Lightning ends with sonic boom

The display of the Lightning at AAD 2008, Ysterplaat AFB in Cape Town, South Africa.
The display ends with the sound barrier broken, and a very loud sonic boom.
The lightning is owned by a company called Thundercity at Cape town international. They have a web site too - the great bit is - you can fly this plane for around $ 10 000 (yep, US $).
They have Hawker Hunters and Buccanneers as well, which are cheaper to fly - Bucc more than 50% less and Hunter about 335 of the price of the Lightning.

[@woodychadwick9834]

I've allways liked this unusual jet. The wings and the stacked engines

[@rynopot]

I actually bought a model to build in my teens. Two if I remember correctly. Couldn't get hold of a Mirage or Sabre at the time.

[@vulcanproject]

The Lightning was a rocket ship. Today it's combat capabilities are extremely limited, but it's outright acceleration, climb rate and top speed is still up there with the very best available. Many were pushed higher than 80,000 feet, and well over mach 2.0

[@sirjamesperry]

still has the climb record

[@5000mahmud]

That’s what happens when you build a cockpit strapped to a pair of after burning Avons.

[@bmc9504]

The Comet was very overpowered with 4 Avons in the wing.

[@bobdylan7120]

@@bmc9504 On the Nimrod (built from modified Comet aircraft) we would always shut two engines down when on patrol. Two engines gave us more than enough thrust, and enough electrical power for the entire suite of mission equipments.

[@ronaldrt]

Why was it's combat capabilities limited?

[@nelsonwhaley6348]

Beyond stunning...nothing like this beast of a machine made since.

[@Richard_Gatecliffe_Photography]

I saw the English Electric Lightning (as it was then) fly at the SSAFA air display at RAF Church Fenton, England in the 1970's. It broke the sound barrier at sea level. As a young boy, I thought the world had ended. For the finale it went ballistic and disappeared off into the sky until you could barely see a tiny dot. Breathtaking.

[@vidribbin]

Damn i envy you, they cant fly them things here in uk for fear of scaring pigeons, what i wouldnt give to see a general dynamic lightning take off in front of me at full pelt

[@54356776]

vidribbin What is a general dynamic lightning? This is an English electric lighting and later BAC lightning

[@rogergable5996]

Dosvidanya

[@tweeny55]

As a child In the early 70's I was lucky enough to see these and the vulcans in service and at very low level over sunk island where I lived on the east coast and heard the double bang many times.such a shame there's none left flying in the UK

[@bobdylan7120]

Worked on Lightnings at the very start of my Royal Air Force career, first at Wattisham and then in Cyprus. Awful aircraft to work on but oh so beautiful to see take-off and fly.

[@richardvernon317]

Awful aircraft to fight as well, the reason the RAF put their best pilots into it.

[@1tonyboat]

I was at Wattisham on 111 ,must have been 1974/75 ish ,armourer .....

[@bobdylan7120]

@@1tonyboat I was there from Oct 71 to Apr 73 on 29, before going to Cyprus on 56, Fairy.

[@dandonovan4999]

As a 14 yr old youngster in ATC camp in Germany, I watched a “Real” nighttime lightning scramble with Full afterburners! OMG!! One of the most exciting moments of my life! This aircraft was stunning with real character which many fighter don’t have today..... It remains for me the AC Cobra of the Sky!

[@BradBrassman]

Yes, I witnessed a squadron scramble at Wattisham (I think it was) in the mid 60's where my dad was a civvy contractor. Either the noise or sonic boom from the combined climb gave me the shits for a week.

[@sidv4615]

what year was it?

[@davesherry5384]

I don;t think ti does. I think ti remains for yourt the lightning of the sky. The AC Cobra is a pussy wagon.

[@hughfranklin4002]

as a five year old my parents took me to an air show in England where a Lightening broke the sound barrier it scared me out of my wits, but i have loved this plane ever since, she is a thing of beauty and pure power thank you for putting this up loved it

[@TopGun9982]

I was essentially under the 2 Eurofighter Typhoons that broke the sound barrier over Yorkshire a few months back, I wasn't expecting it, I thought it was 2 explosions at Leeds Bradford Airport a mile or 2 away, I'll never forget that sound.

[@JohnSmith-qq8ok]

The eurofighters had scrambled from conningsby to intercept a jet near newcastle. I was in whinmoor and the fighters were some 20 miles east of me when they broke the sound barrier. I thought a huge bomb had gone off. The bang shook the windows and set car alarms off in the street!

[@lordofbore]

Thanks for sharing this vid ,it brings back a lot of memories of airshows in the UK during the 70s and 80s :)

[@ludavicgraves344]

thanks great video Ryno

[@zelig4321]

i was at the show...there was a bomb scare at a shopping centre from the boom lol

[@marcuswardle3180]

Wasn’t the Lightning the only military aircraft able to keep pace with the Concorde? I think it was also able to intercept the SR-71 on exercises once, though I may be mistaken on the last one.

[@Resistculturaldecline]

The F-104 was faster and could climb higher. The SR71 was immune to interception by any jet, American or otherwise. 4000 missiles were shot at it and none ever intercepted it.

[@steveashforth5097]

@@Resistculturaldecline Sorry, but you're wrong regarding the F104. Here's an official quote: "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 F3 XR749. 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".

[@Resistculturaldecline]

@@steveashforth5097 What I stated is documented info

[@steveashforth5097]

That's correct. "In British Airways trials in April 1985, Concorde was offered as a target to NATO fighters including F-15s, F-16s, F-14s, Mirages, F-104s - but only Lightning XR749, flown by Mike Hale and described by him as "a very hot ship, even for a Lightning", managed to overtake Concorde on a stern conversion intercept" XR749 was known as a 'hot' aircraft, meaning it was very 'slippery' through the air. I was on 11 Squadron, at RAF Binbrook, but never got to work on 749 as it was an LTF aircraft.

[@Resistculturaldecline]

@@steveashforth5097 "The F-104 can operate at speeds in excess of Mach 2 and holds the current altitude record of 31.6 kilometers. It was the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records." That's almost 104,000ft, officially. It's been 120k feet in testing.

[@helenholmes7660]

So amazing. Where are they now.

[@Acecombatgamer]

cool thats the 1st time ive ever heard the lightning go mach 1

[@peterhenson4048]

When that was achieved then what really do we have now classified.

[@IanLanc]

''What the hell lets go vertical'' ---- ''Who's with me''

[@martinbayliss3868]

This was the aircraft the f15 was designed to beat, not a Mig. The high thrust to weight ratio, relatively low wing loading and simple slatless wing combined with excellent maneuverability and effective (for its day) radar and missile combination, all optimised for air superiority were the design concept behind the EE Lightning which was the concept copied by McDonald Douglas for the f15.

[@richardvernon317]

Wrong, the Lightning was a supersonic research aircraft that somebody decided to make into a fighter. its mission was basically that of a point defence interceptor that could intercept a soviet bomber that's position had been determined very late as soon as the ground based Early Warning and Ground Controlled Intercept radars had burnt through any jamming that was expected to support any attack by soviet bombers. The Missiles (Firestreak and Red Top) were very G Limited as regards what turning the aircraft could do when the missiles were launched and the Radar was next to useless in the face of heavy ECM.

[@martinbayliss3868]

@@richardvernon317 in its day the Lightning was state of the art and by 1964 with the final f6 variant was a far more capable all round combat jet that the early prototypes which flew ten years earlier. The fact the RAF kept the Lightning in service along side the f4 Phantom because the Lightning remained a potent interceptor right up until it’s fatigue life expiry and had capabilities the f4 lacked (the f4 was a truck by comparison to the agile Lightning) speaks for itself. The Lightning had development potential beyond the f6 as well and in fact the f6 variant combat range of 800 miles is similar to contemporary jet fighter ranges, only the early f1 and f3 marks were too short ranged. No, the f15 in concept is based on the English Electric Lightning.

[@Radio478]

EE/BAE lightning, even the camera can't keep up with lightning

[@orichalcum1]

great plane...

[@A.Hookway1]

The lightning fighter can fly twice the speed of sound

[@rynopot]

yes it can. It was designed to intercept high flying Soviet bombers, and that is why it was created with those awesome powerful engines to send it up to 50 000 feet as quickly as possible. It is an ugly plane, but effective.

[@mrandrossguy9871]

Ryno Potgieter Is this the Only Jet to have ever Had Engines Stacked ?!

[@puma.will.pounce7590]

Yeah, it can fly twice the speed of sound for about 3 to 4 minutes before it runs out of fuel. LOL.

[@engasal]

all hail the Lightning

[@Radio478]

Shock waves

[@greseres]

dammit! I keep reading Sonic Rainboom...

[@jenxx49]

I've seen jets fly faster than sound many times before, but I've never actually heard a sonic boom... I don't get it?

[@stinkyfungus]

then you probably haven't seen an aircraft fly by at the speed of sound. its quite distinctive, and depending on how far away the plane is VERY loud. possibly you have seen some flybys that were just under the speed of sound, and saw the transonic shock collar? like the blue angel's "sneak pass" they do that at about 700 mph. the F/A 18 is notorious for producing a well defined shock collar, but has a difficult time surpassing mach 1 at sea level unless air conditions are favorable. more powerful planes like the F14 or F15 can do it on a whim at low altitude. the speed of sound at sea level is 760ish depending on humidity, and temperature, and some planes have difficulty passing mach 1 at low level the speed of sound gets lower as the atmosphere thins, at 50,000 feet its down to about 650 miles per hour.

[@rynopot]

hi Jen. the sonic boom is heard when the plane goes supersonic. i.e. it goes from mach 0.99 to mach 1. It also depends where you are situated with relation to the plane. Hope you have the priviledge to hear it one day.

[@funkydown]

ive been on airshows several times and i heard (not confirmed) that planes are banned from speeding near the speed of sound so they wouldnt damage tousands of peoples hearing. ive never heard it irl but sonic boom happens also under the speed of sound sometimes so i think that even this regulation wont prevent that at all.

[@rynopot]

+cchujnickSpam2 There is always a safe altitude involved - and the sonic boom wouldn't be called a sonic boom if it didn't happen when the plane hit the speed of sound.

[@funkydown]

Ryno Potgieter it happens when the air is accelerated to the speed of sound so it produces shockwave and depending on the aerodynamics of a plane it can happen below hitting the speed of sound

[@Scoobydcs]

it wasnt crashy at all the pilots loved its handling and performance it could turn on a sixpence (or dime if you prefer) then promptly leave every plane in the world for dead in a straight line drag race (including the zipper/widowmaker!). the problems were its complexity and proneness to fire in the back end (this caused dave stocks crash). the 104 was fast in a straight line (not as fast as the lightning though) but it had some real nasty handling characteristics and couldnt turn for shit

[@fourthdrawerdown6297]

What did you film this with? A pad and pencil?

[@rynopot]

We had a ridiculous amount or rain that week before the show - everyone was walking with their shoes in their hands, feet in 2 inches of mud. Tried putting the tripod on a plastic chair... Was like trying to shoot a movie on an Ice Rink

[@pof1991]

She could still knock seven barrels out of all your raptors viggens and Rafael

[@rynopot]

no she wont, cant even take off

[@ollyk22]

How sad that this company couldn't maintain their aircraft, which resulted in the loss of a rare jet along with a good pilot :-(

[@sidv4615]

what are you talking about? which incident?

[@richardvernon317]

@@sidv4615 Thunder city lost a Lightning T5 in 2008. Aircraft caught fire in flight and the fire took out the flying controls. Pilot tried to Eject but maintenance errors stopped the Ejection seat from leaving the aircraft correctly and the pilot was killed.

[@sidv4615]

@@richardvernon317 sad to hear that people feel sad for a piece of metal but not a human life. a father, a son, a brother and a great friend.

[@richardvernon317]

@@sidv4615 I feel sorry for Dave Stock, however had I been the tasked to fly that aircraft and I was told that the ejection seat cartridges were life expired, my first reaction would have been, Aircraft is not airworthy, I'm not flying it until they are replaced!!! Especially in an aircraft like the Lightning which had a terrible safety record for in flight fires and most emergency drills ending with the word Eject. I have flown aircraft solo and have strapped my arse to a live Martin Baker Ejection seat and flown on it with the pins withdrawn.

[@voltanicmercuay0431]

Very loud

[@rynopot]

I had an emotional outburst when it happened - didn't want to spoil the vid.

[@TheMightyHartley]

Distasteful comment. You should be ashamed.

[@michaelegan6092]

Nice comments ,sad that no one had the time to read them,thumbs down.

[@edwardmckenzie3402]

Probably one of the most awesome planes that ever flew. It was the only plane that could catch the Concorde and U2.

[@johnweighell7725]

Remember lying in the long grass at the end of Leeming runway in the 50’s watching them go close to vertical and supersonic as the went off. To intercept Russian bombers, was a spine tingling experience

[@michellemarshall3667]

I remember the Lightning performances at Mildenhall airshows in the late 70s. Everyone would be out to watch it doing its stuff. Later in life i serverd in the RAF and saw them whilst serving at RAF Wattisham by then an F4 Phantom base. Binbrook Lightnings would land on visits then show the F4 pilots the proper way to take off. Down the centre line at 20 ft then go vertical at the end of the runway to around 20000ft then roll off the top. I have been close to the runway end during these takeoffs. Ultimate fighter as far as i am concerned. Best of British design and engineering. Simply awesome. Rick M

[@richardvernon317]

But you never worked on them. The Lightning was an Engineering disaster area. Leaked fuel and Hydraulic oil all over the place (internally), had a nasty habit of catching fire in places that had no fire extinguishers (because there was nowhere to fit them). Whole host of minor items on it that required an engine removal to allow access (which involved disconnecting the jet pipe from the Airframe (part of the reheat system within the Jet pipe was controlled by items in the airframe) and the engine itself, before you could remove the engine and then it all had to be put back together and test it on the engine running shed before the aircraft could fly. Next to no fuel, next to no weapons and no space within the aircraft to upgrade or add anything (most of the Fuselage was Air intake and Jet pipe) . On the F Mk 3 version they had to remove the cannons to fit extra black boxes to allow the aircraft to stand a chance to be able to find a target in an ECM environment. Oh and no Radar Warning Receiver on the Lightning. Real Fight with a Phantom. Phantom fires Sky Flash missile at Lightning at long range and kills it before Lightning knows its there. Lightning was good at Air Shows though.

[@kubinka879]

I watched the last flight of Russ Pengelly at Wattisham. One evening about 6 pm he cattier out a solo aerobatic display in I believe one of the TFF lightnings. He finished with a low run an spiral upward, breaking half the windows in the Air Traffic Control. He was sadly killed in an Tornado crash as a test pilot.

[@tonyh543]

@axion9 ... think that was good... I was that pilot then ... and now at 56 (sgh) I wish I was again!

[@bmc9504]

"During British Airways trials in April 1985, Concorde was offered as a target to NATO fighters including F-15 Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-14 Tomcats, Mirages, andF-104 Starfighters - but only Lightning XR749, flown by Mike Hale and described by him as "a very hot ship, even for a Lightning", managed to overtake Concorde on a stern conversion intercept."

[@britshop1]

And there you have my answer

[@britshop1]

I worked on Lightening under cart

[@magikjoe3789]

And that's the real reason why Concorde is no longer flying.

[@richardvernon317]

The RAF Phantoms in those exercises just got in front of the Concorde and shot it in the face with a simulated Sky Flash MRAAM shot (as they would have done against a real Soviet Supersonic bomber heading towards the UK). Those Concorde Sorties were going on before April 1985, because I first heard of them in March 1985 when I visited RAF Neatishead as part of my RAF Air Defence System Electronics Technician training course. At that time nobody had pulled off an intercept (though the guy who told me was a friend from training (A few months ahead of me) who was posted to the unit a couple of months before. The actual date of the Lightning intercept was 2nd April 1985.

[@billbonnington7916]

This brings back many happy memories at airshows. The Lightning was my favourite of all time, the sheer power and the finale which was always a low high speed run followed by stick back and disappear to high altitude in seemingly no time at all. The tortured air being spewed out of the back with the two Avons on afterburn.... awesome.

[@g.g.dunnitt9181]

I've been to many airshows over the years since the early 1960's and the Lightning is still by far and away the best airshow aircraft that I ever saw. It's such a pity that thanks to the army of emotionless jobsworths that now rule Britain we can no longer witness first hand the sight of a Lighning doing a fast pass with full burners -if you have never seen it you cannot believe how exciting it is. The only thing that comes close is the Vulcan howl, and we can no longer experience that either.

[@leonleese4919]

Sadly the only time I saw a Lightning was around 35 - 40 years ago we were walking towards the summit of the Great Orme (Llandudno) and a Lightning appeared out of the low cloud surrounding the summit. It was flying quite slowly but I could clearly se the pilot amazing looking aeroplane. To me it made the walk to the summit the most memorable over the last 77 years, quite different from my first air show in the early 1950’s at RAF Ternhill, Shropshire when the highlight was a Vampire among many older aeroplanes among them a DH Domino.

[@sidv4615]

man what an incredible experience. 77 years? that's coool. sooo what was your most memorable moment in your entire life? both aviation related and non aviation related.

[@magikjoe3789]

The greatest interceptor ever built. Bar none.

[@davidpeters6536]

Superb! I was at a display in the UK when they did that.

[@johnmunro4952]

An aircraft that could go supersonic....in a vertical climb 😱

[@puma.will.pounce7590]

No aircraft can go supersonic in a vertical climb. In fact, no aircraft can even accelerate in a vertical climb.

[@guillermoalvaradoflores8698]

increíble- fantástico.

[@richardvernon317]

@@puma.will.pounce7590 Harrier can!!!!

[@Rorywizz]

@@puma.will.pounce7590 Anything with a thrust to weight ratio of above 1 can accelerate in a vertical climb, such as the harrier and lightning

[@cryptohunt2552]

It is a sin that the UK won't let their remaining few airworthy Lightnings fly at air shows.

[@rynopot]

i saw a pilot fly into the ground with one, and that is where they all should stay: on the ground

[@ThomasDoubting5]

It's best safey wise

[@awittyusernamepleaselaugh7481]

The Lightning was difficult to handle even when brand new. Now combine that with decades upon decades of ageing irreplaceable components.

[@marcuswardle3180]

It’s said that the Lightning was a rocket but to the engineers on the ground it was a Gordon’s knot that had to be unravelled and put back together almost every time it flew!

[@johndavies7188]

Totally agree same as the Vulcan and Concorde etc, I understand the safety issues but it just seems a great shame.

[@XXXmetalshredarXXX]

I love sonic booms but I really never heard one before in real life. But while I was in new Mexico, I did see a sr-71 blackbird fly by, it want even going fast. But it was very loud. Started to rattle the windows.

[@guillermoalvaradoflores8698]

Increíble avion de los mejores interceptores de la historia pero al cancelar el TSR 2 es el único avion supersónico hasta hoy 100 % británico, buccaneers y Harriers muy buenos aviones pero subsónicos...no hubieran cancelado el Harrier supersónico..el Tempest nueva esperanza británica.

[@airbrushingbynick6071]

The Beasty Avon 200 series engines. Played about a bit. 😀

[@rynopot]

See the other Lightning video in my collection - the one of 9 seconds. My voice is in it - then you'll understand why I edited this one a bit.

[@tommyd5238]

I always liked the Lightning, you can never see or hear an aircraft break the sound barrier these days, I remember when I was a kid in the 60s on holiday in Clacton, Essex England when planes from the USAF did it regularly a few miles out to sea parallel to the beach, flying maybe from the Wethersfield air base but not sure.

[@sgtunix]

Thanks for posting. A piece of history

[@TheClareybrown61170]

I am 55 and saw my first Lightning at Farnborough in 1969,Concordes first outing as well.I was hooked from then on.What a sight for a 6 year old and my ears have never really recovered.Great video Ryno.If you get a chance come and see our F53 at Gatwick Aviation Museum. All running.Check ZF579 on KZbin if you haven't already.

[@rynopot]

I shot this video myself jerkoff - special permission was received to do the sound barrier at this airshow - the shock wave was felt 20 km far in a shopping centre - another shopping centre in Cape Town was evacuated because it was thought a bomb exploded somewhere... Eat shit - rather than type it in my videos.

[@jeffslade1892]

Yes indeed. Back in the day a Lightning would approach the display in supersonic silence to please the crowd and climbing out to avoid the trees before returning at moderate pace to perform twinkle rolls, hesitation rolls and cobra manoeuvre (before it was called that) then belting around the display area below tree level, and of course, punching a hole in the cirrus clouds in 16 seconds.

[@morriganravenchild6613]

What a beautiful plane.

[@moleman1961]

Beautiful! My all-time best Aircraft!

[@DIDCOTTWIST]

i heard the space shuttle double sonic boom in 1992 that was loud.

[@EduardRitok]

ok!!! answer accepted and understood ;))) yeah, I would probably have the same

[@cab6273]

The Lightning is like the Starfighter, design marvels but conceptual failures.

[@killerbeez95]

Are the thunder city lightnings, buccaneers and hunter still flying or have they been disbanded and grounded?

[@fredericksaxton3991]

I believe the first or only plane able to go supersonic from takeoff and go to vertical flight in one manoeuvre.

[@jthedarkwolfxtreem]

i thought i herd a shot gun (sarcastic) wow that was pretty loud

[@Nebelkrieg]

is it me or is this a very special sounding jet...

[@airzulu2733]

As old as it is the British lightning could still some of the newer generation of jets the runaround. Fantastic aircraft .

[@richardvernon317]

Not True, all of them would wop its arse. One of the best stories about the Lightning v a modern aircraft was a fight between a RAF Lightning and a Belgium Air Force F-16. The two aircraft did a long turning fight with neither aircraft getting a missile lock or guns on target until the F-16 suddenly pulled a snap manoeuvre and got a kill on the Lightning. When they landed the RAF pilot asked the BAF pilot how he had done it. The BAF pilots reply, he got fed up trying to beat the Lightning in dry power only, so He decided to use reheat.

[@ThomasDoubting5]

Just about remember these booming the skys amazing aircraft

[@Pincer88]

What a truly remarkable fighter aircraft, even more so when one considers that it was developed in the late fifties, early sixties of the 20th century. When I look at it turn and burn, it could even make an F-16 look shy. Shame I 've never seen it in real life.

[@michellemarshall3667]

Hard to believe that in 1947,only 12 years after the RAFs last biplane fighter the Gladiator had entered service, the Lightning was on the drawing board. 13 years later entering sevvce with 74 squadron

[@richardvernon317]

F-16's only lost to it by trying to the minimum fuel possible. Most Modern fighters would have killed it at Long range with a MRAAM shot and the Lightning not having a radar warning receiver would have known nothing about it until the missile exploded next to the aircraft.

[@Radio478]

Break sound barrier in a vertical climb

[@daywalker750]

A real sonic boom, awesome video!

[@ToonandBBfan]

Excellent. I love the old Lightning

[@StewartNicolasBILLYCONNOLLY]

If the Lightning had been developed to it's ultimate capability it would out-perform anything available today.

[@rynopot]

that's not saying much. expand and explain what you mean with "out-perform anything available today". Its design doesn't look like it will make 9G, the wing design is crap for fights at low speed. In fact, the whole body and wing design makes it a very sluggish dogfighter. I hope you can enlighten us with what you meant.

[@StewartNicolasBILLYCONNOLLY]

Ryno Potgieter Well, my friend. Thanks for your reply. I was born in '52, grew up loving the WWII principals. Then the Lightning came along while the US were still having pilots falling out of the sky on the Bell stuff, plus the Starfighter etc. Then in the late 60s we had the U.K. cuts to Aircraft development, the cancellation of the TSR2 etc. The Lightning development stopped there. Since then the gem of U.K. Aircraft has been the unbelievable Hawker Harrier VTOL. (Now sold to the U.S.M.C. and abandoned sadly by the RAF). Can you tell me your thoughts on where the Lightning may have taken us??

[@rynopot]

@@StewartNicolasBILLYCONNOLLY I was born in 73, and I love military aviation. never knew much about it until a few years: watched videos about the Sukhoi 27 development, bla bla bla... But in short, if you look at fighter wing designs these days, and the entire aircraft actually - the entire body, except for the wings, makes up part of the lifting force. The wing shape is also as such, that everyone employs a change in angle somewhere along the wing's front end. The lightning's design and WING design, is a problem, the fact that it looks like a sausage with a wing attached to it, no blending into the main airframe, makes it a useless dogfigther. But in saying that, let's look at the role the Lightning was made for - getting high and get there fast, to intercept Russian fighters and bombers. I have no idea where the radar sits in that thing, but it usually is in the front part of the nose - which in the Lightning's case, is a air intake. So, if you can specify which specific field / area it would outperform other aircraft, it would help. But in turning it will suck, it doesn't help getting so high so fast, because the Sukhoi's and Migs will shoot it down without knowing they are there. But: when it comes to adoring a specific old military jet: we share that. my big love is the Mirage F1. But as a sideline, I have to admit today, that in my honest opinion, except for Eurofighter and the Hawks, the British definitely made the f_ugliest military jets in the last 100 years. LOL.

[@sidv4615]

@@StewartNicolasBILLYCONNOLLY '52? hey you’re almost 70 now. When's your birthday?

[@richardvernon317]

@@rynopot Radar was in the Nosecone. It was a Ferranti AI.23B AIRPASS radar. It could not support radar guided missiles and was a basic mono pulse radar (which means that it could determine how far of the radar dish centre line a target was by use of a single pulse of radar energy and use that information to point the radar dish directly at the target so it could automatically track and follow). It was not Pulse Doppler (which allows the radar to be able to see aircraft targets within ground returns thanks to the doppler shift of the signal reflected off a moving aircraft) and attempts to fit a Continuous Wave illumination system to allow the Lightning to carry radar guided semi active homing missiles and a PD system both failed because there was no room to put the extra electronics into the aircraft's nose. On the Lightning F Mk 3, the aircraft was fitted with equipment to allow the aircraft to find a target in a heavy ECM environment (Jamming). To fit the Black boxes, they had to take the nose mounted Cannons out!!

[@TheAngmarwitch]

Beautiful :o)

[@ValiantXD818]

that was amazing

[@clivedoyle9350]

I remember seeing three or four of these on their side at Shackletons scrapyard in Halifax waiting to be" cut up " A sad end to a great plane. On a different note I bought lots of parts For my RR Griffon engine from Shacks and also a complete Bristol 14 cylinder Centauras radial engine.Happy days.

[@gazof-the-north1980]

When the RAF first aquired the Lightning, I believe more than one pilot accidentally went supersonic!

[@EduardRitok]

why is that boom sound CUT?????? explanation ..immediatelly!

[@dakchang63]

Like the A-10 so ugly the ground repels it...lol really a great plane and demon in the air

[@Scoobydcs]

unreliable and a pig to maintain but not crashy/dangerous to fly

[@CaMaRo1RoC89]

@axion9 was not a sonic boom. video was edited from other sonic boom vid.

[@kinsley2108]

unbelievable, they didn't want to do it in 2006

[@GSP21]

The dogs--------------!

[@bobc4368]

spectacular shoot down of 2 English Electric lightnings by Bostonusa F-4B aim-9....usn bostonusa 1968 fmr earth

[@sidv4615]

no lightings were ever shot down by anyone.

[@MickeyFKNMouse]

@CaMaRo1RoC89 Was real

[@bazilmatthews9299]

Very disappointed

[@jamespotgieter9309]

lag in this vid gosh

[@jdhunt1897]

Most people don't know that if you heard a sonic boom and it was loud, it would be the last thing you ever heard.

[@sidv4615]

whatttt? 😂 i've heard sonic booms atleast thrice, i'm fine.

[@rynopot]

Send the link to your buddies...

[@HAWX234]

@Acecombatgamer same

[@Rogther]

Loved your minecraft video, blast from the past, cheers.

[@rynopot]

Thanks, the Minecraft thing is still in its infancy. Now started farming a bit more - loads of sheep and chickens in camps. LOL

[@thepepper1011]

f-104

[@geoac]

Difficult for a lift out being so high cockpit wise.

[@rynopot]

George A. Craigie not sure what you mean...

[@rynopot]

Very insensitive - I was there and saw dave Stock die...

[@Scoobydcs]

the 104 was worse! the lightning was a great airplane to fly but horrible to maintain the 104 was just bloody awefull to fly

[@tonylockhart1963]

@Harrier1980. Such a shame Beachy Head didn't spend money from Shell on proper maintenance and servicing the ejection seats etc.

[@Eloybb1]

No se ha roto la barrera del sonido, es un video modificado y retenido en un boom que ha sido artificial bloqueando el sonido y la imagen en un boom.

[@Collateralcoffee]

Uh-huh. So flying faster than the speed of sound is called the sonic boom. That's new.... But interesting nonetheless.