In the peaceful solitude of the early hours of July 5th, 1955, a prototype of Britain’s latest interceptor, the Gloster Javelin, soared through the starry skies over southern England. The aircraft had been specially designed to fly at night and in all weather conditions, but it was a Javelin in name alone: not only did it travel at underwhelming speeds, but it was much bulkier than its contemporaries, with a large, rounded fuselage, an enormous T-tail, and a broad, triangular Delta-wing configuration, earning this odd-looking beast the nickname of the “flying flat-iron.” It certainly cut a strange figure as Wing Commander R.F. “Dicky” Martin guided it through the darkness at high altitude on a routine test flight.
Calmly cruising just south of London, suddenly, panic struck. As he struggled for breath, a cold sweat broke out across the pilot’s forehead as he realized that his oxygen tube was stuck in his parachute harness. He desperately fought to untangle it. Then, out of nowhere, an earth-shattering boom shattered the tranquility of the lonely night sky, waking households for miles around. Somehow, in the midst of his frantic attempt to free his oxygen tube, without even meaning to, Martin and his unwieldy Javelin had done the seemingly impossible: they had broken the sound barrier.
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No notice again.
just 7 mins after launch and like no 46 nice vid
That is one UGLY platform….
Sabrina 😅
That mention of the pilot's leg length…. During my USAF days as an Avionics Instrument Sysyems Tech, I worked on the Lockheed T-33A among others. Being a tall guy with long legs, I realised when sitting in the cockpit, if I was a pilot and had to eject, I'd lose my lower legs to the instrument panel lower edge! 😮
If the F-15 Eagle is ''The Flying Tennis Court", then the Javelin was the "Flying Housing Estate".
You're telling me it's bizarre. Like the Hustler, looks so wrong and ready to be superceded by a better design. It's so bad it's scary. Poor RAF pilots risking and often losing their lives for a piece of crap. Good video. 🚽🧻
Great video, javelin was superseded by a behemoth of a fighter,the incredible English electric lightning 👌👍
Went to school in the Farnborough Circuit had to put up with the Wonderful noise of a Javelin.
Farst forward ten years a girlfriend father ejected from a Javelin in the Singapore region.
The Gloucester Meteor was the only allied operational fighter of WWII, the USAAF aircraft that was sent to Italy does not count because they were prototypes and never saw combat.
The idea of starting an engine with what amounted to a shotgun cartridge was also used at this time with tractors.
I had to look up Sabrina. Her tanks were bigger.
The Gloster Meteor was the first & only, Allied jet aircraft used operationally in WWII, not just the first British jet.
An Important point to remember that I think..
It Looked fast.
I like the Look of this airplane, its design seems very modern for a 2nd generation jet fighter.
The Javelin came out just a couple of years too early. With a thinner wing & blended wing roots, a more contoured leading edge, area rule, more efficient stronger engines, small wing tip tanks & close coupled canards (while keeping the T tail) it would have been great & IMAO better than the Lightning.
Read The Quick and the Dead by Bill Waterton, the Javelin test pilot.
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My dad did the same with the Vulcan. It wasn't designed to go through the sound barrier – but he was the first to show it could be done.
The Brits are the kings at making the strangest aircraft in the world
There used to be a gate guardian Javelin at RAF Worcester. No idea what happened to it
This idiot contradicts himself in almost every single sentence
He totally did that on purpose
TIL. Wankie is south east of Victoria Falls. 14:15
It's certainly graceful to watch in flight, but I can't put the persistent thought out of my mind that the angles of the wings are all wrong. Especially on the tail section. Especially in the vertical part.
I wondered, when you were talking about Martin unwittingly breaking the sound barrier that I used to hear that a few times a year but haven’t heard that sound in decades. I grew up near an USAir Force base and now live between Camp Pendleton and Miramar Naval Air Station-or whatever their newer name is. I used to hear that sound all the time near the AFB but not anymore. Am I just in the wrong places at the wrong times or do planes only do that in unpopulated areas now. Can anyone clarify for me?
I vividly recall the sonic bang and its good to have the exact date . Years later I met a Javelin pilot whose call sign was Black Jack . He had been involved in a huge war game when American bombers had simulated a massed raid . He copied the German WW2 tactics of a head on attack… the Americans found it an effective manoeuvre!
Is it just me or does the Javelin look like an early variation of the Tornado?
I can't imagine that stacking anything this high is a good idea.🙄
Excellent. Keep mining that rich vein of British Cold War aircraft please. Have you done the Gannet yet? The aeroplane equivalent of a pug, ugly but adorable.
This supersonic flight was not a one-off and was regularly achieved in service as the speed limit was mach 1.08 above 35000 ft. From the pilot's notes…"This aircraft will go supersonic in a 40 degree dive at full throttle. Also the Javelin was as fast as was required under it's specification and equal to the Hunter and Swift. You've also repeated a popular mistake about 29 Sqn Javelins flying over Egypt and upsetting Col Nasser. As it is about 2,500 miles from Cyprus to Nairobi, this was impossible without inflight Refuelling. They flew nowhere near Egypt but via Turkey, Iran, Masirah and Aden including two night stops to get to Kenya.
I still think it’s a beauty
Easy to understand the Brit's sensitivity to sonic booms, so soon after the end of WW II. Thanks for another great story.
Cartons of Tiger beer fit well in the ammo bays – nicely chilled after a 20min flight at alt.! edit: "Sabrina's" was a carry over from the Hunter's ammo-link collectors.