Brooklyn Beach

NOTABLE GROUNDS

Market Deeping

Funder Park Leicester

Catterick

Newcastle Valentines Fair

This Lifting Paratrooper was made by Bennett’s, and its first presentation was made by J Cogger in March 1974. There was no love lost with this machine, as within 10 months, the Paratrooper had a new owner in the guise of Sam Crow, despite Sam hardly presenting the ride, his ownership was the start of a 21-year legacy of the Crows' family story with the machine

In April 1975, Billy Crow took over the machine. Under his operation, the lifting Paratooper attended many fairs, including Europe's largest traveling fair, The Hoppings on the Newcastle Town Moor.

During the winter period 1979/1980, the Crow family changed the colour of the ride as they prepared it for Big John Crow to manage the ride in Whitley Bay Amusement Park. The colour change was done so the ride would blend with the current rides.

The Lifting Paratrooper joined the large list of rides owned by the Crow family at Whitley Bay Amusement Park. The Park is often called Spanish City Amusement Park and was leased at the time from the council by Claude Cooper.

The Coopers and the Crow Family were the biggest ride operators on site, with both families having several rides there and sharing the responsibility of the park's operation. Unfortunatly this relationship had its drawbacks, as often the police would have to break up violent fights between the workforce of the 2 showman.

By late 1985, relations at the park had soured so much that Claude Cooper openly wanted Crow to leave. Big John Crow and the family then decided to buy the long-suffering Seaburn Fun Park.

When granted access to Seaburn, the Crow family gathered every willing Showman and friend. They dismantled all their rides and removed them from Spanish City, taking them on the short journey south to Seaburn and officially severing any ties with the now very empty Whitley Bay site.

Over the 25/26 Winter Period, the Crow Family worked at getting their rides rebuilt, and despite heavy resistance from some of the locals, the park was ready to open early in 1986.

During this time, Big John Crow found himself in hot water after visiting a group that opposed Crow's presence in the park. As you would expect from John, a large fight broke out and John was arrested and charged for his part in the fight.

In 1996, due to declining visitors and a shift in the amusement park industry, the Crow family was forced to close some of the more unpopular rides to allow them to invest in the park. Sky Fall was one of the unlucky rides that was put up for sale.

The machine was purchased by Duggie Beach in early 1997, and the colourful life under the Crow family's ownership came to an end.

Duggie stood the ride down at the end of 1998 and subsequently sold it to Freddie Ward & Gordon Thompson in the spring of 1999.

After 4 years of being run under the partnership of Freddie Ward & Gordon Thompson, the ride came under the sole ownership of Freddie Ward. Freddie continued to present the machine by himself until he sold it to Ross Kayes in April 2005.

The ride's endless list of owners didn't look like it was slowing down anytime soon, as Ross Kayes' ownership was also short-lived, and at the beginning of 2007, the ride left the UK.

After its short trip over the Irish sea Sky Fall landed at the feet of Irish Showman Warner Wilders, who operated the machine up until March 2010, when it was sold to James Finnie.

After 3 years under James Finnie, the ride was purchased by the Irish equivalent of the UK’s Danters family in the guise of Jake McFadden of McFadden Family Funfairs.

Sky Fall traveled the Irish Funfair Circuit and often linked up with other members of the family with their rides to make up larger fairs. The larger fairs would often be run by Harry and Fox McFadden

In 2020, Sky Fall returned to the UK under Brooklyn Beach, and while the following years would see the end of Sky Fall, it is not the end of the Paratrooper. Under Brooklyn's ownership, a program of refurbishment as comenced that would give the ride a completely new Identity.

After many years, this change marked the end of the Sky Fall as many knew it and the birth of a beast that would take the Paratrooper ride into a more modern and futuristic era

By the start of 2024, the ride had already undergone some major changes in its theming, with the name being changed to Electric Dance. The umbrellas, Rounding Boards & Lift arm have also been refurbished and repainted to represent the new electrical theme of the ride.

Over the past few years, the ride has become a beast of a Paratrooper, and at night, its lights and smoke are used to great effect in creating an electric pulse effect on the underneath of the Umbrellas.

The machine is often operated by Brooklyn's sister, Billie Beach, and often includes a small ground-based reverse cycle, something that is not often experienced on a paratrooper ride.

*The idea of the Paratrooper ride was started by Frank Hrubetz and was mostly based on one of his earlier rides, the Spitfire, a ride that was engineered originally as a airforce training machine.

*The early models were based on a static position of around 45 degrees, resulting in only 1-2 seats being able to change at any time.

*The first Paratrooper ride in the UK was at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1960. This was made by AMECO and became one of there Signiture rides.

*The first lifting Paratrooper was advertised in the latter part of 1962.