The RAF pilot, his Hunter fighter-bomber and Tower Bridge
- London On The Ground
- Aug 9
- 7 min read
Alan Pollock flew along the Thames in London in a rogue solo flypast for the RAF’s 50th anniversary in 1968.
A pilot with 15 years service in the RAF, including tours in Germany and the Middle East, Flight Lieutenant Pollock was discontented.
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There were no plans for an official flypast to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his beloved RAF, which was founded on 1 April 1918. Moreover, government spending cuts, favouring missiles over manned aircraft, had thinned out the RAF’s pilot numbers and dented morale.
Flying with No. 1 Squadron, based at RAF West Raynham in Norfolk, he had been involved in 'leaflet bombing' other RAF stations for the anniversary, which he thought was quite a good training exercise.
There had also been an anniversary dinner and parades. However, Alan felt that it was in the RAF’s blood to mark big occasions in the air, not on the ground.
On 4 April 1968 he was one of four pilots with No. 1 Squadron that flew their Hawker Hunter ground attack jets from West Raynham to RAF Tangmere in Sussex. There, they took part in a display to celebrate the award of the Freedom of Chichester to the soon-to-be-closed base. They stayed overnight before their return flight the next day.
Alan woke up in the early hours of the morning of 5 April with a feeling he later described as a “strange, weird feeling of evil”, which lasted only a very short time. ‘Mischief’ might have been a more appropriate word.
He was starting to form a plan.
London lay directly between Tangmere and his home base at RAF West Raynham, presenting him with an irresistible opportunity. Their flight path would take them around London, but he determined to perform an unauthorised solo flypast of his own, right over central London.
However, rather than flying a straight course, he would follow the River Thames through the centre of London to minimise flying over built-up areas. He did not have an aviator’s map of the area, so he asked some ground crew if anyone had an AA road atlas. One of them produced a dog-eared copy, from which he tore out the pages showing the centre of the capital and then marked out a route.
Soon after the Hunters took off from Tangmere in a formation of four, Alan eased his swept-wing fighter-bomber away from his colleagues. By clicking out signals on a button on his control stick, he led them to believe that he had lost verbal contact and told them he would make his own way back to base.
He flew north towards the reservoirs near Heathrow, where he steered right to pass over Richmond Park and then to follow the River Thames downstream towards the city centre to the west.
In an oral history recorded by the Imperial War Museum around 40 years later, Alan described the “gin-clear” blue sky that day, excellent weather conditions which gave him a clear view of London. “One almost felt like Gulliver, looking down at Lilliput”, he said.
Over London he decided to fly the Hunter slowly, sticking to around 200 knots (230mph), which compares with its maximum possible speed of 621 knots (715 mph). At such slow speeds, the aircraft's Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine was very quiet.
He negotiated the winding path of the Thames, rapidly flying his Hunter over Wandsworth Bridge, Battersea Bridge, Albert Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. After Vauxhall Bridge, where the river turns north, Alan could now glimpse the Houses of Parliament ahead of him on the left bank beyond Lambeth Bridge.
Avoiding Millbank Tower – then one of the tallest buildings in London and a potential hazard – Alan knew that he must take this opportunity to let MPs feel his presence. “Making noise there was what it was all about”, he said.
He piloted the Hunter on three circuits of the Palace of Westminster, flying at just 150-200ft, less than the height of the Palace’s two main towers (both of which are well in excess of 300ft tall).
Alan was annoyed that he could not see exactly where Downing Street was and so could not pass directly over it. However, in order to make tight turns over Parliament, he needed extra bursts of power, which also caused the Hunter’s engine to growl loudly. Ironically, the MPs below him were debating aircraft noise abatement at that very moment.
At the same time, the Chief of the Air Staff, Sir John Grandy, was on the sixth floor of the Ministry of Defence building on Whitehall, very close to Parliament. Looking upwards out of the window, he asked an official where noise was coming from? “Look down there”, came the reply as both men looked incredulously at the rogue low-flying jet.
Resuming his course along the Thames, Alan flew over Westminster Bridge and dipped the Hunter’s wings in tribute as he passed the RAF Memorial on the Victoria Embankment. At Waterloo Bridge, he followed the river east towards the City of London.
He then passed over Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Cannon Street Railway Bridge and was quickly beyond London Bridge.
Straddling the river in front of him, among the wharves that still lined the Pool of London at that time, was Tower Bridge.
He had forgotten about that one.
He had only seconds to decide whether to fly over it or through its central span (the gap between the roadway and the upper walkway).
His Hunter was already very low, so flying over Tower Bridge would require a sharp climb. On the other hand, the central span was a narrow window of just 200ft wide and 106ft tall, while the wingspan of his jet was just under 34ft.
Helpfully, he noticed there were no double-decker buses on the bridge (which would have reduced his headroom by 14ft). Perhaps more significantly, he was a highly trained ground attack pilot facing the chance of a lifetime to achieve something unique*.
“I hadn’t meant to go through it all, but it was just too intriguing. Any other pilot who was doing a lot of low-level work, like we were, would be fascinated.”
He held steady, pointed the Hunter at the central span and very quickly found himself close to the Victorian ironwork of the upper walkway, which he could see above him through the glass canopy of his cockpit.
A sudden panic struck him: the tailfin of his aircraft might not make it through. He felt his heart stop. In a split second the Hunter was clear and his heart was pumping again, rapidly.
A cyclist crossing the bridge had fallen off his bike and torn his trousers, but nobody had been hurt and nothing else had been damaged.
Alan had completed his solo flypast over central London and it was time to return himself and the Hunter to the authorities and the court martial that he expected. He pulled back on the joystick and took the Hunter into a climb as the ships, cranes and docks receded below him.
In order to avoid flying over built-up areas as much as possible, he flew over the river a while longer before banking left over the Hornchurch area and heading northeast back to RAF West Raynham.
On landing, Alan burnt his “tatty” AA map, as he felt it was embarrassing. He called his mother-in-law from a phone on the airfield to warn his wife “there might be a bit of trouble”. He was then arrested and held in custody in the Officers’ Mess. He was released from custody after two days, after a psychiatrist assessed him capable of facing a court martial.
He received several letters and messages from members of the public and fellow pilots, a number congratulating him on his flying prowess. BOAC (one of the forerunner airlines of British Airways) even sent him a barrel of beer. Six MPs signed a motion of support.
Alan had known from the moment he conceived his plan on the morning of 5 April 1968 that his RAF career was over. He was now looking forward to a court martial as the opportunity to air his grievances about the government’s treatment of the RAF.
However, this was denied him. Instead, a decision was taken to give him a medical discharge after 15 years in the Royal Air Force. He was invalided out, which meant that his criticisms did not receive the public attention he sought.
Alan went on to work for Ford and for fire engine manufacturer Dennis. In the late 1980s he joined Dame Vera Lynn in successfully campaigning for improvements to pensions for War Widows.
Alan Pollock died only last month, on 1 July 2025, at the age of 89.
I thought it would be fun to create some pictures showing how the scene might look in London if a Hunter flew low over the Thames today.
All Hawker Hunter images used on this page are from Wikipedia (see here) and are in the public domain. Apart from one image credited to Google Maps, all other photographs and composite images are by London On The Ground/Jonathan Wober, copyright 2025.
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