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Hawker Hunter London Tower Bridge incident

  1. Omegafanman May 4, 2019

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    April 5th 1968 - Flight Lieutenant Alan Pollock was the first person to fly a jet aircraft under the upper span of London Tower Bridge. Knowing that he was likely to be stripped of his flying status as a result of this display which was also a protest against Parliament, he proceeded to "beat up" several airfields in inverted flight at an altitude of about 200 feet

    I did not know about this incident - a proud moment of RAF history which they do not cover at school for some strange reason. They don't make too many people ...or planes like this anymore.

    ''Somebody came into the pilots crew room and explained that a person had just flown a hunter through Tower Bridge.. as one voice the room said Pollock.... only Pollock could have done it or would have done it'' :0)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter_Tower_Bridge_incident

     
    Edited Sep 9, 2021
  2. lando May 4, 2019

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    April 5th 1968 - FIFY
     
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  3. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe May 4, 2019

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    There's a well-known painting of this "fly-by" :thumbsup:
     
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  4. Omegafanman May 4, 2019

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    Thanks - I think the painter of ''fly-by'' is the guy I quoted (Michael Rondot) - ''Somebody came into the pilots crew room and explained that a person had just flown a hunter through Tower Bridge.. as one voice the room said Pollock.... only Pollock could have done it or would have done it'' :0)

    .....Just glad he was not a Vulcan pilot (I think it would fit but I doubt any traffic would have survived that back thrust :0)

    Shame there was no film or pictures..... with a Hunter I imagine the painting would be like...….
     
    picture.jpg
    Edited May 4, 2019
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  5. Foo2rama Keeps his worms in a ball instead of a can. May 4, 2019

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    Folgono and Omegafanman like this.
  6. Omegafanman May 4, 2019

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  7. dputydwg1 May 9, 2019

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    Never heard this thank you
     
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  8. peterkirk01 May 9, 2019

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    What about " wrong way Corrigan " . When I was a kid people used this Expression all the time. From my recollection it was some guy in the states flying to Florida and ended up in Europe, don't know if by accident or by choice. Must remember to look up this story again.
     
  9. dputydwg1 May 9, 2019

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    I thought that was a football story
     
  10. peterkirk01 May 9, 2019

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    Just looked it up. True. Transcontinental flight instead of internal. Ended up in Ireland. They even made a film about it.
     
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  11. rcs914 May 9, 2019

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    Thank you - because I looked at that date, and then looked at the guy and was like "What, he did this when he was already 65?"
     
  12. rcs914 May 9, 2019

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    Taffy Holden was the accidental Lightning pilot, and was covered by The History Guy (my favorite Youtube channel).



    And here's his one on Wrong Way Corrigan:




    The Battle of Palmdale sounds exactly like something he would cover, but hasn't yet. I HIGHLY recommend checking out his channel - I honestly have no idea how he produces as much content as he does. His tagline is "History deserves to be remembered" so he researches and produces pieces that are about 7-15 minutes long on topics that aren't well remembered typically. He has put out almost 300 videos on a hugely diverse number of historical topics since his channel started in 2017 - he sometimes uploads 3 or more a week, and all of them are incredibly well written and presented - this isn't just some guy reading the Wikipedia entry. No idea how he manages to research the topics, write the essays, film, edit, etc and upload on the schedule he does.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4sEmXUuWIFlxRIFBRV6VXQ
     
    Edited May 9, 2019
  13. Professor May 10, 2019

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    Bulova "Doug Corrigan"
    CaseGrandeDispatchAZ113321841Dec01_1939CorriganAdWEB[1].jpg
     
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  14. rcs914 May 10, 2019

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    They really should have had the hands spin backwards on this model.
     
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