Carrousel

 The Carrousel was designed by Elektro Mobiltechnik of Germany.  I'm unsure of the exact release year.  An EMT "Carousel" was released as early as 1970 (one of their very first rides) but I don't know if this was the same ride.  The 1970 carousel seated up to six children and, according to a report in The Coin Slot, was "carefully designed to start automatically after allowing a brief pause for children to get settled and to stop automatically".

The first definite reference to this ride that I've found is of a six seater "Mini Chairoplane" shown on EMT's stand at the 1978 IMA Exhibition.

Release date discrepancies aside, the "Carrousel" (as it was usually named in EMT advertising material) took the form of a chairoplane fairground ride and could be supplied in several variations with a combination of both chairs and horses numbering anywhere from one to six seats in total.

"Carrousel with 2 seats and 2 horses", Windsor Safari Park, circa 1985.  Many thanks to Justin Harris!

It was a very popular EMT ride in its day and many were manufactured in Germany, as well as at the Mobiltechnics (UK) factory in Thetford, Norfolk during the 1980s.

Alas, in more recent times, as people have become more wary of health and safety complaints, the rides have become much rarer.  Notably, at the time of writing, two of these have survived and can be seen at the Pleasure Beach Gardens in Great Yarmouth. However, they've been modified quite a lot over the years and I'm no longer really clear how much of the rides is actually original!


Mobiltechnics (UK)'s "Carrousel with 3 seats", Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Gardens, April 2017

The first is the three seater chair version, seen above.  I believe the chairs would have originally hung from chains (like a real fairground chair-o-plane) and so the metal posts and backrests are a more recent health and safety measure.  The ride definitely looked like this when I was a child in the late 1990s though, although painted differently back then.  I'm pretty sure the outer fence is a newer addition too, as the coin mech would have originally been located on the central pillar.  I suppose it's far safer for a parent to insert a coin from OUTSIDE the ride area rather than standing in the middle of a load of flying chairs/horses which would suddenly launch into motion along with the riders' flailing arms and legs!


Mobiltechnics (UK)'s "Carrousel with 3 horses", Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Gardens, April 2017

The video above shows the three-seater horse version.  One interesting thing to note about this ride is that EMT advertising material from the time (as well as most photos/videos of these rides that I've seen) shows the horses as the same used on their Chuck Wagon ride.  However, this version has horses made using the same mould as Rollite's horse ride.  I'm not sure if this is a normal difference between the versions made by Elektro Mobiltechnik and Mobiltechnics (UK) or if this is just yet another variation!

Unlike the "chair" version at the Pleasure Beach Gardens seen above, these horses have remained hanging on what I believe to be their original supports.