Seriously?!! The London Tower Bridge Incident!!

[a425couple]

from facebook - has a 'picture'

Forces Support Page
Y8esSterday uaontuo10 11e:a5da4m3 1AM ·

The London Tower Bridge Incident!!
On 5th April 1968, a Royal Air Force, Hawker Hunter pilot, Allan
Pollock performed unauthorised low flying across famous landmarks
throughout London.
Pollock flew the Hawker Hunter through Tower Bridge which situates over
the River Thames. Allan Pollock performed the maneuvers to mark the 50th
anniversary of the founding against the RAF and a demonstration against
the Ministry of Defence for not recognising it.
On that day, the aircraft was flown out of RAF Tangmere and Pollock flew
low level across London. The Hawker Hunter circled Houses of Parliament
three times as a demonstration against the prime minister at the time,
Harold Wilson and the government. Allan chose to do this as the
government had made cuts which impacted the RAF. The next landmark was
over the Royal Air Force memorial where he dipped the wings. After, he
then flew through Tower Bridge.
Also, Pollock flew low level across several airfields, which were;
Dunsfold Aerodrome, Wattisham, Lakenheath, and finally, over Marham.
Pollock then arrived at RAF West Raynham. After landing at RAF West
Raynham, Allan Pollock was arrested and taken out of the RAF on medical
grounds.

Thank you Dave for the send in.

[Jim Wilkins]

"a425couple" wrote in message news:88JDJ.112013$zF3....@fx03.iad...

---------------------------------

Such stunts are what flight simulators are good for.

[AnthonyL]

On Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:04:39 -0800, a425couple
<a425c...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>from facebook - has a 'picture'
>
>Forces Support Page
>Y8esSterday uaontuo10 11e:a5da4m3 1AM ·
>
>The London Tower Bridge Incident!!
>On 5th April 1968, a Royal Air Force, Hawker Hunter pilot, Allan
>Pollock performed unauthorised low flying across famous landmarks
>throughout London.

Alan not Allan - and in his own words:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5571423/RAF-veteran-pilot-82-relives-split-second-decision-fly-busy-Tower-Bridge.html

--
AnthonyL

Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?

[a425couple]

On 1/13/2022 5:04 AM, AnthonyL wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:04:39 -0800, a425couple
> <a425c...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>from facebook - has a 'picture'
>>
>> Forces Support Page
>> Y8esSterday uaontuo10 11e:a5da4m3 1AM ·
>>
>> The London Tower Bridge Incident!!
>> On 5th April 1968, a Royal Air Force, Hawker Hunter pilot, Allan
>> Pollock performed unauthorised low flying across famous landmarks
>> throughout London.
>
>
> Alan not Allan - and in his own words:
>
> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5571423/RAF-veteran-pilot-82-relives-split-second-decision-fly-busy-Tower-Bridge.html
>

excerpts

Flying over the river would be the safest and quietest route
through the capital. ‘I went over the Thames because I didn’t
want to cause any trouble,’ Alan says. ----

(Heavens No, no trouble intended!!!)

Alan, angry at defence cuts and what he saw as the Labour
government’s complicity in the lack of celebrations for the
anniversary, headed for Parliament and Downing Street. As he
crossed Vauxhall Bridge he saw Westminster in the distance.
Just as Big Ben struck midday, he opened the Hunter’s throttle
and began three low, loud circuits of Parliament.

-----The jet flashed safely over Hungerford Bridge, Waterloo
Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge.
Then he was in for a surprise. ‘There, staring me in the face,
was Tower Bridge. I’d forgotten it was there!

‘I could have gone over it, but I was intrigued by it as a target.’

He decided to fly through it, squeezing the aircraft at high speed
between the busy road and the walkway over it.----

Then he rang his wife’s mother. ‘There might be a bit of trouble
— but not to worry,’ he told her.
He was right, there was trouble — the RAF top brass was not
impressed with his exploits.
He was put in close arrest for two days and a psychiatrist
concluded that Alan was lucid enough to face a court martial.

Hundreds of letters of congratulation from RAF colleagues and members of
the public arrived at Alan’s squadron, along with a barrel of beer from
BOAC.

An all-party motion of support, tabled in the House of Commons, was
signed by six MPs (four of whom had been in the RAF).

In the end, Alan was given a medical discharge instead of a court
martial, possibly to deny him the chance to explain his reasons for the
flypast.----

[Keith Willshaw]

On 12/01/2022 23:04, a425couple wrote:
> from facebook - has a 'picture'
>
> Forces Support Page
> Y8esSterday uaontuo10 11e:a5da4m3 1AM  ·
>
> The London Tower Bridge Incident!!
> On 5th April 1968, a Royal Air Force, Hawker  Hunter pilot, Allan
> Pollock performed unauthorised low flying across famous landmarks
> throughout London.

> Dunsfold Aerodrome, Wattisham, Lakenheath, and finally, over Marham.
> Pollock then arrived at RAF West Raynham. After landing at RAF West
> Raynham, Allan Pollock was arrested and taken out of the RAF on medical
> grounds.
>
> Thank you Dave for the send in.

You need to understand the context here. Government policy at the time
was that fighters were obsolete and the future of air defense lay with SAM's

1968 was the 50th anniversary of the RAF but the Minster of Defence
decided not to mark the occasion so Pollock decided to make his own
protest and made this very hard to ignore. Not only did he fly under
Tower Bridge but flew over London at low level and made dummy attack
runs on the Houses of Parliament and various airfields. The RAF was made
to look extrenely foolish having failed to get a single fighter airborne.

The last thing the government wanted was to make all this public by
bringing him before a court martial so invalided him out. At the time
their approval rating in opinion polls was extremeley low. This inflamed
matters even more and several MP's pointed out that official air defense
policy of the Labour Government was clearly nonsense. BOAC set him their
congratulations and a keg of beer :) The Labour government lost the 1970
election.

In 1982 the Conservative government officially exonerated him.