English Electric Lightning.

[Cliphead]

I did see a real Lightning once, mounted on a stand outside a factory in Lancashire.

Saw a few at airshows years ago, very impressive.

Also saw a very nasty accident involving a Lightning. Where I worked at the time my office was close to the aircraft graveyard, dozens of ex military aircraft, engines, parts. Some interesting stuff was lying around there, the protoype Harrier, Gnat, Victor and some others. I suppose they should have been in a museum but were left to rot.

Occasionally decommisioned aircraft were flown in and taxied to the graveyard where they'd be left to be stripped down or whatever. Two Lightnings arrived and were parked on the grass near my office, had a good look around them, sat in the cockpit and all that.

Anyways, a week later a guy turns up with some oxy acetylene gear and starts to cut off one of the wings (this happened to about everything that was left there). I don't suppose anybody told him to check if there was fuel left in the tanks but the inevitable happened and I suppose death was instant.

[stek]

This one?

At Samlesbury, Blackburn.

Preston, surely?

[BolshieBastard]

Preston, surely?

Its closer to Preston but I think the sheepshaggers around Salmesbury like to think of themselves more like Blackburn folk. Dunno why though.

[Churchill]

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. 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. 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. He reports that the Lightnings won all races easily with the exception of the low level supersonic acceleration, which was a "dead heat".[25]

If the above is true then it's bloody impressive!

[Churchill]

Preston, surely?

Its closer to Preston but I think the sheepshaggers around Salmesbury like to think of themselves more like Blackburn folk. Dunno why though.

Samlesbury Aerodrome
Balderstone
Lancashire
BB2 7LF
United Kingdom

The clue is in the postcode

[Sysman]

Preston, surely?

I was wondering... I have vague memories of Leyland being nearby.

[sasguru]

I was talking about TSR2 and Concorde not the Comet, but thanks for your nasty intervention.

How was that nasty, cretin?

[sasguru]

Concorde is what happens when you let the goverment decide the direction of technology, a complete waste of money making something nobody wanted.

Sadly labour never learned and came back with a whole new bunch of useless technology projects.

So it wasn't the Mercans sabotaging it, then?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

How was that nasty, cretin?

Ok, nastier, keep 'em coming, you're making a really intellectual point there FFS.

[BolshieBastard]

I was wondering... I have vague memories of Leyland being nearby.

No, that's or rather was, buses and trucks.

And its pronounced Sarms-brie.

I thenk yew.