This film by the amateur filmmaking group Mercury Movie Makers looks at the growing world of hang gliding, following some members of the Dales & Pennines Hang Gliding Club as they take part in the sport. Title: Mercury Movies The film begins with archive black and white footage showing early attempts at human flight, including prototype aeroplanes and a man on roller-skates with paper wings attached to his arms. The jaunty soundtrack adds to the comic effect of these pictures. The...

This film by the amateur filmmaking group Mercury Movie Makers looks at the growing world of hang gliding, following some members of the Dales & Pennines Hang Gliding Club as they take part in the sport. Title: Mercury Movies The film begins with archive black and white footage showing early attempts at human flight, including prototype aeroplanes and a man on roller-skates with paper wings attached to his arms. The jaunty soundtrack adds to the comic effect of these pictures. The commentary notes that “man’s burning desire to fly has always been there”. Title: “Flying Free” A teenage lad lies on his back on a grassy hillside, watching birds soar overhead. At Hawkswick, near Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales, the lad and an older man (possibly his father) unpack a Rogallo wing hang glider from a car roof-rack and assemble it. In a bar, three middle-aged male members of the Dales & Pennines Hang Gliding Club talk about their experiences with the sport. One, Tommy, has been part of the club for around four years and got involved after reading about gliding in the Sunday newspapers. Members carry their gliders up to the top of Hawkswick Cote, and a club member demonstrates the use of a wind gauge to test wind speed. Back in the bar, the members discuss how interest in hang gliding can turn into obsession. On the Dales, members of the club launch their gliders from the hilltop, down a gentle slope. A hang glider is shown landing gracefully. Gentle, idyllic music accompanies aerial views of members taking flight, chatting while watching the others, and dragging their gliders back up the hill. The members in the bar discuss their perfect day’s gliding, the courage needed to begin each flight and the beauty of the experience once airborne. Title: “To Francis M. and Gertrude Rogallo, the inventors of the flexible wing glider, and all the pioneers of self-powered flight” Various black and white still illustrations depict the development of the hang glider, from the aerofoil (or “Rogallo wing”) originally designed by NASA engineer Francis Rogallo as a space recovery vehicle, to its present incarnation as a recreational aircraft. A hang glider takes flight from the summit of Pen-y-Ghent, one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, soaring hundreds of feet above the Dales immediately after take-off. Another glider flies against sunny blue sky, past a rocky outcrop. Other enthusiasts ascend the hill to launch their gliders. The camera follows the pilot of a red, white and blue striped hang glider as he curves through the air, before landing gently in a field. A windsock emblazoned with “Embassy Hang Gliding” flutters above the site of the National Hang Gliding Championships at the Hole of Horcum near Pickering on the Yorkshire Moors. Spectators line the hillside, some watching with binoculars. The hang gliding enthusiasts are shown competing, while a large number of aircraft sit lined up ready to be flown. A safety officer helps launch a glider, and the commentary notes the high standards of safety being set for the growing new sport.  As seagulls fly overhead one of the three members in the bar notes that, “we are still amateurs compared to the birds”. Cameras: John Copp, Ken Leckenby, Myer Gorwits, Alan Sidi, Mica Sidi, George Duncan, Reg White Narration: George Duncan Producer: Ken Leckenby Cine Synch Sound Recording A Group 16 Film