@blacktiger955i yes! I REMEMBER being at my grans house in southwood road when
they took off in waves of three abreast I thought the world had ended the whole house shook windows rattled light fittings wobbled like a series of earthquakes never heard anything like it since increadible
The Lightning was designed and engineered with the same spirit as the Harrier, and Concorde. Even post war we were leaders in technology, producing aircraft unequalled 50/60 years later.
I used to live in Hatfield. Local plane maker was De Havilland, which became Hawker Siddeley, then BAe.
As a child I remember seeing a pair of these flying [very very] low over the South part of town where I lived. Awesome sight.
Later when I worked at BAe and travelled around other sites, I met people who had worked on these. Seems they were designed for one thing... Get into the air f'ing quickly, and get to Russian bombers before they could release their payload. No flying time to speak of.
@MrFluffy1979 Its written in the right part of this info site: Music is by Hans Zimmer from the movie "Backdraft". Track name is "Fighting 17th". You can buy it on iTunes.
yup it looked down on a u2 spy plane at 88000 ft a pilot by name of hale did it and it frightened the Americans because they believed no one at that time could reach a u2 also CONCORDE in a test run could only be caught on a tail end approach by a lightning no other plane f15 f16 mirage jets French could do this only a lightning
Bummer . . . Probably never would have had the money anyway but would give my left knacker for a flight in the greatest attack fighter ever built. I grew up with these planes. I was born on an RAF base and always lived on one until I was about 11. My father worked on recognisance Canberra's but there were always lightnings in the sky . . . Only attack jet that has intercepted a Blackbird . . . Something ever Briton should be very, very proud of, every nut bolt and washer built in the UK . . .
The Thunder City jets including three Lightnings, three Buccaneers and four Hunters have been put up for sale by Go industry. Closing date for bids is 30 November 2011.
Yet another fantastic fighter just dumpt,this aircraft was well ahead of it's time ,i remember the very first test lightnimg in the late 50s..there was nothing to touch it .avionics just needed up grading.
@Taildragger2411 Well it was iconic, but it was under armed and could not carry enough fuel for decent range. Mostly they were struggling to get in 700 gallons and that was a fundamental challenge of its design. There was no room for fuel or sufficient weaponry. Its avionics and radar were also pretty poor. I wanted to join the RAF to fly these in 1968, but my eyesight was not god enough for the flight crew standard. Just as well, I'd have been hopeless. :))
weve had one on display for 5 years at rochester airport (uk) , unfortunatly its been dismantled and taken away , hopefully to be restored to its former glory
Old fighters that outperform new ones are always good to see. Speed and Altitude I mean. Look up the MiG 25. Capable of mach 3+ and edge of space flight. Also the F104 Starfigher set a record at 103000ft. Amazing for 50 years ago.
the lighting out classed nearly all others for 10 years+.even today the true capabilities of this aircraft are not known.some say it could fly nearly the same height as the u2 spy plane.around 72,000ft.only it flew twice as fast.
@trueorlies Got this on Wiki. In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted an American U-2 at a height which they had previously considered safe from interception. Records show that Hale climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his Lightning F.3 XR749.
@mudpie95 I believe that when the US unveiled the SR71 by visiting Heathrow a Lightning intercepted it over the atlantic, using 4 victor tankers to get it there and back.
@mudpie95 this plane could see off almost anything the U.S. had. Read Roland Beaumonts thoughts on this beauty, It just did not have the range for Australian distances. from perth to brisbane I think equates to london to moscow? We needed a long distance deterrant.
my uncle owned both of these planes they were going to be scrapped by british airospace back in the early nineties ,he formed the lighting club but couldnt get an air licence to fly them in this country so sold them to thunder city ,unfortunatley one of them has since crashed & the pilot perished
Takes me back to my childhood, we would cycle down to the runway gates at the Warton to watch the silver bird go vertical in the bink of an eye. No frills two monster engines with a couple of wings and a cockpit. the dogs! the world may never see thier like again. feel privlaged to have spent my childhood watching them.
With the quantum leaps in technology, the capabilities of modern military jets, and the untold-of things they are doing with aircraft in Area 51, there is still nothing that can compare to the beauty, power, and spectacularness (I know it's not a word, but words really fall short!) of the Electric Lightning. I'm a piston, wood & fabric kind of pilot & mechanic, but the Lightning gets my heart pumping like few airplanes can! One other is the B-58 Hustler...incredible jets of another era!
Just one minor problem. The Lightning was in a critical fuel state even before it took off. This led to the Tornado ADV which had a long endurance and fighter performance. Its a trade. Performance / Endurance. The Lightning was magnificent so long as it did its designated job. A radar controlled single pass zoom intercept.
The Lightning is probably the fastest "capable" fighter of the Cold War. The Mig-25 might have been faster, but couldn't maneuver worth a damn. The Lightning had likewise speed, but could easily own a Mig-25 in a dogfight......once again proving jets from the West are Best.
For those of us who remember the Lightning being operational when we were small children, and dreamed about flying one some day, it's very sad to think that with the flying stopped at Thunder City, our chance to fly in the legend has passed.
its amazing that an aircraft from the 50's could out-perform nearly all modern fighters. hopefully the team restoring one in the US will get it flying again,fingers crossed!
@bigchiefmingingbolok Yes. Right. The Lightning is a awesome aircraft with very special flight capabilities. Well, it shows that flight engineers from the 50th/60th of the last century done a very great job. Hopefully, somewhere it will fly again, and we wish Thundercity in SA all the best. Still hoping, that they will come back to life!
@AtomicCheese92 There aren't any Lightnings still airworthy so you must be getting them mixed up with something else. There's one being restored in the US though
@AtomicCheese92 , there hasn't been a lightning display in the UK since the early 90's, the only flying ones were in thundercity, south Africa, and they got grounded after an accident, the CAA here wont allow a civilian to own or fly one as they are deemed too dangerous, the only ones still running here are only allowed to do fast taxi's, sorry to be pedantic
Now look where the RAF is going in about 10 years time it will be mostly typhoons and F-35 and little tornados. Harriers gone, Nimrods, Vc10, F-3, Hawk T-1s going its, ridiculous
Near where i live there's this car selling business and in the middle of the car park an English electric sits on a big metal thing xD its good to see
@HungryGoth Acually , two jet engines . As a lad I lived north of Norwich in Norfolk , England , and just down the road was RAF Coltishall (recently closed) .
I can well remember the regular "Squadron scrambles" launching up to a dozen of the single seat version in very short order , the noise was like the world ending , because the Avon jets on these things about 1960 were fairly crude , sounding like some terrible angry shriek , so loud you couldn't hear the teacher speaking .
@HungryGoth Well they WERE designed to deal with a specific job , that of swiftly intercepting the anticipated vast waves of Soviet strategic nuclear bombers heading for Britain that was the 1950's cold war scenario .
Sort of US airforce daylight mass attacks on Germany , only in Reverse you see .
Sovs made the Mig21 to conter the B52s/V.bombers coming their way , see ?
No need nowadays for a fighter to rocket up to 50,000 feet at 120 seconds notice , all low level dogfighting now .
I just want to know what was out of order with their paperwork to get their permit taken away. One interveiw I saw with Mike Beachyhead he commented "Airplanes don't fly on air, they fly on paper, and it has to be immaculate." On the upside, there will be one flying here in the States soon. Maybe the final three at Cape Town along with the Buccaneers will find a proper home here as well. They belong in the air, not a museum!
One of the best military jest ever built - could reach 90,000ft - used to play intercepts with the Lockheed U2 spyplane - Unfortunately ,digital fuel managements systems hadnt been herd of back then and by the time it got up there it was time to glide back home or look for the nearest tanker!!
The best fighter ever made the lightning ,the pilots called it the missile with missiles straped to it , nothing could touch it , my dad was in the RAF and we were based at air bases were they had lightnings sqns , i can rember looking out of my school classroom window and seeing them roar down the runways and go straight up and dissapear , great times ,back when the brits were world leaders in flight .
If the lightning first flew in 1959 it must have been in the planning stage for say two years...that would make it's inception to be 1957....The RAF only stopped using spitfires in 1954....It makes you realise the vision on the designers and the skill of the engineers...Think about what we went into the war with and what we had ,a few short years after we came out of it...I used to play football on 'Orrel Pleasure' (Now the Giro) and hear them testing the engines...brilliant!
@tony00165 I've just read a posting that states the P1 prototypes flew from boscombe Down in 1954....if so... that would mean designs would be being drawn up about 1952 and this incredible aircraft was produced by a nation that still had rationing and was bankrupt.....all this seven years after the war ended.....quite remarkable.
The Brits are ripping those design as you said tghe F-10 bukaneer prototype did flew in 1956 but that too was an American design the only thing British was the fuel they used in the jet!
@vnck25 you are seriously deranged! how a bout a couple of RR avon engines and a miles-baker ejection seat to start with? and the f-10 was the Skyknight as for the buccaneer (wtf is a bukaneer?)do you meen the british blackburn buccaneer - the best low-level navy strike bomber ever built
or the
brewster buccaneer which was outdated the day it first flew?
The British buccaneer was the best low level strike bomber such that it ended up being a sea skimming rocket instead of a jet. Most of its flights ended in disaster and the pilots used to call it the flying coffin. British made my foot. Good that now the British arent making anymore jets due to economic hardships they are in the view that Chinese products are much cheaper to buy
@vnck25 you know dick-all a bout the buccaneer (cant spell it to start with) the S2 had a couple of spey engines (RR again) it was design to skim over the sea to destroy russian ships flying under their radar,
when the RN lost is big carriers they went to the RAF, serving well into the first gulf war
they were untouchable at red flag its was universally LOVED by its pilots and crew who when asked said
" the only thing that can repace a buccaneer is another buccaneer"
Buccaneer was replaced by a Chinese type 23 jet which was really cheap and from what I know the Brits brought 4 of them on Ebay , that the state of British forces he he he they completely depend on the Chinese. Did you know that even the food is ordered from a London based Chinese fast food joint lolz
Did you know that during the Falklands war it was the Algerians who attacked the Argies not the British. There were several Harriers doing bombings but all the bombs missed it was the Algerians who won the war for the Brits, he he he
@vnck25 Typical Yank let me let you into what is a plane black and white fact the only thing you have on the Brits is numbers pound for pound we kick your arse in every department Air, Sea and Land check the yank losses in both Gulf wars compared to the Brits you fuckers killed more of our troops than the ragheads did
i would also like to add we had a bigger Empire than the Romans had and we Civiliesd the modern world with Industry and Invention and considering the size of the UK compeard to th US thats no mean feat it's all there in the history books Red Neck. Your country is made up mostly of Ghettos and slums and Trailer Parks were people live like animals
And as for you winning you indpendance you won fuck all we gave it you as if it wasnt fo a little poisond French Dwaf called Napolion the Union Jack would be flying over the White House but for the first time out of 3 we had to go save the whole of Eruope from a fashest dictartor and dont even start about WWII as we were fighting it 3 years before Pearl Harbur was Hit so go have another bowl of Crack you fucking ideot
vnck25 is a sad american fuck who probably hasn't left his own state yet. When are they going to learn they should be listening rather than talking!??
in one flight an EE Lightning flown by FL LT Hale intercepted a U2 spy plane at around 62,000ft and went on to over 83,000 ft, the americans thought they were safe at that altitude, what a suprise it must have been to see the lightning going vertically past you, and it was also the worlds first plane to supercruise in the 50s, and the US make big boasts about the F-22 supercruising, sorry but your nearly 60 years late :) its climb rate is still unmatched by most modern fighters..
FL. LT Hale later admitted that he was high on that particular flight and that he made a big blunder reading the altimeter. he was actually at 5000ft when he thought that he so the U2 but it was a sticker stuck to his class canopy that he mistook for the real U2.
The world know that when Brits talk out load about something they should listen twice before taking them seriously.
I think the English BAe electric lighting is probilly one of the best fighters ever made seeming it could reach 1,520mph and it was made in the 50's :O
In my opinion, the finest jet ever built. I had the privilege to stand at the edge of a runway in El Adim, north Africa back in the 1960s and watch it take off then turn vertical towards the sky – wonderful.
@assman12354 The MIG-29 can fly higher. And as I said: The flight level and time depends on the weather conditions and flight weight. There is not a big difference between 60,000ft and 70,000ft, because the world is big - especially from the top! :)
@jcreedy20 Correct, the EE Lightning intercepted a U-2R at 82,000ft using a ballistic trajectory intercept, the pilot reported the Lightning's controls at that altitude as "being on a knife edge" of controllability
@monaro632 My friend flew U2's and did tell me he was intercepted by two Lightnings at 80,000 feet. After a shock wave from my friend to them, the Lightnings did a barrel roll around him in his U2 and cleared off. He said he will never forget it as he was used to being alone that high!
When we finished with the lightnings in the u.k.,one of our pilots told me he went to 79,000.He said it was purely balistic,but he could have hit an aircraft maybe 3,000 higher with a redtop missile.
@assman12354 Depends on the weather conditions of the day, the weight. Also, it is not very good to stay longer in such altitudes out of the radiation. 1 - 2 minutes is normal.
@SEL9000 Okay, but the U2 has massive wings, its like a giant kite. How can something like this lightning with tiny wings fly so high? It doesn't make sense to me. Unless the engines are designed for high flight.
@Ralroost In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted an American U-2 at a height which they had previously considered safe from interception. Records show that Hale climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his Lightning F.3 XR749. The normal service ceiling for this aircraft was 60,000 feet in level flight. Hale also participated in time-to-height and acceleration trials against F-104 Starfighters from Aalborg.
@SEL9000 Also during a British Airways trial, NATO member nations were invited to attempt to intercept Concorde, the only aircraft to succeed was again Flt Lt Hale in his personal Lightning, XR749, he intercepted the Concorde in a tailchase intercept, pulling alongside a stunned BA crew at M 2.25
@monaro632 I love this jet very much. Flown it in 2006 by myself. I was astonished about the pure energy of the jet-turbines and the capabilites. Acclerating 50,000ft in one minute! Thats incredible!
Sorry, the F-15 is a multirole fighter. Eagle was a compromise from the start. The Lightening was made to Intercepte bombers and nothing else. Eagle eats Lightening dust in the vertical climb.
@TheJetbreaker The Eagle is an Air Superiority fighter - designed to clear any airbourne treat. An Interceptor is specifically designed t take off fast, climb fast and intercept a direct threat. Different roles.
@mrmulligan1268 Concorde carried no passengers on these flights, but did have a full fuel load, ballast weight to simulate a full load of passengers and luggage, as well as a full flight crew, giving her no performance advantage over a normal passenger flight, Hale held XR749 alongside for 10 minutes before returning to base, basically a standard intercept except for the speed
@monaro632 That is correct, the Lighning was the ONLY NATO jet to run Concorde down in a tail chase intercept. The much vaunted F-15 Eagle which is 'capable' of Mach 2.5- 1650 mph, got blown away by Concorde, not so the awesome Lightning-incredible machine!
@LambKatherine Also it could hold its own against an F-15 in a "turn & burn" fight, in NATO excercises, the Lightning's pilots knew they were unable to take on the Eagle in a face to face merge with the Eagle's superior weapon system, they used to hide down at treetop level where the Eagle's radar couldnt see them, then once the Lightnings had visually acquired the Eagles, they would use the Lightning's famous vertical climb performance to attack from underneath
@Ralroost The U2 has a much higher service ceiling, but the Lightning can get that high or higher in what's called a "zoom climb." It flies really fast, and it uses that speed to gain altitude. A bullet gets very little lift, but if you shoot it up, it will go fairly high. Same basic idea.
@Ralroost A big limiting factor is the engines. There's not a lot of atmosphere let alone oxygen up there for them to burn. Plus the wings dont have a lot of atmoshere to grab on to.
@Ralroost The higher the altitude the less dense the air becomes which means more lift (wing area) and/or greater thrust to maintain airflow speed over the wing. The U@ does it by massive high lift wing area and the MiG25 mainly by huge engine power.
@Ralroost The higher the altitude the less dense the air becomes which means more lift (wing area) and/or greater thrust to maintain airflow speed over the wing. The U2's massive high lift wing area enables it to sustain high altitude flight - the MiG25 mainly by huge engine power enables it to reach high altitudes but not remain there for long. The F104 Starfighter has a zoom ceiling of 104,000ft but it's more like a rocket on a near vertical climb - it small wing area prevents it from staying.
@csvjd except for the F105 Thunderchief . the Delta Interceptors, the F101 Voodoo . The Super Sabre with its big vacuum cleaner mouth air intake. Troll .
@peterpops27 Not forgetting the socialists also cancelled the TSR2. And I understand that it wasn't just cancelled but they also broke the mould(s), so it couldn't be resurrected.
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@peterpops27....I love this great British Jet, as do so many others of the era, what a shame, we led the world in those days....now we have to collaborate with others to get the Eurofighter. Not the same eh?
It's a tragedy how we've allowed our inventiveness and world beating technological skills be given away for the sake of saving a few quid in the short term.The Harrier is a prime example.First we let the yanks manufacture it under licence now we have to wait for THEIR replacement to fly from our carriers!!
@EnglishTurbines We can thank the Labour government who scrapped the superb TSR 2 project under pressure from the US government. It did untold damage to our aviation industry, we lost out in huge sales exports to Australia & Germany. Both nations wanted the TSR 2, they ended up buying the mediocre by comparision F-111. The UK never received the 'FREE' F-111's that the Yanks promised in return for scrapping TSR 2. A disgraceful episode. Special relationship?! MY ARSE!
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@LambKatherine I agree. Labour then AS NOW have a lot to answer for as far as Im concerned. Trust them to screw it up on a giant scale. "oh alright then, we will scrap our TSR2" we cant have little ole England showing the USA how its done...again.
@LambKatherine The F-111s were crap in the first place... why on earth would you agree to buy them? They were pretty much just a testbed for a lot of the tech used on the later F-14. Maybe you should've questioned why "the Yanks" were offering them for free in the first place.
@OlderG0ds The early F111 versions were crap - they had massive problems with the swing wing and it never made it as a fighter. Eventually with the F111-D it started to become a good solid plane but got rejected by the US Navy for fragile landing gear and unreliable engines
@tomburley Yes it had to jump some hurdles in its development, but the Pig is legendary. It pioneered the swing wings, among many other things so I'd expect it not to be perfect in the early stages.
That aircraft maybe the most feared of them all during the cold war. Once they were stationed in Britain, Soviet Union knew they had a big problem, and one they couldn't counter.
@OlderG0ds barnes wallace or frank whittle I cant remember which,had the plans drawn up for a variable geomatary aircraft,in the late 40s,but as per usual the british government were to spineless to take the risk and back it,same as the hovercraft,another british invention which had to go abroad to seek backing
@LambKatherine the baggining of the end of our aicraft industry was sadly started under a conservative government,by Duncan Sandys with his defence white paper of 1957.we lost ,the supersonic harrier,the f155,the saunders roe sr 53 and 177,the avro 730,the supersonic buccaneer, amongst many and now there downgrading the jsf to the non vertical version.
@LambKatherine sadly it was the 1957 defence white paper that started the rot and that was by Duncan Sandys the conservative.his action ruined the uk lead in aicraft tech and killed off,the 1157 supersonic harrier,the saunders roe sr 53 and 177,the avro 730,and more,it also forced the industry into downsizing an was the start of our industrial decline.cameron is doin it now with the nimrod and the jsf
@MrChris1316 Sad time in air history. Before my time, but have always been interested in the 50's thru 70's in air power and it's development, especially some of the craft you mentioned. I wonder what the aviation world would be like if they had all been developed and built? Interesting thought.
@LambKatherine As far as the US govt you can look for a pack of lies every time someone in DC opens their mouth. Let that be a prime lesson on the "good word" of the US. Now we have been engaged in 3 illegal wars of aggression since 1990. I hope those who started these wars understand that the US is a party to a treaty that allows these criminals be subject to apprehension & trial. The US has no friends in the M.E.
@LambKatherine 1: It is not without reservations that TST 2 would have been "great". Advanced, sure, and as such it would have been important for UK industry.
2: But, scrapping TSR, 2 and in fact not only that but pretty much entire british aviation industry, had nothing to do with any US pressures. That's just a propaganda lie. Duncan Sandy became defense minister 1957, and he held the ignorant and somewhat fanboy-ish belief that the age of aircraft was over, that it would be all missiles now.
Avionics aside how did the lightning do against eagles in dogfights?
eatthisvr6 3 weeks ago
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@eatthisvr6
In modern warfare the battle is largely won/lost in BVR combat.
otester 6 days ago
basicly a rocket with fins !!
wolfe1970 3 weeks ago
@wolfe1970 Exactly!
SEL9000 3 weeks ago in playlist Uploaded videos
heres another number for you the buggati veyron ie the STUPIDLY fast 1000 hp car does 0-200 mph in 20 seconds
the lightning which was in service over 51 years ago does 0-200 mph in 12!!!!
eatthisvr6 1 month ago
i read some years ago that a lightning was been restored to fly by a civilian group in south africa i hope they managed to do it
paulboon 1 month ago
lightnings were one of the best uk fighters dead loud lol
lonelywolf1966 1 month ago
i would like to sound of the lighting my self not music
lesman200059 1 month ago
Back in my days maintaining these birds and others, their nickname on the line was "mildly guided missiles"
Threlly 1 month ago
@Threlly perfect name lol
eatthisvr6 1 month ago
@Threlly barely guided missiles wouldve been apt aswell
eatthisvr6 1 month ago
Design brief for the Lightning :-
Get two of the most powerful engines you can find. Bolt on some wings and a cockpit.
Job done.
My all time favourite aircraft.
Does anyone remember the Lightning aerobatic team from the 60s? 9 of the buggers flying around. Fanbloodytastic!
blacktiger955i 2 months ago 11
@blacktiger955i Absolutely right. Very awesome jet with a special attitude....
SEL9000 2 months ago
@blacktiger955i Lovely!! No other words required
allowayfreestate 2 months ago
@blacktiger955i Lovely!! No other words required
allowayfreestate 2 months ago
@blacktiger955i yes! I REMEMBER being at my grans house in southwood road when
they took off in waves of three abreast I thought the world had ended the whole house shook windows rattled light fittings wobbled like a series of earthquakes never heard anything like it since increadible
danspeedcars 1 month ago
The Lightning was designed and engineered with the same spirit as the Harrier, and Concorde. Even post war we were leaders in technology, producing aircraft unequalled 50/60 years later.
Fastfreddyii 2 months ago
I used to live in Hatfield. Local plane maker was De Havilland, which became Hawker Siddeley, then BAe.
As a child I remember seeing a pair of these flying [very very] low over the South part of town where I lived. Awesome sight.
Later when I worked at BAe and travelled around other sites, I met people who had worked on these. Seems they were designed for one thing... Get into the air f'ing quickly, and get to Russian bombers before they could release their payload. No flying time to speak of.
Fastfreddyii 2 months ago
why is there smoke at 1:39
17143972290 3 months ago
I can remember this plane from "Air Delta Force", or something like this.
LeexPixel 3 months ago
what is this music from and what is it called?
MrFluffy1979 3 months ago
@MrFluffy1979 Its written in the right part of this info site: Music is by Hans Zimmer from the movie "Backdraft". Track name is "Fighting 17th". You can buy it on iTunes.
SEL9000 3 months ago
@MrFluffy1979 It's also the tune for Iron Chef, a wierd Japanese cookery programmme
DannyFischarge 2 months ago
The raydome is 26DK 112. Stored at C Shed, 1 Site RAF Stafford circa 1967/69.
As Mary Hopkins sang 'Those Were the days my friend.'
ewsiscrap 3 months ago
yup it looked down on a u2 spy plane at 88000 ft a pilot by name of hale did it and it frightened the Americans because they believed no one at that time could reach a u2 also CONCORDE in a test run could only be caught on a tail end approach by a lightning no other plane f15 f16 mirage jets French could do this only a lightning
motorguzzi100 4 months ago
Spoke with an ex RAF engineer who work on Lightings he told me the 2 seater was actually quicker than the single.
trackend 4 months ago
@trackend This is true. The twin seater T4 or T5 has slightly better area ruling and therefore develops less drag.
spareparts007 3 months ago
why has thunder city stopped ?? :-(
t1000eg 5 months ago
Bummer . . . Probably never would have had the money anyway but would give my left knacker for a flight in the greatest attack fighter ever built. I grew up with these planes. I was born on an RAF base and always lived on one until I was about 11. My father worked on recognisance Canberra's but there were always lightnings in the sky . . . Only attack jet that has intercepted a Blackbird . . . Something ever Briton should be very, very proud of, every nut bolt and washer built in the UK . . .
hughc023 5 months ago
The Thunder City jets including three Lightnings, three Buccaneers and four Hunters have been put up for sale by Go industry. Closing date for bids is 30 November 2011.
dcanmore 5 months ago
Boo! Don't want to hear music; I want to hear the engines.
m41incanis 6 months ago
yep rip lightning, and also tsr 2 , 2 world beating aircraft stuffed by politics
lonelywolf1966 6 months ago 6
Yet another fantastic fighter just dumpt,this aircraft was well ahead of it's time ,i remember the very first test lightnimg in the late 50s..there was nothing to touch it .avionics just needed up grading.
Taildragger2411 6 months ago
@Taildragger2411 Well it was iconic, but it was under armed and could not carry enough fuel for decent range. Mostly they were struggling to get in 700 gallons and that was a fundamental challenge of its design. There was no room for fuel or sufficient weaponry. Its avionics and radar were also pretty poor. I wanted to join the RAF to fly these in 1968, but my eyesight was not god enough for the flight crew standard. Just as well, I'd have been hopeless. :))
Tonyv1951 5 months ago
I suppose the country is going downhill now the rest of the world forced them to be run by blacks.
SuzLa1 7 months ago
great performance,like the spitfire. and no range...like the spit
crotchboots 7 months ago
weve had one on display for 5 years at rochester airport (uk) , unfortunatly its been dismantled and taken away , hopefully to be restored to its former glory
T99IGJASE 7 months ago
@T99IGJASE - I drive past him every day & my son always salutes him...Hope he's being restored & not scrapped.
Sixpence71 6 months ago
Old fighters that outperform new ones are always good to see. Speed and Altitude I mean. Look up the MiG 25. Capable of mach 3+ and edge of space flight. Also the F104 Starfigher set a record at 103000ft. Amazing for 50 years ago.
supramanz 7 months ago
the lighting out classed nearly all others for 10 years+.even today the true capabilities of this aircraft are not known.some say it could fly nearly the same height as the u2 spy plane.around 72,000ft.only it flew twice as fast.
trueorlies 8 months ago
@trueorlies Got this on Wiki. In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted an American U-2 at a height which they had previously considered safe from interception. Records show that Hale climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his Lightning F.3 XR749.
mudpie95 7 months ago
@mudpie95 I believe that when the US unveiled the SR71 by visiting Heathrow a Lightning intercepted it over the atlantic, using 4 victor tankers to get it there and back.
AnticsRocket 6 months ago
@AnticsRocket never heard that 1?
the sr71 cruised at mach 3 only the mig 25 could (briefly) reach that speed not even the mighty frightning was that fast
eatthisvr6 1 month ago
@mudpie95 this plane could see off almost anything the U.S. had. Read Roland Beaumonts thoughts on this beauty, It just did not have the range for Australian distances. from perth to brisbane I think equates to london to moscow? We needed a long distance deterrant.
18tangles 5 months ago
my uncle owned both of these planes they were going to be scrapped by british airospace back in the early nineties ,he formed the lighting club but couldnt get an air licence to fly them in this country so sold them to thunder city ,unfortunatley one of them has since crashed & the pilot perished
rotaxkarter 8 months ago
english BAE? dont you mean english electric? but still a good video
jordyboy321 8 months ago
Takes me back to my childhood, we would cycle down to the runway gates at the Warton to watch the silver bird go vertical in the bink of an eye. No frills two monster engines with a couple of wings and a cockpit. the dogs! the world may never see thier like again. feel privlaged to have spent my childhood watching them.
jaguartom1 8 months ago
With the quantum leaps in technology, the capabilities of modern military jets, and the untold-of things they are doing with aircraft in Area 51, there is still nothing that can compare to the beauty, power, and spectacularness (I know it's not a word, but words really fall short!) of the Electric Lightning. I'm a piston, wood & fabric kind of pilot & mechanic, but the Lightning gets my heart pumping like few airplanes can! One other is the B-58 Hustler...incredible jets of another era!
ProChoiceJesus 9 months ago
Just one minor problem. The Lightning was in a critical fuel state even before it took off. This led to the Tornado ADV which had a long endurance and fighter performance. Its a trade. Performance / Endurance. The Lightning was magnificent so long as it did its designated job. A radar controlled single pass zoom intercept.
kencharman 11 months ago
The Lightning is probably the fastest "capable" fighter of the Cold War. The Mig-25 might have been faster, but couldn't maneuver worth a damn. The Lightning had likewise speed, but could easily own a Mig-25 in a dogfight......once again proving jets from the West are Best.
Lex5576 11 months ago
For those of us who remember the Lightning being operational when we were small children, and dreamed about flying one some day, it's very sad to think that with the flying stopped at Thunder City, our chance to fly in the legend has passed.
WinchesterRanger 1 year ago
its amazing that an aircraft from the 50's could out-perform nearly all modern fighters. hopefully the team restoring one in the US will get it flying again,fingers crossed!
bigchiefmingingbolok 1 year ago 25
@bigchiefmingingbolok Yes. Right. The Lightning is a awesome aircraft with very special flight capabilities. Well, it shows that flight engineers from the 50th/60th of the last century done a very great job. Hopefully, somewhere it will fly again, and we wish Thundercity in SA all the best. Still hoping, that they will come back to life!
SEL9000 1 year ago 11
@bigchiefmingingbolok The best bit every element was designed by folk with pencils, paper and slide rules. Engineering rocks.
netleyned 9 months ago
@bigchiefmingingbolok theres loads still flying in the UK at air shows
AtomicCheese92 4 months ago
@AtomicCheese92 ...Sadly there are not.
gaztop2000 4 months ago
@gaztop2000 gay?
AtomicCheese92 4 months ago
@AtomicCheese92 There aren't any Lightnings still airworthy so you must be getting them mixed up with something else. There's one being restored in the US though
aspiringdrummer17 4 months ago
@AtomicCheese92 , there hasn't been a lightning display in the UK since the early 90's, the only flying ones were in thundercity, south Africa, and they got grounded after an accident, the CAA here wont allow a civilian to own or fly one as they are deemed too dangerous, the only ones still running here are only allowed to do fast taxi's, sorry to be pedantic
bigchiefmingingbolok 4 months ago
@AtomicCheese92 OKKKAAAYYY i get the point, STOP REPLYING TO ME
AtomicCheese92 4 months ago
Now look where the RAF is going in about 10 years time it will be mostly typhoons and F-35 and little tornados. Harriers gone, Nimrods, Vc10, F-3, Hawk T-1s going its, ridiculous
dobbymayte 1 year ago
Umm, what the? What is this video meant to be of...where, when, who?
ecurb10 1 year ago
@EnglishTurbines < I had no idea about this. How very very sad. Oh to build a model of a Lightning in RAAF colours...........
mrdfac 1 year ago
The Thundercity website looks alive and kicking to me.
Neutrinoghost 1 year ago
just shows what the Brits Can Achevie! sham we have no backbone to do it now! just followers.... goverment suck....
Mattie123 1 year ago 4
Near where i live there's this car selling business and in the middle of the car park an English electric sits on a big metal thing xD its good to see
94KJordan 1 year ago
as j. clarkson once said, a lightning is just a jet engine with a joystick and seat added as an after thought :D
HungryGoth 1 year ago
@HungryGoth Acually , two jet engines . As a lad I lived north of Norwich in Norfolk , England , and just down the road was RAF Coltishall (recently closed) .
I can well remember the regular "Squadron scrambles" launching up to a dozen of the single seat version in very short order , the noise was like the world ending , because the Avon jets on these things about 1960 were fairly crude , sounding like some terrible angry shriek , so loud you couldn't hear the teacher speaking .
V.impressive!
zarquon53 1 year ago 2
@zarquon53 i wish stuff like this was aloud now, could you even imagine its modern day evolution!?
HungryGoth 1 year ago
@HungryGoth Well they WERE designed to deal with a specific job , that of swiftly intercepting the anticipated vast waves of Soviet strategic nuclear bombers heading for Britain that was the 1950's cold war scenario .
Sort of US airforce daylight mass attacks on Germany , only in Reverse you see .
Sovs made the Mig21 to conter the B52s/V.bombers coming their way , see ?
No need nowadays for a fighter to rocket up to 50,000 feet at 120 seconds notice , all low level dogfighting now .
zarquon53 1 year ago
How much and where???
josephdupont 1 year ago 2
@josephdupont: The flights are stopped. Was in South Africa, running for 10 years. Its mentioned in the video description.
SEL9000 1 year ago
I just want to know what was out of order with their paperwork to get their permit taken away. One interveiw I saw with Mike Beachyhead he commented "Airplanes don't fly on air, they fly on paper, and it has to be immaculate." On the upside, there will be one flying here in the States soon. Maybe the final three at Cape Town along with the Buccaneers will find a proper home here as well. They belong in the air, not a museum!
jpatt1000 1 year ago
Great video........but why the music...........lets hear those Rolls Royce Avons
Aussiephil99 1 year ago
The music is called 'The Fighting 17th' and is the theme music to the film 'Backdraft'.
1939newton 1 year ago
the brits had it all, then just gave it up, just like the usa. what will it take to get it back?
shauntest 1 year ago
One of the best military jest ever built - could reach 90,000ft - used to play intercepts with the Lockheed U2 spyplane - Unfortunately ,digital fuel managements systems hadnt been herd of back then and by the time it got up there it was time to glide back home or look for the nearest tanker!!
itsmepaul57 1 year ago
@UKkid19
Right then I guess this is the time!
vnck25 1 year ago
The best fighter ever made the lightning ,the pilots called it the missile with missiles straped to it , nothing could touch it , my dad was in the RAF and we were based at air bases were they had lightnings sqns , i can rember looking out of my school classroom window and seeing them roar down the runways and go straight up and dissapear , great times ,back when the brits were world leaders in flight .
SIRSMITH08 1 year ago 2
how much is this
99F 1 year ago
IF you still have the original soundtrack can you please repost with the jet noise? Thanks :-)
pkt42 1 year ago
If the lightning first flew in 1959 it must have been in the planning stage for say two years...that would make it's inception to be 1957....The RAF only stopped using spitfires in 1954....It makes you realise the vision on the designers and the skill of the engineers...Think about what we went into the war with and what we had ,a few short years after we came out of it...I used to play football on 'Orrel Pleasure' (Now the Giro) and hear them testing the engines...brilliant!
tony00165 1 year ago
@tony00165 I've just read a posting that states the P1 prototypes flew from boscombe Down in 1954....if so... that would mean designs would be being drawn up about 1952 and this incredible aircraft was produced by a nation that still had rationing and was bankrupt.....all this seven years after the war ended.....quite remarkable.
tony00165 1 year ago
This is actually an American design and most of the electronics is Taiwan
vnck25 1 year ago
@vnck25 get real
l its the english electric/bae lighting developed from the Miles M.52
and the P1 prototypes flying from Boscombe Down 1954 your thinking of the Vought F-8 Crusader first prototype flew on 1955
so who is ripping whose design?
farmerned6 1 year ago
@farmerned6
The Brits are ripping those design as you said tghe F-10 bukaneer prototype did flew in 1956 but that too was an American design the only thing British was the fuel they used in the jet!
vnck25 1 year ago
@vnck25 you are seriously deranged! how a bout a couple of RR avon engines and a miles-baker ejection seat to start with? and the f-10 was the Skyknight as for the buccaneer (wtf is a bukaneer?)do you meen the british blackburn buccaneer - the best low-level navy strike bomber ever built
or the
brewster buccaneer which was outdated the day it first flew?
farmerned6 1 year ago
@farmerned6
You are true on one thing, mate!
The British buccaneer was the best low level strike bomber such that it ended up being a sea skimming rocket instead of a jet. Most of its flights ended in disaster and the pilots used to call it the flying coffin. British made my foot. Good that now the British arent making anymore jets due to economic hardships they are in the view that Chinese products are much cheaper to buy
vnck25 1 year ago
@vnck25 you know dick-all a bout the buccaneer (cant spell it to start with) the S2 had a couple of spey engines (RR again) it was design to skim over the sea to destroy russian ships flying under their radar,
when the RN lost is big carriers they went to the RAF, serving well into the first gulf war
they were untouchable at red flag its was universally LOVED by its pilots and crew who when asked said
" the only thing that can repace a buccaneer is another buccaneer"
farmerned6 1 year ago
@farmerned6
Buccaneer was replaced by a Chinese type 23 jet which was really cheap and from what I know the Brits brought 4 of them on Ebay , that the state of British forces he he he they completely depend on the Chinese. Did you know that even the food is ordered from a London based Chinese fast food joint lolz
vnck25 1 year ago
Comment removed
farmerned6 1 year ago
@farmerned6
Did you know that during the Falklands war it was the Algerians who attacked the Argies not the British. There were several Harriers doing bombings but all the bombs missed it was the Algerians who won the war for the Brits, he he he
vnck25 1 year ago
@vnck25 Hey fucking troll, what's with the hard-on for Brits?
FetidToecheese 1 year ago
@vnck25 fucking muppet
Longbow1690 1 year ago
@Longbow1690
Yes that what I thought about you after reading the comment lol
vnck25 1 year ago
@vnck25 Typical Yank let me let you into what is a plane black and white fact the only thing you have on the Brits is numbers pound for pound we kick your arse in every department Air, Sea and Land check the yank losses in both Gulf wars compared to the Brits you fuckers killed more of our troops than the ragheads did
Longbow1690 1 year ago
i would also like to add we had a bigger Empire than the Romans had and we Civiliesd the modern world with Industry and Invention and considering the size of the UK compeard to th US thats no mean feat it's all there in the history books Red Neck. Your country is made up mostly of Ghettos and slums and Trailer Parks were people live like animals
Longbow1690 1 year ago
And as for you winning you indpendance you won fuck all we gave it you as if it wasnt fo a little poisond French Dwaf called Napolion the Union Jack would be flying over the White House but for the first time out of 3 we had to go save the whole of Eruope from a fashest dictartor and dont even start about WWII as we were fighting it 3 years before Pearl Harbur was Hit so go have another bowl of Crack you fucking ideot
Longbow1690 1 year ago
@Longbow1690
vnck25 is a sad american fuck who probably hasn't left his own state yet. When are they going to learn they should be listening rather than talking!??
ccchisholm1 1 year ago
@Longbow1690
Of course of course you kick ur asses on Land, Sea, Air and even in your beds ha ha ha get some sleep man dont talk gibberish!
vnck25 1 year ago
@vnck25 You must be a yank to be that thick
trytofly22 1 year ago
in one flight an EE Lightning flown by FL LT Hale intercepted a U2 spy plane at around 62,000ft and went on to over 83,000 ft, the americans thought they were safe at that altitude, what a suprise it must have been to see the lightning going vertically past you, and it was also the worlds first plane to supercruise in the 50s, and the US make big boasts about the F-22 supercruising, sorry but your nearly 60 years late :) its climb rate is still unmatched by most modern fighters..
fairclought7 1 year ago 2
@fairclought7
FL. LT Hale later admitted that he was high on that particular flight and that he made a big blunder reading the altimeter. he was actually at 5000ft when he thought that he so the U2 but it was a sticker stuck to his class canopy that he mistook for the real U2.
The world know that when Brits talk out load about something they should listen twice before taking them seriously.
vnck25 1 year ago
I think the English BAe electric lighting is probilly one of the best fighters ever made seeming it could reach 1,520mph and it was made in the 50's :O
kirza94 1 year ago 2
In my opinion, the finest jet ever built. I had the privilege to stand at the edge of a runway in El Adim, north Africa back in the 1960s and watch it take off then turn vertical towards the sky – wonderful.
plagalcadenze 1 year ago
the Mig-29 can't fly higher than the EE lightning! THE Mig-25 CAN !
JJCvulcan 1 year ago
how does the view compare in the lightning to the mig? how much longer are you above 60,000 ft in the mig?
assman12354 1 year ago
@assman12354 The MIG-29 can fly higher. And as I said: The flight level and time depends on the weather conditions and flight weight. There is not a big difference between 60,000ft and 70,000ft, because the world is big - especially from the top! :)
SEL9000 1 year ago
@SEL9000 Did the lightning not intercept a u2 spy plane once?? They fly pretty high rite.
jcreedy20 1 year ago
@jcreedy20 Correct, the EE Lightning intercepted a U-2R at 82,000ft using a ballistic trajectory intercept, the pilot reported the Lightning's controls at that altitude as "being on a knife edge" of controllability
monaro632 1 year ago
@monaro632 My friend flew U2's and did tell me he was intercepted by two Lightnings at 80,000 feet. After a shock wave from my friend to them, the Lightnings did a barrel roll around him in his U2 and cleared off. He said he will never forget it as he was used to being alone that high!
MinkeySimon 1 year ago 3
@SEL9000 About 10,000 ft, I reckon! :-) Sorry, just a joke - not trying to take the mickey!
Factnotfictionpeople 1 year ago
brilliant vid
jordyboy321 1 year ago
When we finished with the lightnings in the u.k.,one of our pilots told me he went to 79,000.He said it was purely balistic,but he could have hit an aircraft maybe 3,000 higher with a redtop missile.
xfire7 1 year ago
anyone know how long you stay above 60,000 feet?
assman12354 1 year ago
@assman12354 Depends on the weather conditions of the day, the weight. Also, it is not very good to stay longer in such altitudes out of the radiation. 1 - 2 minutes is normal.
SEL9000 1 year ago
did anyone else think that looked nowhere close to space?
assman12354 1 year ago
I would much hear the engines !!!
carlosmurphy4u 1 year ago
Ive sat in one of those!!!AWESOME!!!
DROPD5150 1 year ago
I don't understand what it is that inhibits planes from reaching a high altitude. Why can the U2 only go to 85 000 but the Mig 25 can go to 100 000?
Ralroost 1 year ago
@Ralroost: They are all different from the aerodynamic design, and so some could go higher as the other.
SEL9000 1 year ago
@SEL9000 Okay, but the U2 has massive wings, its like a giant kite. How can something like this lightning with tiny wings fly so high? It doesn't make sense to me. Unless the engines are designed for high flight.
Ralroost 1 year ago
@Ralroost In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted an American U-2 at a height which they had previously considered safe from interception. Records show that Hale climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his Lightning F.3 XR749. The normal service ceiling for this aircraft was 60,000 feet in level flight. Hale also participated in time-to-height and acceleration trials against F-104 Starfighters from Aalborg.
SEL9000 1 year ago
@SEL9000 Also during a British Airways trial, NATO member nations were invited to attempt to intercept Concorde, the only aircraft to succeed was again Flt Lt Hale in his personal Lightning, XR749, he intercepted the Concorde in a tailchase intercept, pulling alongside a stunned BA crew at M 2.25
monaro632 1 year ago 5
@monaro632 Thanks for this information here. I heared about that mission. The Lightning was (and is) one of the brilliant jets of aviation history.
SEL9000 1 year ago 6
@SEL9000 its a machine just designed for pure performance isnt it?
the last true interceptor
monaro632 1 year ago 17
@monaro632 I love this jet very much. Flown it in 2006 by myself. I was astonished about the pure energy of the jet-turbines and the capabilites. Acclerating 50,000ft in one minute! Thats incredible!
SEL9000 1 year ago 7
@SEL9000 i also have had the priveledge of riding in one of ThunderCity's T.5's, absolute magic
monaro632 1 year ago
@monaro632 ...the last true interceptor would be the F-15...
TheJetbreaker 1 year ago
@TheJetbreaker
Sorry, the F-15 is a multirole fighter. Eagle was a compromise from the start. The Lightening was made to Intercepte bombers and nothing else. Eagle eats Lightening dust in the vertical climb.
TheChymaera 1 year ago
@TheChymaera F-15 is an air superiority fighter. Another person who doesn't know anything about the stuff he's talking about, fantastic.
OlderG0ds 1 year ago
Comment removed
TheChymaera 1 year ago
@OlderG0ds Eagle was still a compromise
TheChymaera 1 year ago
@TheChymaera Compromise how? Do you have any more to add or just blanket statements with nothing to back it up?
OlderG0ds 1 year ago
@TheJetbreaker The Eagle is an Air Superiority fighter - designed to clear any airbourne treat. An Interceptor is specifically designed t take off fast, climb fast and intercept a direct threat. Different roles.
tomburley 1 year ago
@monaro632 I can only imagine the looks on their faces when they saw him; what a monster fighter 1 of the best ever
matapan50 1 year ago
@matapan50 it is indeed a monster!
two huge engines, with wings, tail, fuel tank and cockpit attached as an afterthought
monaro632 1 year ago
@monaro632 Yeah but for how long and how many crew and passangers?
mrmulligan1268 1 year ago
@mrmulligan1268 Concorde carried no passengers on these flights, but did have a full fuel load, ballast weight to simulate a full load of passengers and luggage, as well as a full flight crew, giving her no performance advantage over a normal passenger flight, Hale held XR749 alongside for 10 minutes before returning to base, basically a standard intercept except for the speed
monaro632 1 year ago
@monaro632 According to "Bee" Beaumont XR749 was quote "a hot ship, even for a Lightning".
WinchesterRanger 1 year ago
@monaro632 That is correct, the Lighning was the ONLY NATO jet to run Concorde down in a tail chase intercept. The much vaunted F-15 Eagle which is 'capable' of Mach 2.5- 1650 mph, got blown away by Concorde, not so the awesome Lightning-incredible machine!
LambKatherine 1 year ago
@LambKatherine Also it could hold its own against an F-15 in a "turn & burn" fight, in NATO excercises, the Lightning's pilots knew they were unable to take on the Eagle in a face to face merge with the Eagle's superior weapon system, they used to hide down at treetop level where the Eagle's radar couldnt see them, then once the Lightnings had visually acquired the Eagles, they would use the Lightning's famous vertical climb performance to attack from underneath
monaro632 1 year ago
@Ralroost The U2 has a much higher service ceiling, but the Lightning can get that high or higher in what's called a "zoom climb." It flies really fast, and it uses that speed to gain altitude. A bullet gets very little lift, but if you shoot it up, it will go fairly high. Same basic idea.
SomeDumbYankee 1 year ago
@Ralroost 2 BFE's my freind 2 BFE's.
Indogyearsimdead 1 year ago
@Ralroost A big limiting factor is the engines. There's not a lot of atmosphere let alone oxygen up there for them to burn. Plus the wings dont have a lot of atmoshere to grab on to.
Indogyearsimdead 1 year ago
@Ralroost The higher the altitude the less dense the air becomes which means more lift (wing area) and/or greater thrust to maintain airflow speed over the wing. The U@ does it by massive high lift wing area and the MiG25 mainly by huge engine power.
tomburley 1 year ago
@Ralroost The higher the altitude the less dense the air becomes which means more lift (wing area) and/or greater thrust to maintain airflow speed over the wing. The U2's massive high lift wing area enables it to sustain high altitude flight - the MiG25 mainly by huge engine power enables it to reach high altitudes but not remain there for long. The F104 Starfighter has a zoom ceiling of 104,000ft but it's more like a rocket on a near vertical climb - it small wing area prevents it from staying.
tomburley 1 year ago
Ugliest fighter jet ever.
csvjd 1 year ago
@csvjd except for the F105 Thunderchief . the Delta Interceptors, the F101 Voodoo . The Super Sabre with its big vacuum cleaner mouth air intake. Troll .
PurplePunisher69 1 year ago
lend me 10 G somebody, thanks, reply to my inbox.
bazman85 1 year ago
can you imagine how the uk could have led aerospace but for the intervention of the fucking socialists!!!???
peterpops27 2 years ago 3
@peterpops27 Not forgetting the socialists also cancelled the TSR2. And I understand that it wasn't just cancelled but they also broke the mould(s), so it couldn't be resurrected.
063209dr 2 years ago 6
This comment has received too many negative votes show
@peterpops27....I love this great British Jet, as do so many others of the era, what a shame, we led the world in those days....now we have to collaborate with others to get the Eurofighter. Not the same eh?
EnglishTurbines 1 year ago
It's a tragedy how we've allowed our inventiveness and world beating technological skills be given away for the sake of saving a few quid in the short term.The Harrier is a prime example.First we let the yanks manufacture it under licence now we have to wait for THEIR replacement to fly from our carriers!!
peterpops27 1 year ago 3
@EnglishTurbines We can thank the Labour government who scrapped the superb TSR 2 project under pressure from the US government. It did untold damage to our aviation industry, we lost out in huge sales exports to Australia & Germany. Both nations wanted the TSR 2, they ended up buying the mediocre by comparision F-111. The UK never received the 'FREE' F-111's that the Yanks promised in return for scrapping TSR 2. A disgraceful episode. Special relationship?! MY ARSE!
LambKatherine 1 year ago 52
This comment has received too many negative votes show
@LambKatherine I agree. Labour then AS NOW have a lot to answer for as far as Im concerned. Trust them to screw it up on a giant scale. "oh alright then, we will scrap our TSR2" we cant have little ole England showing the USA how its done...again.
EnglishTurbines 1 year ago
@LambKatherine The F-111s were crap in the first place... why on earth would you agree to buy them? They were pretty much just a testbed for a lot of the tech used on the later F-14. Maybe you should've questioned why "the Yanks" were offering them for free in the first place.
PootStip 1 year ago
@PootStip F-111 was crap? Good lord you people don't know anything...unbelievable
OlderG0ds 1 year ago
@OlderG0ds The early F111 versions were crap - they had massive problems with the swing wing and it never made it as a fighter. Eventually with the F111-D it started to become a good solid plane but got rejected by the US Navy for fragile landing gear and unreliable engines
tomburley 1 year ago
@tomburley Yes it had to jump some hurdles in its development, but the Pig is legendary. It pioneered the swing wings, among many other things so I'd expect it not to be perfect in the early stages.
That aircraft maybe the most feared of them all during the cold war. Once they were stationed in Britain, Soviet Union knew they had a big problem, and one they couldn't counter.
OlderG0ds 1 year ago
@OlderG0ds barnes wallace or frank whittle I cant remember which,had the plans drawn up for a variable geomatary aircraft,in the late 40s,but as per usual the british government were to spineless to take the risk and back it,same as the hovercraft,another british invention which had to go abroad to seek backing
mark25964 10 months ago
@LambKatherine the baggining of the end of our aicraft industry was sadly started under a conservative government,by Duncan Sandys with his defence white paper of 1957.we lost ,the supersonic harrier,the f155,the saunders roe sr 53 and 177,the avro 730,the supersonic buccaneer, amongst many and now there downgrading the jsf to the non vertical version.
MrChris1316 1 year ago
@LambKatherine sadly it was the 1957 defence white paper that started the rot and that was by Duncan Sandys the conservative.his action ruined the uk lead in aicraft tech and killed off,the 1157 supersonic harrier,the saunders roe sr 53 and 177,the avro 730,and more,it also forced the industry into downsizing an was the start of our industrial decline.cameron is doin it now with the nimrod and the jsf
MrChris1316 1 year ago 5
@MrChris1316 Sad time in air history. Before my time, but have always been interested in the 50's thru 70's in air power and it's development, especially some of the craft you mentioned. I wonder what the aviation world would be like if they had all been developed and built? Interesting thought.
pg1171 11 months ago
@LambKatherine As far as the US govt you can look for a pack of lies every time someone in DC opens their mouth. Let that be a prime lesson on the "good word" of the US. Now we have been engaged in 3 illegal wars of aggression since 1990. I hope those who started these wars understand that the US is a party to a treaty that allows these criminals be subject to apprehension & trial. The US has no friends in the M.E.
nor888vast695 8 months ago
@LambKatherine 1: It is not without reservations that TST 2 would have been "great". Advanced, sure, and as such it would have been important for UK industry.
2: But, scrapping TSR, 2 and in fact not only that but pretty much entire british aviation industry, had nothing to do with any US pressures. That's just a propaganda lie. Duncan Sandy became defense minister 1957, and he held the ignorant and somewhat fanboy-ish belief that the age of aircraft was over, that it would be all missiles now.
Vermiliontea 8 months ago
@LambKatherine Effectively!
kurwamacz2 8 months ago