Daredevil trio capture incredible selfie of Red Arrows from top of Blackpool Tower

Rescue and training specialist Russ Edwards scaled the 158m landmark to capture hung the perfect shot as the Red Arrows flew overhead at Blackpool’s annual Air Show.

Russ, assisted Jack Perry and Chris Fricker from Arco Professional Safety Services, used a 360-degree camera on a long fibre pole – the ultimate ‘selfie stick’ – to grab the panoramic selfie.

He said: “It was a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate our expertise of working at height. We got the absolute best seats in the house to witness and document the Red Arrows flying so close to such an iconic landmark.

“Drones aren’t permitted during the air show so we had to fashion our very own ‘selfie stick’ which worked even better and meant we were as close as we could get to the action. It was an amazing and humbling experience.”

A record 200,000 people turned out over the weekend event to watch the Red Arrows over the seafront, plus breath-taking performances by the Typhoon display team, the Battle of Britain memorial Flight, Chinook, Muscle Pitts stunt plane, Strikemaster and the AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers.

Crowds lined Blackpool Promenade to watch the show, with the Red Arrows soaring over The Blackpool Tower with their trademark red, white and blue smoke trails.

Squadron leader Tom Bould, team leader and Red 1 of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, said: “What incredible imagery – it’s brilliant to see such fantastic, vibrant pictures of the Red Arrows at Blackpool from that unique perspective and which are clearly the product of great skill, teamwork and creativity to achieve.

“Blackpool Tower is an iconic landmark for the Red Arrows to arrive over to begin our displays at the resort, in front of tens of thousands of people – a great British summer scene.

“As a team, we are always humbled and excited to see countless images taken by people from all over the world of the Red Arrows performing our dynamic and precision shows.

“The pictures captured by Arco’s working at height experts, at very the top of the Blackpool Tower, are certainly among the most unusual we’ve had opportunity to see.”