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They don't hold a candle to an experience I had at the Farnborough
air show 60yrs ago. They had a Canberra bomber which normally had
Rolls Royce Avons; it was a flying test bed for the Olympus engine.
It was painted all over matt black. I was stood at the fence about
40 metres from the runway. It took off from my right to left, and
unstuck about 40-50 metres to my right, and by the time it passed
in front of me it was about 10-12 metres off the ground when he stood
it on its tail and climbed precisely vertically until it disappeared into the clouds. I couldn't witness the spectacle properly because my eyeballs were vibrating so much, and every part of my body felt as though it had a massive [but benign] electric shock passing through it. The Olympus engines gave it about 260% of its normal power.
raymo
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