On December 3 1976 a 30-foot inflatable pig tore loose from its moorings over Battersea Power Station and drifted across the London sky, down the River Thames and towards Heathrow Airport.

The iconic image of the pig above the power station graced Pink Floyd's Animals album cover in 1977.

Pink Floyd was one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1970s, with some of the highest selling albums for decades.

The 70s was the heyday for rock and roll excess and art studio Hipgnosis felt this album cover should be in line with the times.

Hipgnosis was behind many of the seventies most eye-catching covers including Led Zeppelin's House of the Holy, The Alan Parsons Project's I Robot as well as some of Pink Floyd's earlier covers.

Pink Floyd's bassist, Roger Waters, eventually came up with the idea for the cover and the power station's feature on the album attracts thousands of visitors each year still.

The photo-shoot was booked to take place over three days and a marksmen was hired to be on hand, should the pig get out of control.

What's more rock and roll than a real life shooter prepared to take down an inflatable, three storey pig?

On this day 45 years ago police switchboards lit up as bemused onlookers watched the hog make its journey across London with planes radioing in their own sightings.

After disappearing the pig eventually landed on a farm in Kent and spooked a farmer's herd of cows.

Many believe it was never an accident and the pig's flight was all a publicity stunt.

Considering it's still discussed nearly five decades later, it has worked a treat.

So what do you reckon, a case of accident or fantastic marketing?

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