Days That Shook the World (2003) s01e12 Episode Script

1
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!
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.