Eccentric inventor, local character and pilot Bronson Potter died 15 years ago, but his 1979 “Great Greenville Trestle Fly-Under” lives on.
The 40th anniversary of Potter’s aerial stunt is being celebrated Friday night at the Mason Elementary School at 7 p.m. along with the world premiere of long-lost movie footage of the event. The evening is being organized by the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire.
“I’m into celebrating milestones,” said Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the museum.
Rapsis said his own vague recollection of Potter’s plane stunt spurred him to create the event and led to the rediscovery of the film.
“I’ve grown up here my whole life and I remember some person flying his plane under the old Greenville railroad trestle on Route 31,” Rapsis said. “Every once and a while I go by that and I say ‘Did I just imagine that? Did that really happen?’ I didn’t know any more than that.”
A quick search online led Rapsis to the Mason town website that tells the story.
“It turns out it was 40 years ago this year,” he said.
Rapsis also found a photo of Potter’s gravestone that has an elaborate rendering of his trestle fly under carved into it.
“This is on the guy’s gravestone,” Rapsis said. “There’s a great story here. If this guy felt that this was so important that it should be carved on his gravestone then we should celebrate this.”
While organizing the event Rapsis was directed to longtime Mason resident Dave Morrison.
“He was at the fly under,” Rapsis said. “Even better, he said, he recalled that he and a friend were making movies of it – this was before home video, this was an 8mm film of it, that’s how long ago this is.”
Rapsis said he was excited to learn this legendary event was captured on film. And soon made it the centerpiece of the event, which will also include live music from local bluegrass band The Dirty Double Crossers and Rapsis himself, who is providing musical accompaniment for the film. Rapsis plays music for the silent film program each month at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre.
But first, Morrison had to find the film. Morrison said it took several weeks of searching his home to find the film, a film he hadn’t seen in more than 20 years. But he found it, “It looks like a war film cause it’s got scratches and dust all over it.”
Morrison and his friend Jeff Parker spliced the film together 40 years ago using the two different angles they took of the plane stunt. Rapsis said the film is like a time capsule that no one knew existed and is filled with people who are still around today.
“It was a pretty big event. There were a couple hundred people there anyway,” Morrison said. “State police were called in because there were so many people on the road.”
The film is about five minutes long and contains scenes of Potter flying over the bridge several times while spectators watch from Route 31, before finally flying through the narrow space between a metal support tower and a solid granite pillar.
But why did Potter take to the air July 22, 1979, to fly his plane under the old train trestle? It’s a question Rapsis and residents have been asking as this event approaches.
“That’s going to be one of my questions. ‘Who here can tell us why?’ And when people finally get together maybe someone will know,” Rapsis said. “Was it a bar bet? Just a random impulse? What was it? He lost his pilot’s license when he did that.”
The FAA suspended Potter’s pilot’s license for about six months, Morrison said.
Potter was an early electronics pioneer and a longtime Mason resident. At his death, he bequeathed more than 500 acres of land to the Mason Conservation Commission, the largest such gift in the town’s history. He also wrote several children’s books that can be found at the town library, including “Shadow, the Cigar-smoking Cat.”
“He was rich enough to be called eccentric,” Morrison said. “He was the one that invented the little electronic beepers inside the Polaroid camera. … He’d get 3 or 4 cents for every Polaroid camera that was made.”
Friday’s program is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to help defray expenses.
Attendees will be encouraged to share stories and recollections of Potter. To help preserve the memories and stories, local filmmaker Bill Millios will be on hand to arrange for interviews with residents. The footage will be used by the Aviation Museum to create a mini-documentary about Potter and his legendary stunt.
The event is planned to take place 7 p.m. on Friday at Mason Elementary School, 13 Darling Hill Road, Mason.