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"Lightning Mission One-One, two minutes to overhead" . . . the ground controller's voice crackles in the earphones. We are ten miles from the airfield, cruising at a leisurely five miles per minute, running in for a solo aerobatic display at Leuchars, the No. 1 Fighter Airfield in the U.K. Let's think back to how we came to be here."How do you feel about doing aerobatics this year?" It usually starts like that-a casual question from the Boss. The immediate reaction is one of pleasure-and then doubt as to whether you can produce the required standard. Still, the pleasure far outweighs the doubt, so you decide that yes, you would like to perform. From that moment on you are on your own. Where do you start? After some research into the problem, you find there are a lot of things to think about. The Lightning is a heavy, fast aeroplane-it weighs about the same as two double-decker buses and can travel at 700 mph at sea-level or 1500 mph when six miles high. It cannot fly very slowly; minimum speed when landing is about 200 mph, so we are going to have to fly the aeroplane fast during our display. The faster we go, the more space we are likely to take up…but we want to keep near to the crowd during the display, so how do we cope with that? Fuel is going to be a problem-we are going to use it at the rate of 100 gallons a minute, and so we will need to keep a close eye on it and plan our time accordingly.

When we have sorted out the problems of fuel, speed, etc., we now have to work out a series of manoeuvres which will fit into our area and will keep us as close to our spectators as possible. What sort of manoeuvres can we use? Will they fit together so that the speed at the end of one is right for the next one? We know we cannot afford to wait to get the speed right because every 10 seconds we wait takes us a mile further away from the people watching us. These, and many other problems need to be sorted out, but in the end we have what looks (on paper) to be a workable show.

We must next tell the Squadron Commander what we intend to do, and after suitable suggestions for improvements we can go off and try it in the air. First we remain above 7,000 feet, but gradually we are allowed to come lower until finally we arrive at our display height of 500 feet above the ground. Practice follows practice, polishing the rough edges until our display is acceptable to the connoisseurs-our fellow pilots.

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After months of practising, the moment of truth comes: the Battle of Britain display. We've been as far away as Wales, the north of Scotland, and even inside the Arctic Circle to demonstrate this superb aeroplane, but the major show is always the Battle of Britain Commemoration and we will need to put everything we've got into it.

About half an hour before take?off we walk out to the aircraft. Butterflies in the stomach feeling-as usual! Wonder if it shows? Take a quick glance at the sky to check the amount of cloud and its height, the wind direction and the visibility. Looks OK…we'll try for the full show. Check around the aircraft, climb up the ladder, strap in tightly so we don't bang our head on the canopy when we are upside-down. Start the Rolls Royce Avon engines, check all twenty-two warning lights are out, call up Air Traffic Control…"Lightning One-One Taxi."

We get the clearance and line up on the runway. Open the twin throttles and start the take-off run. Engine temperatures and revs. OK. Push the throttle levers forward through the gate and light the reheats. An extra burst of power surges us forward. In 20 seconds we have reached 170 knots and the aircraft lifts smoothly into the air. By the end of the runway we have 280 knots (about 320 mph) and we pull into a steep turn away from the airfield, heading for our holding point on the coast 20 miles to the north-east. We try a quick roll, then hold the aircraft upside-down for a few seconds to check she's flying OK-all seems to be ship-shape, and the time has come to commence our run in. We cross Dundee, heading out to the west of the airfield, bank left to line up with the runway, and head straight in, descending in a shallow dive. We cross the airfield boundary low and fast-400 knots and 250 feet. The front of the Eleven Squadron hangar flashes past and we open up to full dry power, then light the reheats. Twin warning-lights flicker-and then go out-showing us we have two good 'burners'.

Start to roll left on our slow roll. Kick top rudder to stop the nose dropping below the horizon, keep rolling and we are upside down, hanging in our straps as we push less than weightless to hold level. Continue rolling, the horizon coming back the right way up, feeding in left rudder, and now ten seconds later the roll is complete and we have travelled over a mile to the other side of the airfield.

We roll quickly on to our left side and light the burners again, snatching into a 6g turn. Turn through 90o then roll the wings level and pull the nose up steeply for a wing-over to the right. The nose slides round the horizon, and we crane our head back to look for the airfield. Speed is now low-250 knots, and we dive in a steep turn towards the end of the runway. Check speed increasing-the crowd is down to the left about half a mile away. Speed 350 knots and rising so pull up to the vertical again for a half-horizontal eight, roll and pull through. Height is 4,500 feet this time-just right. Back down, the g-force making us weigh about four times as heavy. Closer to the enclosure than the first time, keep the g's on to level out and we are back at 500 feet. The crowd goes by in a blur, the speed slides up to 380 knots, and we thrust the stick to the left and light the burners.

Now we pull the aircraft into a maximum 6g flat turn to the left. Guardbridge and the chimneys flash by under our left wing. The g is now beginning to have an effect-notice we are breathing heavily and feel a trickle of sweat inside the 'bone dome'. The St Andrews road appears directly underneath, showing us we are turning as tightly as possible. Keep the g's on-anti-g suit pressing at our legs and stomach to stop the blood draining away from the head. Don't relax.The runway is coming back into view and we look out of the top of the canopy. Feels odd, but we are flying on our side so it makes sense. The hangars reappear, then the spectators' enclosure. Keep pulling away from the crowd, then reverse with a 'Derry' turn, rolling underneath as we do so, then pull the aircraft round again toward the runway behind us. Keep it low to illustrate the aircraft's speed, cattle and trees blur underneath as we hold 380 knots. Hold the bank hard on or we will fly too wide.

Runway beneath us again, roll off the bank fast and pull 6g as we go into a loop. The burners are probably deafening, but in here the only noise is our laboured breathing over the intercom as we pant within the oxygen mask. Climb past the vertical and pull on to our back. Height 4,500 feet, speed dropping off to 250 knots, watch the horizon slide below the nose and keep pulling towards the ground. The aircraft buffets and shakes-we have the maximum lift and air is breaking away from the wings. Our dive looks straight, pointing vertically at the ground just to the right of the spectators. Pull hard out at the bottom, keep the reheats at maximum.

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The crowd area is behind us, so roll hard right and turn over the estuary. Roll level and pull the nose up for a wing-over to the left: St Andrews disappears underneath the nose. Roll over left and Tentsmuir Forest appears. Dive down, throttling the engines back to keep our speed down. Bank over the runway, 500 feet, looks about right so roll upside down for an inverted run. Push forward on the control column to hold level. Think how odd the runway looks out of the top of the canopy. Speed 370 knots and the end of the runway approaching.

Push the power up to 100% on both engines. End of runway disappears, so we roll the right way up. Light the reheats and pull into a vertical climb; roll again, the countryside revolves in a blur. Pull on to our back and down again towards the airfield. We keep full power on-the final run is coming up but we must not relax. Twenty seconds to go to the end, pushing the aircraft down to show off the speed. The marker on the airspeed indicator slides relentlessly upwards…500-550-600 knots. We are travelling at 700 mph, or 95% of the speed of sound. Could go faster but not allowed. The whole airfield becomes a blur and we pull up into our finale, the vertical climb. The altimeter shows our height is increasing at a phenomenal rate…10,000, 20,000, 30,000 feet in 40 seconds, and we level out, safely out of view of the ground.

Relax at last. We notice how out of breath we are. Check the fuel-just enough left to get us down on the ground, so no problem. Roll over and start a dive back for the airfield. Bank lazily into the circuit and lower the flaps and undercarriage. Over the hedge now and let the aircraft sink on to the runway. Stream the brake parachute at 150 knots and it slows us to a walking pace. Leave the runway and taxi slowly back.