♪ >> ONCE SPOMEBODY GOT THE WORD OUT, IT WENT ALL OVER THE PLACE.
BEFORE YOU KNEW IT YOU HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE.
>> IT WAS SORT OF LIKE A CARNIVAL.
>> THERE WERE CARS LINED UP ON BOTH SIDES OF THE HIGHWAY.
THEY WERE TRYING TO MAKE THE MOVE AND THEY COULDN’T.
SEAN: YOU’RE LOOKING AT LONG LOST FOOTAGE FROM SUNDAY, JULY 22, 1979.
THE DAY A WELL-KNOWN LOCAL RESIDENT RISKED HIS LIFE AND ATTEMPTED TO FLY ILLEGALLY UNDERNEATH THE GREENVILLE RAIL TRESTLE.
>> EVERYONE WHO LIVED IN THE AREA AT THE TIME SHOULD REMEMBER IT.
♪ SEAN: 40 YEARS AFTER THAT INFAMOUS DAY IN GREENVILLE, WE HIKED BACK TO THE TRESTLE SITE WITH SOME OF THE GUYS WHO WERE THERE THAT DAY, TO FIND OUT WHY
A LOCAL ECCENTRIC DECIDED TO FLY HIS PLANE THROUGH A VIRTUAL AVIATION PIN HOLE.
>> I DON’T KNOW HOW I HEARD ABOUT IT.
WORD WAS GOING AROUND THAT RONSON WAS GOING TO FLY UNDER THE TRESTLE.
SEAN: DAVE MORRISON WAS ONE OF THE GUYS WHO FILMED THE STUNT AND FOUND THE LOST FOOTAGE OF LOCAL HERMIT BRONSON POTTER.
>> HE WAS A VERY ECCENTRIC MAN.
SEAN: PAUL HYATT USED TO DO ODD JOBS FOR PARTER -- POTTER, WHO MOVED TO MASON RATHER MYSTERIOUSLY.
>> HE CAME BACK OUT OF THE SERVICE AND SAID HE LIVED IN THE FRENCH RIVIERA.
GOT SICK OF THAT, SHOWED UP IN MASON.
SEAN: RESIDENTS DESCRIBE BRONSON AS ODD BUT A GENIUS.
HE WAS AN INVENTOR WITH SEVERAL PATENTS IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.
HIS WEALTH ALLOWED HIM TO BUY LOTS OF LAND IN MASON, AND APPARENTLY SEVERAL VOLKSWAGENS HE DROVE INTO THE GROUND, LITERALLY.
>> HE CALLED THEM RATS.
HE WOULD DRIVE THEM THROUGH THE WOODS, JUST BUMP HIS WAY OVER STONEWALLS.
SEAN: ALONG WITH HIS RATS, HE WOULD FLY A SMALL PLANE, TAKING OFF FROM A BACKYARD LANDING STRIP.
FOR REASONS STILL NOT CLEAR, IN THE SUMMER OF 1979, HE DECIDED HE WOULD ATTEMPT TO FLY THROUGH ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS STRUCTURES IN THE AREA.
>> I REMEMBER GROWING UP HERE, THE TRAIN WOULD COME ACROSS IT ALL THE TIME.
THE TRAIN WOULD COME TO TOWN ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK.
>> WE THINK IT WAS ABOUT A HUNDRED FEET DOWN TO THE WATER, FROM 90-100 FEET.
IT WAS PRETTY LONG.
SEAN: SO IT WAS TALL AND DANGEROUS.
ACCORDING TO THESE GUYS, ALSO A KNOWN TARGET FOR STUNTS.
>> I HAVE ACTUALLY DRIVEN ACROSS IT IN A CAR WITH THE TIRES ON INFLATED -- UNINFLATED AT ABOUT 50 MILES PER HOUR.
>> IN 1971 FOR OUR GRADUATING CLASS, EVERYONE WOULD PAINT ON THE TRESTLE.
I GOT TO PAINT 71 LIVE AND LET LIVE HANGING OVER THE SIDE WITH A ROPE AND SPRAY PAINT.
♪ SEAN: BUT ON THAT JULY DAY, IT WAS BRONSON POTTER’S TURN.
WORD WAS OUT, HUNDREDS HAD GATHERED BY THE SOUHEGAN RIVER TO SEE A DEATH DEFYING ACT.
DAVE AND HIS FRIEND JEFF PARKER ROLLING WITH THEIR CAMERAS.
♪ SEAN: POTTER STARTED BY MAKING A FEW PASSES AS THE CROWD LOOKED ON NERVOUSLY.
>> IT WAS FUNNY, YOU KIND OF HAD HOLD -- HE COULD’VE HAD HOLD YOUR BREATH A LITTLE BIT.
IT LOOKED TIGHT.
>> EITHER SIDE OF HIS WINGS, HE DID NOT HAVE A LOT OF ROOM FOR ERROR.
>> I THINK THE THIRD TIME HE WENT OVER, EVERYONE GOT THE IDEA , THEY WERE STANDING ON TOP OF THE TRESTLE, AND I THINK THEY GOT THE IDEA THAT IF WE DON’T GET OFF THE TRESTLE, HE IS NOT
GOING TO GO UNDERNEATH BECAUSE IF HE HIT AND EXPLODED, IT WOULD BE BAD.
♪ SEAN: AND THEN POTTER THE PILOT , CAME IN LOW.
>> JUST ZOOM.
EVERYBODY YAY.
IT WAS GOOD.
>> IT WAS QUICK BUT AMAZING.
ALL THE PEOPLE WERE CHEERING.
YOU COULD HEAR PEOPLE CHEERING ON BOTH SIDES OF THE RITTER -- THE RIVER.
SEAN: AS LEGEND HAS IT, POTTER HAD HIS PILOT LICENSE SUSPENDED AND ESSENTIALLY GAVE UP FLYING, THE WHOLE MATTER ALMOST FORGOTTEN UNTIL 40 YEARS LATER.
>> ♪ KEEP ONE EYE ON THE OLD BY-AND-BY ♪ SEAN THE AVIATION MUSEUM OF NEW HAMPSHIRE HOSTED AN EVENT TO REVEAL THE LONG LOST FOOTAGE.
WITH WELL-KNOWN MUSICIAN AND MUSEUM DIRECTOR JEFF RAPSIS PROVIDING A LIVE SCORE, MANY WHO WERE THERE THAT DAY WATCHED AGAIN AS THE PLANE WENT UNDER THE GREENVILLE TRESTLE.
♪ [APPLAUSE] ♪ SEAN: BRONSON POTTER PASSED AWAY IN 2004.
THE TRESTLE HE FAMOUSLY FLEW UNDER WAS TORN DOWN YEARS AGO, THE MEMORIES REMAIN.
THE PHOTO DAVE BERGO CAPTURED OF THE FLY UNDER WAS ETCHED ON BRONSON’S GRAVESTONE IN MASON, A MOMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY THAT STILL CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION.
>> IT WAS REALLY SOMETHING.
I DON’T THINK NOBODY WILL EVER SEE THAT AGAIN.
♪