Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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Brighton Seaside - Airshow & Silver Jubilee in Bromley
Tony Mitchell captures a variety of events during Jubilee year - including day trips to Brighton and a bunting covered London as well as an accident at an airshow
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Overview
Beginning in Brighton, we see Grandma and Grandad on the pier. The beaches are packed and the crowds enjoy fair ground rides and stalls. We see the Mitchells sitting by a beach hut, building sand castles. At Biggin Hill aerodrome we see the aftermath of a tragic accident followed by the airshow itself which features several aircraft from World War II. On a visit to London we see Silver Jubilee decorations, a silver bus and the Horse Guards followed by jolly traders in Bromley.
The accident which Tony Mitchell's film just manages to capture occurred at Biggin Hill Aerodrome on May 15th 1977. The accident involved a collision between a sight-seeing helicopter, an Augusta Bell JetRanger, and a Tiger Moth biplane. The latter had no radio and without the permission to land flew into the departure path of the JetRanger. The helicopter's rotor blades came into contact with the Tiger Moth's undercarriage and disintegrated. The helicopter crashed into parked aircroft below while the Tiger Moth had to perform a belly landing on grass. All five of the helicopter's occupants were tragically killed.
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