And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
The EEL held the "time to climb" records for decades. Typical British fighter, fuel was an afterthought in the design process. It's been said that by the time they got the gear up, it was time to state that you were in a low fuel alert. Having the engines stacked on top instead of the normal side-by-side allowed the maintenance crew to change an engine in minutes instead of hours.
Never used by Australia. Later models with more fuel capacity were used by Saudi but the RAF were the main user. There are/were a few (3?) airworthy and privately owned in South Africa (Thunder City) and you could buy a ride in a two seater. They had a fatal crash a few years ago and it became apparent that the maintenance nightmare these are had come home to roost. A time expired ejection seat cartridge wouldn't fire and the pilot couldn't escape the aircraft when loss of control followed a mechanical malfunction of some sort.
The Lightning may be ugly, but it worked and it was FAST!! It could intercept the U2 which no contemporary Mig could do, and it could catch the speedy Concorde which the Phantom couldn't do. Al_in_Ottawa
Uh.. yeah... I'm gonna puke.
ReplyDeleteEnglish Electric Lightning
ReplyDeleteThere's ugly, and there's UK aircraft ugly...
ReplyDeleteTake my wife... please.
DeleteThe EEL held the "time to climb" records for decades. Typical British fighter, fuel was an afterthought in the design process. It's been said that by the time they got the gear up, it was time to state that you were in a low fuel alert.
ReplyDeleteHaving the engines stacked on top instead of the normal side-by-side allowed the maintenance crew to change an engine in minutes instead of hours.
Huh? Seems like the top one would be a bitch. No jet engine is changed in minutes.
DeletePoor memory on the subject. 4hrs to swap the engines. Top gets lifted, and the bottom dropped.
DeleteAustralian air force?
ReplyDeleteNever used by Australia. Later models with more fuel capacity were used by Saudi but the RAF were the main user.
DeleteThere are/were a few (3?) airworthy and privately owned in South Africa (Thunder City) and you could buy a ride in a two seater. They had a fatal crash a few years ago and it became apparent that the maintenance nightmare these are had come home to roost. A time expired ejection seat cartridge wouldn't fire and the pilot couldn't escape the aircraft when loss of control followed a mechanical malfunction of some sort.
The Lightning may be ugly, but it worked and it was FAST!! It could intercept the U2 which no contemporary Mig could do, and it could catch the speedy Concorde which the Phantom couldn't do.
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
Great way to get all the crap out of the bottom of the cockpit.
ReplyDelete