应用科学类纪录片，Discovery Channel 频道 1992 年出品。
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Have you ever wondered how mans ability to fly ever came about in the first place? Have you ever wondered how they were first realised from conception to the super-sonic aircraft we see in our skies today. As with all inventions, including computers there was a starting point. From these building blocks foundation upon foundation is built to develop more powerful and efficient machines of today and onwards into our future. This is what the Discovery channel series Frontiers of flight is all about.
本片將萊特兄弟從年輕時對機械充滿興趣而自製自行車開始,到他們想實現人類也能飛行的夢想,其中經過無數次失敗終至功成名就的過程,一一呈現在您面前,讓您探索這段重要的飛行歷史!
The second chapter “Coast to Coast” shows the attempts of Cal Rogers, Oakley Kelley and John McReady to cross America by air. A successful journey by anyone was to be awarded a sum of $50,000 in prize money for their efforts. The legacy of these men is bewildering to say the very least. The early planes did not have a fuselage, had minimum safety precautions which meant if anything went wrong it would spell death to all those on board. The pilots of these aircraft did have parachutes but there was still the danger that the plane could catch fire and incinerate the poor pilot dude.
The third chapter “Atlantic and the world” reveals the design of the first flying machine to cross the Atlantic, the NC 4, which just happened to be a seaplane with very powerful v12 engines. The most intriguing part of this chapter would be the feature about the Fokker T2 making the first non-stop flight from coast to coast in America. At the start of the journey a voltage regulator had to be fixed while the Co-pilot had to fly the plane from inside the fuselage with no forward view to navigate! Quickly it was fixed and the T2 completed the journey it was set out to do. The around the world journey was made in the Douglas World Cruiser and took 175 days to complete. This is astounding and must have been quite a feat without a fold out GameBoy mid flight.
The forth chapter “USA/ Europe Non-stop” shows the efforts of an (here we go again, god bless America!!) American man making the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris. His name was Charles Lindberg and by Gees did he make it hard for himself I will leave that to you (the audience) to find out for yourself what I mean.
“Air Transportation for all” seats us down on the wing tip to view the start of passenger carrying aviation. Propeller driven aeroplanes become safer, faster and more controllable and the industry made up of a very few talented aviators tries to gradually herd out the public’s misconceptions about the dangers of flight.
“Golden Age Frontiers” explores the quick advancements in technology that aviation takes. Highlights for this chapter include when we see Amelia Earhart be the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic. Wiley Post broke many records in his plane the Winnie Mare including high altitude and around the world speed records. The latest plane in the early 1920’s the Nr2100 was developed and broke the land air speed record at 294 miles per hour. Jimmy Dolittle flies in a plane with a twisted slab propeller, which the engineers are worried might break mid flight. This leads to an outcome I will leave you to find out. There is an around the world race featuring all kinds of aircraft coming together to compete. If there was a most curious prize for this chapter it would go to Roscoe Turner who flew in a 1000+ horsepower plane accompanied by his pet mascot Lion. He was a strange man in the way he made himself kernel and had a fitting moustache. To his credit though, he was a good speechmaker and aroused much public interest.
人类能够飞向外太空,探索宇宙的第一步即是火箭的发明;然而飞行史上第一个成功发射的火箭却是二次大战期间,德国用以攻击对手的军事秘密武器~V2火箭,但当时创造V2火箭的科学家布拉恩原始所构想的太空计划终究没有实现;本片所呈现的即是这些火箭先驱者的故事,看看这些科学家们为何能身处于混乱的战争时期,却依然坚守岗位,致力于实现梦想?而能够使火箭完全脱离地心引力,不会在空中爆炸的动力燃料又是如何被研发出来的?
1942年10月1日,在美国现今艾德华空军基地北端,一架秘密飞机装着伪装的螺旋桨进行例行试飞,由于它是一架不用螺旋桨即可飞行的飞机,因此也是美国的第一架喷射机;这架名为XP59A的喷射机,其设计和建造是美国参与二次大战之初,在极端隐密匆促的情况下进行的,最后虽然因为作战潜力不佳而没参与二次大战,但它的问世在飞航史上占有极重要的地位;本片从一位英国青年利用"涡轮喷射引擎"为动力让飞机升空开始,历经波折,到设计图如何落入美国贝尔飞机公司并进行研发,皆有详细描述;此外,Discovery Channel还将为您探索德国第一架具威胁性的战斗喷射机,以及它对二次大战的影响!
“The Sound Barrier” shows the steps taken during the early 1950’s to work towards blasting through the sound barrier. Chuck Yeagar is the pilot in this exciting but dangerous undertaking and is interviewed at length. Adding to some of the most important archives in history. The aircraft had to be jet powered, have a narrow wing and released from the underbelly of a B52. Highlights include the interviewing of Chuck Yeagar and of course when the speed of sound is breached.
“The Jet Airliner” exhibitions the refinement and development of the latter by the spearheading team at Boeing. Tex Johnston makes a return into the series and was one of the first pilots to test these “birds”. Boeing poured one quarter of its worth into a demonstration model to take the lead in the world as passenger freighting machines. Highlights include when Tex Johnston does a barrel roll over Washingtons Lake in a Boeing 707, a fairly illustrious aircraft, angering the powers that be at Boeing’s head office.
“The Threshold of Space” looks back behind the cockpit of time to see new aircraft break more records in air-bound achievements. Speeds reach twice the speed of sound and beyond. There is a new phenomenon called “Inertia Coupling” which threatens to halt progress in the avenue of high speed flight by rendering the controls of the aircraft temporarily useless when flying at these high speeds. Spinning out of control became a common occurrence but soon this problem is rectified and once again velocity begins to reach new heights. The fastest plane featured, the Orbital X15, reaches Mach 6.7 or a speed of 4500 mph.
“Space and Back” In this chapter, Mason Adams the narrator takes us back to 1966 when the U.S.A was testing craft that would take man into outer space. In 1966 The M2 F2 the first vehicle designed to fly into outer space and back under manned control was tested. These test machines were the basis of design for the Space Shuttle “Enterprise” and had no wings. Instead the body of the fuselage was designed to act as an aerodynamic lifting structure. There were many problems NASA had to overcome including control and landing issues. Highlights include the rolling out of the Enterprise, the first space shuttle that we are all now familiar with. This shuttle was designed to take man to outer space and back safely. We are shown the first successful launch on its maiden debut. A curious fact of these launches were that even though the rockets are launched straight up with immense power, the pilot only experienced 1 or 2 G’s, contrary to what we see in TV shows and film.
“The Last World Record” was about the latter achieved in a wide light, flimsy, aeroplane with only two engines. This chapter shows the trials and tribulations of the couple that set out to achieve this amazing feat. After encountering many issues including technical, weather, fatigue problems Dick and Yeanna Yeagar (no relation to Chuck) flew for many days non-stop, non- fuelled around the world.
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