History
Eyes above London: police helicopters from 1967 to NPAS
Met Air Support Unit, Lippitts Hill, EC145 and the 2015 NPAS switch
Hero image: http://NationalArchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/1/
Met Air Support Unit, Lippitts Hill, EC145 and the 2015 NPAS switch.
Key facts
- 1980 formal launch at Lippitts Hill
- 1993 Squirrel; July 2007 EC145s
- 31 March 2015 NPAS takes over; 2021 Lippitts Hill reopened by NPAS
In date order
- 2012 (14 July to 15 August; Paralympics 16 August to 12 September)London 2012 airspace restrictions; special exemption for London Heliport
Restrictions began midnight 14 July; helicopters barred east of Battersea Bridge except cleared police, military, medical; HMS Ocean moored on Thames; Typhoons at RAF Northolt. gov.uk
Confidence: official notice located (start date); Thames detail from trade press
Check first
Historical details differ between sources. We give the source for each entry and say where it is secondary.
Sources and checks
Facts on this page come from these sources, last checked 2026-11-03. Where a source could not be reached or did not say, we left the fact out.
- gov.uk gov.uk