenger jets. By 1960 the UK's passenger airline industry was the largest in the world, with routes stretching to the furthest-flung remnants of Empire.

And the aircraft carrying these New Elizabethans around the globe were also British - the Vickers Viscount, the Bristol Britannia and the world's first pure jet-liner, the sleek, silver De Havilland Comet, which could fly twice as high and twice as fast as its American competitors. It seemed the entire nation was reaching for the skies to create the shape of things to come for air travel worldwide. But would their reach exceed their grasp?

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 21 Jan 2024 01:05
主播大秀 Four

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:47

    The John Barry Seven and Orchestra

    The James Bond Theme

Credits

Narrator Barbara Flynn
Executive Producer William Lyons
Series Producer Gerry Dawson

Broadcasts