Working on a 1:48 scale T.5 at the moment, and I got to wondering……does anyone know of any good sources of information on how the two-seaters compared to their single-seat brethren? I’ve heard they were actually pretty good performers, but I don’t know how truthful this is. Any thoughts or perhaps links that could be shared here?
By: ozplane - 9th June 2016 at 11:21
In fairness I seem to remember an RN Phantom doing something similar at a Lee-on-Solent airshow many years ago. My 2 year old son cried for 20 minutes afterwards due to the noise but he was coming down with chickenpox so I blamed that.
By: Paul - 9th June 2016 at 09:53
Sorry for the thread drift but:
The only thing that sticks in my mind ( Flying wise ) was the Mk3 Lightnings and 2’s used to take a great delight in a 2 Aircraft formation take off by as soon as getting airborne and whipping Landing gear up, they held noses down till near end of runaway, then do an amazing rotation through 90 degrees pointing straight up and then power right up high till out of sight.
Bill T.
In the early eighties at the Greenham common airshow the American commentator was blithering on about 1 to 1 thrust ratios on their new aircraft and how wonderful they were when the Lightning display started and the pilot did as described above….. A bit of an “anything you can do old chap we can do in 25 year old aircraft” moment. The pilot got a rapturous round of aplause when he taxied past the flight line when he finished.
By: Robbiesmurf - 9th June 2016 at 07:16
My first experience of seeing how fast the Lightnings were was during an exercise at Binbrook in ’77.
Two Buccaneers were intercepted by an F3. The Bucc’s split up thinking they could get away. The F3 just nonchalantly followed one, got his gun-camera kill and turned towards the other. I heard the rumble of the reheat and it just shot, and I mean SHOT behind the second. He casually followed it for a few seconds then pealed away. Those kites have more legs than a centipede……
By: WV-903. - 9th June 2016 at 00:53
Just looked in again and thats the first time I’ve seen that video Robbie, excellent, thanks for posting it. That take off looked about right to me and clearly shows the T Birds could do same as single seaters. As I remember at FCMPC (Fighter Command Missile Practice Camp) It was the FireStreak missile used during my time there. MPC (or FCMPC) was an RAF Fighter Command Support Unit set up for Training Fighter Sqdns and personnel in the live firing operations and was very successful. My time was more involved with running the MPC Tyre Bay and Airframes 1st Line support work and it could get real hectic if cross winds were running during flying time. A heavy cross wind landing would scrub the tread right off the main wheels and even go through several layers of tyre safety re-inforcement “Canvas”. So we were very busy at those times. 2 wheels exploded whilst one Lightning was being towed around to Hanger and we thought an ejection seat had fired. The driver and “Brake” man were quite concussed and shaken up. But no damage, except to mainwheels and tyres . Bits were found out on main runaway.
Bill T.
By: Robbiesmurf - 8th June 2016 at 05:42
By: PhantomII - 7th June 2016 at 23:19
That’s quite interesting and I’m glad you decided to share your experience here. It’s the sort of thing I hope to read when I login.
Can you comment much on Firestreaks vs. Red Tops or was it all Firestreak while you were there? I’m not asking necessarily about the performance of one missile vs. the other, but rather just general comments on them and how they were loaded, cared for, etc. Just curious how an MPC would have worked. Thanks!
By: WV-903. - 6th June 2016 at 23:07
Hi Phantom 2,
I worked at RAF Valley M.P.C. (Missile Practice Camp) as an Airframe nco from 1965 through to 1970 and we would have Lightning Sqdn, Detachments arrive there for a weeks Firing of missiles at Flying targets on the Aberporth Range. Every Lightning Sqdn and Training Sqdn. visited at some point once every year. I was part of MPC’s Sqdn support crew, so got to see a lot of action around airfield.
The only thing that sticks in my mind ( Flying wise ) was the Mk3 Lightnings and 2’s used to take a great delight in a 2 Aircraft formation take off by as soon as getting airborne and whipping Landing gear up, they held noses down till near end of runaway, then do an amazing rotation through 90 degrees pointing straight up and then power right up high till out of sight. I don’t remember the 2 Seaters doing that, but maybe I missed those. Once the later Mk of Lightning came along, This “Rotation” practice ceased, which I think was to do with those bigger belly tanks carried.
Bill T.
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June 6, 2016 at 8:12 pm