A Look at the Anglo-French Supersonic Airliner Concorde

This film heralds the new possibilities represented by Concorde, the famous supersonic passenger airliner, in the early 1970s. It begins with footage of the 02 pre-production Concorde at Toulouse in 1972, and then gives ‘potted history’ of aviation, charting mankind’s progress in flying ever faster, and stating that Concorde is the outcome of this evolutionary process. This documentary makes a series of impressive claims for Concorde, the key selling point being that “in one giant step the speed of air travel has doubled”.

The film is generously optimistic that supersonic travel will be successful, claiming that market research shows people will be willing to pay for it. There is some great footage of Concorde taking off, in mid-air, and landing, in which we see the graceful nature of its form. Concorde was the product of an Anglo-French government treaty, and it brought together the manufacturing capabilities of Aerospatiale and the British Aircraft Association. It entered service in 1976 and went on to make regular transatlantic flights to the United States from London and Paris, until 2003 when it was retired. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.