In a Movie Monday befitting the coming 2010 Farnborough air show, I have reached deep down into the vault to pull out newsreel footage from the 1950 Farnborough air show. The foundations of the UK air show haven't changed significantly in the past sixty years, though the products on display most certainly have.
Watching the 10 minute clip narrated by Leslie Mitchell of British Movietone News, you can spot the parallels between the 1950 and 2010 shows. A mega-military airlifter (Blackburn Universal Freighter), the new long-range jet airliner (DeHavilland Comet), the biggest passenger plane of its day (Bristol Brabazon), and the ever hot topic of aerial refueling.
History doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly does rhyme.
After the jump you'll find a second five and a half minute clip that is a mostly narrarator-less B-roll of the 1950 air show that preserves the audio of the aircraft making low fly-bys. Turn up those speakers.
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