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.. LIGHTNING ENCOUNTER The sleek British Electric Lightning supersonic fighter squatted menacingly on the Operational Readiness Platform at an airfield in East Anglia, England, during the early sixties. Just below the co-ckpit on each side of the fighter. the glass nose-cone of a deadly Firestreak air-to-air heat-seek ing missile sparkled in the weak early morning sunlight. Strapped into his ejector seat, the pilot remained blissfully unaware, of what was to come. '@ '" ----- 111-- (. '~' U =~~~~ c:.::::.J ~ ~~u~••__ 4~"" Of)~~' ~~~~ A ~~ The pilot shifted uncomfortably in his ejector seat as one of Ithe parachute straps chafed his shoulder. Operational readiness duty was a real drag: two hours non-stop sitting strapped into a tiny cockpit waiting for a Russian bomber that had less chance of materialising than Venus on the horizon. WiItcing slightly, the pilot re-adjusted his straps and automatically scanned the instru ment panel for the twentieth time that hour. Battery master switches on, gyros sta bilised, both throttles at ground-idle. inter ception radar at standby. The pilot's right hand fiddled idly with the cover over the fuel booster switches. If an order to scramble came through on ,the secure 'telebrief cable from Operations. all he had to do was flick both fuel boosters on and press the twin engine starter but tons. After that, things would happen very qUickly. ... • ~i.... The pilot relaxed again and smiled to himself. This was his tenth duty on opera tional readiness in a single year. and no one had ever told him to scramble. Why should they?-Russia was not in the habit of attacking England early on a Sunday morning. As if to contradict his thoughts. the telebrief c.ame to life with startling sud denness: "02, intruder intruder: scramble scram ble scramble!" Hesitating for only a split-second. the pilot flipped the plastic cover clear of the fuel boosters, switched both on and moved his white-gloved hand swiftly backwards to the engine starter buttons. With a deafen ing hiss the two isopropyl nitrate starters span the Avon jet engines up to 20% r.p.m., lighting both with a sudden roar tha~ sent birds scattering away across the air field in all directions. Pushing both throt tles forward as quickly as possible, the pilot thumbed bis transmit switch briefly: "02 rolling. Of "Roger 02, clear take of£. Climb out on 105 degrees and call Ground Control Interception. Of Turning directly onto the runway thresh old. the pilot watched the engine per cent gaug,es as they climbed to 100 r,p.m., then deliberately pushed both throttles sideways and forward through the afterburner gate. Both jet nozzle indicators flicked to the 58-NEXUS OCTOBER -NOVEMBER 1993