<P> Until this very instant I'd had absolutely no idea that, of course, Tower Bridge would be there . It was easy enough to fly over it, but the idea of flying through the spans suddenly struck me . I had just ten seconds to grapple with the seductive proposition which few ground attack pilots of any nationality could have resisted . My brain started racing to reach a decision . Years of fast low - level strike flying made the decision simple...</P> <P> 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, Lakenheath and Marham) in inverted flight at an altitude of about 200 feet en route to his base at RAF West Raynham, where, within the hour, he was formally arrested by Flying Officer Roger Gilpin . </P> <P> Although other pilots had flown under the upper span of Tower Bridge, Pollock was the first to do so in a jet aircraft . </P> <P> In the immediate aftermath of the incident his unit was posted to North Africa without him while he remained on a charge . He was subsequently invalided out of the RAF on medical grounds . This avoided a court martial and the embarrassment to the government of Pollock giving a reason for his stunt and perhaps receiving the support of the public . </P>

The hawker hunter protest 50 years on how an raf pilot 'shot' tower bridge