Sky Traders,a circa 1952 black-and-wh

the [Music] George sugar Charlie here is your Airways clearance you are cleared to Gander by chy Woodley Compton and green one George I've been mixed up with flying all my life flown everything from moths to Connie's now as control officer I fly them from the ground I thought the kick was going out of life when the change overcame but I was wrong an airport still the most exciting place in the world well for me anyway every minute night and day we handle the big planes in and out she's a strat Cruiser panamerican just in from in the states it's right here on the tower that the life of the airport is planned and when I say life I mean life and I thought it was going to be a dull routine job the giant ples stream in from all parts of the world India Africa America Europe and it's our job to sort them out bring them down and fly them off again it doesn't give you much time to sit and dream [Music] I've flown thousands of passengers all over the world in my time so they're just routine nowadays but air caros now there's a new angle in the early days we didn't have room for Freight but today anything and almost everything goes by air [Music] here's an idea I spotted on a Transworld constellation loading for New York they wheeled up something that looked like a Lifeboat called a speed pack it's already loaded with cargo they just hit her on and she winds up snug under the belly and there she rides right across the ocean the speed pack was loaded with one of the queerest cargos I've come across sea moss so I took the trouble to find out more about it just about the time when most people are thinking about getting out of bed these tiny craps are on their way out of port looking for sea moss Neptune's Fern the only way to find the beds is to look for yourself in a frogman's outfit the temp zest tuary where fresh water meet salty is the only place in the world where this moss grows in quantity but this is no ordinary fishing now they sling over to sort of hay break called a drudger and scraped the seabed that's all there is to it nice easy sort of job you'd think but just look at that [Music] rule just about the end of the sweep now time to pull up the drudger and see how they're making out of course they'll go up and down till they cleaned out the whole area well up it comes and there's our catch sea moss Neptune's Fern and fern is just what they use it for in America they have none over there and will take all we can give them they use it for decoration and for a background to fresh cut blooms this treasure drove from the Estuary means dollars for us and the secret is that it never Withers the Moss is carefully washed dried and colored and that's about all that it needs doing to it because it goes on living it continues to live whilst it's being packed into the speed pack Bound for America slung underneath the big constellation now on our way across the Atlantic 20th century Sky Trader linking London and New York in the service of Beauty caros from the sea to cargos for the land special Bristol Freighters are loading new cars for the continent these are bound for Paris [Music] crossing the channel we look for luk which is right on the coast anyway and here we are in France with hardly time for a nap on the way [Music] [Music] what could be simpler huh there's nothing to it so long as your papers are in order in a matter of minutes we're heading for Paris and that as far as I'm concerned is a good idea at any time through long Avenues of popular and quiet towns go the shiny streamlined Automobiles and so to Paris the octat trium and the rest not that I ever got much rest in Paris anyway back in latou the Bristol is making her final flight as the day draws to a close and in the cities the lights are beginning to Signal the start of NightLight one of the brightest night spots on the continent is Brussels and I give you that information as an expert on the subject but uh it's a through trip this time so as the dawn begins to break we're on our way to take a look at the world's most unique Air Service a tunnel may seem a funny place to look for an air service but that's where it begins as we ride up with the cargo from the bonded [Music] bolts melbrook Russell's airport and the cargo train is bringing a load of mail for the world's only full-time helicopter mail service it's run by Sabina who use Bell helicopters I never got around to Flying one of these babies but there she goes rising nobly to the occasion sorry but what do you expect with one of those things buzzing around like a runaway fan maybe I'm oldfashioned but I certainly like some good solid Wings when I fly [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] they tell me these things can fly backwards forwards and land on a Cabbage Patch not that I ever met a pilot who wanted to land on a Cabbage Patch after the routine test flight the clip Pon paniers are FedEd Mayo loaded and she's off on her way to the capital [Music] hey hey hey you don't have to deliver those darn letters personally and so right into the very center of Brussels itself the incoming maale is offloaded and at the same time the outgoing maale is loaded ready for delivery at the next town basis of Air Cargo service is that delicate and difficult Freight can be handled with speed and safety this is just such a cargo sodium 24 straight from the atomic research establishment at Harwell a hurry order for South [Music] Africa this innocent looking container holds radioactive sodium chloride a Strange Cargo and one that must be treated with the greatest respect when removed from its lead protection by the use of the special rod these Isotopes admit rays of a dangerous nature and human contact with this unseen power must be strictly limited it was only possible for the cameraman to obtain these pictures by the use of a telephoto lens these Ray fog Motion Picture film at a distance up to 10 ft [Music] its value decaying by half every 15 hours transport by air is essential if these byproducts of the atomic pile are to play their part in medical research they're stored for flight in special insulated containers in the very wing tips of the South African plane so with speed precision and complete safy safety a very delicate and Precious Cargo was on its way to further medical knowledge in [Music] Johannesburg from south to North Africa we hurry now typhoid in the old eth Army's Battleground a threat to the Middle East only one drug can cope with it and from Bazi the call goes to London to a laboratory where a new wonder drug is manufactured need chloro my at once and in quantity the manager passes the order and labels it Rush chloromycin the latest antibiotic is the first of its kind ever to be made from start to finish by man and this laboratory was specially built to make it specially built as some of the solvents used in the process are highly inflammable [Music] swirling in the vat it looks very ordinary but this is the only sure hope of countless [Music] thousands science puts another miracle drug in the service of man and the genius of our manufacturers steps up production to meet the demand but the chloromycin must get there in time every hour counts if the epidemic is to be checked and Air Freight is the only [Music] answer we have an Elizabethan waiting ready to take off as soon as the drug is loaded delivery in one day instead of maybe a week [Music] well that's the lot didn't waste much time [Music] and as I give her takeoff clearance I wish her God speed with her Priceless [Music] cargo yes there's plenty of drama at an airport but there's also fun for instance every Monday and Friday a special boac freighter comes in from Africa in the Far East we call her the ark because she's the animals special once the doors are opened it's sheer pandemonium as everything starts to yell at once we're very fond of this flight at the airport and gly try to be around when she comes in first come the monkeys thousands of these are flowing every year and every one of them seems to look and smell the same to me then birds of all shapes sizes and colors sea lions need special attention they have to be sprayed frequently while traveling to keep them cool tiger cubs are always popular we often get them from India and the Far East somebody thought he'd be pretty smart and give the cameraman a closeup of this tiger cub but he didn't seem to want to cooperate no not a bit then they brought his girlfriend out and he fell for it the [Music] [Applause] sucker after the star performance comes the heavy stuff [Music] boac fly more animals than any other airline in the world and for many of them Britain is just an overnight stop so boak organized an animals hotel at Meadow Bank where the guests can relax before the next hop these leopard cubs soon made themselves at home someone once told me that leopards think flying is the best way to uh change spots [Music] now here's a baby honey bear just a bundle of fun and Claws nosing around nearby is a taper he tried to grow a trunk but found his meat ration wasn't big enough I suppose this is one way to relax especially if you happen to be a gibbon most of these animals love flying and the attention they they receive whilst they're on the way to distant Parts drama comes to the tower when the phone rings it can be anything this turned out to be an emergency call from a doctor have you an air ambulance available at once for a hospital case we hadn't but we switched the call to Lancashire aircraft they promised immediate action and the doctor returned to the patient a boy who had lost his grip while climbing and had fallen the chief pilot John Mard decided to take the consul on operation Mercy himself landing on a rough Island field might be a tricky job and taking off perhaps [Applause] [Music] worse I knew Johnny the war you couldn't have a better guy in any time of trouble if it was possible he' do it if it wasn't he'd have a darn good try anyway meantime on the island they' strapped the kid in a rescue stretcher and were carrying him across the dunes it wasn't all that far to the island and as Johnny made his approach Bank the kid was on his way to the meeting place [Music] easy Johnny easy surface doesn't look so [Music] good they both arrived at about the same [Music] time the doc didn't like the look of the boy at all he'd injured his head badly on some rocks as he fell and there was the risk of tetanus with no hospital except to across the water however it didn't take long to transfer him to the console [Music] Johnny managed to get the kite off the deck without much trouble back at the airport they were standing by to move at the First Signal every second counted the smoother the flight the better as the ambulance crossed the coast Johnny asked for emergency landing facilities in 2 minutes which were granted at [Music] once the kid was in bad shape back there but he'd had a good Crossing and it wouldn't be long enough the console had started its run in I guess a few people heaved a sigh of relief as the ambulance touched down from now on it was up to the experts and as the console reached the apron they took [Music] over they rushed the border to hospital everything had been laid on to give the kid every chance as soon as he arrived he'd be rushed to the operating theater where the surgeon was even now [Music] waiting in the theater he was put under gas right away for examination and treatment it seems they were just in time thanks to the air ambulance it was touch and go but I heard later that everything was going to be okay but Johnny it was just another Freight job only this time his cargo was life I wonder how he felt about it pretty good I expect And So It Goes emergency or no emergency life at an airport never stand still day and night the sky Traders load their caros now more than ever time means money in the markets of the [Music] world back to [Music] work good luck happy Landings to all the 20th century tramps of the air the sky trators George sugar Charlie here is your Airways clearance you are cleared to Gander by chy Woodley Compton and green one over [Applause]