John
I had (sort of) forgotten the Lightning, and our version of the
Phantom F4.
I was a bomber pilot y'see and by the time I got into an aircraft that
could thrash them (the F16) the Lightning was gone and the RAF's F4
left a few years later (see below). But you're right, those aircraft
had "Great Big Holes", into which great big engines were fitted.
Neither, however, had engines the size of the F110, fitted to the F15C/
D, the F16C/D and the F14D. The machines I had mounted behind me had
32,000lbs thrust for an aircraft weighing only 28,000lbs (in the fit
that we used). With that much thrust you felt you could outrun
anything!
Back to the RAF's last F4s. It was sometime in 1992 that the word
went out one week that 56Sqn, F4s based at Wattisham in Suffolk, were
looking for trade all week -- for the last time. So we (Tornados
based at Marham in Norfolk) obliged with a request for "fighter
affiliation" in South Wales; we had some fun (er, I mean professional
training) that week with low level intercepts over Wales, where the
local populace didn't seem to mind the noise ... :-)
Thanks for reminding me.
Chris
On 25 Jan 2009, at 22:21, JOHN DUGGAN wrote:
> Chris,
> surely you have not forgotten the English Electric Lightning. A
> beast of a machine, intercepted an American spy plane at 88,000 ft,
> and caught Concorde in level flight. Also I believe it was the first
> plane to accelerate vertically like a rocket.
> (don't tell me it was before your time! ;-0
>
> Regards
> John Duggan,
> Wales, UK
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