Lightning Ejection.
dy good scan. Amazing to see the pilot like that.
Looking very closely I believe that the seat is upright, pointing top left, perhaps with its back to the camera.
George Aird is upside down, facing the camera with his legs still in the 'seated' position. I assume his hands may still be gripping the handle.
N
George Aird is upside down, facing the camera with his legs still in the 'seated' position. I assume his hands may still be gripping the handle.
N
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sad but true
Shortly after two trainers collided in Yorkshire in the 70's when one aircraft hit a tractor in the fields below, an advert appeared in the local rag that went something like "wanted farm hand with quick reactions"
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Hi
If you need any more infomation or the full story of the event well . . .
i am here with the photographer, the photographers son and me the photographers grandson.
Both my dad and grandad were there and can vividly remember the event so, just ask and i will go find him watching the tv and ask.
regards oli
If you need any more infomation or the full story of the event well . . .
i am here with the photographer, the photographers son and me the photographers grandson.
Both my dad and grandad were there and can vividly remember the event so, just ask and i will go find him watching the tv and ask.
regards oli
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also you may remember this thread
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...t=97449&page=3
it is about the crash involving a jaguar hitting a cessna taking photos.
This was over jim meads home and him and his wife were the first there and both helped them with their injuries.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...t=97449&page=3
it is about the crash involving a jaguar hitting a cessna taking photos.
This was over jim meads home and him and his wife were the first there and both helped them with their injuries.
A result. Well done for posting olimeads. Just tell me it isn't 'retouched' and I'll believe you. 
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Who was the guy that did a mini display at his mothers birthday party in Doncaster .The year must have been about 1975 and the Lightening and pilot were based at Binbrook at the time. I saw the whole thing nd was pretty impressed
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This is my first post and being from Norfolk, misread the thread's title and thought it was an ad for those purple pills !!! Actually, this my second attempt at a reply as I somehow goofed up a long response to another thread and can't find it in the ether now. Lost forever - like my youth !
Didn't need purple tablets then - you lucky girls.
Didn't need purple tablets then - you lucky girls.
Just another erk
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The photo was on the front cover of Air Clues in the 60's. What I wanted to ask though, does anybody have a photograph of a Lightning taking off in full re-heat at night, showing showing the rings of fire slightly behind it. Saw that a few times when I was in Saudi, but wouldn't take a camera into work with me, after two of our guys got arrested doing a compass swing, Saudi guards thought they where taking Photo's. 
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Turning the picture until Mr Aird looks the right way up - he appears to be facing the camera to my eyes. A left glove [dimly] seems to be visible. His chute must have opened a fair way as landing with a fully open chute onto a greenhouse is likely to have broken one's legs anyway!
That chute must have Just opened!
That chute must have Just opened!
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hi
me again, i have been shown an unpublished photo that followed this one of the smoke and flames raising from the next field.
i spoke to my dad and all he remembers was a defining bang and running for the gate of the field.
The camera was a glass plate single shot camera and here is a pic.
The Jag/Cessna crash was an illegal aerial photographer flying and taking photos in a very busy RAF route as there house is white and between two valleys. the Jag hit and the cessna pilot was killed insistently in the jet engines, the two pilots ejected and were minerley injured.
i have been shown again a lot of unpublished images of this crash also, my grand mother was the first to help as she was an ex nurse.
me again, i have been shown an unpublished photo that followed this one of the smoke and flames raising from the next field.
i spoke to my dad and all he remembers was a defining bang and running for the gate of the field.
The camera was a glass plate single shot camera and here is a pic.
The Jag/Cessna crash was an illegal aerial photographer flying and taking photos in a very busy RAF route as there house is white and between two valleys. the Jag hit and the cessna pilot was killed insistently in the jet engines, the two pilots ejected and were minerley injured.
i have been shown again a lot of unpublished images of this crash also, my grand mother was the first to help as she was an ex nurse.
It's strange how things seem to be connected ...
Last week I was in Germany. Whilst in Munich I visited the Deutsches Museum to take some photo's. There is a section dealing with aircraft escape systems, and it has the nose of a German F-104G Starfighter with the seat 'mid-extraction' to illustrate how it all works. On the wall next to the aircraft is a huge (probably about 6ft square!) copy of the photo.
You can walk right up to it and examine it closely. It is a bit blurred, but still an amazing picture to look at close-up.
Last week I was in Germany. Whilst in Munich I visited the Deutsches Museum to take some photo's. There is a section dealing with aircraft escape systems, and it has the nose of a German F-104G Starfighter with the seat 'mid-extraction' to illustrate how it all works. On the wall next to the aircraft is a huge (probably about 6ft square!) copy of the photo.
You can walk right up to it and examine it closely. It is a bit blurred, but still an amazing picture to look at close-up.
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I am not sure the article regarding the first British woman to fly supersonic is correct. That achievement goes to Diana Barnato-Walker.
The Royal Air Force - History Section
The Royal Air Force - History Section
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Diana Barnato-Walker
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Those girls!
Very often the first sight of a brand new mark of whatever aircraft being delivered to a front line squadron including all the really 'Hot Ships' would have been one flown by one of those extraordinary set of girl/lady/female pilots.
In a way it is a shame that they couldn't actually fly combat missions because if they were anything like their Russian equivalents they would have been 'Aces'.
The "Nachthexen" the Luftwaffe called them. The Night Witches. Flying antiquated aircraft they sometimes did 18 sorties a night! I guess the front was only a few miles away!
Marina Raskova and the Soviet Women Pilots of World War II
I like to think that Diana Barnato-Walker, Lettice Curtis, Anne Welch, Amy Johnson et al would have been just as good as the amazing "Nachthexen".
Having flown with one of them, I have no doubt.
In a way it is a shame that they couldn't actually fly combat missions because if they were anything like their Russian equivalents they would have been 'Aces'.
The "Nachthexen" the Luftwaffe called them. The Night Witches. Flying antiquated aircraft they sometimes did 18 sorties a night! I guess the front was only a few miles away!
Marina Raskova and the Soviet Women Pilots of World War II
I like to think that Diana Barnato-Walker, Lettice Curtis, Anne Welch, Amy Johnson et al would have been just as good as the amazing "Nachthexen".
Having flown with one of them, I have no doubt.