Filmmakers capture story of air disaster
STUART GREER AND ALEX SCAPENS
AVIATION fans have produced a tear-jerking documentary about the Stockport Air Disaster to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.
Six Miles from Home, by Macclesfield producers Roger Boden and Ian Barrie, documents events on June 4, 1967.
It tells the story from the perspective of the few sur- vivors still alive and those who helped with the rescue effort on the ground and has been made with help from Steve Morrin, an aviation enthusiast who has spent years researching the crash, which killed 72 people.
The makers are now negotiating with TV and production companies over screening the programme - but plan to screen it at the Stockport Plaza on June 10.
Roger, 66, of Gawsworth Road, raced to the scene of the tragedy when he was a boy living with his family in Denton.
He said: “My dad and I were real aviation fans and had a great view of the flight path to the airport. On that tragic day I knew the plane was flying to low and was going to crash. I cycled to Stockport and saw the chaos. What haunted me the most was how it was being treated as a source of amusement, a day out, by some people. There were icecream vans. It was horrific.”
Roger has always wanted to tell the story of the crash, where all but 12 of the 84 passengers and crew on the flight, a British Midlands plane from Mallorca to Manchester Airport, survived.
Roger said: “So little is known about it considering 72 people died.
“Ian, Steve and I wanted to create something of a memorial to those who lost their lives.
“It is a story that needed to be told.
“Those people affected had little or no support after the tragedy and just had to get on with their lives. It’s as much a story about that than anything.
“Every time I watch it brings me to tears.”
The documentary, which uses previously unseen footage and pictures of the crash’s aftermath, is an hour long. It features volunteers and police officers involved in the rescue effort.
Other Maxonians have been involved in the project.
The soundtrack features musicians Peter Lee, Aidan Townend, Charlotte Day and Gareth Price.
Steve, who wrote a book about the tragedy, added: “We thought if one was going to be done it needed to be done for the 50th anniversary, otherwise it would never happen.”