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Spider Pig
speedyxjs - 11/12/07 at 08:59 PM

Is it a bird? is it a plane? No - it's a giant inflatable Spiderpig.

The cartoon balloon rose above London's iconic Battersea Power Station to mark the release of the Simpsons Movie on DVD.

The stunt was a cheeky recreation of Pink Floyd's Animals album cover shoot in 1977 - when their pig broke loose, shot up into Heathrow's flight path and startled pilots at 40,000ft.

This time, to make sure history did not repeat itself, an SAS trained marksman was on standby to take Spiderpig down if he looked like flying off.




chrsgrain - 11/12/07 at 09:01 PM

Cool !

Though I doubt anyone would be shooting up at anything in London - remember what goes up must come down, and (roughly) as fast ....

Chris

Confused but excited. - 11/12/07 at 09:45 PM

In line with recent military budget cuts, the bullet was probably on a piece of elastic.

jollygreengiant - 11/12/07 at 10:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs

The stunt was a cheeky recreation of Pink Floyd's Animals album cover shoot in 1977 - when their pig broke loose, shot up into Heathrow's flight path and startled pilots at 40,000ft.

This time, to make sure history did not repeat itself, an SAS trained marksman was on standby to take Spiderpig down if he looked like flying off.






Ah but the famous escaping pink floyd pig was at the second attempt. On their first attempt they did have sharp shooters, just in case. However they didn't have enough gas, so the first attempt was cancelled. However on the second attempt they didn't bother with the sharp shooter which was a mistake in hind-sight. Just ask the airline pilot that got breathalised when he landed after reporting a giant pink pig at altitude.

02GF74 - 12/12/07 at 08:29 AM

talking of which, wasn't there a story going round a few years ago about some geezer in america (where else) who strapped himself into an armchair tied to some weather balloons? After he released himself, he went up so quickly that he was afraid to shoot the balloons and was seen reported by pilots.

(sounds like an urban myth but vaguely ammusing in a way).

iank - 12/12/07 at 08:54 AM

Amazingly that story was true
http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/walters.asp

DaveFJ - 12/12/07 at 09:04 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
talking of which, wasn't there a story going round a few years ago about some geezer in america (where else) who strapped himself into an armchair tied to some weather balloons? After he released himself, he went up so quickly that he was afraid to shoot the balloons and was seen reported by pilots.

(sounds like an urban myth but vaguely ammusing in a way).


Perfectly true story, he tried again a while later and flew/floated? over quite some distance. there was footage on the news...

westcost1 - 12/12/07 at 10:46 AM

Spider pig, Spider pig, dose whatever a Spider pig dose he he he

speedyxjs - 12/12/07 at 12:17 PM

quote:
Originally posted by westcost1
Spider pig, Spider pig, dose whatever a Spider pig dose he he he


Got that as my ring tone