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The series made some unexpected fans, much to Anderson's surprise. His interest in aircraft from boyhood took him to Filton, England, where the Concorde was being built. A design engineer gave Anderson a tour of the facility. "I was dreading that he would ask me what work I did" explains Anderson, "because here was state-of-the-art aircraft, supersonic, and here I was, a filmmaker of puppet shows." The engineer did, indeed, ask Anderson, who remained evasive until he finally offered only that he was in film business and finally later that he was a producer. The engineer persisted. "Finally I mumbled Thunderbirds" says Anderson. The response was electric. "I was told. 'Don't move!' He ran upstairs and all of the designers came down with him. They talked with me for an hour. All of them were fans. They even had a theory that Thunderbird 2 would fly if it were built. Quite amazing. I thought they would all sort of laugh." When the Concorde made its maiden flight to Toulouse, France, to be unveiled, it was greeted by the Band of the Royal Marines striking up Barry Gray's Thunderbirds March.
The appreciation and affection for Thunderbirds endured into the 1970s. In 1978 when Sylvia met with the Rolling Stones to discuss their appearance in a film she was helping set up (without Gerry), all of them, especially Mick Jagger, were much more interested in asking questions about International Rescue and Lady Penelope than talking about the movie.
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