Lightning sortie at Thunder City

The only place in the world that houses airworthy British-built Lightning jet fighters is Cape Town International Airport in South Africa...quite an experience for ANYONE, to hear them roar and see them fly, but a particularly pleasant sight for aviation enthousiasts!!! This footage is from September 20th, 2008.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Cape
• Town
• Lightning
• Thunder
• City
• Fighter
• Aircraft

[yock16]

What a plane! I remember seeing these fly when I was a kid, I believe they were designed to get out over the North Sea ASAP to intercept Russian bombers, but I heard this came at a cost, they burned so much fuel in the process the pilots were expected to eject if they ran out of fuel, no in flight refueling in those days, anybody know if this is true.

[SLodewijks]

@yock16: yes, the Lightning was infamous for its fuel burn and its short range. I'm pretty sure the F.6-model could be fitted with a probe for in flight refueling, although I don't know wether that system was fitted or utilized a lot. I saw a few operational Lightnings on the ground during late-80's, but I had to wait until 2008 to actually see one - or rather TWO - fly... :-)

[thekierongiles]

the lightning that crashed was a p111 ww2 not an English Electric Lightning

[SLodewijks]

@thekierongiles: I'm sorry, but the crash to which "shanksfordamemories" referred really wàs of one of the last airworthy English Electric Lightning fighter jets, not the WW2 twin engined propellor driven fighter. ;-)

[shanksfordamemories]

One of the Lightning's crashed today at an airshow. RIP Pilot Dave Stock. A Great South African Pilot.

[SLodewijks]

That is awful... I don't know if Dave Stock was one of the display pilots at Ysterplaat in 2008, but I really enjoyed the Lightning displays!! So, respect to him and his fellow pilots at Thunder City!

[D3000Rod]

great video

[gaz11h]

brilliant 5*

[airmech1985]

thanks for that

[spongerobbie]

Man, what a sound!