WIWOL Wednesday
 

OK, I'll start it off.......


http://www.aviationancestry.com/Recr...rew-1973-1.jpg

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...nty/Light1.jpg

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...nty/Light3.jpg

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...nty/Light2.jpg



http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...nty/Light4.jpg

A couple of mine from Brunty :)

WIWOLs - any excuse! But nice pics - who were the good looking guys in the advertisement - when was that from?

Sometime between 1967 and 1974 judging by the 29 Sqn helmet colourings......

Says who they are in the text of the advertisement. Flt Lt Martin Jones and Fg Off Richard Manning (and my eyesight wasn't good enough to let me GD(P)).

Image title says advert is from 1973. The Engineer is Fg Off Peter? Challens and the Fighter Controller is Fg Off Mike Good.

Aah, thanks - on my laptop came up as dark blue on light blue and in the bright sunlight we are enjoying (briefly, I expect) just a bit difficult to read. Appreciated

Harald Joergens Interactive Panorama
 

Pete Chapman at IAT
 

Very nice pics Nutty! :ok:

First met RM in Oman 82-84, then saw him again on an Air Ambo visit to Linton circa 2007. Some people just can't give up this flying lark, eh? :ok:

Still a great looking BRITISH aircraft :ok:

Hope the following isn't too risqué.
When I joined BEA in 1973 and flew Viscounts at Glasgow, one of the pilots was Jock Sneddon, ex Lightnings.
He'd a tale of, upon receiving his posting, 'phoning to enquire of a colleague already on type what performance he might expect.
Jock's account went along the lines of:
"I asked him whit it was like and he said; Well, you line it up, shove it intae reheat an' the first thing that happens is yer foreskin hits ye in the face; by the time ye claw it doon again yer passin' ten thousand feet in the climb!" :}

And then there's the legendary remark after flying a single-seater, FMk1, for the first time (no T-birds had yet been built) to the question "how was it?"

"Well, I was ahead of it the whole time until brakes release"

OK, my first go at adding photo’s to text and I have had the slides for quite some time so please be gentle with me!

Back in the late 60’s 390 MU spent a lot of time at Tengah splitting 74 Squadron Lightnings into Airfix like components.
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1431098738
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1431098733
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1431098738
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1431099482

This was so the bolts holding the two wings together could be PRC’d to stop fuel leaks as I remember. Hours – well a week or more – of endless fun. We did a good job, as did those who did the Bruntingthorpe Lightnings with not one drip tray in sight – so far!

But this is how I remember them – even the ones at Tabuk!
http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...pszpvbetly.jpg

On the MU I also remember spending some time replacing burnt wiring on the spine after Avpin fires – which were clear and smokeless as I remember and difficult to spot until it was too late!

Excellent shots Morton give us more:D

Actually WIWOL Wednesday is next Wednesday when a few of us get together for a game of golf in Norfolk!:ok:

A friend of mine out at Aldergrove had been a liney at Binbrook and got a jolly in a T4 at Akrotiri. Pilot says do you want a long trip or a short trip.
The short trip sounds fun sir.
Landed after 8 minutes on reserves but I think he would be smiling.






Have a great day on the golf course sir.
Jon

The Wednesday WIWOL whoosh-fcuk weaponeers
 

Enjoy your golf day WIWOLS, don't forget: some of us still work for a living!

Here's one:http://sg-etuo.de/media/xdc/etuo/XR7...rsoetebier.jpg

What a great thread. I never flew the vertical twin jet, I shall certainly read here with great interest. Well done, Minnie Burner for starting it.:ok:

Amazing aircraft- and British! Here is Treble One's last Lightning formation flight, awaiting their turn at Sqn handover.
http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/...psozzepwea.jpg

My Konica camera, Kodachrome slide.

I thought this might bring back memories for some WIWOLs - radio traffic prior to and after the crash of Lightning F6 XR769 as a result of an engine fire off Spurn Point on 11 Apr 88 - probably the last abandonment prior to withdrawal from service.

Someone has identified those speaking in the comments. Some nice unrelated Lightning pics in the vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm8fI9hTIqc

Now there was a top guy - drifted off to obscurity as an Air Commodore I believe. Excellent OC SFC at Boulmer (kept me out of the doo on one or two occasions)

God, that tape brings back memories. Was it really 27 years ago? It seems like yesterday. :{:{

Yup, was the last RAF in-service loss, and the last ejection from a Lightning.

Ian Black published the photo's in one of his Lightning books of the a/c on fire etc., as he was DC's No.2 that day.

There's a transcript of the R/T and further details on the LA website here.

June 2004 Story

Porky, you're famous!:)

As befits the RAFs Premier Jewish fighter pilot...... :p

WIWOL autograph signing session in the Aces High Gallery tent at a Duxford Airshow a few years ago ;)

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...gends10015.jpg

Correction? I have been contacted by the guys that run the Lightnings info website Home Page

They suggest that the pictures I posted might actually be from when XR758 was being dismantled in Darwin (after a fire) for shipping back to the UK. I never went to Darwin and was not involved in splitting any of the Aircraft for the PRC job at Tengah. If anyone who did either could verify where the pictures were taken it would help me as well. Certainly the domed hangar is not the norm for UK bases. Maybe someone might recognise themselves or have knowledge of the Ground Equipment in these pictures?

500N - can you pm me please? Your message box is full so my reply to you was bounced.

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1431554837

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1431554834

Oi, it's FRIDAY!

BTW, ISTR Porky getting airborne at Binbrook (around '82 ish I guess) and hitting the underside on the runway and heading skywards followed by a sheet of flame. Recovered the aircraft too I think. Seems a lifetime ago.

I was away on Wednesday:)
I think commander Black took this one-I'm sure he won't mind me posting it.
Twas a good day out.
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/p...pyofimg257.jpg

Ahh, Chickenlover, such fantastic photography. To embody both of The Royal Air Forces premier aircraft in one shot is a true art. Great post, great shots. Thanks.

Smudge :ok:

The interactive cockpit panorama - now you can "start the engines"
 

At this high resolution interactive cockpit panorama of a Lightning F.53 you can now (virtually) start the engines, the buttons are on the starboard side, on the right of the IFF and in front of the oxygen regulator , and indicated by a blinking symbol.

The original sound has been recorded bythe Lightning Preservation Group at RAF Binbrook.

http://sg-etuo.de/media/xdc/etuo/XN7...bier_72_tb.jpg


http://sg-etuo.de/media/westersoeteb...0676-wsb_s.jpg

Having sat in a single seat Lightning cockpit, could I ask anyone who flew it whether operating the throttles was exceptionally uncomfortable, or was I just not putting my left arm in the correct position?

The reason I ask is that with my left hand on the throttles, I found the large lever aft of them (radar controls?) to be digging in to my forearm.

Quoth the actress to the bishop: "you were doing it wrong!" (I'd guess it was at or beyond full downwards scanner elevation extension).

No, operating the throttles wasn't remotely difficult or uncomfortable - though we could have done with the seat being a bit less upright for the 5hr+ sorties.

Never flew the Phantom, but, compared to the Tornado F2/3 (qualified in both cockpits), the radar hand-controller was an ergonomic marvel - in, admittedly, a total slum of a cockpit - that only gave trouble when someone left the lid open and it got wet, thereby offering the potential to receive a mighty belt from all the trons running through it when you turned the radar on. I was forever mighty careful after having being bitten once.

Not, of course, a patch on all the more modern stuff, but it could be rightly described as 1950's-style HOTAS-ish...

Gentlemen,

Are we allowed requests on this smashing thread ? I will continue, I was fortunate to be employed on 56 Squadron (possibly the premier Lightning Squadron) at Akrotiri in the early 70s. I have a picture I will scan, upload and post, it's on the ground unfortunately, from those days. Anyone have any photographs of 56 in that era ? Pre coup and Turkish invasion. Thanks in anticipation. Great pics so far.

Smudge :ok:

With over 1000 hours, I never found it a problem but I was only 20 when I first flew it so was much more slender than now! But I do sit in the cockpit at Bruntingthorpe from time to time and it still fits like a glove! Even the hand controller falls nicely into the palm and the brain remembers how it works and which switch does what! Amazing as I usually have trouble remembering where I put the car keys!:ok:

sarn1e & newt,

Thank you for your replies to my question.
:ok: