Jim Meads, the man who took the photo, was a professional photographer who lived near Hatfield Airport. His neighbor, Bob Sowray, was a test pilot for the British aircraft manufacturer De Havilland.
On September 13, 1962, their wives went shopping in London and Bob told his neighbor that he had to fly a new fighter plane called the Lightning F1 that day.
Jim Meads took his children to watch the flight, bringing his camera with him, hoping to capture a photo of the plane being piloted by his friend. He planned to take a picture of the children with the airfield in the background as the Lightning touched down. They found a good spot on the approach path and waited for the plane to return.
It turned out that Bob Sowray was not flying the Lightning that day.
The pilot was George Aird, another test pilot working for De Havilland.
As the XG332 Lightning F1 entered final approach at about 200 feet (61 meters) altitude, the nose rose and the pilot ejected. The Lightning went out of control after an engine fire damaged the aircraft. Jim Meads took the photo as the pilot ejected, and as you can see, his parachute is still undeployed as the Lightning hits the ground.
The wreckage of the Lightning is visible on the airfield, near the runway and not far from the greenhouses where George landed.
Mick Sutterby, the tractor driver, was 23 years old. He had spent the summer working at the airfield. He wasn't posing for the photo. In fact, he was telling the photographer to leave because he had no right to be there.
Pilot George Aird survived after crashing into the roof of a greenhouse, breaking both legs. He lost consciousness from the impact upon landing. He was awakened by jets of cold water from the greenhouse's tomato irrigation system. He later recovered and resumed his flying career.
The photographs taken that day were seized by the Ministry of Air. Once they were returned, Jim Meads sold them to the Daily Mirror. The newspaper paid Mead £1,000 for the rights to the photograph (currently around €23,000).