"Unusual had a 21 year unbroken relationship with the Royal Tournament until its last production in 1999," says Unusual's managing director Alan Jacobi, "and so we were delighted to be able to continue to support its modern day revival. The British Army is dedicated to keeping us safe, and we're proud to be able to support them in return."
Unusual supplied all the rigging equipment, motors and truss, and also fabricated many of the scenic pieces at the company's facility in Bugbrooke, near Northampton. They also took responsibility for automation of all the scenic pieces.
"We were asked if we could make a huge model Chinook helicopter come to life," says project manager Robin Elias. "So we came up with the idea of flying a 30m x 12m grid 30m into the air with four winches on it. Two were connected to the centre of the back rotors and two to the centre of the front rotors, enabling it to literally fly in a totally realistic 3D space; with an audience who would be able to spot any inaccuracy in its movements, it was important that it could land and take off just as it would in real life.
"We also lowered a drummer - nicknamed 'Tommy Atkins' - on a platform from 33m above the arena into the centre, facing the royal box. Our job was to manage the stunt, so that he was completely safe all the time, and able to enter and leave his platform in the false ceiling without incident. We also put rescue systems in place, so that if there was any kind of incident or power failure, he could be rescued."
Other moving pieces included four screens in a square which flew in and out, in the shape of a hockey scoreboard so the whole arena could see it, along with 11 other pieces of scenery, including walls and ramps which constituted the assault courses for field gun races, guard boxes for the changing of the guard and an Afghan village.
Continues Elias, "The event makes use of lots of volunteers with whom we work very closely in the spirit of co-operation and harmony, and it turned out fantastically well - it was extremely slick. One of the organisers said it was a triumph."
The show wasn't without its difficulties. Some 1000 tonnes of earth on the floor was a challenge to work on. Elias adds, "it's hard to walk on and we can't easily tie cables down. Plus, after each rehearsal, we had to clear all the equipment out of the way while machines were brought in to smooth the surface over."
Nick Mattingley was production director and designer for IMG World, the production company charged with making the event happen. "We began planning the event two years ago," he says, "and first sat down with managing director Alan Jacobi and production assistant Jim Duggan of Unusual around 18 months ago to begin discussions about what was possible.
"The idea of having a Chinook in the show always appealed to us, and initially we asked Boeing if they could supply a model for us to use. They didn't, but were happy to sponsor the show instead. They were understandably concerned that their aircraft should look its best, even if it was an inflatable model. However, they were really impressed with the finished model, with no little thanks to Unusual; System Control, who did the rotor design; Inflate Products; and Scenic Engineering."
Elias's production assistant on the project for Unusual was Jim Duggan, and the show director was Christopher Joll. The event was organised in aid of ABF The Soldiers' Charity.
(Jim Evans)
