The Lightning Boys by Richard Pike

Author:Richard Pike
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027140: HISTORY / Military / Aviation
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781909166363
Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
Published: 2011-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

I was strapping into a Lightning to come to cockpit alert when Binbrook’s station commander climbed up my aircraft’s ladder and beckoned me to climb out. He told me briefly what had happened and that, while an immediate air and sea search had been mounted, he was not at all optimistic about the possibility of Bill’s survival. I drove to my married quarter, picked up Esmé, my wife, and went round to Bill’s married quarter to be with Bill’s wife, Linda. We sat with her throughout that night and most of the following day until some friends arrived from the USAF base at Alconbury. Linda remained totally convinced, long after the search was called off and long after she had been repatriated to the United States, that Bill was alive and would be found.

The wreckage of Bill’s Lightning was located without difficulty, but two months elapsed before it was raised from the seabed. The cockpit was found to be empty. When this was revealed by the Humberside press, local UFO enthusiasts linked the incident to alleged sightings of bright lights and spacecraft and claimed that Bill had been abducted by aliens. Soon, the national press expanded the story and even the BBC broadcast a rather silly programme that aired a variety of loony opinions. All of this could have been laughed off except for the fact that it added quite unnecessarily to Linda’s distress. The sad truth was that Bill Schaffner had fallen foul of the dangers of low-level work in the dark.

That incident proved to be the low point of my time in command of 5 Squadron. For the high point, I would probably choose the squadron’s success in the 1971 AFCENT (Allied Forces Central Europe) air defence competition. We started to prepare for this early in the year, practising the subsonic and supersonic interception profiles we had been told to expect. We selected our six best pilots and identified the most reliable of the squadron’s radar modules. We ensured that these modules, along with the specific Lightnings that would carry them, were in peak condition by early April when we were due to compete.

The rules of the competition required that a nominated pair of aircraft were airborne within four minutes of the order to scramble. A second pair was allowed to start engines and to act as substitutes – at a penalty – should either or both of the first pair fail to go. Pilots were required to be out of, and not touching, their aircraft prior to the scramble order. We practised quick-start procedures endlessly from January onwards, shinning up the cockpit ladder before we leapt into the cockpit, used the left hand to plug in the common connector for oxygen, communications lead and anti-g suit while, simultaneously, the right hand pressed the start button for number one engine. This was followed by the number two start button the instant the first engine began to wind up. Connection of ejection seat straps and leg restraints followed immediately, while eyes monitored the engine instruments to check that all warning lights were out.

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