 - are accustomed to more salubrious surroundings. This is the fleet, an army of four-propeller, 700g flying machines resembling robotic spiders, responsible for magicking a giant corgi above Buckingham Palace for the late Queen's Jubilee. (They took off from Her Majesty's garden.) Not to mention a twisting whale and roaring lion above Windsor Castle for King Charles' Coronation. They are the bright lights behind increasingly sophisticated images created by the Leeds-based light show company SKYMAGIC, which have now become a soaring stalwart of our most historic occasions. But right now, firmly back on earth, it's all a bit soggy. 'I check four weather apps - I didn't see this coming,' apologises production director James Bawn, 41. 'A sand storm once stopped practice in Dubai, and there have been times we haven't flown because of weather, but we have never been laid out ready and not taken off - this is an anomaly.' Or climate change. The Mirror was invited for an exclusive behind the scenes look at the work that goes into creating these gasp-inducing displays ahead of a new show designed especially for Wilderness. We're the first to be given such access - and the extent of preparation, not to mention sheer nerves involved, is quickly apparent. This was to be the dress rehearsal, but the downpour soaked t){kind=link}
Mirror reporter gets a behind the scenes look at the British-based company creating the gasp-inducing aerial displays that have been wowing crowds around the world
There are very few who welcome torrential rain in August, in a field, on the eve of a music festival.
Muddy revellers slamming in tent pegs aren’t keen. And nor, as it turns out, are drones. Especially the 500 – total value approx $1.5million – which lurked in one particular quagmire at the Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire last week, poised to lift off.
This mesmerising grid of creatures arranged like a dot-to-dot which I tiptoed gingerly across in caked boots – a âswarm’ is the technical term (really!) – are accustomed to more salubrious surroundings. This is the fleet, an army of four-propeller, 700g flying machines resembling robotic spiders, responsible for magicking a giant corgi above Buckingham Palace for the late Queen’s Jubilee. (They took off from Her Majesty’s garden.) Not to mention a twisting whale and roaring lion above Windsor Castle for King Charles’ Coronation.
They are the bright lights behind increasingly sophisticated images created by the Leeds-based light show company SKYMAGIC, which have now become a soaring stalwart of our most historic occasions. But right now, firmly back on earth, it’s all a bit soggy. “I check four weather apps – I didn’t see this coming,” apologises production director James Bawn, 41.