BBC.The.Century.of.Flight.20of26.Angels.of.Mercy.x264.AC3 Forum.mkv

THE SERIES

The Most Definitive Story of Manned Flight Ever Produced This Century

Ever since Leonardo Da Vinci drew his incredible flying machines, man has been fascinated by the concept of powered flight. Only in the Twentieth Century has his vision come to pass. The earliest men to leave the surface of the earth were the Montgolfier brothers with their early hot air balloons.

In the last half of the 19th Century, more sophisticated balloons were used initially for novelty and then for spotting military targets particularly during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.

However, it was only with the gliders of Otto Lilienthal that man rose into the air, albeit briefly, supported by wings. The gliding exploits of the German Professor sparked the imagination of the two young American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, who at the turn of the Century were fascinated by box kites which could be powered by the newly invented internal combustion engine.

In 1903 at a place called Kittyhawk, the brothers left the surface of the earth for the first time in a powered machine. Since then, man has striven to produce machines which fly higher and faster and carry passengers so that the Twentieth Century has seen like no other, earthbound man accelerate to one and a half thousand miles an hour with luxury air travel at seven miles above the Earth.

In military terms, man has flown even higher and faster, some say at speeds exceeding 5,000 miles per hour on the edge of space. But the greatest achievement of all came when with political determination and the invention of the rocketship, science fiction became fact and man first walked on the surface of Earth's moon.

Since then, he has sent rocket launched satellites to the far corners of our solar system in order to send back data and photographs of the surface of other planets in our galaxy.

By the constant linkage of aviation to warfare, man has accelerated his conquest of the skies by striving to produce more and more efficient aerial killing machines.

It was the rapid development of military aviation in World War I which produced the Vickers Vimy which carried Alcock and Brown across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in 1919, to be followed in 1927 by the first lone aviator to cross the Atlantic - Charles Lindbergh.

Since Lindbergh's daring journey which inspired a generation, man has developed air transport which today is typified in the shape of the giant Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. This aircraft has undoubtedly revolutionised air transport for the masses and has brought travel to the furthest points on the earth's globe at an affordable level for most people, in under twenty-four hours travelling time.

The series has been compiled with access to some of the rarest archive film ever taken. Unprecedented co-operation has been extended to the Producers by the world's leading aircraft manufacturers and leading archive libraries.

These stories have not always ended in success and included in the footage are rare shots of prototype accidents and failures which contributed to the inevitable achievement and success of man in the air. The Century of Flight is the largest series ever produced on man's victory in the skies.

Over 250,000 hours of material have been examined by international experts to assemble the most definitive story of manned flight ever produced this century.

THE 26 PROGRAMMES

(26 x 52 minute episodes)

1 Man Learns To Fly (1900 - 1914)
2 High Above the Trenches (Military Aviation 1914-18)
3 Wings Over the Sea (Naval Aviation 1914-18)
4 Strike from the Air (Birth of Strategic Bombing 1914-18)
5 The Trailblazers (Epic Flights 1919-39)
6 The Romance of the Air (Civil Aviation 1919-39)
7 The Shadow of the Bomber (Military Aviation 1919-39)
8 Struggle for the Skies (Fighters of World War II)
9 Airpower and Armies 1939-45
10 Airpower and Navies 1939-45
11 The Bomber as War Winner? (Strategic Bombing 1939-45)
12 The Coming of the Jets
13 Cold War Skies
14 The Helicopter Story
15 Korea to the Gulf War (Air Warfare Post 1945)
16 Naval Aviation 1945-95
17 Embracing the World (Civil Aviation Post 1945)
18 The Spectacle of Flying (Post 1945)
19 Law Enforcement from the Air
20 Angels of Mercy
21 Anyone can fly (private flying since 1945)
22 To the Furthest Corners of the World (Aircraft and Exploration)
23 The Parachute Story
24 To the Moon and Beyond (The History of Space Flight)
25 Madcaps and Oddballs (Aviation Ideas that Failed)
26 The Future of Flight



Episode 20: Angels of Mercy

The humanitarian uses of the aircraft. Helicopters rescuing people from a skyscraper fire. Aircraft as fire-fighter - dropping water bombs and other forms of fire extinguisher to combat bush and forest fires. Air-sea rescue - how maritime patrol aircraft co-ordinate rescue efforts for ships in distress, use of helicopters in air-sea rescues, including some dramatic examples. Mountain Rescue - the use of helicopters for this. First Aid - aeromedics, including Australian Flying Doctor Service, aeroambulances.


Technical Specs
Video Bitrate: 1 889 Kbps
Video Resolution: 704 x 544 - 4:3
Video Codec: x264 MPEG-4 AVC
Audio Codec: AAC 48 KHz
Audio BitRate: 128kbs
Audio Channels: 2 Ch
RunTime: 00:52
Framerate: 25 fps
Number Of Parts: 26
Part Size: 615Mb - 873Mb
Ripped by DocFreak08
Subtitles: None
Source: DVD