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[tigers_gonads]

Anybody fancy sticking a bid in for these 

http://www.go-dove.com/event-15794/Thunder-City-Aircraft-Company-Historical-Military-Jets

I would love to see swmbo's face if a low loader turned up outside my house with a lightning on its back 

Dreamed of flying one when I was a kid and spent 3 years of my youth, keeping them flying 

Sad day when they was grounded for good 
One of my dreams was to take the family across the Thunder City too show them what they had missed.
Ain't going too happen now   

[Gaffers]

Is that lightning in working order?  If so come on that lottery win!

[tigers_gonads]

All 3 are serviceble and come with spares   

Well i've worked on all 3 so I can't have been that bad at my job 

[aaronjb]

Ah, the masterpiece of design that was the Lightning. And how did we design it? We strapped two wings and a seat to a big engine

Impressive aircraft for their time, though.

[Gaffers]

My dad worked on the development of the electronics on the lightning.  He would be made up to fly in one 

They went vertical and supersonic after take off iirc 

[tigers_gonads]

Ah, the masterpiece of design that was the Lightning. And how did we design it? We strapped two wings and a seat to a big engine

Impressive aircraft for their time, though.

2 engines 

Stacked on top of each other just to make serviceing "interesting" 

[aaronjb]

2 engines 

Stacked on top of each other just to make serviceing "interesting" 

Two engines, sorry Something to sandwich the wings between

Also the same design principle Japanese car makers seem to use.. the "Hey, we got it in there at the factory just fine. It's not our fault no human hand is small or bendy enough to get in there and change that £3 part.."

[tigers_gonads]

My dad worked on the development of the electronics on the lightning.  He would be made up to fly in one 

Who did your dad work for Guffer ?

They went vertical and supersonic after take off iirc 

Depended on which model 

They all had a thrust / weight around 1/1 so they could pretty much stand on there tail and go straight up from take off 
All the later models could break mach at sea level and .............. well the top speed is shall we say "faster then what the books say"    Put it this way, a F6 which was the last model the RAF used would run out of fuel in 7 minuites and it would STILL be accelerating 

Pilots loved them, groundcrews hated working on them 

At binbrook in the 80's, we had a F3 (which had the best engines but held less fuel)
British Airways set up a little game with the aircraft of NATO.

Concorde would fly a racetrack pattern up and down the North Sea at mach 2.
The competition rules where that the chaseing fighter had to enter the racetrack at a certain point and chase down concorde.
These included the F4, F104 starfighter, F16, F15 Eagle.

The starfighter and eagle could keep pace with it ............ the lightning overtook it 

 

[Tony H]

2 engines 

Stacked on top of each other just to make serviceing "interesting" 

Two engines, sorry Something to sandwich the wings between

Also the same design principle Japanese car makers seem to use.. the "Hey, we got it in there at the factory just fine. It's not our fault no human hand is small or bendy enough to get in there and change that £3 part.."

[/highlight]


Exept Tunnies 

[tigers_gonads]

2 engines 

Stacked on top of each other just to make serviceing "interesting" 

Two engines, sorry Something to sandwich the wings between

Also the same design principle Japanese car makers seem to use.. the "Hey, we got it in there at the factory just fine. It's not our fault no human hand is small or bendy enough to get in there and change that £3 part.."


I can vouch for that 

I still can't feel much on the fingertips of my right hand because we used to have to superglue nuts onto them and stick your hands in a hole and feel around till you find the bolt 

[Gaffers]

My dad worked for BAe here in the UK and then in Saudi Arabia later switching to Saudi Airlines obviously for the wonga 

From what I remember the skin was essentially the airframe, made from aluminium and for the fastest flights they would polish it up.  However once you polished it more than X amounts of times (low teens iirc) the airframe was written off 

It was a popular export to the middle east where they were configured for the air defence role to protect air bases amoungst the paranoid of Israeli invaision.  The idea being that they could get up in the air quickly and fly rings around anything up there.  They werent just a simple rocket and seat config either.  The on board computers were well ahead of their time.  The aircraft which replaced them were nowhere near comparable in the technology stakes.

Sad day when they were taken out of service

[aaronjb]

I still can't feel much on the fingertips of my right hand because we used to have to superglue nuts onto them and stick your hands in a hole and feel around till you find the bolt 

 

Never a good day when you've superglued your nuts to your fingers..

[tigers_gonads]

My dad worked for BAe here in the UK and then in Saudi Arabia later switching to Saudi Airlines obviously for the wonga  [/highlight]

Can't fault him 

From what I remember the skin was essentially the airframe, made from aluminium and for the fastest flights they would polish it up.  However once you polished it more than X amounts of times (low teens iirc) the airframe was written off  

The outer skin was alloy iirc.
The ait intake was stainless steel.  I know that because when they came in for a check 3/4 service (major one) I used to get the job of straddleing over the radome and dragging myself in there to polish it    I was built like a racing snake in them days aka a skinny tinker 

Never heard of writing them off.
I thought most burst into flames and crashed into "Raf Dogga bank in the North Sea" or was bent by over enthusiastic pilots 
 
It was a popular export to the middle east where they were configured for the air defence role to protect air bases amoungst the paranoid of Israeli invaision.  The idea being that they could get up in the air quickly and fly rings around anything up there.  They werent just a simple rocket and seat config either.  The on board computers were well ahead of their time.  The aircraft which replaced them were nowhere near comparable in the technology stakes.

Yes, Saudi and Kuwait had them for a few years.
The Saudi's replaced then with the F15 eagle.  Kuwait replaced them with the Mirage F1 (which was cr*p  )

I think it had one of the first automatic intercept computers ever 
The radar (ai23 iirc) was 50's tech but did a job as long as it didn't have to look down 
Then all you got was clutter off the ground and couldn't see much.
As for radar range, I thing you could see further on a sunny day at altitude 

Sad day when they were taken out of service

Agreed there 
I left Binbrook in 87 to go to Germany (Jaguar / Tornado)
They closed Binbrook down in 88 and retired the lightning at the same time 

It was the first and last all Britsh supersonic fighter and imho it with always be the best 

[aaronjb]

Tigers, out of interest - where were you in germany in 87/88? We were there to (I say 'we', I was only 7 ) at Gütersloh.. actually, scratch that, I just checked (happened to be on the phone to my folks) and Gütersloh was 3 & 4 Sqdn Harriers back then

[tigers_gonads]

Oh yes  :

Raf Laabruch april 87 - January 90   

Started off in the lecky bay testing and fixing black boxes for the first 12 months then I escaped onto 2 (ac) sqd till I was de mobed on my 24th birthday 

Spent 6 1/2 years drinking and sha*ing for England 

Your folks ex Raf ?