NARRATOR: Over the last century,
the world has become a much smaller place.
People and ideas
have travelled from continent to continent at ever greater speeds.
Two days have accelerated
this revolution in mobility more than any other.
The sending of the first wireless message across the Atlantic
and Concorde's first transatlantic flight to New York.
This is a dramatisation of events as they happened on those two days.
It is 1901.
On the Isle of Wight, Queen Victoria dies at the age of 81.
In Nice, Gottlieb Daimler built his first Mercedes automobile.
Rioters set St Petersburg alight during a protest against tsarist rule.
And in St John's, Newfoundland,
the world is about to wake up to the power of wireless.
December, 1901.
The world lives in almost total radio silence.
With electromagnetic waves virtually unknown to science,
radio, television and mobile phones haven't even been dreamt of.
The preferred method of long-distance mobile communication
is by carrier pigeon.
But one of the greatest amateur inventors of all time
is set on changing all that
Guglielmo Marconi is obsessed by one goal,
something that no-one else believes will ever be possible...
To send a wireless message 150 times further
than anyone else in history.
1,800 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
Poldhu, Cornwall,
home to what's been dubbed the "thunder factory"
Inside is experimental electrical equipment
designed by Marconi for his grand enterprise.
It's 100 times more powerful than anything ever built
Today this equipment will be pressed into service for a unique experiment
Chief engineer William Entwistle has received a telegram
from his boss, Marconi.
Riviera is a secret codeword.
It's the instruction for Poldhu
to start transmitting electromagnetic signals from 300 p.m.
Entwistle has exactly four and a half hours
to make sure all the machinery Is ready.
When the transmission begins, 20,000 volts of electricity
will leap between the two brass spheres of the spark gap.
(ALARM RINGING)
At this exact moment, 1,800 miles across the Atlantic,
Newfoundland is waking up.
In the luxurious Cochrane Hotel,
one of the guests is hoping to change history
by being the first to harness the power of this mysterious new medium
known as electromagnetic radio waves.
They were discovered in 1886 by the German physicist,
Heinrich Hertz.
Since then the race has been on to profit from them commercially.
In France, Eugene Ducretet has sent a Wireless message over two miles
from the Eiffel Tower to the roof of the Pantheon.
In Germany, Professor Slaby has sent a signal over 13 miles.
Marconi is desperate not to be overtaken by his rivals.
But he makes an unlikely challenger
to the luminaries of the scientific establishment.
The son of an Irish mother and an Italian father,
he has almost no formal education.
But he's been obsessed with wireless since he was eight
At 22, he was still conducting experiments
in his parents' attic in Italy.
At 25, he sent a message 30 miles across the English Channel
Now age 27, he's gambling everything on what he calls his great experiment.
(KNOCKING)
Yes?
Good morning, Mr Marconi. I thought you might want to read this.
Thank you, Mr Kemp.
NARRATOR: George Kemp is what Marconi has called
his first assistant, collaborator and friend.
KEMP: Third page, top left.
NARRATOR: Two days ago,
the first ever Nobel Prize has been awarded for brilliance in physics.
Marconi knows that the hours ahead could also bring him fame and fortune.
MARCONI: Several members of the royal family now at Stockholm.
NARRATOR: Or they may lead to scientific ridicule and financial ruin.
MARCONI: The mere memory of it makes me shudder.
To me, it was a question of the life and death of my future.
NARRATOR: Marconi's already in the public eye.
He's been nicknamed by the press "the wonderful wizard of wireless".
MARCONI: Any indication about the weather?
NARRATOR: His experiments have been funded through family connections.
His mother belongs to the Jameson family, makers of Irish whiskey.
Their friends have backed Marconi heavily.
In the coming days
heavy storms are expected, occasioning a potential danger to shipping...
It would appear the weather is against us.
NARRATOR: From Marconi's hotel on the Newfoundland coast,
it's a short walk to the location he's chosen for his experiment.
High on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic is Signal Hill
It was here that the first successful telegraph cable connecting Britain
with the American continent had been laid in 1866.
Thirty five years on,
Marconi's dream is to make long-distance communication wireless.
Disregarding conventional opinion,
Marconi is convinced that radio waves can somehow travel beyond the horizon.
Unlike his contemporaries,
he has an instinctive grasp of their practical potential
MARCONI: These waves might furnish mankind
with a new and powerful means of communication,
utilisable not only across continents and seas,
but also on board ships,
bringing with it a vast diminution of the dangers of navigation.
NARRATOR: Eighteen hundred miles across the Atlantic,
it's less than two hours before the transmission begins.
Blasting an electromagnetic signal such a distance will require enormous power.
To achieve this,
an oil engine has been connected to an industrial alternator,
capable of generating 25 kilowatts of electricity.
Marconi hopes this will be enough
to make the wireless signals leap across the Atlantic
to where he and Kemp are waiting in Newfoundland.
Marconi has set up his receiving station
in an abandoned barracks on Signal Hill
Over in Cornwall,
transmitting the wireless signals may require 26,000 volts.
But here, in Newfoundland, Marconi's attempt to receive those signals
will rely on just 12 volts of batteries.
Marconi has brought across with him state-of-the art Edwardian equipment.
At the heart of the system is
a device to detect radio waves known as a coherer.
Marconi designed it in Italy when he was 21.
If a Morse signal is picked up by the aerial outside,
it will pass through the coherer, completing an electric circuit
Once the signal has passed through,
Marconi has come up with a primitive yet effective way
of breaking the circuit again.
His system will then be ready to receive another dot or dash.
Marconi's assistant Kemp is also a wireless expert
Before joining Marconi in 1896, he'd been in the Navy
as an electrical and torpedo instructor.
While serving in the North Atlantic
he also learned how to keep out the winter chills.
All seems to be in order.
Thank you, Mr Kemp.
Could you check the inker for me, please?
NARRATOR: The Morse inker is crucial to Marconi's experiment.
Transmissions from Cornwall will start in less than two hours' time.
If Marconi picks up any signals,
the Morse tape will provide hard evidence of his success.
Marconi's desktop equipment is now prepared
to receive signals later this morning
but his obsessive preparations for the day have been going on for months.
MARCONI: Here's the problem, which is with this pole here...
NARRATOR: Three months earlier,
Marconi is on the other side of the Atlantic in Cornwall
The outcome of his experiment will depend on one thing above all else,
his design for the transmitting aerial
He's arrived at its dimensions by trial and error.
MARCONI: I cannot understand
why the scientists do not see this thing as I do.
It is perfectly simple and depends merely on the height of wire used.
We found several years ago
that if we doubled the height of our aerial wire, we quadrupled the effect
NARRATOR: But the scale of his ambition is completely unprecedented.
He's determined to send a signal
150 times further than anyone else before him.
To stand any chance of success,
an aerial of appropriate proportions will be needed.
His design for a ring of masts is nearing completion.
200 feet up, riggers are lashing the remaining masts into place.
Marconi has been warned that his masts are structurally unsound.
The success of our venture at least...
NARRATOR: But he's pressing on regardless.
Any delay could result in being overtaken by one of his rivals.
But in his haste,
Marconi has overlooked one unavoidable feature of Cornish life...
the Atlantic weather.
Just hours after his inspection, a violent storm brews over the Atlantic.
Marconi has ignored warnings
that the aerial has insufficient guy ropes securing it
And he's about to discover if these warnings have been justified.
Marconi's ambitions lie in ruins.
MARCONI: For some days I had visions of my experiment having to be postponed
for several months or longer.
And then I decided that it might be possible to make a preliminary trial
with a simpler aerial
NARRATOR: 70 get this far has taken Marconi unwavering determination.
He's not about to give up now.
He gives Kemp orders to salvage what he can from the wrecked masts.
Testing his engineering skills to the full,
Kemp sets to work on his boss' new design.
Within a week, the salvaged aerial is ready.
Marconi can now finalise his travel plans to cross the Atlantic.
At the end of November,
Marconi finally sets sail from Liverpool to Newfoundland.
He's still deeply uncertain of the outcome of his experiment,
so he's decided to keep its true nature a closely-guarded secret
A moment of your time, Mr Marconi, please?
Certainly.
May I ask,
is it true, as some have conjectured, that you are intending to send
radio waves across the Atlantic?
Not in the least. I have never suggested such an idea
and, though the feat may be accomplished some day,
it has yet hardly been thought here.
REPORTER: Thank you, sir.
NARRATOR: A well-publicised failure
would expose Marconi to ridicule from the scientific establishment,
who scoff at his mad, wireless dreams.
Got that, didn't you?
NARRATOR: The press doesn't quite know what to make of the young inventor.
REPORTER: Though a purely Italian name,
there is nothing of the foreigner in Mr Marconi's appearance.
His speech is that of an educated scientific Englishman,
and his dress and general manner
are those of a pleasant, young, English gentleman.
NARRATOR: 70 justify his trip to Newfoundland,
Marconi has fabricated a cover story.
- Leaving our shores again, sir? - Indeed.
Officially, he'll merely be conducting
short-range wireless tests from ship-to-shore.
His baggage raises no suspicions.
But its contents
are hardly those typical of a travelling Edwardian gentleman.
Reception instruments, aerial wire...
NARRATOR: If word gets out about what's inside,
the young inventor fears he'll be written off by many as a crank.
Two balloons, hydrogen gas.
NARRATOR: But it's not just Marconi's reputation that's at stake.
It's his finances, too.
MARCONI: My experiment involved risking at least £50,000,
to achieve a result which had been declared impossible
by some of the principle mathematicians of the time.
NARRATOR: Almost nothing is known to science about how radio waves work.
They seem to have magical properties
and have been shown to travel through air, wood and even stone and metal
Marconi is as baffled as everyone else as to how they do this.
One of Marconi's rivals, a professor of electricity at Oxford University,
is even convinced that radio waves may be used to communicate with the dead.
The scientific establishment believes
that transmitting radio waves across the Atlantic is impossible.
But that's exactly what Marconi is intending to do.
It's thought that radio waves behave just like light waves.
And everyone knows that light waves travel in straight lines.
They don't follow the curve of the Earth's surface,
but disappear off into space.
Because of the Earth's curvature there is effectively a wall of water
100 miles high between Britain and Newfoundland.
Marconi has no idea whether radio waves actually travel through water
or skim across its surface.
But he's not a scientist. He's an inventor.
And he's got an overwhelming hunch
that somehow his signals will make it across.
Sixteen days later, Marconi has arrived in Newfoundland.
It's the day of transmission
and he's still struggling to pick up a signal from Cornwall
He's devised a unique way of raising his aerial hundreds of feet into the air
to improve reception.
He'll be using a kite.
The Levitor kite is the British Army's latest secret weapon.
It's the brainchild of Colonel Robert Baden-Powell
He claims that a stack of his kites
can lift a volunteer soldier hundreds of feet into the air.
This would give commanders a bird's-eye view of the enemy's position in battle.
Rather than carrying human cargo,
Marconi is intending to trail
his receiving aerial made of copper wire 500 feet long.
At this precise moment, with 11 minutes to go,
William Entwistle prepares his team for transmission.
One of the workers recalled...
WORKER: We all put cotton wool in our ears
to lessen the force of the electric concussion,
which was not unlike the successive explosions of the Maxim gun.
MARCONI: The critical moment has come,
for which I have been preparing for six years
in which I have faced numerous kinds of criticism
and attempts to discourage me and turn me from my ultimate purpose.
NARRATOR: In Cornwall, Entwistle's orders from Marconi are
to transmit the letter "S" from exactly 3.00.
In Morse code, "S" is made up of three dots.
(CLOCK CHIMING)
- Circuits stable. - Check.
NARRATOR: Tapping out even this simplest of signals
puts a huge strain on the power plant
A worker at Poldhu remarked...
WORKER: When the door of the enclosure was opened,
the roar of the discharge could be heard for miles along the coast.
This smashing discharge was noteworthy.
Every metal gutter, drainpipe or object on the site resonated freely.
- That's another one gone. - How many have we got left?
Two.
NARRATOR: Thirty two minutes into the broadcast from Cornwall,
Marconi still hasn't heard anything.
Of his six kites, four have now been lost
in Cornwall, dusk is already falling.
Another kite has been launched and is in the air.
But Marconi's Morse inker has still not been activated.
He is totally isolated and has no way of contacting Cornwall
to see whether anything's wrong at their end.
Tell your man to keep the kite steady!
NARRATOR: The coherer Marconi designed in Italy six years before
is still receiving no signals.
He makes a difficult decision to abandon his own coherer
and to try a mercury coherer instead.
This new coherer is more sensitive, but it has one major drawback.
It's not compatible with the Morse printer.
Marconi will have to rely on his hearing alone.
MARCONI: The receiver on the table before me was very crude.
I placed a single earphone on my ear and started listening.
NARRATOR: But the change of coherer makes no difference.
Poldhu has been blasting out dots for an hour.
(ELECTRIC SIGNAL CRACKLING)
Kemp.
Can you hear anything, Mr Kemp?
(ELECTRIC SIGNAL CRACKLING)
Yes, I think I can.
(ELECTRIC SIGNAL CRACKLING)
Three dots!
NARRATOR: For the first time in history,
a radio signal is bridging two continents.
MARCONI: The electric waves, which were being sent out from Poldhu,
had traversed the Atlantic, serenely ignoring the curvature of the earth,
which so many doubters considered would be a fatal obstacle
Time check, Mr Kemp.
12:30 exactly.
MARCONI: In my earliest experiments
I had always held the belief, almost an intuition,
that radio signals would some day be sent across greater distances.
I now knew that all my anticipations had been justified.
We've done it.
Well done, chaps.
NARRATOR: Marconi's predictions were soon fulfilled.
His daring Newfoundland success caught the world by surprise.
May I propose a toast? To our great success.
- KEMP: Here, here. - ALL: Success!
NARRATOR: Feted by the world's press,
Marconi became a household name overnight
He was still just 27 years old.
MARCONI: If I could ask you to capture the moment for us?
Certainly.
NARRATOR: The pioneering work of the man,
who described himself as an ardent amateur,
was recognised by the scientific establishment
in 1909, eight years after the Nobel Prize was established,
Marconi was awarded the prize for physics.
The practical value of his equipment was dramatically proven three years later
when the Titanic sank just off Newfoundland.
Its wireless distress signals were picked up by a nearby ship.
The press credited Marconi for the 712 lives that were saved.
Wireless had come of age.
As the 20th century continued,
the invisible web of wireless communication
that Marconi started weaving spread around the world
and beyond.
RADIO ANNOUNCER: This is 2LO
the London station of the British Broadcasting Company calling.
MAN: I am speaking to you from the Cabinet room
at 10 Downing Street
The opening programme will now be repeated on the Marconi-EMI system...
Apollo 11, this is Houston, how do you read?
ARMSTRONG: It's one small step for man...
MAN: And good morning, everyone,
and welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1...
WOMAN: The Vodafone you have called has not responded.
ARMSTRONG: one giant leap for mankind.
NARRATOR: Marconi's mastery over radio waves triggered
a revolution in communication.
Seventy six years later, the world's first supersonic passenger plane
beckoned a revolution in travel
But it would be travel at a price.
It's 1977.
In Tenerife, 574 people die
as two jumbo jets collide at Las Palmas airport.
Elvis Presley is found dead at his home in Memphis, Tennessee.
Egypt's President Sadat
becomes the first Arab leader to make a state visit to Israel
And at Toulouse Airport,
the world's fastest airliner is standing Idle beside Runway 15.
The 17th of October, 1977.
The most controversial passenger plane ever built is in the dock.
The Supreme Court in Washington DC
is deciding whether this triumph of European technology
can land at America's busiest airport..
France's leading test pilot, Jean Franchi,
is standing by for the most important flight of his career.
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
And British Airways pilot, Brian Walpole,
is marking time while Concorde's odds are weighed up in America.
If the Supreme Court says yes,
it could result in hundreds more Concordes flying commercially
in the decades ahead.
If it says no, the most expensive passenger plane ever built
will become a museum piece overnight..
Concorde has already proven its supersonic credentials.
The world's most glamorous plane has flown to the most glamorous cities.
But none of them will ever make it any money.
Only one city has sufficient millionaires per square mile
to keep Concorde in the air.
It's the route Concorde's been designed for.
New York.
Of all the world's flights, three-quarters cross the Atlantic.
And of these, almost half touch down in the Big Apple.
If it's to have any commercial future, Concorde needs New York.
But New York doesn't want Concorde.
We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more.
NARRATOR: Thousands living under the flight path
to New York's John F Kennedy airport are up in arms.
(PROTESTERS CHANTING)
They're highly-organised, highly-vocal, middle-class Americans.
And if they don't get their way, they've got enough clout
to bring the country's busiest airport to a standstill
Keep Concorde out of JFK.
Spearheading the campaign to kill Concorde is Carol Berman,
a 52-year-old resident of Long Island.
As her campaign gains momentum, Concorde gets dragged into the dock.
Official hearings assess the evidence for and against Concorde
known in America as a supersonic transport or SST.
"The building shook. I held my ears."
"The SST is charged with doing everything but causing ingrown toenails"
"and I'll be surprised if the misinformers do not find"
"a way to do that."
"Please, consider our fate carefully."
NARRATOR: Concorde's fate has been placed
in an indefinite holding pattern.
The risk of Concorde losing its case becomes so great,
that the British government sends over its Minister for Industry.
Is that I like campaigns to present accurate facts
and this is just a hysterically inaccurate campaign.
NARRATOR: After 19 months caught up in the American legal system,
the Supreme Court makes its decision.
Concorde can land at JFK.
They will fly a proving flight into JFK this coming Wednesday,
the day after tomorrow.
(CROWD PROTESTING)
Okay, that's not... That's not gonna stop it.
NARRATOR: Aerospatiale headquarters in Toulouse
is the French birthplace of Concorde.
Concorde Sierra Bravo can now be readied
for its historic transatlantic flight to New York.
The Concorde project has been
a joint investment by the British and French Governments.
So today's Concorde has a suitable livery.
One side of the tailfin has been painted with the British Airways colours.
The other with the Air France logo.
The evening before they are due to take off for New York,
the pilots are called to a room nearby.
What do you say to the accusation
that Concorde is the noisiest commercial aircraft that's ever flown?
Well, uh, again I would come back to the fighter planes,
which are to be counted by the thousands
flying over Vietnam and, uh, over...
NARRATOR: The pilots must train for six months to fly Concorde.
But something they've not been prepared for
is how to deal with a hostile press.
fuel burnt by Concorde could adversely affect
the weather patterns, the global weather patterns...
NARRATOR: When they get to New York,
these pilots will be the human face of Concorde.
Their mission will not just be to fly the plane,
but to win the hearts and minds of the public.
Uh, we have a few Concordes flying, we might...
NARRATOR: Jean Franchi will command this historic Concorde flight
the planes going all over the world...
NARRATOR: During his 33 years as a test pilot,
he's had little time to spare for diplomatic niceties.
501 can't really see the point of your questions.
There are very clear procedures in place to reduce the amount of...
NARRATOR: Brian Walpole started his flying career
as an ace in the Royal Air Force aerobatics team.
No, no, there are many other aircraft, you know, which create noise.
You can't fly an aircraft without creating noise, but Concorde isn't...
NARRATOR: After British Airways bought five Concordes in 1975,
it was not long before he was put in charge of the Concorde fleet.
- You'll admit there is a risk? - No.
Well, we've been told
that the sonic boom, for example, on landing is going to...
Yes, well, you must realise that if we did land at sonic speed,
we would have a far greater problem than noise.
NARRATOR: Concorde seems to be polarising opinion
like no other aircraft in history.
- FRANCHI: on the approach... - What about the accusation of...
- WALPOLE: It's a false accusation. - Where are the proofs?
WALPOLE: No, I think you'll find that's not true at all
or pollution in the upper atmosphere.
No, it's been extensively tested.
With respect, we have been told
- that the amount of fuel.. - There's no danger, no.
NARRATOR: Some newspaper stories have blamed Concorde for everything
from the melting of the icecaps to the unusually cold winter of '76-'77.
drove a herd of cattle off a cliff in Switzerland in 1968.
- What, what was the cause of that... - 1968.
(STAMMERING)
Concorde's just a plane for the rich, isn't it?
These people are movers and shakers.
They're people who are going to bring prosperity to New York
as well as to Europe.
Thank you, gentlemen.
- Well done, gents. - Thank you.
NARRATOR: The grilling has not been conducted by a journallist
but by a PR man from the British Airways press office.
And, erm, sorry about the lights and everything,
but we just wanted to make it as realistic as possible for you.
Yes.
Now we think there'll be about 500 of them
baying for Concorde's blood tomorrow so...
NARRATOR: Tomorrow's Concorde flight to New York will culminate
in a huge press conference.
Erm, easy on the references to Vietnam, things like that.
We don't want to antagonise,
although I did like the way you dealt with the red herring I threw in
about the sonic boom on landing. Very good.
Now we've got a selection here
of the press coverage we've been getting in advance.
Erm, 1,500 cars disrupt traffic to protest at SST.
SST aeroplane of tomorrow breaks windows, cracks walls,
stampedes cattle and will hasten the end of the American wilderness.
Oh, yes. So...
NARRATOR: 70 win over a sceptical New York public,
the pilots will need every bit of help they can get.
- Oh, Brian, just a word before you go. - Yeah.
Erm, tomorrow night is the final of the World Baseball Series,
the LA Dodgers against the New York Yankees...
- Right. - Erm,
can you use it to break the ice?
-Ah, yes, good ideal -Yeah, okay?
- I'll see what I can do. - All the best to you.
- All right, thanks very much. - Bye-bye.
RADIO: Yankee Stadium over in the West Bronx tonight,
it's the big one between the Yankees and the Dodgers...
- Around seven. - Go, Yankees/
Well, I'm having a little trouble with my car...
NARRATOR: 4,000 miles across the Atlantic,
protest leader, Carol Berman, is making preparations to meet Concorde.
RADIO ANNOUNCER: white suits for the biggest hit of the summer.
It's the Bee Gees and Night Fever.
Not again.
Okay, so what do you reckon, Joe? Yeah.
Well, it's supposed to be touching down around 10:00
so if I'm with you by 6:30, is that good?
Uh... Yeah, I know it's a little early,
but, you know, I'm woken up super-early these days anyway.
NARRATOR: Having lost the court case,
some protesters Carol knows are considering desperate measures
to keep Concorde out of their backyards.
Well, beat this. This assembly women rang me yesterday.
Yeah, she had this idea. We take a bunch of kites.
Yeah, kites. Yeah. We fly them over the landing approaches at JFK.
Yeah. Yeah, well, I know...
NARRATOR: Across the Atlantic in Toulouse,
it's the night before Concorde's maiden flight to New York.
If Concorde's arrival is not met with approval,
the two-billion-pound project will be doomed.
On the morning of October the 19th,
Concorde Sierra Bravo is readied for its four-hour flight
in a nearby office, Captain Franchi is conducting the pre-flight briefing.
So, now, for the fuel flight plan...
(MUTTERING IN FRENCH)
FRANCHI: Okay, so the total is 93.5 tonnes,
I like you to check on the centre of gravity on the CG.
ENGINEER: So 93.5 tonne...
NARRATOR: The flight engineer double-checks their fuel needs
for the 4,000 mile trip.
a burnout of approximately a tonne
which is more or less equal to what we use as taxi fuel..
NARRATOR: Concorde's fuel tanks can hold up to 95 tonnes of fuel
On a full flight, this equates to almost one tonne of fuel
being burned per passenger.
This is more than triple that of its subsonic rivals
and has placed Concorde at the top of the environmentalists' blacklist
- No... - Rather sorry to interrupt, Jean, but...
NARRATOR: JFK Airport is surrounded by large residential areas.
We have some problems with the local population...
NARRATOR: Concorde's battle for the hearts and minds of New Yorkers
will rest, above all, on one thing.
What disturbs the most is noise.
4,000 miles across the Atlantic,
New York is six hours behind French time.
Carol Berman has been living in her house for 22 years.
When she moved here in 1955, every hour, nine planes landed.
Now this has risen to almost 30,
The prospect of supersonic planes also using JFK
is too much for local residents and has set them on the warpath.
The crew for today's flight has been chosen very carefully.
Two are French, two are British.
They've been briefed to expect a hostile reception.
If they don't present a convincing case in New York,
Concorde's battle for commercial survival will be lost.
Today's flight will be carrying no fare-paying passengers.
It is a technical proving flight only.
The crew need to convince the New York authorities
that Concorde can be treated like any other commercial aircraft
B4, start checklist, please.
- Master CBs. - Set.
NARRATOR: Concorde's flight deck is crammed
with the latest microchip technology.
- Complete. - Oxygen.
NARRATOR: More than a hundred items need to be checked and cross-checked
before the engines can be started.
On.
- And anti-stall systems. - On.
WALPOLE: Engine starting.
Engines four and one starting.
Oh, shit.
NARRATOR: Carol Berman finally sets off to organise opposition
to Concorde's landing.
Blagnac Tower, Concorde Sierra Bravo taxi.
Roger, Sierra Bravo.
Visor down, nose to fly.
Three, two, one, now.
NARRATOR: At takeoff, Concorde's four Rolls-Royce engines
have the same power as 6,000 family cars.
In the first 1,000 feet of the climb alone, a tonne of fuel is used.
Five minutes after takeoff, Concorde leaves Toulouse air space.
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
At 28,000 feet, the crew are ready to show why the claims
that Concorde is the future of air travel should be taken seriously.
Subsonic airliners reach their maximum speed at Mach .80,
far short of the sound barrier.
But Concorde is still warming up at these subsonic speeds.
It's the world's only supersonic airliner.
To create enough power to punch through the sound barrier,
afterburners, known as reheats, are required.
Although these use up more fuel, they increase the thrust by 25%.
Inboard reheats.
Selected and... stable.
- Outboard reheats. - Selected and... stable.
Community. SSTs are killing our community...
NARRATOR: By taking on the leadership of the anti-Concorde campaign,
Carol Berman has found a suitable outlet to channel her political energies.
SSTs are not for me. Make love not noise.
NARRATOR: She and her fellow protestors have come up with
a novel way of turning their cars into weapons of mass civil protest.
SSTs are not for me.
NARRATOR: Carol's placard has been left over
from an organised protest she took part in at JFK three days before.
A convoy of over 500 cars crawled around the approach roads at 5 miles an hour.
Keep Concorde out of JFK. Keep Concorde out of JFK.
We'll be here till 2 o'clock. Be sure to get in line.
NARRATOR: This was the latest in a series of drive-slows
that has brought traffic using JFK to a virtual standstill
But these drive slows have done nothing to block the plans being made
for Concorde's arrival
Concorde crosses into American air space over the mid-Atlantic.
The plane is famous, not just for its speed,
but for the extravagance of its food.
Although there are no paying passengers on board,
one cardinal rule is still strictly observed.
The captain and co-pilot cannot be served with the same dish
in case they both come down with food poisoning.
Merci.
Carol has arrived at the house of fellow protester, Joseph Lewis.
If we let Concorde in, more SSTs will follow.
Two, the deafening noise caused by Concorde
is above the threshold of pain.
Am I going to fast, Joe...
NARRATOR: Fears about the ozone layer had not been on the agenda
when Concorde was conceived in the early 1960s.
The impact of Concorde on the ozone layer has been well documented
and has been proven to cause skin cancer and air pollution.
NARRATOR: The air at 58,000 feet is crystal clear.
Concorde's cruise altitude is four miles higher
than that of any other airliner.
From this vantage point, over twice the height of Mount Everest,
the crew has a clear view of the Earth's curve on the horizon 300 miles away.
At twice the speed of sound,
the serenity inside the cockpit is deceptive.
At 1,500 miles an hour,
Concorde is travelling 10 miles an hour faster than a speeding rifle bullet
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)
You know, I was going over slogans. "Make love not noise."
No, it doesn't sound right to me.
"SSTs are not for me."
NARRATOR: As the leading voice against Concorde,
Carol knows that every news channel in America will be lining up
to interview her later this morning.
What do you think? I think that's good.
Oh, wait a minute, shh. This is it. This is it.
RADIO ANNOUNCER: JFK in, oh, let's see...
- Okay, 10:00. Okay. - about an hour and a half.
- We've gotta make a move. - Dig out those binoculars, folks.
NARRATOR: The plight of Carol and her neighbours
has become the focus of world press attention.
How can you live with this? And that's one of the quieter ones.
That's a 747.
- So, I mean... - That's flying high.
If we stand here long enough, you're gonna see a lot more of this
and you're gonna hear a lot more noise.
Now if that was the SST, forget about it. Our eardrums would pop.
NARRATOR: 70 assess whether Concorde really will be
as loud as its critics claim,
JFK ground staff set up noise monitors around the perimeter fence.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Concorde, good morning. Squawk ident.
New York City right, Concorde.
5-552-0, descending, request pass...
NARRATOR: The engines are pulled back
as Flight Sierra Bravo approaches New York for the first time in its career.
The visor and nose are lowered
to improve the pilot's visibility on the approach.
It's half an hour before Concorde is due to touch down at JFK.
In the corridor outside Hangar 17,
security for the upcoming press conference is unprecedented.
A hardcore of protesters has threatened to gatecrash the event.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
NARRATOR: With hundreds of extra police drafted in for the day,
Carol Berman can't get any closer than the perimeter fence.
Okay, we want a lot of noise too.
NARRATOR: Dozens of helicopters have been hired by journalists
to give them a bird's-eye view of Concorde's landing.
REPORTER: Northwest 202...
NARRATOR: With Concorde Just minutes away,
the noise monitors are activated.
If Sierra Bravo's decibel count registers too high,
it may be banned from all commercial operations to JFK.
(PROTESTERS CHANTING)
SSTs are not for me, SSTs are not for me.
NARRATOR: Concorde touches down
at 10:08 in the morning, East Coast time.
By outpacing the rotation of the Earth, Concorde has, in effect,
arrived more than two hours before it took off from Toulouse.
REPORTER: What did you think of the Concorde landing?
It was like a, like a vulture, you know,
pouring down black, acrid smoke on our communities, polluting the atmosphere.
It was an awesome sight.
It was like a, you know, it was like a big bird swooping down.
NARRATOR: It has been a textbook flight,
but the fate of the most expensive commercial aircraft ever built
still hangs in the balance.
- Who won the World Series? - The Yankees.
New York does not need Concorde.
JFK and its residents do not need the Concorde.
NARRATOR: While Concorde is being checked over outside,
its crew confront the press in Hangar 17.
WALPOLE: New York and for Concorde.
I'm told that the New York Yankees won the World Series last night,
after all they have been through
and Concorde is here today, after all we've been through
and it has been a lot.
New York is the city on the western side of the Atlantic
for which Concorde was designed.
It's gonna be devastating, devastating.
This aircraft has flunked every hearing test it's had.
NARRATOR: The opening salvo of questions does not bode well for Concorde.
REPORTER: The question is, does Jean Franchi feel
that people living around Kennedy have a right to be afraid
and fear for the aeroplane?
If they believe what they read about it, they have a right to be afraid of.
But what I question is what they read about it.
It's gonna ruin our city, you know? We do not need the Concorde.
JFK doesn't not need the Concorde,
the people of New York don't need the Concorde.
The average speed, therefore...
NARRATOR: While the flight crew face a barrage of questions,
Concorde's PR team execute their master plan
to let the plane and its media critics stand face to face.
MAN: We'll stop the talking for just a few minutes
till they get the aeroplane in and turn off the tractor.
Our lovely bird has arrived, so we'll be quiet for a minute.
NARRATOR: With many journalists awestruck
by their first look at Concorde,
the odds of it getting a favourable press
start to shift in the aeroplane's favour.
This is just a ploy by the airlines
uh, while the press are still interested and it's all gonna change...
NARRATOR: Now backed by Concorde,
the mood among the flight crew becomes more confident.
Well, its about the 620th Landing I've done in an aircraft
and it looked like all the others.
And, uh,
the runway looked like a runway to me...
And to be honest with you,
I didn't fly a special approach for New York.
I wouldn't want to treat the people in New York
any better than I treat the people in Toulouse, my own family.
This is proven to be one of the worlds noisiest aircrafts,
if not the noisiest.
NARRATOR: Concorde and is crew are holding up well under press scrutiny.
But it still faces one crucial test
that Carol is sure will vindicate her campaign, its takeoff.
What do you think will happen at takeoff tomorrow?
I'm confident that tomorrow the noise monitors here will register very high.
The "beat the meter" business is not the object of the exercise,
it is to satisfy the communities that we are going to be a good neighbour.
NARRATOR: Critics accused Concorde
of having loudest takeoff of any civilian aircraft in service.
If it registers higher than the legal limit of 112 decibels,
Concorde will be dragged through the American legal system
for a second time.
But even when Concorde's afterburners are activated,
the noise monitors are not even triggered.
Concorde finally passes Hts New York hearing test, silencing its critics.
The anti-Concorde campaign may have stalled,
but with all the press exposure she's gained,
Carol Berman's political ambitions take off.
In 1978, she's elected to the US Senate.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
After paying its way for 26 years on the transatlantic route
Concorde made its final landing at London Heathrow in 2003
With this revolutionary aircraft destined to become a museum exhibit,
all hopes of future supersonic civilian flight remain grounded,
for the time being.