THREE airmen from RAF Northolt scaled the 837 steps of London’s Gherkin skyscraper 50 times to match the height of Mount Everest.

The 12-hour challenge last week was to raise funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Senior Aircraftman Karl Cassar, Senior Aircraftman Perry Wright and Corporal Ryan Burrows are all from the Aeronautical Information Documents Unit at Northolt.

With Perry leading the charge, completing 50 individual ascents, and the support crew of SAC James George and SAC Anna Duckett joining in, too, the team have so far raised more than £760.

Karl said: “The idea originally was to run up and down the emergency stairs at London Underground stations, but that idea didn’t fly with their managers!

“But, after I helped out at a collection for the Benevolent Fund at London Bridge, underneath The Shard, I thought, ‘why not climb iconic buildings instead?’ After a few calls here and there, The Gherkin gave us the all clear.

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“I’d never done anything like this before, but, although it was so tough, it’s great to have done something that will inspire others.”

Karl said: “I’m the first person in my family to join the military. It’s really important for us to mentally and physically test our ability and capacity, and this was the perfect challenge to do that.”

Perry said: “I really hit a wall halfway through but was absolutely determined to see the feat through.”

Paul Hewson, Regional Director for the RAF Benevolent Fund, said: “Support from RAF Northolt has always been strong and we are so grateful the team chose to take on such a demanding challenge for us.”

The team hope to raise £2,500 and you can support them by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/UrbanMountainChallenge  or texting ‘URBA50’ followed by £1/£1/£5/£10 to 70070.