UKC

on now on beeb 2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03h8r3y

As a forces brat growing up between the late 60's and 70's many of these Aircraft were daily companions either in kit form (thanks air fix) or over the road on the runway. My Dad developed a new radar for the Lightning back in the early 70's and got a mention in the Air Museum and my Grandad was a Aircraft designer at DeHavilland then later Hawker Siddeley.

In reply to Removed User:

taping it in the hope it'll say something about Rolls-Royce...

In reply to KingStapo:

it does a bit, always liked to sit in the Canberra section at the Rolls-Royce Learning Centre when I worked there just to remind myself of the past

In reply to KingStapo: it does. Wont spoil it for you. Great programme.

In reply to Removed User: I didn't know that we'd sold jet engines to the Russians. A really interesting programme - looking forward to next week.

In reply to Removed User:

Great stuff!

Sat in the cockpit of (I want to say) Vulcan at the Rolls-Royce Heritage Centre.... Hellish - would not fancy long haul in that badboy!

In reply to KingStapo: Looks like the English Electric Lightning features this week...can't wait!

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus: In anticipation of friday and a slow patch at work I was reading up on the Lightings wiki page and came acroos some remarkable stuff..

" RAF Lightning pilot and Chief Examiner Brian Carroll reported taking a Lightning F.53 up to 87,300 feet (26 600 m) over Saudi Arabia at which level "Earth curvature was visible and the sky was quite dark", noting that control-wise "[it was] on a knife edge".[32]"

"In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted a U-2 at a height which they had previously considered safe from interception (thought to be 66,000 feet). Records show that Hale also climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his Lightning F.3 XR749. This was not sustained level flight, but in a ballistic climb or a zoom climb, in which the pilot takes the aircraft to top speed and then puts the aircraft into a climb, trading speed for altitude."

"In British Airways trials in April 1985, Concorde was offered as a target to NATO fighters including F-15 Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-14 Tomcats, Mirages, and F-104 Starfighters - but only Lightning XR749, flown by Mike Hale and described by him as "a very hot ship, even for a Lightning", managed to overtake Concorde on a stern conversion intercept"

Mike Hale at the controls of a Lightning sounds like a bit of a legend! lol

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus: some of the old pilots stories over on pprune about the 'frightning' are worth a read.

In reply to mickeyluv: this being the best:http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/491374-really-fright-e-ning.html

In reply to Removed User:

on at 9

In reply to Removed User:

Great programme. Boys own stuff, and what an era it must have been in which to grow up.

When it got on to the H-bombs, though, very chilling to watch, and makes you question the sanity of humanity.

Suppose the scientific developments of the time were not made with 'MAD' in mind, but taken to that logical conclusion by military and political ends.

In reply to wadh1720:
This isn't a book to accompany the programmes but could have been, it covers the same subject matter and era. If you liked the programme you'll like the book.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Empire-Clouds-Britains-Aircraft-Ruled/dp/0571247954...

In reply to Removed User:

Just been watching the first episode and enjoying, some really nice footage