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The Sound Barrier Overview:

The Sound Barrier (1952) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by David Lean and produced by David Lean and Norman Spencer.

The Sound Barrier BlogHub Articles:

The Sound Barrier (1952, David Lean)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 20, 2018 From The Stop Button

There’s a lot to The Sound Barrier. Outside the truly magnificent aerial photography, not much of it has to do with the film itself. Other than director Lean and writer Terence Rattigan rewriting actual history to make it so a private British aircraft company “broke” the sound barrier some fiv... Read full article

Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952)

By Beatrice on Sep 17, 2015 From Flickers in Time

Breaking the Sound Barrier Directed by David Lean Written by Terrence Rattigan 1952/UK London Film Productions First viewing/Netflix rental Not what one might expect from the creative talent involved but still a solid picture about the development of supersonic flight. The movie begins in the m... Read full article

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The Sound Barrier Quotes:

No Quote for this film.
The Sound Barrier Facts
The Vickers-Supermarine Swift, called the "Prometheus" in the film, is not capable of supersonic flight.
In the movie, Nigel Patrick and Ann Todd were sitting in a more dangerous plane than they knew. The de Havilland Comet airliner depicted in the film would become a notorious design for two tragic mid-air breakups in 1954 which killed all on board. The aircraft would be redesigned but the legacy would prevent it from being a success.
There are major aviation errors in this movie. The movie shows the Comet jetliner in testing before it went operational. By the time the Comet first flew the breaking of the sound barrier was already several years in the past whereas, in the movie, it hasn't been done yet. The movie also implies that the Vampire jet that is flown from England to Egypt made the flight nonstop. The Vampire would have needed at least one refueling stop, and probably two if flying anywhere near its maximum speed.
Despite this fictionalized story of breaking the sound barrier, this feat was accomplished by Air Force General Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947 at Edwards Air Force Base. Furthermore, Yeager explained that if a pilot were to break the sound barrier in the manner depicted in the film, the pilot would've been killed. The film was also heavily based on the endeavors of the De Havilland company in the UK. Geoffrey De Havilland Jr, son of company owner Geoffrey De Havilland was killed in September 1946 whilst conducting high speed tests approaching the speed of sound over the Thames estuary.
The new British de Havilland Comet, the world's first jet airliner, was featured in this film. It's first appearance was when Tony and Susan land in Cairo and the BOAC Comet is behind them with registration number G-ALYR. However when they leave for London on the BOAC Comet it has the registration number G-ALZK. Also, the scene at the plant after Tony's death must have been filmed at the de Havilland plant. When Susan walks through the plant you can clearly see three Comets on the production line.
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