Original subtitles

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 3:00 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 whisky.

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 20,000 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 learnt 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: To 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: To 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.

Welldone, 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

commercialaircraft 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.

...so I 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 journalist

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: To 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 idea!

- 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 burnt 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.

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 1,300 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:

...JFKin, 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: To assess

whether Concorde really will be

as loud as its critics claim,

JFKground 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, it’s about the 600th 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 world’s noisiest aircrafts,

if not the noisiest.

NARRATOR: Concorde and its 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 metre" 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 its 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 1979, 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.