Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies

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Barbara Flynn

William Lyons

Gerry Dawson

Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies: Episode 2: The Shape of Things to Come

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The Shape of Things to Come

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Shape of Things to Come

BBC Four - Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies, The Shape of Things to Come

A look at how, by 1960, the UK's passenger airline industry was the largest in the world.

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?

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Series which celebrates the British aviation industry.

Series which celebrates an unlikely story of outstanding British aviation achievement at a time of national austerity, the breathtaking planes that were built and the remarkable men who flew them.

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Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies

Episode 2: The Shape of Things to Come

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