Concorde: The Race for Supersonic

The first of two programmes chronicles the international competition to create the world’s inaugural supersonic airliner. It opens with the American and Soviet projects that ran alongside the British‑French Concorde effort, setting the stage for the historic race to achieve supersonic passenger flight.

The broadcast is the first instalment of a two‑part series, presented as a programme and classified in the episode format. It serves as the opening half of a larger narrative that will be completed in a subsequent episode. The core of this opening part follows the intense competition to create the world’s inaugural supersonic airliner. It begins by charting the parallel efforts of the American and Soviet challengers that emerged alongside the well‑known Concorde project, setting the scene for a global race to break the sound barrier in commercial flight. By focusing on these early rival programmes, the episode establishes the technical ambitions and geopolitical backdrop that drove each nation’s push for speed. It outlines how the American and Soviet teams positioned themselves against the European endeavour, highlighting the initial steps that defined the race for supersonic travel. The story will continue in the second half of the series, where the subsequent phases of the competition are expected to be examined. This first episode therefore acts as a foundation, introducing the key players and the stakes involved before the narrative moves forward.