[All speech is original newsreel commentary]
Hold onto your seats!
[music]
At an air development centre in New Mexico, a rocket-propelled sled is made ready.
With an air force office in the seat, the sled powered by nine rockets will race along its tracks
at a speed of more than 600mph.
The officer, Lt. Col. Stapp, has been the guinea pig on many such tests.
The sirens have sounded the warning.
And all is set.
[sirens]
The slow-motion camera records Stapp's run.
Within 5 seconds, he's travelling at 632mph.
A new land speed record by more than 200mph.
His speed is equivalent to more than 1000 mph at the normal cruising altitude of jet planes.
Water breaks bring the sled to a halt within 1.5 seconds.
[music]
Levegh's Mercedes collides and blows up.
In a few ghastly seconds, death wipes out whole families.
Levegh is killed before his wife's eyes, and some 70 spectators with him.
Doctors, priests, uninjured survivors do their best.
But 79 men, women and children are dead or dying in the worst disaster in motor racing history.
[music]
Pilot Bob White is released and takes his plane up to 75,000ft.
In less than 7 minutes, he's back on the ground with a new record, though he used only two-thirds power.
Major White quickly predicted speeds of 4,000mph at a 100 miles high for the plane.
At today's speed, a rocket ship could leave New York and arrive in Los Angeles in 55 minutes!
Donald Campbell, the man who lived for speed, is dead.
Fate was to strike.
The aerotrain is a rocket-boosted jet
which is undergoing final tests in its prototype stage.
In the near future, it's planned to operate a passenger service
between Paris and Orléans, covering the 85 miles in half an hour.
[music]