euro fighter typhoon

[roadstermatt]

one of the hawk ones i had to cut his legs off im afraid
am i the only one who feels guilty about doing this??

[lancer]

Looks cool, where is the pilot from?

He's from Southern England isn't he??

[McColm]

Could be an ex-Lightning pilot. There used to having their legs chopped off, just below the knees, due to the design of the BAe cockpit.

[roadstermatt]

Could be an ex-Lightning pilot. There used to having their legs chopped off, just below the knees, due to the design of the BAe cockpit.

[McColm]

Could be an ex-Lightning pilot. There used to having their legs chopped off, just below the knees, due to the design of the BAe cockpit.

For those of you who are too young, the English Electric Lightning was the last supersonic jet fighter built by Britian. The cockpit was a bit cramped. For those pilots who were on the short side, the ejection seat was pulled up under the dashboard so the pilot could see out the front. The Lightning could out climb most modern fighters apart from the F-15 and the Tornado. It once intercepted the SR-71 Blackbird at 88,000 feet. The two engines on top of each other gave mach 2.27 performance and could over take Concorde whilst in flight. But the Lightning was limited to the weapons and range down to 800 miles. As a pure interceptor 30 mins was the flight time, air-to-air could prolong the range and over-the-wing tanks gave the range but created drag.
Banging-out meant that your knees hit the dashboard, if you hadn't pulled the seat back far enough. The other giveaway is the high forehead where the palm of the hand has hit it as a sort of ad memoir every time they foreget.

[upnorth]

The Luftwaffe pilots had a similar problem when they first took on the F-104.

There were no leg restraining devices in the early ones and the blast from the ejection seat rocket start up was enough to propel the pilot's legs under the main console and get cut off just under the knees.

That's why the "spurs" that F-104 pilots later wore on their boots were developed. They could lock their legs to the seat before punching out.