I was there that day , me soaked , camera soaked. Watched the lightning's take off ... stunning..then remember the guy on the PA system say..well the guys in the red jets have cancelled..but we give you the binbrook diamond nine...and you could hear the cheers across the entire base.. awesome flying
I was there to display the lonely Puma helicopter. We were soaked to the skin and I remember having trouble with the cockpit windows steaming up after takeoff.
Imagine if we had even just one of those still flying at air displays up and down the country wouldn't that be something special to see all these years later
Definitely. The only problem is that historically the UK has been the most.. how shall I say it? “Forward thinking” when it comes to preservation of military hardware. Some of the planes, and in particular ships (Warspite cries from the scrapyard), that were cut up into to cutlery is sad and shortsighted.
Brilliant. (Edit - This was my response to you video) Fantastic effort from the RAF, I don't think I have ever been as wet at an airshow as I was that day. To put up a nine ship under those conditions, top notch. No disrespect to our US cousins who know, but one in the eye for those who think the Arrows are naff because they couldn't do it with "real" fighters. Rumour had it that on the practice day the last aircraft up did not climb but flew between the hangers :)
Aah, the good old British summer weather 🤣🤣🤣 Some amazing flying considering the conditions. The diamond 9 was absolutely "Spot on". Also the low level cross overs, the right to left passes were extremely low 😲 Miss those fast interceptors. Thanks for sharing poster
Here in the U.S., if the weather was like that they would call off the entire show. Excellent flying in less than ideal flying conditions. The Lightning has a beautiful profile when flying in the arrow or diamond formations.
Pissed it down all day with low cloud didn't see the 22 lightnings in full vertical take off but those pilots were so brave in appalling visibility....left thinking the nine ship wouldn't happen and to avoid the traffic jams...watched it through misted up windows...yet rehearsals was perfect weather 👌
I was lucky enough to be there, we got in before they turned thousands away. The numbers turning up for this show were vastly underestimated by the organisers. Awful weather but wouldn't have missed it for the world.
I was there with my future wife ...soaked to hell...had to walk miles ...but wouldnt have missed it for the world, watching those old interceptors from my childhood tear the damp miserable sky apart.
One of these days a sensible politician is going to realise that defence cuts are only an easy way to save money in the short term. The lessons of the inter war period have been forgotten. With the end of the cold war successive governments (both Labour and Conservative) have seen the defence estate and its equipment and staffing as rich and easy pickings. Beware - once you've sold off the family silver, replacing it is extremely difficult.
@@steveashforth5097 - high performance short range gas-guzzling point defence. >durr< *The enormous performance of the Lightning came at a price, however: the endurance in flight without refuelling was only around fifty minutes. Even if the Lightning had pronounced spectacular flying characteristics, from the technical point of view it became obsolete very quickly." .. "..a radius of operation of 150 miles (240 km)" , & as I seem to remember, less than 15mins endurance on afterburner.
@@gitfoad8032 yes, I read somewhere that it was entirely possible to empty the fuel in 10 minutes if they took off in reheat and started turning and burning right away. Fast short range defence over all else - but that's what they felt they needed, I suppose. Great looking aircraft in its own weird way, though, and certainly impressive.
@@gitfoad8032 I know about the Lightning, I worked on them. They were built for one purpose: as an interceptor to protect air bases. i.e. To get off the ground & to height as quickly as possible, shoot down incoming bombers, return to base, then repeat if required. Range & endurance didn't come into the equation when the design spec was first issued.
