If you looked to the London sky earlier you might have mistakenly thought Iron Man was flying over – it was in fact the UK's first jetpack flight.

Australian David Mayman took off in the "ultimate boy's toy" from the Royal Victoria terminal of the Emirates Air Line cable car, making two short trips back and forth towards the ExCel centre.

Ex-commercial pilot Mr Mayman, the mastermind behind the turbine jet engine-powered JB-10 jetpack, flew at a height of 30 metres for four minutes.

He said: "It feels absolutely amazing, awesome - it's freedom."

Browse through the gallery above to see pictures from the flight.

Mr Mayman, who has completed more than 400 test flights, hopes to make an electric version of the jetpack commercially available for £196,000, with development starting in April next year after a £300,000 crowdfunding investment.

Lucy Sharp, communications director at Seedrs Investment, the firm behind the fundraising for the electric jetpack, said: “This is for the city boys who grew up in the 70s and 80s and dreamt of being a real-life Iron Man.

"It retails at around the price of an Aston Martin and it is the ultimate boy's toy. It'll be a choice - either Aston Martin or jetpack to work today?"

They hope to make it available to the public as early as 2019.