Television Goes Flying

The first of two experimental broadcasts from a Vickers Varsity in flight over Norfolk. Cameras from the cockpit and the bomb aimer's compartment, supplemented by cameras on the ground, capture the plane taking off and landing, as well as other aircraft, such as a Lincoln, Canberra and Meteor NF12, flying alongside.

The Vickers Varsity weighed 15 tonnes and carried half a ton of equipment on this flight. Power for the camera and sound equipment actually came from the aircraft itself. The Vickers Varsity was designed and produced to train pilots, flight engineers, radio operators, navigators and bomb aimers. The latter were seated in a very large ventral gondola, which contained bomb aiming equipment and a small quantity of training bombs. This is where one of the cameras was positioned.