Aerial Journeys | Looking at the British landscape from the air
CHANNEL | BBC Television Service
FIRST BROADCAST | 03 January 1949
DURATION | 4 minutes 45 seconds
FIRSTBROADCAST
1949
Captains Appleby and Barclay receive a phone call for an air ambulance. Immediately, the location is pinpointed and the staff prepare for flight. Before long they are airborne, flying over the Outer Hebrides in a propeller plane towards the remote island of Barra and the waiting patient.
The BBC first started to show news stories in January 1948. It followed the same format as that of the cinema newsreels; stories from around the world were shown with commentary provided by a newsreader who was not in vision. The first news programmes were transmitted twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays (with repeats on Wednesdays and Saturdays). From December 1950, this service was extended to three times a week until eventually, by June 1952, the news ran from Monday to Friday. In July 1954, Richard Baker became the first newsreader to be seen on camera.
Aerial photographers discuss their work from the early 1900s onwards.

The air ambulance of Renfrew is called into action.
News report on the first live television filming from the air.
Raymond Baxter reports on the South Coast Air Race.
The BBC makes its second attempt to broadcast live from the air.
The first episode of a groundbreaking series on Britain as viewed from the air.
Aerial views of mankind's various modes of transport through the ages.
What were the implications for a countryside under constant threat of development?
Britain's seaside life, viewed from the air.
'Tomorrow's World' explores the scientific feat of aerial photo mapping.
An aerial journey from a lighthouse in the South West to the north of the Shetland Isles.
Take a journey over land and through time with this film of Wales shot entirely from the air.
John Noakes meets members of the Red Arrows.
Britain's ancient past is discovered from the air.
A natural history programme on Ice Age Britain.
Britain's coastline as you've never seen it before.
Six intrepid teams race their microlights across the roof of England.
Janet Ellis takes to the skies as she trains for a freefall parachute jump.
Reflections of a mountaineer while climbing in the Lake District.
A 'Radio Times' draft and article about the BBC's first live broadcast from an aeroplane.
The Head of Television Programmes criticises 'Operation Pegasus'.
Cecil McGivern finds further fault with 'Operation Pegasus'.
Helicopter filming causes problems for John Betjeman and chaos ensues at Longleat.
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