Shock and awe as 747 swoops on Ellis Park

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of Rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s going on here?

It’s 2.34pm on the afternoon of June 25, 1995 and Captain Laurie Kay and a skeleton crew is flying a South African Airways 747 over Ellis Park just minutes before South Africa and New Zealand run out for the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final. Just 90 seconds before – at precisely 2.32 and 45 seconds and approaching the ground from the south – they had completed the first fly-past to the amazement and shock of the 63,000 capacity crowd.

After that first fly-by fans could track the Jumbo on the big screen as it executed a tight but graceful right turn and it became obvious that Captain Kay was coming in for a second run only this time much lower. This time the crowd noise rose to a crescendo that nearly matched the roar of the plane’s four Rolls Royce RB211 engines as Kay gunned them for dramatic effect.

The story behind the picture

South Africa was going nuts. Their team had reached the World Cup Final and the very visible support of President Nelson Mandela for the Boks – the totem pole sport of white South Africa – had sent an important message into the townships and impoverished parts of black South Africa.

The build up to the final was massive, the biggest game in South African rugby history and it was against the old enemy New Zealand who had unearthed a freak of nature and ‘superman’ player in Jonah Lomu. On paper the Boks, although at home, were underdogs.

All the normal pre-match entertainment and hype was in place – colourful dancing Zulu warriors and drummers, popular South African singers backed by choirs, schoolkids, blazing rock anthems from the stadium sound system and a pretty hairy looking parade of flags by four helicopters who dropped low enough to give serious concern on the day.

But it needed something spectacular and special to make a statement to the world and New Zealand, to raise the adrenaline levels inside the crowd.

After the Boks’ semi-final win over France the advertising agency for SAA tentatively suggested to the South African World Cup organising committee that perhaps they could get one of their 747 400s to fly past?

Was that possible?

Strictly speaking it wasn’t – and it was madness – but South Africa in the mid-90s had become a ‘can do’ country that was tired of excuses and reasons why something couldn’t happen or change.

What exactly happened next: SAA and the competition organisers approached their most experienced 747 Pilot Captain, Laurie Kay, something of a legend in the company. Ex-RAF and a stunt pilot in his spare time, if he couldn’t pull it off nobody could.

“Beneath Ellis Park is an urban sprawl. If it went wrong a major disaster would result”

Ellis Park lies in an awkward bowl beneath which is an urban sprawl. If it went wrong a major disaster would be the result. To make it even more difficult there was just a 90 second window for the double fly-past to be executed. Absolute secrecy was demanded.

If Captain Kay decided to abort even 90 seconds before the intended fly-over he wouldn’t hesitate and nobody would be any the wiser. No egg on face. There would be enough publicity after the event if they pulled it off, pre-publicity was a strict No-No.

So it was game on. Laurie and his two man crew flew the intended route almost daily during the week in light aircraft, practiced assiduously in the flight simulators and at dawn the day before they took the Jumbo up on a high level recce although never dropping so low as to give anybody a clue as to what might be happening the following day. As Captain Kay later commented: “It felt like a mission not a flight.”

Why is it iconic?

The fly-over itself was unique in its daring but it was the total secrecy that helped make it iconic. Nobody – and I mean nobody – was expecting the first fly-by. It caught everybody by surprise – as it was intended to do – and the crowd were stunned and shocked before they started cheering, possibly in relief as much as anything.

President Mandela’s security men in his box just behind the Press seats were running around in panic and screaming into their walkie talkies. They certainly weren’t in on the secret and I have never seen a still image of the first higher fly-pass and just one very brief five second video clip.

Chaos reigned, and this is the only properly composed still picture I have seen of the second fly-past although this time the TV cameras did capture everything in all its glory. And second time around the crowd clocked the Good Luck Bokke written on the undercarriage.

Footnote. Four years later, in 1999, Kay masterminded another spectacular by-pass at the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki over the Union buildings in Pretoria.

This time, operating at a noticeably higher altitude than during the Ellis Park stunt, Kay spearheaded a three plane formation consisting of all SAA Jumbo 747 400s, a spectacle that has never repeated and, post 9/11, something we are unlikely to ever see again.