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It's early evening on September 27th, 1946, at the DeHavaland Aircraft Company in Hatfield,

England, just outside London.

On the company's small airfield, 36-year-old test pilot, Jeffrey DeHavaland Jr. puts

on his leather gloves and folds his tall frame into the tiny cockpit of a plane called the

DeHavaland 108 Swallow.

It's the latest experimental jet plane from his father's company, and he's about to put

it to the ultimate test.

The Swallow is a strange-looking aircraft.

It's small and sleek, a bullet with massive wings that sweep back towards its stump of a

tail.

The DeHavaland's hope that with these unique design features, the Swallow will go faster

than any plane has gone before.

The Havaland's ground crew pushes the plane into position.

He waves to a small crowd of omeladers.

Then takes off.

Setting sun stretches the shadows of the trees and the people watching him.

Setting on the ground gets smaller as DeHavaland ascends, pointing his plane towards the title

flats of the Thames River Estuary.

That's where, in a dive starting at 10,000 feet, he'll attempt to break the speed record.

He reads the altimeter on his dashboard and radios to his flight crew on the ground.

...