helicopter – What Was Pebble Mill?

Royal Navy helicopter landing at Pebble Mill

Photo by Keith Warrender, no reproduction without permission

Thanks to Keith Warrender for sharing this photo of a Royal Navy helicopter landing on the back lawn at Pebble Mill. This dates from the late 1970s. The landing would have been part of Pebble Mill at One, and was no doubt one of John Smith’s shows, as he had very good contacts with the military.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

David Shute: ‘I often had the job of doing Hearts & Minds visits to the neighbours when we had noisy visitors expected. Great fun.’

Julie Hill: ‘I was at Pebble Mill then and we had harrier jump jets/ parachutes and all sorts of crazy stunts landing for Pebble Mill at One! Being told not to leave the BBC Club bar whilst the Harrier landed and took off went down very well! Oh happy days….’

Helicopter landing at Pebble Mill

Still of a helicopter landing at Pebble Mill. This was probably during a Pebble Mill at One programme.

A ‘Pebble Mill at One’ director has suggested that this still may be from the very last show, when Marian Foster arrived in a helicopter.

Pebble Mill at One – Blue Eagle helicopter

Blue Eagle helicopter on PM at 1

This photo shows a Blue Eagle helicopter landing on the front lawn for a ‘Pebble Mill at One show’. Shows with stunts like these were usually organised by John Smith, who had wonderful contacts in the armed forces. The Blue Eagles are one of only six helicopter acrobatic teams in the world. They are part of the Army Air Corps. The photo probably dates from the mid 1970s.

Thanks to Gail Herbert for making the photo available.