Originally Posted by
PDR1
The Radio 4 version of this story is even less likely IMHO. They claim that QRA-South was phoned and told to expect an american to drop by, who would relieve the QRA pilots. They then say that the american duly arrived, and shortly afterwards flew a QRA lightning on a mission. The different versions of the story they told then claimed that said Lightning returned with or without some/all of its missiles.
...because of course the USAF had a plentiful supply of current, Lightning-qualified pilots and trhe RAF routinely handed over aircraft and stood-down QRA to foreign officers on the basis of a single phone call. Happens every day...
PDR
My take was that the American took over the 'Ops' side of things and left the steely eyed Brit QRA pilot to do the biz. Nice to hear 'Lightning boys' and 'G+10' get a mention, the piece was entertaining if slightly far fetched...
