'You can fly in 362 degrees'
Broadcast Date: Aug. 30, 1965
With the Bell Aerospace Rocket Belt, "you're free to do anything that you want to do in 21.5 seconds." That's what pilot Gordon Jaeger loves about the rocket that lets him fly without wings above an awestruck crowd at the 1965 Canadian National Exhibition. It may not be on the showroom floor yet, but Jaeger sees plenty of potential for the flying machine, telling a sceptical Kelly Ellard of CBC Radio that "it'll really help a lot of people, when you stop and think about it."'You can fly in 362 degrees'
• The Bell Aerospace Rocket Belt never made it into commercial production, but James Bond made his escape in Thunderball, with one the same year this clip aired. The belt also flew over the crowd at Super Bowl I in 1967 and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
• A new generation of belts came on the market in the 1990s, but with only 30 seconds of flying time and a price tag of over $150,000, they have yet to revolutionize personal travel.
'You can fly in 362 degrees'
Medium: Radio
Program: Assignment
Broadcast Date: Aug. 30, 1965
Guest(s): Gordon Jaeger
Host: Bill McNeil
Reporter: Kerry Ellard
Duration: 4:56
Last updated:
March 3, 2008
Radio
6:48
Carnival King Patty Conklin sounds like a kid again touting his new attractions on the midway of the 1958 Canadian National Exhibition.
Television
47:11
Seven Days is back for a second season, and is feisty from the start.
'You can fly in 362 degrees'.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 3, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 12, 2012.]