LA198

As a young lad of 13 and a half I used to sit in LA198 and help start her up! Sounds unlikely I know but I was an air cadet then with 187 City of Worcester Sqn ATC. I was quite new to the sqn and six months later the ac went to take part in the movie The Battle of Britain. To our dismay she never came back but was replaced by a Javlin. I can still hear the raw of 198’s Griffon engine. It used to scare me but I liked the thrill. We couldnt take her up to full throttle or she would have jumped the chocks and ended up in the main billit hall! Someone had to sit on the tail to stop it rising. They would have been blown off too!. She was in bare metal then, all silver. Can you imagine a 13 and half year old being allowed to do that today? Talking of today im now 54 and a flying instructor at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Anyone fancy a lesson?? Regards, Steve