WORLDS FAIR
UNKNOWN DATE, 1981
By B. B. Fuller
The Blackpool Pleasure Beach Company rightly boasts one of the finest selections of white knuckle rides in the world and the arrival of another, the Sidewinder, is ready to send the thrill seeking public's adrenaline up a few more points.
Manufactured by Eyerly of Oregon, U.S.A., it resembles the U.K, version of the Dive Bomber. It has a leg span of 30ft, is 40ft. high and its four cars can rotate on the horizontal plane as well as the vertical at a speed of 13 r.p.m. All the sequences are reversible.
Ride concessionaire Eric Isherwood, who first introduced Eyerly's updated Rock-O-Plane to this country last year, says he has been very impressed with the company's friendly co-operation and the high standard of their engineering. The ride was ordered last May, arrived on site on August 5 and not least due to Eric's well prepared ground work, it was built and ready for opening by the following day.
Descend from the middle walk on to the south side of the Pleasure Beach and the Sidewinder makes an immediate impression. Its enormous ride appeal can be attributed to two 20ft. long arms taking four distinctive red and white cars through a fast sequence of aerobatics. After dark the whole ride is brilliantly lit with over 200 red and white lighting effects.
Hopefully every red blooded youngster will find this machine an irresistible challenge to his daring. My own complimentary ride for the World's Fair, proved to be a mind-bending experience, all the more so because Eyerly's have completely redesigned the car.
Having dispensed with the car's nose, they have created a ride which, when you are spinning in all directions forty feet up, is quite something. Within hours of opening the repeat rider was frequently in evidence and that must be a good omen for the future.
For the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Company, Eyerly Manufacturing and Eric, the Sidewinder looks like being a winner, keeping this amusement park's thrill rides ahead of any.
The last occasion a Dive Bomber ride operated at Blackpool Pleasure Beach was over 25 years ago and was one of several built by the company in their own workshops. It occupied ground behind the site now taken up by the Alice in Wonderland ride before it was moved to Morecambe Pleasure Park.
With thanks to UK Funfair & Amusement Park History for making this text available via Facebook.