Skydivers flew through London’s Tower Bridge at 153 miles per hour
- Wingsuiters have flown through Tower Bridge, London, UK
- They reached eye-watering speeds of 153mph
- It was a history-making stunt
Published on May 16, 2024 at 8:07 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on May 17, 2024 at 11:52 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
In a white-knuckle ride that made history, skydivers have flown through Tower Bridge, London, UK in wingsuits – and they reached eye-watering speeds of 153mph
Austrian freefall skydivers, Marco Fürst and Marco Waltenspiel, became the first people to skydive through the iconic landmark wearing wingsuits.
And, per Waltenspiel, it took them ‘200 training jumps’ to prepare for those brief, yet nail-biting moments.
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The death-defying stunt by Red Bull took place on the morning of 12 May and involved getting to an altitude of 914m (3,000ft) in a helicopter.
They reached the jump site that was 1.2km (0.75 miles) west of the bridge itself.
From there, the adrenaline-seekers traveled 1,200m (3,937 ft) in a mere 45 seconds.
The pair landed safely on barges lying in wait on the River Thames below.
The above footage was captured with 24 cameras waiting at 14 separate positions along their proposed flight path.
While elsewhere in London, Supercars worth millions of dollars can be rented from your room at a high-end London hotel.
But this isn’t simply a case of freefall for the Red Bull team- some real precision was needed in the stunt.
At speeds of over 246 km/h (53mph), the pair passed through the gap in the bridge between its two towers around 30m (100ft) above the ground.
Measuring 65 x 32m (213 x 105 ft), there wasn’t a huge margin for error.
Once safely through the gap, the Austrains performed a ‘flare maneuver’.
This involves climbing sharply upwards to a height of around 80m (280 ft) before pulling their parachute and landing.
“I’m really grateful to work with Marco and such a good team to bring our dream to life,” Fürst enthused.
“I just feel amazing. The jump was beautiful and everything worked out really good.
“In the last two and a half years we planned everything through and had the best preparation and training.”
With very different scenery, one man has completed a wingsuit dive at unprecedented proximity to Giza’s Pyramids – giving him a whole new POV on ancient history.
Speaking of flying fast from the English capital, this supersonic nuclear-powered plane would fly from London to New York in less time than a soccer game.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
