Iron Man-style flight suit inventor sets Guinness World Record before falling into lake

Richard Browning's record was verified at Lagoona Park in Reading

A British inventor has set a Guinness World Record for recording the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine-powered suit.

Richard Browning, who has been compared to Iron Man, hit 32.02 mph (51.53 km/h) earlier today.

He then fell into a lake.

The flight suit features six kerosene-fuelled micro gas turbines, each of which has 22 kg of thrust.

It’s controlled through body movements alone, and Mr Browning had to work on his core strength exercises ahead of the record attempt, to ensure he was able to balance and hold his position in the air during flight.

The record was verified by Guinness World Records adjudicator Pravin Patel at Lagoona Park in Reading.

Guinness World Records says Mr Browning’s speed was “measured accurately over a minimum distance of 100 metres”.

Mr Browning, who is the founder of technology startup Gravity Industries, has ambitious plans for his flight suit, describing it as an “entirely new aviation category” when he spoke to the Independent earlier this year.

“This is real-world aeronautical innovation. We are serious about building a world-changing technology business,” he said.

“We stand at the very beginning of what human propulsion systems will do. It’s at the same point as the mobile phone was in the early to mid 80s or the internet of the early 90s.”