Flying UNDER the Runcorn-Widnes Bridges

[viscount]

Came across this little gem, long forgotten (well certainly by me) in an MSAE 'Flypast' of June 1971.

. . . . Mr V.L. Jones of Widnes gained fame a couple of years ago by flying Chipmunk G-ARGG under the Runcorn-Widnes bridges.

So likely a late 60s event. Certainly a forgotten event that seems not to have registered as Merseyside aviation 'folk-lore' or even in 'urban myth' form.

Around that time Chipmunk G-ARGG was a Blackpool resident with Air Navigation and Trading Ltd. Indeed it was at Blackpool owned by ANT 1960 to 1983 so no help in dating the event.

[lesjones]

This was a true event which happened in the late 60s.

The stunt was done for a bet and the story appeared in most newspapers and even got a mention on Granada reports.

There is also a picture of the Chipmunk G-ARGG flying under the bridge.

The pilot was Victor Leonard Jones, my dad, he was sadly killed in a accident at work in Canada a few years later.

[viscount]

Les thanks for joining NWAN Forum to confirm the story, revealing a quite remarkable family connection.

You don't have a copy of that photo, no matter how faded or worn, do you?

When I found the brief mention in a Merseyside Society of Aviation Enthusiasts member's magazine I was quite amazed both that the event was not recorded by us at the time, nor that 'legend' of the event has survived and been passed on up through the years by Merseyside aviation enthusiasts.

Our visiting aircraft movements records abstracted at the time from the official ATC tower log, show G-ARGG did not visit Liverpool in 1967, but did land at Speke 9 times during 1968 and 5 times in 1969, and 3 in 1970 - but all they reveal are the dates of visit and that most were flights from and to Squires Gate/Blackpool. The event would not have been recorded in the ATC documents though, indeed the flight may have been from and to Blackpool without landing at Liverpool.

[viscount]

Margaret Thomson has clearly used a better of choice of search words on Google than I did and has come up with a newspaper page in December 1968 reporting on the subsequent Widnes Court Case brought by the Board of Trade. I have been sent the page as an e-mail attachment, and am currently wrestling with getting the PDF file out of 'downloads' and into jpg. to crop on a photo manipulation programme (and failing).

G-ARGG's flight under the bridges took place on Sunday, April 21st 1968, with the Court case reported in the Liverpool Echo on 5th December 1968. The newspaper piece went to say that Victor Leonard Jones returned and made a repeat flight under the bridges a week later - this time with a photographer present. As a result of pictures appearing in daily newspapers the Board of Trade brought an action on 8 summonses (4 for each occasion) of dangerous flying. The Widnes Court judge fined Mr Jones £10 on each count plus costs of £10/10/= (£10.50p for those not at school before February 1971) and £10 advocate fees. It is stated that he got off fairly lightly as he kept his licence and the maximum penalty could have been £1,600 or 4 years in gaol.



Updated a day later:

The PDF image I was forwarded came from a pay-to-view genealogy web-site, so posting a link is pointless.

Thank you "ilt", but clearly a greater level of PC skills is needed to follow their instructions than I have! So currently stimmed. Well at least we now have a date for event and a few more details - I've added a footnote into the 1968 Visiting Aircraft Log on NWAN - so knowledge of the event is now recorded there.

[ilt]

Sites like www.pdfaid.com/pdf-to-tiff.aspx can help
Convert the whole pdf to tiff and then use image editing software such as irfanview to crop and size as you require.

[Beemer]

Kirsty, welcome to the forum.

You have quoted what was posted by Viscount but no further comment with it.

If you try to reply while on 'Latest Posts' it will confusingly present the content of the post as a quotation. Best to open up the whole thread, at the end of which is a blank box waiting for your message.

Have another try at posting your message, then Admin can delete the earlier one (and this one).

[kirsty]

My dad (les jones) who has posted above has asked me to attach the news paper article that we have and photographs that were taken for his dad's repeat flight.  Unfortunately i am getting an error message saying the forum has exceeded its attachment space limit.  Is there anyone that can help?

[viscount]

This is where forum differ from Facebook.

It is necessary to first upload the image file to a host site such as Flickr. Generate a code, then copy and paste that onto the 'compose' screen on NWAN forum.

As I take it that you are not familiar with that route, so, if you have the images as a jpg. files which you can attach to an e.mail, then send them by e.mail to us, and 'Beemer' will with well practiced hands load them onto the forum. If you wish to go by that route, just direct a private PM 'Message' via NWAN to Brian 'Viscount' or Brian 'Beemer' and we will let you know by e-mail who to send the image to.

Thank you for your efforts and to your father too. I'm looking forward to seeing what he has.

Brian

[Beemer]

These are a few photos kindly sent to me by Kirsty, a member of Victor Leonard Jones family that actually show the Chipmunk passing under and between the Railway bridge supports.


Victor Leonard Jones by Beemer328i, on Flickr



Newspaper article. . jpg by Beemer328i, on Flickr


As seen in the local paper at the time. by Beemer328i, on Flickr

[ian531]

Great images, thanks to everybody involved to get these images on here

Ian

[Beemer]

The badge on his blazer has the initials BPA with a parachute on it so I assume it is the British Parachute Association.

[viscount]

Yes, the newspaper report of the court proceedings detailed that he appeared wearing a blazer with the British Parachute Association badge. Quite likely taken on the day of the court proceedings, which dates the sartorial attire to December 1968. At that time my blazer still had a school badge on it!

Thanks to all involved in getting this thread to where we are now. A fascinating glimpse into a Merseyside Aviation event that is rightfully getting another hearing after all the passing of years, having not made a lasting entry into Merseyside aviation urban folk-lore at the time.

"Do you remember the time an aircraft flew under the Runcorn Bridges?" - well we do now!


Incidentally, I went back to the MAS 'Flypast' magazine to look again at the context of the mention quoted in the thread opening post. Mr V.L. Jones did not just fly with Air Navigation & Trading Co Ltd out of Blackpool, but was part-owner of an Auster J/5Q Alpine G-APCB jointly with a James Wilson, which was briefly based at Speke having been delivered here on 23rd June 1967, but later in the year was moved to Blackpool. The comment regarding the bridges 'fly through' being made, as during 1971 when they sold the aircraft to William Moorland, G-APCB returned as a resident to Speke on 12th June from Blackpool/Squires Gate.


It appears that Auster G-APCB, first registered as new in 1951, is still registered, but unflown since late 2016.

DHC.1 Chipmunk 22 G-ARGG is still flying. Originally built 1951 as WD306 with the Royal Air Force, it was sold and registered G-ARGG by Air Navigation & Trading at Blackpool in 1960 and was owned by them until 1983. The UK registration was cancelled April 2015 on taking up the marks EI-HFB with the Irish Historic Flight and it now flies in the colours of Irish Air Corps as aircraft '169'.

siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/ Then search 'APCB' for the registration history of the Auster Alpine, or 'ARGG' for the Chipmunk.
cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-APCB-3.pdf For the VL Jones ownership entry line

[ronturner]

Very good. Thanks everybody.

[Deleted]

A very interesting thread and well done to all concerned. I must confess that I had never heard of this incident until now. I was working at the airport then and the place was like one huge family - everyone knew everyone else. There were regular parties with ATC and I knew a few of the people who worked in the tower, but I never heard this mentioned. I checked amongst my old negatives to see if I had a photo of 'RGG, but none has come to light.

Imagine if that had happened today, in an era when everyone is an amateur photographer/filmmaker. It would be all over social media within minutes!

[viscount]

I've sat and puzzled over the photos of the passage under the bridges, thinking it would have had to have been taken from close to a pub on the transporter access road between the bridges on the Widnes side. Then it twigged that the chemical works were on the Widnes side, on land now flattened and open, adjacent to the Mersey Way footpath. I don't know Runcorn well enough to estimate where the photo was taken from. The Chipmunk effectively flying away from the airport heading east.

Totally agree with "Garstonboy's" closing comment, and would add that the C.A.A. would likely now be merciless when it came to withdrawing his licence and the courts in applying punishment too as a message to others not to perform such 'stunts'. I would imagine that the ATC at Liverpool had no knowledge of the event until the photo appeared in the newspapers, their involvement likely being simply to clear the aircraft to depart to the east.


Some photos of Chipmunk G-ARGG to be found elsewhere on NWAN Forum:

derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/29281/blackpool-chipmunks circa early 70s - the paint scheme did not change much in over 20 years

derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/12750/remember-barnstormers April 1972 at a Liverpool Air Display

derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/13314/saturday-september-2013-leuchars-airshow Down towards the end of the thread, as IAC '169'

Sorry two of these are distorted by Photobucket. No images appear on NWAN of Auster G-APCB.