Navy pilot described as ‘real-life Top Gun’ opens up about fatal tragedy that claimed instructor’s life

Writer spoke about the experience during a talk at Henley Literary Festival 2023

Nathan Gray pictured in 2018 (MoD via Getty Images)

Esteemed Royal Navy test and fighter pilot Nathan Gray has opened up about the 2002 tragedy that claimed the life of his instructor during an event at Henley Literary Festival 2023.

Gray, 47, a distinguished serviceman and author of the 2023 memoir Hazard Spectrum: Life in The Danger Zone by the Fleet Air Arm’s Top Gun, appeared at the annual festival in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire – for which The Independent is the exclusive news partner – and discussed his career with BBC presenter Bridgitte Tetteh.

Introducing Gray on stage, Tetteh described the veteran as “a real life Top Gun”.

Among the topics explored during the talk was the death of Lt Cdr Martin “Jack” London in 2002. London, 43, died while out on the Sea Harrier he and Gray were piloting suffered engine failing at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough.

“It was my 16th trip in the Harrier, with Jack,” he said. “We’re learning how to do short take-offs from the area, where we put nozzles down at a certain speed around 50mph. So we leap into the air and we accelerate away, start flying a little bit more like a normal aircraft.”

“At 50ft, there was this huge explosion, this huge pressure wave, that came through the cockpit and I was flung to the front. Every single light was on and it was flashing, but there was no sound. It was like someone had turned off all the audio.”

It was later determined that a rotor blade inside the vehicle’s engine had broken off during the short vertical take-off, prompting the explosion. After losing control of the plane, both Gray and London ejected themselves from the plane.

While Gray narrowly escaped hitting the ground or the fence, London was launched fatally into the ground. It was a matter of degrees that differentiated the two men’s trajectories: Gray was fired slightly upwards at 89 degrees, while London, who ejected moments after, was travelling towards the ground at 92 degrees.

“I think I knew quite early on that we had had different outcomes,” he continued. “I was on the other side of the security fence. So I just managed to miss the barbed wire. Maybe it was lucky that Jack was on the other side of the fence because I couldn’t actually get to him.

“His seat was angled away from me so I could only see the back of the seat, and I could see Jack’s hand, but I couldn’t see anything else. There was no movement. I think then, I knew.”

In his book, Gray discusses the after-effects of the incident, revealing that he had suffered night terrors, and needed to take a break from flying around two years after the incident.

“It affected me hugely,” he told the Henley audience. “I didn’t think it did in the first year or two, but it really did. It was painful and is still painful but it changed my whole frame of reference for what, what extreme really is.”

Gray continued to fly for the Royal Navy for years, completing more than 140 secret combat missions in Afghanistan. He left the navy with the rank of Commander in 2019.

Henley Literary Festival continues until 8 October.