Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
This film is part of Free
Ross Family Pictures
Join the Ross family and friends - and a frisky fox terrier - for fun in the garden, frolics on the beach and plane-spotting at Croydon Aerodrome
From the collection of:
Overview
Charles Ross’ home-movie conveys an atmosphere of domestic jollity despite tensions elsewhere. We start with garden poses before moving to Croydon Airport to view the planes – including a Lufthansa Ju-52 bearing swastika emblems. Family and friends, including a baby and a toddler, play in the garden along with a frisky fox terrier. Later, on a shingle beach, we see sunbathers and close-ups of feet followed by men gurning away at the camera while children play in the sea.
Despite the light-hearted and jolly atmosphere of this film, the appearance of the Deutsche Lufthansa Ju-52 airliner with swastika markings on the tail reminds the viewer of the international situation at the time of filming. D-AFER, was named 'Franz Büchner' after the World War One German fighter ace who was credited with 40 victories against the Allies. Another interesting aircraft in this film is the Imperial Airways' Handley Page HP 42 airliner carrying the registration G-AAXC and named 'Heracles'. These aircraft could carry 24 passengers to various locations around the Empire. G-AAXC was wrecked in a gale in 1940 after she had been pressed into RAF service, though happily there were no casualties.
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