Trio partnered for stunt that saw two wingsuit fliers zoom through the capital

Red Bull Canon Formidable Tower Bridge fly through (2)

Red Bull has partnered with Canon and Formidable to fly wingsuit fliers Marco Waltenspiel and Marco Fürst through Tower Bridge, London.

The 12 May event marks the successful attempt at a wingsuit descent from 3000 feet, reaching thrilling speeds of approximately 153 mph before flying through the bridge to a safe landing. The pair jumped from a helicopter at 3,000 feet high, diving down to 35 metres above the River Thames, soaring through Tower Bridge and completing a complex manoeuvre, known as a ‘flare’, to rise up again to 80 metres, the height required to open their parachutes before landing safely.

From takeoff to landing, the wingsuit flight lasted 45 seconds, covering a distance of 1.2 kilometres and reaching a top speed of 153 miles per hour.

Formidable captured the event, and developed the hero edit for Red Bull’s YouTube channel. It used over 50 cameras placed on drones, helicopters, riverbanks, and on Tower Bridge itself, utilizing camera technology supplied by Canon which is usually deployed at F1 circuits.

Red Bull Canon Formidable Tower Bridge fly through (3)

Footage from each camera then made its way from across the Thames location via bike, foot and boat to an edit team positioned on site. The team had under six hours to ingest all 50 cameras and edit the social content to be published on Red Bull’s YouTube channel, and the YouTube film reached its audience within eight hours of the jump.

You can watch the final video at the end of this article. It was directed by Remy Lamont, executive produced by Formidable head of sport Jon Dyson, and produced by Ffion Davies and Erin Phipps, with Lorna Whittaker as production manager plus Dan Dryden and Jay Kennedy as DOPs.

This was the culmination of over two years’ work, including over 200 test jumps by Waltenspiel and Fürst at various sites including Montenegro, Austria and Oxford. Data was captured during each test to ensure the feat could be completed safely.

Red Bull Canon Formidable Tower Bridge fly through (1)

Dyson said:  “Working on ‘Wings Through Tower Bridge’ was as exhilarating for us as it was for the two thrill-seeking Marcos! This simply couldn’t have been achieved without the months of meticulous planning, recces, test jumps and collaboration between Formidable, Canon and Red Bull.

“We had one chance to capture 55 seconds of footage across 50 cameras and under 24 hours to edit a multi-platform campaign that really captured the high-octane experience of the stunt and created an impact across social. Our goal was to create something that really took viewers to the edge of their seats as these two athletes put their lives on the line to do something that had never been attempted before. Red Bull are perhaps the only brand in the world that could even think of pulling off an event like this, and it was an amazing experience for us to be their social agency lead and production partner.”