EE Lightning F.1: Painful Landings Both.

12 Sep 1962. de Havilland test pilot George Aird was minding his own business when suddenly a serious engine fire led to a total loss of the tailplane actuator. With no other options available and at the last posible moment he pulled the cord of the trusty Martin-Baker ejection-seat. The ejection was totally successful until he landed on a greenhouse; his worst injures were produced by broken glass.

Well-known yet stupendous photo; it was harder then to get a photo like this one, before nowadays cell-phone’s “madness”.

Photo: Jim Mead (Daily Mirror Archives).