Hawker Hunter Tower Bridge incident
Encyclopedia
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Hawker Hunter
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary...
pilot performed unauthorised stunt manoeuvres at Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name...
, London, and elsewhere, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and as a demonstration against Prime Minister Harold Wilson's
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
government.
Background
In the 1960s, the British defence industry saw a shifting emphasis from manned aircraft towards guided missileGuided Missile
Guided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of releases and developing the numerous GM events around London and beyond....
s, originating from the 1957 Defence White Paper
1957 Defence White Paper
The 1957 White Paper on Defence was a British white paper setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry...
by then British Defence Minister, Duncan Sandys
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
. The British aircraft industry had slipped into general decline and morale in the aerial services of the British armed forces was low. Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
Alan Pollock, a flight commander in No. 1(F) Squadron RAF
No. 1 Squadron RAF
No. 1 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It operated the Harrier GR9 from RAF Cottesmore until 28 January 2011.The squadron motto is In omnibus princeps , appropriate for the RAF's oldest squadron and one that has been involved in almost every major British military operation since...
, was further displeased that no aerial displays had been planned to mark the RAF's fiftieth anniversary.
On 1 April, Pollock and other members of No. 1 Sqn took part in anniversary leaflet raids on other RAF stations and on 4 April visited Tangmere, where they performed a display.
Incident
RAF Tangmere
RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, located at Tangmere village about 3 miles east of Chichester in West Sussex, England. American RAF pilot Billy Fiske died at Tangmere and was the first American aviator to die during World War II...
, Sussex to return to RAF West Raynham
RAF West Raynham
RAF West Raynham was a Royal Air Force station located west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, England. It opened in the 1930s and closed in 1994. During the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command operations from RAF West Raynham claimed 86 aircraft. The site was sold by the Ministry of...
in Norfolk; a route that took them over London. Immediately after take-off, Pollock left the flight and flew low level. Having "beaten up"The American term is "buzz" – to make a high-speed, low-level pass. Dunsfold Aerodrome
Dunsfold Aerodrome
Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh, was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contractors as a Class A Bomber Airfield for Army Co-operation Command...
(Hawker's home airfield), he then took his Hawker Hunter FGA.9 (XF442) ground-attack, single-seater jet fighter over London at low level, circled the Houses of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
three times as a demonstration against Prime Minister Harold Wilson's
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
government, dipped his wings over the Royal Air Force Memorial
Royal Air Force Memorial
The Royal Air Force Memorial is a 1923 military memorial on the Victoria Embankment in central London, dedicated to the memory of the casualties of the Royal Air Force in World War I...
on the Embankment
Victoria Embankment
The Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. Victoria Embankment extends from the City of Westminster into the City of London.-Construction:...
and finally flew under the top span of Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name...
. He later wrote of the decision to fly through Tower Bridge:
Knowing that he was likely to be stripped of his flying status as a result of this display, he proceeded to "beat up" several airfields (Wattisham
RAF Wattisham
RAF Wattisham was a Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. During the Cold War it was a major front-line air force base...
, Lakenheath
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Lakenheath, is a Royal Air Force military airbase near Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel...
and Marham
RAF Marham
Royal Air Force Station Marham, more commonly known as RAF Marham, is a Royal Air Force station; a military airbase, near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia....
) in inverted flight
Aileron roll
The Aileron Roll is an aerobatic maneuver in which the aircraft does a full 360° revolution about its longitudinal axis. When executed properly, there is no appreciable change in altitude and the aircraft exits the maneuver on the same heading as it entered...
at an altitude of about 200 feet en route to his base at RAF West Raynham, where, within the hour, he was formally arrested.
Although other pilots had flown under the upper span of Tower Bridge, Pollock was the first to do so in a jet aircraft.