Lightning Ejection.
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forget-What you cannot determine from this one photo is what the aircraft did between the pilot pulling the handle and the picture being taken. It would surprise me if the aircraft attitude had not changed in that time, albeit short. For the pilot or the seat to 'get ahead' of the aircraft there must have been a change in aircraft attitude after the seat parted company with the jet.
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What you cannot determine from this one photo is what the aircraft did between the pilot pulling the handle and the picture being taken.
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Agree - it didn't climb but suppose it was inverted and rotating nose down into the vertical dive you see in the photo. Maybe the ejection occurred with a vertical vector component and that would result in the geometry you see. All conjecture, of course, but in my experience quite probable.
A single picture does not tell the full story.
A single picture does not tell the full story.
Avoid imitations
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Who was the first RAF girl to go supersonic solo then?
I know she piloted the first all female fast jet crew (one of my ex-studes).
I can't add much to what has been said about the photo but I did see the Lightning crash. At the time I was a 14 year old pupil at Hatfield Tech Grammar school ( now the University of Hertfordshire) and we were in our weekly Thursday afternoon Art lesson. I vaguely recall seeing a flash which caught my eye - could have been sunlight, the engine fire or the ejection ? - followed by a pall of smoke from behind the trees at the airfield, which was about 1 1/4 miles away. We went past the crash site on the way home to St.Albans later but there wasn't much left to see.
The market garden greenhouses were in the runway 06 undershoot and I also think I saw the tail of something sticking up out of them at another time, the aircraft having run off the end of runway 24. It must have been between late 1959 & November 1964, when I left school. It may have been a Buccaneer -can anyone confirm or deny ?
The market garden greenhouses were in the runway 06 undershoot and I also think I saw the tail of something sticking up out of them at another time, the aircraft having run off the end of runway 24. It must have been between late 1959 & November 1964, when I left school. It may have been a Buccaneer -can anyone confirm or deny ?
Originally Posted by spanners123
Green Flash
Could the 'deformation' near the port rear fuselage be as a result of the engine bay fire? (burnt out or detached panel??) Or could it even be a failed port tailplane?
I think it's the airbrakes.
Could the 'deformation' near the port rear fuselage be as a result of the engine bay fire? (burnt out or detached panel??) Or could it even be a failed port tailplane?
I think it's the airbrakes.
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In this age of conspiracy theory I wonder how in 1962 most of the daily papers had the same photo within 24 hours or so? Could it just be the photo was an original, one exposure item?
No retouching, just a still photographer being in the right place at the right time. Had it been a moving image we could have probably watched the entire sequence.
Nobody has yet suggested a radio controlled model either have they?
I also think I can see a UFO in the background, behind the hedge and a member of MI6 with a Ray Gun/Flash device.
No retouching, just a still photographer being in the right place at the right time. Had it been a moving image we could have probably watched the entire sequence.
Nobody has yet suggested a radio controlled model either have they?
I also think I can see a UFO in the background, behind the hedge and a member of MI6 with a Ray Gun/Flash device.
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Archmedes.
aviate 1138.
Problem solved. Seems that aviate1138 was there! On the spot! Font of all knowledge.
Event was on 13 Sept 1962, photo in the Daily Mirror of 9 October (the photographer, instead of making a quick buck selling it to the tabloids, gave to the BOI first before the photos made it into the public domain).
In this age of conspiracy theory I wonder how in 1962 most of the daily papers had the same photo within 24 hours or so?
Problem solved. Seems that aviate1138 was there! On the spot! Font of all knowledge.
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I agree the doubters are right to question, but speaking as an ex-aviation photographer my opinion is that the pilot etc are a fair bit further away from the camera than the aircraft - he's not ahead of it !
Shot of a lifetime though, - on the other hand one didn't need Photoshop to do the Turin Shroud either -
what ? Banging at the door ! No-one expects the inquisition ! Well, vaguely the same outfit...
I reckon it's real, but there was an occasion I was wrong.
Shot of a lifetime though, - on the other hand one didn't need Photoshop to do the Turin Shroud either -
what ? Banging at the door ! No-one expects the inquisition ! Well, vaguely the same outfit...
I reckon it's real, but there was an occasion I was wrong.
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That’s not just any Massey Ferguson. That belongs to the Conspirators. 
Note the registration number – XAR 658.
XA 658 was an RAF Mk V Javelin.
XR 658 was an RAF Jet Provost T4.
Coincidence. I think not!
Note the registration number – XAR 658.
XA 658 was an RAF Mk V Javelin.
XR 658 was an RAF Jet Provost T4.
Coincidence. I think not!
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Forget
Apply Occam's Razor. What was to be gained by altering the picture??????
The relevant pic is really low res and distorted compared to some versions available.
http://www.strangedangers.com/content/item/7392.html
Look at the rudder/fin for a start.
Apply Occam's Razor. What was to be gained by altering the picture??????
The relevant pic is really low res and distorted compared to some versions available.
http://www.strangedangers.com/content/item/7392.html
Look at the rudder/fin for a start.
Last edited by aviate1138; 27th Nov 2007 at 18:56. Reason: Typo
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Why alter the picture? 
The parachute didn't open (fully?). The pilot crashed through the greenhouse. No, you didn't get 6 frames a second with cameras then. Why not acknowledge a good - and lucky - shot. P.S. Looks like a Fordson Dexta to me.
The parachute didn't open (fully?). The pilot crashed through the greenhouse. No, you didn't get 6 frames a second with cameras then. Why not acknowledge a good - and lucky - shot. P.S. Looks like a Fordson Dexta to me.
Last edited by normally right blank; 28th Nov 2007 at 17:31. Reason: Removing some namecalling
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I just wanted to add my bit. I normally only read this forum and would'nt normally dream of posting on here as I am simply not qualified to do so, so my apologies if I have overstepped the mark.
According to the book 'Testing Times' by Don Middleton, it says that George Aird got a double reheat fire warning but believed that it may be spurious, deciding to try and make it to Hatfield. Quite close to touchdown, he experienced a sudden and uncommanded pitch up (believed to be the flying surface actuator shearing off due to the intense heat), moved the stick and found that it appeared disconnected. He immediately ejected.
Maybe it explain the unusual positioning of him and the seat in the picture if he initiated the ejection sequence during the pitch up?
This was also a pre-production Lightning
According to the book 'Testing Times' by Don Middleton, it says that George Aird got a double reheat fire warning but believed that it may be spurious, deciding to try and make it to Hatfield. Quite close to touchdown, he experienced a sudden and uncommanded pitch up (believed to be the flying surface actuator shearing off due to the intense heat), moved the stick and found that it appeared disconnected. He immediately ejected.
Maybe it explain the unusual positioning of him and the seat in the picture if he initiated the ejection sequence during the pitch up?
This was also a pre-production Lightning
This is a high res scan from an original print - signed by George Aird and the photographer Jim Meads - it's big...
Does anyone know exactly where the Lightning ended up??
I'm led to believe that Jim Meads and his wife were the first on the scene at the Carno Jag/Cessna accident...
N
Does anyone know exactly where the Lightning ended up??
I'm led to believe that Jim Meads and his wife were the first on the scene at the Carno Jag/Cessna accident...
N
Last edited by Nige321; 12th Dec 2007 at 11:25.