Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "Taffy Holden, the Accidental Lightning Pilot" video.
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He may not have been a test pilot before he took off but he surely was when he finally managed to land. Holden had flow more than the Tiger Moth. He qualified on the Harvard, or T-6, a much more powerful airplane, although still a tail dragger. He was qualified on the twin engine Airspeed Oxford, yet another tail dragger, and had flown as the co-pilot on the P-2 Neptune, a much larger twin engine aircraft, and one which finally had tricycle landing gear. He had flown as a second seater in the Javelin, a subsonic British fighter, and the Canberra bomber, but only assisting other qualified pilots. The whole concept of safely taking off and landing an aircraft like the Lightning is like a ten year old being able to successfully drive a Formula One car.
One bit of correction. Holden didn't spend two years in the hospital. He spent two periods of a couple weeks each in the hospital over a period of a couple years getting psychiatric help for the extreme anxiety of that 12 minutes of flight. [Edited to correct my usual typos]
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