This is the type of programme the BBC used to broadcast routinely. It would typically go out on BBC 1 at nine pm on a Wednesday evening for an hour and the producer wouldn't feel the need to obscure the words of the pilots or narrator with intrusive music. It might surprise the reader to learn that programmes of such subjects are still broadcast in his country but the Corporation has eschewed them in favour of repetitive cookery, dance and quiz shows

@MyTROLLEYBUS

4 ай бұрын

...not forgetting the overwhelming emphasis on diversity & inclusivity that totally eclipses everything else- no longer anything to do with entertainment. .

I used to be a First Officer on the 737 with Jim Ludford. He’s retired now and spends most of his time cycling around Northumberland.

@ianmangham4570

2 жыл бұрын

Very cool 😎 👍

@francishruszka877

Жыл бұрын

Nice to know about Jim Ludford! We were in the same class at Gateway Grammar School and 1F ATC Squadron.

@tonkerdog1

Жыл бұрын

@@francishruszka877 He’s long since retired now.

@dmoder1019

10 ай бұрын

I remember being glued to the television when Test Pilot was first screened. To this day, the EE Lightning remains a firm favourite; echoes of a time when Britain was truly Great!

I went through the Sound Barrier in a T5 when in Singapore, with 74 Squadron. in 1966.

0:20 The instructor is Tim Allen, later went on to be a test pilot for BAe Systems. Had the pleasure of sharing many a test flight with Tim. Great sense of humour, fabulous pilot.

@ClassicAviationTV

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info!

I flew it for 2.5 years ..always left my stomach behind !

@24bellers20

3 ай бұрын

Got to ask. Could it take off without reheat?

@bertiewooster3326

3 ай бұрын

@@24bellers20 Yes easily Ex F3 pilot

@philipbrooks402

2 ай бұрын

You lucky, lucky person.

@bertiewooster3326

2 ай бұрын

@@philipbrooks402 Yep I had no sense in those days but loads of excitement!

@philipbrooks402

2 ай бұрын

@@bertiewooster3326 Thanks for the reply. If you were flying it in the mid 80s it is quite likely that we talked to each other over the R/T, I was a controller at Staxton Wold.

Nice to see some old mates 35 years later. Hoping to meet up again in 2022.

The Lightening could break the sound barrier going up vertically. Even today, there are few aircraft capable of doing this.

@Tinker1950

16 күн бұрын

The what?

"Jim Ludford Harrier pilot, is introduced to an alternative form of vertical take off!" *I LOVE IT!*

"An alternative form of vertical take-off" EPIC!

The Lightning , after watching airshows for nearly 50 years never saw anything more awe inspiring or exciting than this aircraft in full flow...

The muscle car of jet fighters, basically two massive engines with wings and a seat bolted to it, an amazing aircraft of a bygone era, shame there are so few flying today.

@davidpeters6536

5 жыл бұрын

Fantastic machine. I first saw the Lightening in the early 60s and have loved them ever since.

@Yosemite-George-61

4 жыл бұрын

Great airplane indeed, but it does not have a mission in modern days. Today is hard to survive an attack at low level, nobody will attack England commin high... so the Lightning does not have "customers" unless it could be adapted for low level work.

@barrybigballs6339

4 жыл бұрын

only has wings to keep the nav lights apart.

@darioyabra1465

2 жыл бұрын

@@barrybigballs6339 Cracking Comment, Mate!!! 👌 LMAO 🥸😂🤣😂🤣😂

I remember the Test Pilot series back in the mid 80s.. I recorded the whole series on vhs! At the time I was around 15 years old & in the ATC. I did 2 AEF flights in the De Havilland Chipmunk. My 2nd flight was 55 minutes with plenty of aerobatic manoeuvres! Good days.

Never has there been a more breathtaking aircraft....

My now late dad was in 92 squadron (armourer) & these "sang me to sleep" as a kid..

Look at the faces of all those pilots when they talk about that plane. That tells you everything.

A beautiful bird, my all time favorite RAF plane, love to see one here stateside.

@danzervos7606

5 жыл бұрын

Everyone's idea of beauty is different. To me is it similar to the slab sided P-47 which because of all the turbocharger ducting had a fuselage thick top to bottom but more graceful when view from on top or upward at the bottom. Compared to the contemporary F-106 ...

@Alicatt1

4 жыл бұрын

You can see the one from this video in the US, it is this one that they are restoring to flight lightning422.com

I recognise Les Evans. Was at university with him. He had money because he was on an RAF scholarship. He flew at weekends at Woodvale with the Manchester University Air squadron.

No music just raw sound of an excellent aircraft. Great scenes

The ONLY fighter aircraft operated by NATO in 1985 that achieved a stern intercept of Concorde offered up by BA as a target after it was refitted was a Lightning. Absolute rocket ship.

@Yosemite-George-61

4 жыл бұрын

it was a set up for the press... with 135 NM range, all the Concorde had to do is turn 5° right or left to avoid interception as the Lightning was balistic and had no fuel for another run...

@MrBeezumph

4 жыл бұрын

@@Yosemite-George-61 Inflight refuelling would have kept it flying. According to a Lightning pilot they would take off from Lincolnshire, reach height , refuel and be across the Norwegian coast in 6 minutes from scramble.

@beagle7622

2 жыл бұрын

Yes but couldn’t go far.

@thetourettesgamer8851

2 жыл бұрын

@@beagle7622 as an interceptor always it didn’t need to though

Loving the 'banter'. I just appreciate it for what it was. A glorious interceptor. The aircraft of that era were built with such inherent flaws. Much more romantic than modern computer driven excellence though. How far we've come!

Limited range and maybe in those early days limited weapons offerings, (i.e red top), but it could sit on its tail and go straight up, very quickly. This aircraft was years ahead of its time and could still out climb many modern fighter jets. One of the last great all British fighters.

The Lightning excelled in its intended bomber interception role. Nothing else could get up so high so fast. Yes it had short legs but that was all part of the trade-off to achieve its design criteria. Later development and flight refuelling kept it relevant into the 70s and beyond. Also, we must remember this was against a background of very tight defence spending and political chaos in procuremet policy.

I watched this on its hot weather trials in the Middle East. Unforgettable, especially in a vertical climb, with the accompanying double boom. Not a pretty aircraft, perhaps, but fuelled on raw testosterone. Superb.

It went supersonic in a vertical climb? I want one now please.

Lived in Farnborough as a child very near the airfield and they always seemed to have the lightning up. Such a great aircraft.

Must be the only combat aircraft that is short of fuel as soon as you release the brakes

Flew in our T5 as a ground crew member of 29 Sqdn It was in 1971 and I haven't forgotten a single exhilarating moment of it.

it might have been old but at flt level 66,000 ft at mach 2 to find on a few occasions and overtake a U2 spy plane and Concorde was pretty impressive.

The best aircraft we ever had in the RAF, sadly i never got posted to Binbrook despite many tries 😕 so wanted a chance to fly in one of these!

Magnifique quel décollage impressionnant du pur jus britisch of course

One of the highlights of a great series, many thanks!

"It's good fun...type of thing you look forward to" (Said in the most British fashion lol)

@DepakoteMeister

9 жыл бұрын

***** One of our old colonies.

@DepakoteMeister

9 жыл бұрын

***** Fair dinkum!

@MSalt69

2 жыл бұрын

And what a heroic mustache.

I was privileged to see the last very tight and low level Diamond 9 formation made by Lightnings at Binbrook - the guy in the tower commented, "Eat your hearts out, Red Arrows!" - :grin:

@clickbaitfishing7787

2 жыл бұрын

Still a lightning on the concrete at binbrook tho in a bit of a state.

Lovely plane, great video, particularly the vertical climb, thanks for posting.....

Brilliant video

Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening indeed, Galileo ! great aerial shots, and a great plane .

Really amazing footage!

I loved seeing this aircraft when they tested it out of Warton. They used to fly straight and level till they got out to sea, and then went vertical! Epic

@ianmangham4570

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome, seen them at raf Finningley air shows early 70s through 80s,best Air Shows ever, promotions giving free stickers/flying ✈ over crowd /access in and through aircraft all parked up close with staff explaining /demonstrations/all very up close and personal before the phoney War on Terror and mass control via surveillance.

Incredible aircraft.

We've all heard of a "drivers car" well this is a PILOTS plane,the best of its time by far.

Interesting to know that in the early days there were no two seat lightnings and every pilots first flight was solo. That must have been quite an experience 😮

Very informative and entertaining. Love it!

Tragic to see what has become of Boscombe Down now, a pale shadow of it's former self. I count myself lucky that I got to see the last of the good years there but it was painful to watch it wither on the vine. And boy was that a young Dave Southwood!

Humorous quote from a pilot. "I was doing alright until I took the brakes off."

"If we have to leave in a hurry, You'll hear me say eject eject,the second time is an echo as I will be gone."

Just classic - Jim is introduced into an alternative form of vertical take off! 😁

What a cool machine!

The Lightning has never been surpassed.

@Yosemite-George-61

4 жыл бұрын

after 200 km the Lightning run out of fuel... it could be surpassed by a Piper Cub... useless as a weapon when Soviet bombers could release a K-20 400 km from England...

@Turbomgzt

4 жыл бұрын

No range and no tech. Of course it's been surpassed!

@chrisburnby62

3 жыл бұрын

@@Yosemite-George-61 old Canberra’s were flying through Russia in the50s taking photographs, could have been bombs instead!

@Yosemite-George-61

3 жыл бұрын

@@chrisburnby62 I know the stories... one was shot by a Mig but continued on its mission only to find out that the vibrations caused by the shell impacts ruined the photos. Courageous men. But... if they were carrying bombs they would have flown a lot lower...

This lightning xs422 is 1 of the lucky 1s it's being made airworthy in the USA now

Thanks for this 👍🇳🇿

@ClassicAviationTV

Жыл бұрын

No problem 👍

que buena filmacion !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow they made good TV back then

Greatest ever jet fighter to serve the RAF.

I heard one pilot say that you were in control untill you let go off the brakes....

@markfarnon6742

Жыл бұрын

You're right, think it was an American pilot who got a chance to try the lightning one day

This is the T5 that is currently being restored to flight in the USA.

Soon as they leave the runway it's already going like hell 😂

Amazing jet!

Of all the planes in the world- i want one of these to go to the shops in! Wow! Certain given stats are still classified, but pilots knew the facts. What a blast-rethink em and soup em up cos why on earth would one bother with the toys they use now! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Some leaders in other places shall we say lost sleep at night when we turned up at the table with this beast ,,,

As an American I was very impressed by the achievements of the postwar UK aircraft industry with comparatively little in the way of resources. It seems as though government interference destroyed it

nah i do still need that

Apparently in 1974 one of these beauty's bounced the SR71 mid Atlantic !

@sichere

10 ай бұрын

@@FunnyVideoCollector By guile

Save the twins, son and go back even further and fly some truly wonderful planes like the Spitfire, Mosquito and the original Typhoon. Those are truly thrilling airplanes to fly.

A little bit Cholmondey Warner at the end there.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

Just the best

Hermosa aeronave, cuando era pequeño la primera vez que lo vi (en un libro) pensé que se trataba de un caza ligero similar al MiG-21 tanto prestaciones como tamaño (en especial por su cono en la toma de aire) pero resulta que nada que ver al MiG. Saludos.

Hopping out of a Harrier into a Lightening would be like hopping out of a Vauxhall Viva into Ferrari LOL

awesome fighter

Good Point.

A couple of faces from my past there :)

The Series was called "Test Pilot"

If only all of these fun planes could be just for fun.

The Real Men. Respect.

@blahblah48856 Fixed Wing course #44 took place in 1985. The BBC recorded "Test Pilot" during that year for transmission the following year.

Have to agree with Jackyeahwoo - I was at Leuchars last Saturday, for the first time in 30 years, and Typhoon definitely has far superior agility. Still wish there'd been a Lightning flying tho....much louder!!!

@clickbaitfishing7787

2 жыл бұрын

That’s saying something. The typhoon does a display on Wednesday afternoons at conningsby during the summer months staying within the airfield boundary , it’s mental and will make your ears bleed.

It's the wings you have to land at a higher speed but overall a fine aircraft.

As I have said on the other Ligtning clips you post on.Lightning losses over 50 years was less than 25% the last being in 2009

That's not the one at the entrance to Boscome Down now is it? I did my school work experience there in 1997 and remember cycling past one. Was working on the the Hawk and Hunter for the Empire test pilot school. They still had the nimrod there at that time plus harrier, tornado and tuccano. Was almost death by the second week spending my lunchbreaks sat on the apron watching the jets start up.

@alanchase7329

Жыл бұрын

I used to work on the Lightning in the clip when I was at Boscombe Down and there was a different one as a gate guard. As far as I know XS422 eventually ended up in the USA after it was retired and the owners intend to get it airborne again.

Groovy...

Ian, went to Binbrook last weekend there is a lightning there with a few spare engine parts kicking about. Was sad to see it almost complete and covered over FLT LT MACLACHLAN was the name on the side. If only it could be made air worthy, saw my first ones at Greenham Common they took off and just went vertical....................never to been seen again.

@andrewwilkins2667

7 жыл бұрын

Clatchy was, sadly killed in a Red Arrows crash, in 1988 if my memory serves me correctly.

@cowboybob7093

6 жыл бұрын

Now that there is additive manufacturing (3D printing,) the possibility of making high strength ceramic engine parts for legacy aircraft is growing all the time. It will never be _inexpensive,_ but once the plans are digitized who knows how many generations will be able to see this technology fly. The speed of sound will remain a practical barrier so these craft will be impressive for a long time.

It's that fast it's blown both pilots hair off.

id give both my tesicles to go back in time and do what they did!

There was a Lightning gate guard at LATCC in the early '90's. They told me it was sold for scrap in order to finance the sqn's BBQ...

I worked for Bae EE, best in the world

vulcan gone, Canberra next, VTTST are you paying attention? lightning after the Canberra please, would love to see one of these fly once again. have very slight memories seeing one of these as a kid at raf chivenor in Devon I think it is. I remember the noise most. been hooked on jets ever since.

@thetourettesgamer8851

5 жыл бұрын

You know that in a sense Canberra’s still fly in a way as NASA still uses b57s (which were basically licensed built versions of the Canberra) for monitoring weather conditions or something

The Lightning strikes and strikes and strikes - the ground that is en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_English_Electric_Lightning

@Bartonovich52

7 жыл бұрын

They made a ton more F-104s, they were single engine, they flew low level, and they actually saw combat.

86 lightning crashed ,the last happened in 2009.most were caused by an engine catching fire resulting in the aircraft being "abandend".The loss rate of lightning over 50 years was less than 25%.

If you are interested, the whole “Test Pilot” series - where this clip comes from - is available in full on my site.

@ClassicAviationTV

Жыл бұрын

Actually, I originated this video and stitched the episodes as you will know. I still have the letters from the BBC archives to prove,..but hey! Enjoy.

@theaviator3863

Жыл бұрын

@@ClassicAviationTV “Where this clip came from” was a referral to the Test Pilot series, not your channel or mine. I recorded the original series on VHS when it first came out and transposed it on DVD as separate episodes. They are on my channel as separate episodes and with copyright permission.

Never accept standard, we built the best

Bonjour a tous du Canada This is the England we like military guy with testostérone pilot a war bird

I need to find this series on disc

@ClassicAviationTV

4 жыл бұрын

Well I still have it but copyright police make it impossible

"like a Mirage except two engines" !

I worked for EE lightning

4:05 lightning at idle definitely sounds a bit like a four cylinder diesel. 😂

what year is this?

Turns better than an F-4

Best in the world

English Electric Lightning aka the frightening 🤨

sure that series was called the Empire Flying school ??