The pilot and I climb our ladders, sit down and strap ourselves firmly to the seats…at last we are ready. Oxygen masks on, breathing OK. The ground crew remove the safety pins from our seats. ’Seat is now live, OK’. Start master on…a surge from the air starter and No 1 engine begins to burst into life and then a second whine as No 2 engine joins it. A few more checks then the canopy comes down and locks with a positive clunk. The pilot increases throttle and we jolt gently round to the take off runway….

‘Clear to line up’ comes over the air. We move onto the white centre-line. 75% engines, then 85%...The pilot announces ‘OK, here we go’

The brakes are released and we suddenly surge forward. The pilot is reading the knots, and the gain (and grin!) is faster than he can read the speed….’We are at 100 knots already’, but that was then, now it’s, 120, 130…’ (the nose wheel lifts) ‘165, 175…’

At 175 knots we lift off. The undercarriage comes up and the nose begins to point skyward. We are doing about 450 knots now at an angle of about 70 degrees; I have by now become quite a snug fit in the back of my seat! Clearing the end of the runway we perform a barrel roll and carry on upward. ‘Well, I haven’t done that before’, I remark.

The coastline is now clearly visible below us, dark green landscape separated from deep blue sea by pencil thin white of sandy coastline. Air traffic control bursts over the intercom, ‘Bravo, bravo, delta you are cleared to 45,000ft’. I look at the altimeter, 18,000ft already; the rate of climb indicator is spinning madly. We pull hard left at 4G, making me feel as though I am being squeezed into the airframe then we bank right, 30,000…35,000ft.

Airspeed is now close to Mach 1. ‘Feel for the bump as I engage reheat on No 1 engine’…I here a muffled thud as my seat reacquaints itself with my back in a polite if firm manner. ‘Now for No 2’, thud…hello seat. The airspeed indicator hovers briefly around Mach 1, the airframe vibrating, then silence and the IAS jumps to about M1.25.

45,000ft now and the world looks very different. The horizon is a pronounced curve of light blue becoming progressively darker until directly above, a circle of black sky appears, and with it, the edge of space. Dave, my pilot now provides me with yet another perspective by inverting us! Mmmm.

Descending, we go supersonic once more. We begin to turn, the airframe vibrating, ‘It doesn’t really like turning supersonic’…but then who does? Descending still further, looping, turning and rolling, eventually we are at sea level hurtling along the coastline, 500ft high at 600 knots, and the sea just a blur.

Sadly the fuel gauges remind us the funs over and we need to go home. We touch down with about 600lbs of fuel left in each of the main tanks, the ventral tank sucked dry long ago. Arriving back at the hanger, it’s all stop, canopy up and ladders on. I climb down and it occurs to me I’m completely exhausted. When can we go again…?

Rupert Smith