HU BBC4 21.00

[Tomliner]

Part two of 'Jets-When Britain Ruled The Skies' tonight at 21.00.I think this part covers civil aircraft. EricT

[Chris558]

Yep, the lovely airliners tonight. Last weeks was good, and I'm particularly looking forward to this one.

[VEGAS]

Thanks for the reminder Eric. I'll set the Betamax toploader.

[GHD]

It was exceptional

[Chris558]

Yep, that did it for me.

[Tomliner]

I thoroughly enjoyed it.Much boyhood nostalgia was there.It set me thinking what it was that got me interested in aircraft in the first place and when I saw images of Stratocruisers,Connies ,Viscounts etc it brought to mind memories of posters placed on classroom walls by my teacher in my second or third year of primary school in the early fifties.It was he who informed a class of open mouthed,captivated pupils from a humble council estate in Nottingham that the symbol on the tailfins of BOAC aircraft was known as a Speedbird.Many thanks Mr Spencer,may you rest in eternal peace. EricT

[DaveB]

First time I can remember BOAC being 'Boeing Only Airways Corporation' Nice to see the VC10 cabin crew poo-pooing the 707

ATB
DaveB

[clavel9]

It was a much better programme than last week's; more balanced in general and good to see proper acknowledgement of the importance of the Viscount and Britannia in the history of British aviation. They always get a bit of a raw deal in histories of this sort. And another fine contribution from Norman Tebbit.

[Tomliner]

It's a pity that the BAC1-11 and Trident weren't featured but on the plus side it was good to see aircraft like the Avro Ashton as well as a brief glimpse of the Apollo.I don't suppose that we are ever satisfied but overall it was a very enjoyable prog.Well done Beeb. EricT

[clavel9]

It's a pity that the BAC1-11 and Trident weren't featured but on the plus side it was good to see aircraft like the Avro Ashton as well as a brief glimpse of the Apollo.I don't suppose that we are ever satisfied but overall it was a very enjoyable prog.Well done Beeb. EricT

I think it ended in the right place as the stories of the Trident and One-Eleven wouldn't really have added much in the context of the series. Boeing dominance was well established post-707 and in the long run these aircraft were symptomatic of the same malaises as the VC10. (Brilliant engineering, but dreadful interference from government and the airlines with consequently badly drawn specifications.) For a one hour show it covered a lot of ground, summarising the stories of the Comet, Viscount and Britannia very well indeed. The success of the viscount is often overlooked as programmes of this kind tend to focus on the jets.