London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Croydon - Nearly 5 Miles in the Air!
Pioneering female pilot Lady Heath sets a solo altitude at Croydon Airport to the delight of watching newsmen.
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Overview
Lady Heath is shown decked in flying gear as she checks her Moth biplane before take off. The plane is shown over Croydon at a height of almost five miles, setting a solo altitude record for men and women, followed by the caption “My breath had frozen into my muffler… so I turned my power off and glided towards the earth again.” The plane is then filmed back at the airport, and a laughing Lady Heath has her photograph taken while men cheer.
Lady Heath, born in Ireland in 1896, was already a top athlete when she began taking flying lessons in 1925. She became the first pilot – male or female – to fly from Cape Town to London in May 1928. American newspapers christened her “Britain’s Lady Lindy”. This solo altitude was set in October 1928 at Croydon, the largest airport in the country at that time.
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