OTD in early British television: 10 February 1939
John Wyver writes: The evening schedule on Friday 10 February 1939 began with ten minutes of the closest that transmissions from Alexandra Palace got to breaking news. First, there was an unannounced 90 seconds of British Movietonenews footage reporting the death earlier that day of Pope Pius XI.
After which, there was a further unbilled item featuring the pilot Alex Henshaw interviewed by S.E. Reynolds describing his experiences during record-breaking flights to and back from the Cape in the aeroplane pictured, rather later, above.
Earlier in the decade Alex Henshaw had been a successful air racing pilot and in 1938 he won the King’s Cup in his extensively modified Percival Mew Gull aircraft. Turning his focus to long distance flying, he took off from Gravesend on Sunday 5 February to fly his plane to Cape Town and back.
With three refuelling stops he reached his destination in 40 hours, and spent only just over a day before turning round and flying home. The return flight took 39 hours and 36 minutes, with both legs and the total (of 12,754 miles) including turnaround establishing new flight time records that stood until 2009.
As he landed the newsreel cameras were there to celebrate the achievement, including Gaumont British News for the item that is featured here (but which I’m not able to embed).
These G-B News images, along with a map of Africa, were featured in the broadcast interview, and there is something very pleasing about being able to gaze today on shots that we know were presented on television in just this form 86 years ago.
British Movietone also had their team at Gravesend for Henshaw’s arrival home, and that footage can be shared:
During the war Henshaw became a celebrated test pilot for Spitfires and Seafire planes, as well as for Lancaster bombers. As Wikipedia informs us:
It is estimated that Henshaw flew 10% of all Spitfires and Seafires, testing up to 20 aircraft a day in often foggy conditions. He would also demonstrate the Spitfire to visiting dignitaries, such as Winston Churchill, and once flew the length of Broad Street in Birmingham at low level. He is the only pilot known to have performed a barrel roll in a Lancaster bomber, a feat that was considered by some to be reckless or impossible due to the aircraft’s size and relatively modest performance.
Per ardua ad astra.
Image: Via Wikimedia; photograph of Alex Henshaw’s Percival Mew Gull ‘G-AEXF’, taken by Alan Wilson from Peterborough, Cambs, UK – CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110922540
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