The International Birdman was a series of English competitions held in the West Sussex towns of Bognor Regis, Selsey and Worthing.

The competition involves running off an elevated ramp of 20 to 35 feet high at the end of a pier and attempting to 'fly' the furthest distance.

Since starting, the prize money and qualifying distance has increased and in 2009 at Worthing it stood at £30,000 for reaching 100 metres (330 ft).

The event was initiated by George Abel, as part of a fund-raising activity for the Selsey branch of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club.

[7] Bognor Birdman took place on 3 and 4 September 2016, although the second day's flying was curtailed because of safety concerns over high winds and choppy sea.

From 1994 until 2001, in Brighton, Eastbourne and Bognor Regis, Dod Miller immortalised these human birds with his Rolleiflex camera.

Supermen, witches, dinosaurs, butterflies, ostriches, penguins and winged species of all kinds posed for Miller ready for their take off, armed with goggles and swimming flippers.

He commented:[18] At Bognor and Worthing ... people would launch themselves off piers strapped into homemade contraptions – often in fancy dress – and try to fly.

He started out riding on top of it like a knight in shining armour ... What I like about these pictures is that these are English eccentrics hoping to fly – with all the connotations of Icarus – and the joke is that they only go down, not out ...