Roger Boden and Ian Barrie
We are the directors of Argonaut Productions and the producers of the documentary film ‘Six Miles from Home’.
Both originally from Stockport, we shared an interest in the Stockport Air Disaster for many years and having read Steve Morrin’s original book ‘The Day the Sky Fell Down’ we discussed the idea of making a documentary about it.
Work commenced in August 2015 and over the next eighteen months we interviewed survivors, rescuers and support staff in order to create a permanent record of events that day.
At ten o'clock on the morning of Sunday 4th June 1967, a British Midland Airways airliner made its approach to Manchester's Ringway Airport. For the seventy-nine passengers on board, this marked the end of their package holiday in Palma Majorca. For the pilots and crew it was the conclusion of another routine flight. Nine minutes later, the aircraft lay destroyed in the town centre of Stockport in Cheshire. On that Sunday morning, with little regard for their own safety, a handful of otherwise ordinary people attempted a brave rescue. The psychological effects on both the rescuers and the rescued were not simply confined to the hours and days following the crash, but their influence would remain with them, in some cases for the rest of their lives. The professionalism shown by the emergency services on the day and the care given by the medical teams throughout the following weeks and months helped many to come to terms with what they had experienced. The Stockport air disaster has been largely forgotten, yet remains one of the worst urban air crashes in British history.