British Civil Aviation: BOAC: The Definitive Newsreel History (1974)
2h 46min
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- Synopsis:
BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), was the result of a merger between British Airways Ltd and Imperial Airways Ltd in 1939. During the Second World War, the new BOAC operated flying boat services to the British colonies, we join test pilot Captain Stone checking out a Short Sunderland Flying Boat in 1946. In 1946, London Airport (Heathrow) was opened and the then BOAC aircraft such as the Lancastrian, Liberator, Halton and the Avro York were all based on World War Two bombers! Later that year the pressurized cabin American Lockheed Constellation joined the fleet with the Boeing Stratocruiser which could fly non-stop to the USA. Between 1949 and 1950, the first modern British airliner, the Handley Page Hermes also entered service. In 1952, BOAC was the first airline to introduce a passenger jet, the De Havilland Comet. We follow the world beating Comet with its test pilot, John Cunningham, in its disastrous second year when three Comets mysteriously crashed killing all on board. We see the birth of the `Whispering Giant' - the turbo-prop Bristol Britannia and the Vickers VC-10 jet and witness the intricacies of Air Traffic Control. In 1957, a Britannia crashed into a housing estate in Bristol. By 1958, BOAC were operating the new Comet 4 with the first jet service across the Atlantic and, in 1966, we join a simulated Concorde flight from Sydney to Heathrow. Other aircraft include the Boeing 707 and 747, Concorde, Avro Tudor 1, Vickers Viscount, the Bristol Brabazon, C-4 Argonaut , the DH Frobisher, the BAC1-11 and many, many more. So, from seaplanes to jet planes, this is the definitive and exciting overview of the much missed BOAC which was amalgamated with BEA in 1974 to form the British Airways of today. - Studio:
- Strike Force Entertainment
- Genres:
- Children & Family, Documentary, Special Interest