MANY PEOPLE HAVE ESTABLISHED RECORDS FROM JOHN O’ GROATS TO LAND’S END USING ALL SORTS OF TRANSPORT. MIKE PUGH DESCRIBES HOW 43 SQUADRON ACHIEVED IT IN A MATTER OF MINUTES
“Three, Two, One, now! – 46 minutes, 44 seconds. Congratulations on a new record and your tanker is at 12 o’clock five miles”. That was the voice of the air traffic controller at London Military Radar. Not only had he monitored our flight time but he had set up our VC10 tanker in the perfect position for us to fall in quickly behind it to refuel our thirsty Phantom.
Our aircraft had carried us from one end of Great Britain to the other in a record time. The Scottish Daily Express headline read: “John o’ Groats to Land’s End, 46 minutes… and no traffic jams.”
Based at Leuchars in Scotland, 43 Squadron was an extremely happy unit and although very confident in the Phantom FG.1, the aircraft was beginning to show its age after almost 20 years of very active service.
“I knew that one could claim a world record between any two significant points and recalled that a Harrier had set the London to Edinburgh one, beating a post-war Hurricane flight that had stood for many years”
The prospect of disbandment and re-equipment with the less popula…
