Jimmy and the Magic Carpet
The Lightning demonstration that won Britain's biggest export order
Now, after a very long wait...
Jimmy and the Magic Carpet!
I was very fortunate to meet test pilot Jimmy Dell and, indeed, Roland Beamont when I was involved with the Tornado radar trials during the final days of the Lightning.
People always say, "Don't meet your heroes."
I disagree.
Sitting down for lunch in the Warton Pilots' Dining Room with Jimmy and Roly was, to say the least, daunting.
I was in the company of true greats.
Jimmy Dell left & Roland Beamont right.
Meeting Jimmy Dell
Jimmy Dell was a charming, old-school test pilot with a wonderful sense of humour.
Having joined the RAF near the end of the Second World War, Jimmy became one of the early jet boys and was soon selected as a fast jet pilot. Literally.
As a gunnery instructor, Jimmy was selected for an exchange posting with the USAF, flying the F-86 Sabre, a move that would shape much of his later life.
Whilst on that exchange posting, Jimmy had his first brush with death.
Whilst serving with the USAF, Jimmy learnt a great deal about what was happening across the pond.
His experience of single-seat radar operation and air-to-air refuelling would later stand him in very good stead for the Lightning programme he was about to join.
Joining English Electric
Back in the UK, Jimmy soon decided that an offer from English Electric was simply too good an opportunity to turn down.
He took up his new position alongside Bee Beamont.
As TSR-2 gathered momentum, Bee moved into the role of Chief Test Pilot on the programme and handed the reins of the Lightning over to Jimmy.
This period was to become, perhaps, English Electric's, and later BAC's (British Aircraft Corporation's), finest hour.
Saudi Arabia Comes Calling
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was keen to enter the supersonic fighter game and was deciding between the Lightning and the American F-5 to equip its fledgling Air Force.
Jimmy Dell was tasked with demonstrating the Lightning to the King of Saudi Arabia.
This was in an era when the capital, Riyadh, was little more than a shanty town.
Now we need to step into Doctor Who's TARDIS and travel back in time.
Imagine an era with no mobile phones, no internet...
...and girls wore mini skirts.
Now you're talking!
The UK Government was pushing hard to secure a sale to the Saudis, and the Lightning was right at the top of the shopping list.
Again, we're back in the 1960s.
In England, we did things by the book.
No bribes.
No free fast cars.
And definitely no ladies of the night thrown in with a bag of Colombian marching powder.
Instead, it was lunch at The Savoy.
Menu?
Oxtail soup, followed by rump steak and a slice of Black Forest gâteau.
Old school.
Word came back, I love that phrase because it's so wonderfully random, that the Saudis were keen but wanted to see a Lightning in the flesh.
Easier said than done.
How the hell do you get an aircraft with a range of about fifty yards to the Middle East?