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LBA [Little British Aircraft]

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DavidApp

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The English Electric Lightning.

I saw one take off in the 1960. Those were the days when you could get right up close to the runway. I remember the shock diamonds in the exhaust and feeling my whole body vibrate. Probable child abuse having me that close to a jet fighter taking off.

David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N5a2WGHu5Y
 
David - thanks for the video and personal experience. You were a brave kid to stand so close.

Here's a view of one of the early Lightnings, the P1a. Quite an aircraft for its time, with its "vertical" twin engine arrangement.

P.1.jpg

Photo by Clemens Vasters.

We have a B-57 Canberra at the air museum, built under license from English Electric for its VX165.

I'd bet many of us here remember the Ancient Days, when we could go to an airport, stand near the runways, and watch the incoming and outgoing. We did that at Carter Field in Fort Worth, in the '50s and '60s.

Tom M.
 
Not sure that I had much say in the matter and I am sure my Dad was not expecting so much noise. We can't judge what happened yesterday by today's standards. Ever stand on the drivers seat steering while your Dad drove or swing out over a pond on a sketchy rope swing. I did the shingles on the roof of our house when I built it 30 years ago. You could not get me on the high side of the roof now.

David

35mm film of the Lightning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n0IfLswJ1o
 
I remember when I was a kid during the Persian Gulf war my dad would take me to Altus AFB. The highway ran right past the end of the runway and we'd pull off onto the shoulder and watch C5 Galaxies take off, they were probably only a couple of hundred feet or so off the deck going across the highway and they would blot out the sun.
 
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