NickB
I believe that pic was taken from a Harrier, but stand to be corrected.
I've also heard it said that Mike Thompson was piloting the Lightning, but heard others say that isn't correct...
It was indeed taken by a Harrier, and I was flying it. MoD wanted a shot of a Lightning from head on in a vertical climb over the middle of Binbrook for a recruiting poster.
R Cooke esq., rolled up at Wittering and we fitted his specially- modded camera–carrying CBLS to a T4. He sat in the back and pushed the bomb button to activate the camera on my call. Obviously he couldn’t see anything of what was going on behind us.
The Lightning pilot was Mike Thompson and he had to tuck in very close under my tail as we ran in at 400kt and pulled up over the airfield.
After viewing the shots from the first sortie, Richard said he needed the Lightning closer to the lens!
I had a quiet chat with Mike and we reflew the profile - I could feel the Lightning on the stick all the way through the manoeuvre.
Mike said he had been “pretty close” during the pull-up. I didn’t want to know how close exactly!
All the best,
ExMudmover