Via The Daily Mail
With a self-designed parachute
strapped to his back, the visibly nervous inventor teeters on a ledge at
the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Moments
later, the flickering black and white footage shows Franz Reichelt
launching himself from the tower to test his creation - and plummeting
to his death.
The eerie
silent clip, captured in Paris in 1912, is just one example of a host of
notorious tragedies to unfold as Pathe News cameras were rolling in
decades past.
Eerie: Pathe News was invited to witness
Austrian inventor Franz Reichelt test his parachute design by jumping
from the Eiffel Tower in 1912
Tragedy: Pathe News cameras captured the inventor falling to his death when his parachute design failed
The iconic British firm's
archive - compiled as its cameramen toured the globe documenting world
news from 1910 to 1970 - features not just extraordinary moments of
triumph, but also scenes of disaster.
The dramatic footage spans the decades; from the heart-stopping moment
suffragette Emily Davison flung herself in front of the king's horse in
1913, to the horrified screams of onlookers as the Hindenberg airship
burst into flames over New Jersey in 1937.
The
clip of Austrian-born Reichelt's jump in the French capital, filmed
more than a century ago, shows the inventor hitting the ground with
immense force on an icy February day in 1912.
Members
of the crowd invited to witness the inventor's ill-fated test jump
rushed to his aid, but he was pronounced dead. The newsreel also
captures startling scenes as onlookers measured the hole in the ground
created by the impact of Reichelt's body.
Horror: The crowd that had gathered to witness Reichelt's test-jump are seen rushing to his aid in the footage
Macabre: The cameras captured witnesses measuring the depth of the hole created by the impact of the inventor's body
Pathe cameras were also there to
capture the dramatic scenes that unfolded in New Jersey, U.S., in 1937,
when Nazi airship the Hindenburg went up in flames.
Witnesses'
screams can be heard on the footage as the passenger airship is
engulfed by fire during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the
Lakehurst Naval Air station.
The
disaster claimed the lives of 35 passengers and one person on the
ground, and shattered public confidence in airships as a means of
travel.
Doom: The commentator describes the Nazi airship 'sailing serenely to her doom' in 1937
Down in flames: 35 people died when the German passenger airship caught fire at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey
During WWII, a Pathe News
cameraman was on board the ship adjacent to the HMS Barham when disaster
befell the Naval battleship in the Mediterranean in November 1941.
He captured the horrifying scenes as the ship was hit by a salvo of torpedoes from a German submarine.
The onslaught saw the HMS Barham begin sinking rapidly before exploding.
Dramatic: Battleship HMS Barham was hit by a salvo of torpedoes from a German submarine in the Mediterranean in November 1941
Blast: The subsequent explosion, which saw 863
lives lost, was captured on camera by Pathe cameraman John Turner, who
was on board an adjacent ship
The archive also includes footage of the 1955 Le Mans diaster, the most catastrophic accident in the history of motor sport.
Cameras documenting the famous annual race captured the chaos when a crash sent huge chunks of debris hurtling into the crowd.
The disaster claimed the lives of 83 spectators and driver Pierre Levegh.
Carnage: 83 people were killed in the Le Mans disaster of 1955, the most catastrophic accident in motor racing history
A tragic clip filmed in 1963 shows 'Bird Man' Gerard Masselin's disastrous parachute jump. Mr Masselin is seen falling to certain death when his parachute fails to open.
The footage shows bystanders trying in vain to resuscitate the man as he lies on the ground.
Bird Man: Pathe cameras captured Gerard Masselin's disastrous parachute jump in 1963
Certain death: The tragic footage captures Mr Masselin's rapid descent as his parachute fails to open
Distress: The crowd gathered below tried in vain to revive the man after he hit the ground
The death of legendary racing driver Frank Lockhart at Daytona Beach, Florida, was also documented by Pathe News.
The newsreel shows Lockhart speeding along the sand before spinning out of control when he cut a tyre.
Lockhart was thrown from the car and killed as it tumbled violently across the sand.
Daytona disaster: The archive contains footage
of the moment legendary driver Frank Lockhart was thrown from his car at
Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1928
Crash: The racing driver was killed instantly
when he was thrown from his car, which had cut a tyre and spun out of
control on the sand
Cameras documenting
pleasant scenes as families enjoyed the Farnborough Air Show in 1952
were soon trained on unfolding tragedy when a plane crashed into the
crowd.
The pilot and a passenger died that day along with 29 spectators on the ground at the airfield in Hampshire.
Shocking scenes: Footage of the 1952 Farnborough
Air Show reveals the moment a fault saw pilot John Derry's aircraft
disintegrate before the eyes of horrified spectators in 1952
Fatalities: 29 spectators were killed when debris flew into the crowd at the airfield in Hampshire
Other moments of tragedy unearthed from the Pathe
archive include Suffragette Emily Davison dying for her cause at the
Epsom Derby in 1913, the death of a pilot left trapped in the cockpit of
his aircraft as it sinks off the HMS Victorious in 1958, and Donald
Campbell's fatal attempt to set a new record for speed on water in
Lancashire in 1967.
Suffrage: Racegoers are seen craning to get a
look after suffragette Emily Davison stepped into the path of King
George V's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby
'Gallant pilot': Commander JD Russell is seen
landing his plane on aircraft carrier HMS Victorious in the Solent in
Hampshire, 1958
Trapped: The pilot was left stuck in the cockpit of the rapidly sinking aircraft after it rolled off the edge of HMS Victorious
Ill-fated: Donald Campbell's test run on the day of his water speed world record attempt in Lancashire in 1967 went smoothly
Fault: But the day ended in disaster when
Campbell's modified boat the Bluebird somersaulted out of control on the
lake, killing him instantly
http://tinyurl.com/ajxwd8l
1 comment:
interesting to see such tragedy documented in photographs
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