Austin Seven & English Electric Lightening

[Stuart Joseph]

Apologies for the spelling of Lightning I blame these new fangled predictive speller. Didn’t happen with my old Imperial tripe riter.
Regards
Stuart

[Chris KC]

The gravel trap! I guess they hadn't invented FOD yet...

[jansens]

Is this where F1 got the idea from?

[Bruce Young]

Ground crew filter?

[Peter Sweeney]

If you can drive a Lightning in a straight line a 7 might be easier to control?

[Biddlecombe]

I recall going from the New Forest where I lived, with my Air Training Corps pals to RAF Coltishall in Norfolk where Lightnings were training for Farnborough, must have been about 1962. What a noise! Unfortunately I contracted severe tonsilitis and was sent to the sick bay on arrival where a delightful young WAAF nurse looked after me for most of the week. I still had one of her garters until a few years ago !!

[Hugh Barnes]

As I understood it, flying a Lightning was a bit like being strapped to a rocket engine. I remember my Father taking me to Farnborough in the late 50s. The Lightning came out for its display, shot down the runway, rotated, pointed its nose straight up and continued in a vertical climb until it was no longer visible to the naked eye....

[Chris KC]

There's an old Lightning parked at Cranfield and they occasionally run the engine up - tends to bring our office in the neighbouring 'technical park' to a halt for a good few minutes each time while noses press to windows. A racket indeed! I guess they were built for speed, not stealth.

[Tony Griffiths]

I recall going from the New Forest where I lived, with my Air Training Corps pals to RAF Coltishall in Norfolk where Lightnings were training for Farnborough, must have been about 1962. What a noise! Unfortunately I contracted severe tonsilitis and was sent to the sick bay on arrival where a delightful young WAAF nurse looked after me for most of the week. I still had one of her garters until a few years ago !!

I can't beat the garter story, but in 1967 on my honeymoon, my wife and I drove from London, keeping as close to the east coast as possible, until level with Sheffield. On the way we must have diverted to Coltishall, for there we parked on a gravel track - that ran across pretty close to the end of the runway - and watched three Lightnings doing bumps and circuits. At first, they passed overhead with a lot of room to spare but, obviously spotting the Austin, came lower and lower on each pass. Exciting stuff. Made me wish I'd fulfilled my ambition of joining the Fleet Air Arm.

[John Cornforth]

Hi

I too remember a Farnborough show in the 70's when a Lightning made a pass over the crowd with full afterburner and then stood it on its tail. It's the only noise I could truly describe as ear-splitting. One mother had her hands over her toddler's ears and wasn't able to cover her own - ouch

At the same show, a chap had a stand where he was selling vinyl recordings of Spitfires, Lancasters etc. He had a record deck with huge loudspeakers hidden under the trestle table behind a banner. It was quite amusing watching people scanning the sky in vain watching for the real thing.