Lightning XM135, inadvertant flight by W/Cdr Holden

[von Perthes]

Does anyone have any information re this incident, when W/Cdr Walter Holden, whilst carrying out engines runs to trace a fault in XM135, found himself in full reheat running allong a runway at Lynham. Forced to lift it off the ground, without canopy or flying equipment (to avoid a fuel tanker I think), he managed to put it down after four attempts, with only minor damage to the tail.

XM135 is of course the EE Lightning at Duxford.

I read about this incident sometime in the early eighties in a copy of 'Mayfair', the well-know adult art magazine - I bought it for the Lightning article honest!!

I mentioned this incident to Steve Young at Hendon yesterday, & he'd never heard of it.

I tried a spot of Googling, without much luck. All I could find was this http://www.lightning.org.uk/archive/0303.php .

Geoff.

[Firebird]

Yup, well known incident. It reasonably well covered in several of the Lightning books, can't remember of top of my head which ones.
I do remember that he did have some limited flying experience in the past (which is why he was able to make a damn good job of getting back on the ground again)but not in anything like a Lightning.....!!!

[Ewan Hoozarmy]

The tale of Taff Holden piloting the Lightning features in a book called 'Drama in the Air' by John Beattie (No, not THAT John Beattie!) published in 1989 by Robson Books Ltd. It gets 10 pages out of 223 and describes the incident fairly well..

ISBN Number is 0-86051-564-8

[Last Lightning]

its also in a flypast mag. quite a few years ago though.

[von Perthes]

Thanks for the info, but is there anything worthwhile on the 'net re this incident?

Geoff.

[GATEGUARD]

There is also a really good bit(p126 127) on the subject in AIRCRASH by Andrew Brookes. Some excellent quotes from Taffy Holden.

[scott c]

Hi All

Ok heres a bit about said incedent.

It happened on July 22nd 1966 while XM135 was at 33 MU at Lyneham. The aircraft had a persistant electrical problem that only showed itself under aceleration. So Wg Cdr Walter "Taff" Holden decided to undertake some ground tests to see if he could find the problem. The canopy was removed and the ground locks were in place Taff had a set of pilots notes with him in the cockpit he was strapped in but the safty pins were in. A couple of short bursts down the run way showed nothing so taff decided to give it a bit more speed. As he opened the throttels he accidentally pushed them through the gate into reheat. At first he thought the trottles had jammed but by the time he figured out what was happeneing he was out of runway and was left with only one choice to take XM135 for a quick spin round the airfield. This wouldnt be too much of a problem except that Taff had only done a few hours on a tiger moth. He couldnt call the tower as he only had on ear defenders and he couldnt eject as the seat was safe. After a couple of failed attempts after 12 minutes he landed.

Scott C

[aj_march]

And his undies were which colour when he landed?

[Last Lightning]

i wonder if theirs any pictures of it?

[JDK]

Needless to say:

All flight sims seemed tame to him after that...

The 'persistant electrical fault' failed to show on W/C Holden's flight, but no doubt after the a/c was back in service!

Cheers

[scott c]

Hi JDK

Yep your right it went back into service and the fault came back again.

Scott C

[Jagan]

Oh. its those green little men I tell you, they did it....

(thinks to myself - what a wonderful tale!)

[Walter Holden]

To the person enquiring about the above subject title,
I am willing to add full facts about the inadvertent flight of XM135 Lightning by Wg. Cdr. W.V.Holden. I am that same person! Taffy Holden, Nantwich, Cheshire

[DGH]

WOW a real life Lightning legend on here!

Walter, any truth in the story that you did a few extra circuits because you were having such a good time!

[whalebone]

Welcome aboard the forum Sir !
It's a story that has facinated Lightning fans for years (me included)
I suspect you are about to be bombarded with questions

best regards,
Phil.

[SJMF-15]

i do work at duxford every wednesday and i've sat in that lightening and on the panel there's a little plaque commerating what happened.

[merlin70]

To the person enquiring about the above subject title,
I am willing to add full facts about the inadvertent flight of XM135 Lightning by Wg. Cdr. W.V.Holden. I am that same person! Taffy Holden, Nantwich, Cheshire

Welcome to the Forum. I guess this is what many of come here for. Historical events and the people that made them.

I take it that OC Lyneham was either very impressed or understanding. Is there such a charge as taking and flying away?

[von Perthes]

Blimey! I'd forgotten all about this thread.

Walter, many thanks for responding to the thread. Anything you have to say about this incident will be most welcome.

Do you ever get down to Duxford to see 'your' Lightning? I'm sure you would be most welcome at one of our occaisional forum meets, especially if it was at Duxford. Now wouldn't that make a great group photo in front of XM135.

Geoff.

[Corsair166b]

Kudos to you sir, for getting yourself down from a predicament in which many others would most likely have perished! One heck of a story for when you're sitting around the campfire with your kids...

Mark

[scott c]

Hi Walter

Welcome to the forum

As a Lightning owner id love to hear your own side of the story.

Scott C

[duxfordhawk]

To the person enquiring about the above subject title,
I am willing to add full facts about the inadvertent flight of XM135 Lightning by Wg. Cdr. W.V.Holden. I am that same person! Taffy Holden, Nantwich, Cheshire

Welcome to the forum.
This story is of Lightning and R.A.F Legend now but at the time it must have been as scary as hell.
I would love to hear the story from your side also and i wonder if you have flown anything else jet wise since.

[Tony Norman]

welcome to the forum - id love to hear this story as well. Thanx

[whalebone]

A likewise post DX lift to this one, come on Taffy... spill the beans

[SteviePB]

I have a short audio recording (MP3) of an interview between a radio station and Taffy explaining exactly what happened. Although the first part is missing it still has the full description of the run-up to take off and subsequent events.
I met Taffy at a BBQ near Heathrow 10 years ago and know his niece.

I'm happy to e-mail the MP3 to anyone who would like a copy.

Steve

[ZRX61]

i do work at duxford every wednesday and i've sat in that lightening and on the panel there's a little plaque commerating what happened.

I've sat in it also, just about makes a Spit seem roomy. During the 80's a wiwol mate of mine pointed out that the missile hanging off the left side seemed to still have the proximity fuse in it...

[Vega ECM]

A few years ago I came across the technical investigation report into the background to this incidence. It all started when XM135 had a wiring loom changed in its electrical utility system (generation) as part of a more major overhaul. What the maintenance guy who did the work, did not know was that the replacement loom came from a flight test aircraft and had been modified with flight test instrumentation tapings which ran into connector pins, which on the production aircraft were used by the flight warning system. This created a problem that at high engine power levels both the engine generator dolls eyes would drop out supposedly indicating a double generator failure. The problem had first showed up on XM135 post O/H test flight and had necessitate a priority landing at Lyneham. A team from XM135 O/H was dispatched to recover the aircraft. Two attempts where made to resolve the problem, both times the test pilot drove some distance only to conduct a high speed abort when the problem reappeared. By this time the test pilot was getting a bit cheesed off and said that he would only make another attempt when the problem was unquestionably solved. Hence are intrepid engineering officer found himself lining the aircraft up on the runway!

One other note I remember was that the ejection seat had been removed and the pilot made the flight whilst sitting on wooden box.

[leornato]

"A team from XM135 O/H was dispatched to recover the aircraft."

Seeing as this event ocurred at Lyneham and the main Lightning Mu,No.33 Maintenence Unit was based at Lyneham at the time I doubt if anyone was "dispatched" anywhere!

[Slipstream]

I think the wooden box bit was a myth. He was my Wg Cdr at Halton in the 70's and when he told us the story he said the pins were fitted to the seat, the canopy was removed and he was wearing ear defenders. I've just listened to an interview where he retells the story and it was indeed a 'bang seat' made 'safe for servicing'.

[DGH]

I've just checked this thread and Im sorry to hear of Taffy's passing please pass on my condolences to his family SteviePB.

[DGH]

Sorry to bring an old thread back into the arena but it's good news!

I can confirm that Taffy Holden is very much still with us and we have been exchanging e-mails recently.

A story with a happy ending.