The main interest in the 1951 Farnborough display by the Society of British Aircraft Constructors consists in the performance of the new Delta-wing aircraft. Much of the film is taken up with their demonstrations of aerobatics and high-speed flying. At speeds beyond sound, short wide wings behave better than long narrow ones. The Delta wing allows of a considerable wing area coupled with a small span. Hence, such machines as the Boulton Paul PIII, whose high landing speed is to some extent offset by the use of a parachute brake. A private venture development from the Gloster Meteor demonstrates the first entirely new aerobatic for 20 years – “cart wheeling” -and there is an astonishing display of four De Havilland Vampires. To the problem of very high speed flight in large aircraft, two opposite solutions are shown. The Short SA4 has a very thin wing, and four jet engines mounted in pairs one above the other: the Vickers Valiant has its four jet engines inside very thick swept-back w...