Those Magnificent Men – historic Trafford born aviator remembered in Waterside play

By Rick Bowen

AN Old Trafford born hero and the man who helped him make history are celebrated in a new play that’s about to touch down at the Waterside Arts Centre.

Captain John Alcock, who was born in Seymour Grove, and Glasweigan Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non stop transatlantic flight in June 1919.

Those Magnificent Men tells the story.

The production is being staged by the theatre company New Perspectives and artistic director Daniel Buckroyd believes the intrepid airmen no longer get the credit they deserve for what was, at the time, a momentous achievement.

“At the time they were incredible heroes, they were knighted within two days and they were in all the newspapers. But they faded from history and part of what they play explores is the fact that to continue being famous, for your achievement to be passed down from generation to generation, you need other things,” he says.

How do they recreate the drama of the flight itself?

“The two performers use a variety of approaches to show the plane and these range from something as humble as an ancient Mecano model through them to actually building a large representation of the plane and they sit in that,” says Daniel, who adds that sound and lighting effects do the rest.

John Alcock was born in 1892 and became interested in flying as a 17 year old. After obtaining his pilot’s licence in 1912, he spent a year competing in air shows at Hendon. Alcock served as a military pilot in the Fiirst World War and spent time as a prisoner in Turkey after being shot down during a bombing raid.

After the war, he continued to pursue his dream of flying non stop across the Atlantic and, just six months after turning that dream into reality, Alcock was dead, killed while flying the new Vickers Viking amphibian to the Paris airshow.

• New Perspectives present Those Magnificent Men by Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon at the Waterside Arts Centre on April 14 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from 0161 912 5616. Further information is available from www.watersideartscentre.co.uk