![]() ![]() It’ll be exhilarating, for sure, but also terrifying and probably painful. I’ve witnessed this many times and know what to expect. I brace myself for the immense power about to be unleashed. Probably worth no more than a couple of quid, it is brought down to the ground with a dramatic flourish the signal for the F-35B, worth well over £100 million, to get airborne.į-35B, preparing to take off from the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth, 2019 Inside the glass-encased flight control tower behind us, the vessel’s Commander Air, Ed Phillips, aka ‘Wings’, looks up and down the massive flight deck and, when satisfied all is clear, gives a short sharp order:Īll eyes turn to the green flag held aloft and rippling in the wind. The aircraft has a run-up of only 350 feet to the curved ‘ski-jump’, from which it will make its final leap skywards. The F-35B needs plenty of headwind to get airborne. ‘Steady on one-one-zero, sir,’ confirms the helmsman. ‘Steady on designated flying course, one-one-zero,’ says the officer of the watch. On the bridge, the navigators steer directly into the wind. A few feet away, a snarling F-35B Lightning Stealth Fighter, sleek as a shark and every bit as lethal, prepares to launch into the steel-grey skies of the eastern Mediterranean. I crouch behind him, clutching my robust but battered high-def camera. ![]() ![]() The yellow-helmeted flight deck officer leans into a 40-knot wind and raises a small green flag in his right hand. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |