British engineer who ACCIDENTALLY TOOK OFF in a fighter jet: Taffy Holden's Lightning Flight

In 1966, without being a pilot, by mere accidental mistake, RAF Engineer Taffy Holden flew in the fastest British fighter jet ever - BAC Lightning. This is one of those cases where the described events sound so incredible, even by the standards of fictional stories. But the thing is that they all truly happened.

Wing Commander Walter "Taffy" Holden remarkably went down in the history of the Royal Air Force as an engineer who accidentally took off in a jet fighter.

Big Thank You to Dan Rostron (Taffy Holden's grandson) for giving permission to use the video of their family visit to Duxford Air Museum.

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Chapters:
00:00 - Taffy Holden
01:16 - V Force
03:16 - Lightning
05:12 - XM135
07:10 - Aren't you a pilot?
08:54 - Like a bullet
11:25 - 12 minutes
15:30 - Take off the cap

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Paper Skies - amazing stories about famous airplanes, historical events, or exceptional people that have changed the world of aviation or turned out to be unfairly forgotten.

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[danrostron]

Taffy’s grandson here. A very accurate and well researched retelling of Taffy’s inadvertent flight in XM135. I've of course heard the story many times over the years, but is great to see it pieced together like this with the background history of lightnings and the animations of the accident itself. Great work Paper Skies!

[SomeYouTubeGuy]

No ejection seat, no canopy, no helmet or I imagine goggles, no radio and flight experience only on much slower and less technical aircraft. Take a bow Taffy you did bloody well.

[collectorguy]

Mrs Holden: "How was your day at work?"
"It became surprisingly busy after I made a mistake. I have an important meeting about it tomorrow morning."

[HappyBeezerStudios]

I mean it was checked with his superiors, the start was by accident and the got the plane, which was much faster than anything he flew before, in basically fine condition back on the ground without any comms.
Managed the situation amazingly well and was humble about it, this man had all rights to be around planes, Only way it could've been better if during the flight he found the reason for the issue with the electrics.

[ZGryphon]

I feel like the museum ought to be displaying XM135 without the canopy on it. You know, for authenticity.

[ValladolidArde]

Mr Taffy is accidentally the man to have driven the fastest Cabriolet EVER. RIP legend! what a great story!

[PozieNayan]

Accidentally took off in a fighter jet.
"Trust me, I'm an engineer".

[acgb]

As a schoolboy I was privileged to live next door to this inspirational man. A humble but amazing person!

[simoncarter]

I remember this incident really well, I witnessed it from below. We had just started our summer break from school and I was playing in the school playground with friends when a Lightening appeared at very low level from completely the wrong angle. As an 8 year old I was a little scared (it's a lot noisier than Britannia's and Comets), and I tripped up in the moment, skinning my knees. The aircraft made a few erratic passes and then disappeared from view. My dad (who was a crew chief at Lyneham) came home that night rabbiting on about how some-one had lost control of the aircraft on what he thought was an engine run. Now we know the truth. What an incredible story and its amazing that Taffy held his cool enough to get the aircraft down without crashing it. Fantastic.

[erictaylor]

18:00 I had something a bit like that happen to me 30 years ago. I was working in Death Valley and doing volunteer work with the National Park Service. I had a little historical presentation on the old mining camps in and around the Valley and after the presentation one of the people aske me about one of the "facts" I had mentioned. It turned out the fact had been slightly inaccurate but the man asked me where the fact came from. I mentioned the book from which most of my research had come and he said he knew the fact had not come from that book, because he had written that book.
He turned out to be very nice. I bought the guy lunch and he game me all sorts of great stories to add to my presentation. Also, he signed my copy of my book, even though it was dirty and dogeared. He said it just meant the book was well loved (it was).

[Bill]

If I was that museum curator I would have made sure the fuel tanks were drained,
the battery removed and the wheels chocked before i let Taffy near that cockpit.

[SirLoopalot]

Great story. My dad had a similar experience in the 60s, not in a jet, but in a piper tripacer. He had no flight experience or training whatsoever. He was a young engineer working in airline maintenance, when a pilot asked him to compensate the compass on his private plane. Dad took the plane and another engineer during nightshift, taxied to a remote area on the airport and did what he was asked for. On the way back, he looked down on the skales for too long, suddenly felt the plane wobbeling, looked up and realized he was flying some 50feet above the ground, between the trees on a long taxiway on an international airport heading towards the maintenance facilities in almost full darkness. He pulled the power back, somehow landed the plane without damage, and told nobody for many years. But after the incident, he took flying lessons and flew oldtimer planes for the next 50 years.

[jannejohansson]

"there is nothing wrong in this plane, I tested it"

[AutoMatters]

From the description I expected this video to be mildly interesting, but it totally blew me away. As unlikely as Taffy was to survive accelerating down the runway past the truck and the jet, and establishing controlled flight, landing that thing successfully without a parachute to arrest its speed seems like an absolute miracle. He must have been a phenomenal natural pilot. Thank you for masterfully putting this true story together, Paper Skies. Jan

[rachidluildha]

Incredible story. That he managed to take off, fly that rocketship and land it in one piece, reveals nerves of steel, analytic intelligence, awesome psychomotricity. Taffy should have been awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

[NJTDover]

My landlord, Dr Paul Durkin, a former RAF radar operator, shared with me this incredible story back in 1989. I remember that as though it were yesterday. I had missed the last bus back to Little Clacton so he drove all the way up to Colchester bus station to collect me. On the way home, he told me about Taffy's incredible feat. I thought he was pulling my leg but he eventually showed me the Sunday Express newspaper of the time where the story appeared. And now this video about Taffy - two near misses before he took off! No doubt his guardian angel gave him a hand to touch down unscathed and in one piece. RIP Taffy ... Big Balls Of Fire! Actually, YouTube is full of rubbish but this channel is a remarkable exception. Kudos for a job well done, Paper Skies.

[Joaking]

As an engineer I always find myself doing other people's job too.

[felipeaugusto]

i can imagine everyone around even his superiors that are not pilots would think ''if it was me i would not pull that one alive'', they were true to theirselves in honoring him and not firing him.

[tempestmkiv]

“I don’t want to get in the cockpit” ….priceless!

[de_gale]

i feel like in another life taffy could of been an insane pilot as well. With just a basic understanding of the controls, he was able to land the jet which some trained pilots also had trouble with, wow what a great inspiration. RIP fly high taffy, and god speed.