The only filmed image of the Wright brothers together / Buff Film & Video Library
Charting the progression of aircraft technology from the very beginning, Buff Films is home to a number of pioneering first flights. See the brave but tragic Franz “Bird Man” Reichelt’s fatal attempt to fly off the Eiffel Tower in 1912, and the comically ambitious early flight prototypes that came soon after. In 1909, French Aviator, Louis Blériot became the first pilot to (just about) successfully fly over the English Channel. Ten years later the first non-stop transatlantic flight by British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown were followed in the same year by two Australian brothers, Ross and Keith Smith, who manned the first flight from England to Australia.
Many an aviation pioneer can be found, including, of course, the legendary Wright Brothers watching the take-off of their Wright Flyer 2… this clip features the ONLY filmed image of the brothers together! Also in the collection is exclusive colour footage of the 1969 maiden flights of the Concorde 001 and 002 in France and the UK respectively.
The Buff Films collection observes the construction, design and use of military and commercial aircraft from before the First World War onwards. This includes the construction of the HM Airship R100 in 1927 and, keen kite-flyer Adolf Simon tells of his recruitment to the air force in WWI. Fighter aircraft was then so new, he was more qualified than most to take on the job! See this clip of WWI aircraft and pilots, which features the military funeral of Manfred “The Red Baron” von Richtofen, held by the British enemy out of respect for the formidable 22-year-old German fighter pilot.
Here, the aircraft enemies of WWII, the Spitfire and the Messerschmitt Bf109, go head to head in a classic dogfight. Buff Films also hosts much rare aviation footage, such as that of the 22-jet aerobatic team, the Black Arrows, who were the largest fighter jet aerobatic formation team in history. This stunning one-off piece of aerobatics footage in Egypt, filmed by John Edwards himself, was captured “off the record” and never to be filmed again, and just as rare is this piece of 1972 colour air-to-air footage of a pre-WWI Bristol Boxkite, which was grounded after filming, never to fly again.
The subject of aviation continues into Buff Films’ NATO material, with extensive rushes of various NATO fighter jet models and missiles in action, as well as NATO promotional documentaries on airborne Early Warning Radar defence systems. These films also cover the history of NATO, post-WWII politics and the Cold War, including the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall.
Bridgeman Images is proud to represent this colourful, expansive and fascinatingly detailed collection of archive material, which often brings to light rare and little-seen pieces of history. John Edwards’s Buff Films is exclusive to Bridgeman Footage and available to license. If you need help with your project, we have expert researchers on hand to find the clips you need.
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