Roy Britt, Tim Marshall, Erik Rasmussen and several graduate students with the Texas Tech University storm intercept program set out to document high quality motion picture film of tornadoes for photogrammetric wind engineering studies in tandem funded by a grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on May 19, 1982. The chase teams successfully intercepted, witnessed and chronicled over two hours worth of tornado activity in the Pampa, Texas tornado region.
In September 2014 I interviewed both Roy Britt and Tim Marshall about their experiences that afternoon for a documentary project about storm chasing culture and history. These segments were not part of the original "Storm Chasing Anthology" multimedia project. By late 2023, I had the original 16mm and Super 8mm films shot and provided by Dr. Erik Rasmussen scanned and restored at the facilities of the @chicagofilmarchives which are included here, mixed with interviews from Roy Britt and Tim Marshall.
These combined recollections from two storm chasers, together in one vehicle that day, is intermixed with motion picture films shot by Dr. Erik Rasmussen who was also part of the Texas Tech University storm intercept project and in a separate vehicle. Some story discrepancies were obvious, but overall their accounts showcase a very successful chase day, well before the explosion of interest in storm chasing as an activity later on in the 1980's. Another long time chaser, Jim Leonard, also shot high quality Super 8mm sound tornado films at Pampa. A blip of a portion from his viewpoint on the east side of Pampa is included towards the end of this video. The tornado also damaged the now former Halliburton plant and caused substantial damage at the time.
Portions of these films were used in dozens of television documentaries about tornadoes and storm chasing during the 1980's and 1990's, notable as being some of the higher quality tornado films of that era. A brief watercolor illustration by artist Jody Wheeler is included in this video, which was part of a 1994 children's book titled "Tornadoes!" by Lorraine Jean Hopping, based in part upon the entire May 19, 1982 Pampa, Texas tornado chase between Roy Britt and Tim Marshall.
All original Super 8mm and 16mm film prints and interviews are permanently archived at Texas Tech University within the Southwest Collections/Special Collections Library. All imagery and audio interviews are copyrighted by the individuals noted. Original interviews with Roy Britt and Tim Marshall recorded for the Storm Chasing Anthology project in September 2014 by Blake Naftel.
26 авг 2024
