Here's a 2013 blog post from Holden's grandson with a copy of the same story as well as a video and some photos of a visit Holden took with his family to the Duxford Air Museum to see the Lightning (surprising a tour group):
With this single comment at the end left by garyl on Aug 23, 2026: "My father was there, your grandfather was my dad's boss. He was reminding me of the story this morning (he is now 97). He described himself as the new tea boy. Dad was deafened in the right ear as a result of the incident"
Holden passed away in Dec 2016 at 90 years of age:
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I would say it's worth reading Holden's account of it directly, which starts on page 3 of this PDF:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210319185656if_/http://www.nzr...
Here's a 2013 blog post from Holden's grandson with a copy of the same story as well as a video and some photos of a visit Holden took with his family to the Duxford Air Museum to see the Lightning (surprising a tour group):
https://web.archive.org/web/20141025130512/http://www.danros...
Same video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-5ASHzFsI
Copy of the blog post (sans photos and video) here:
https://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/post/wing-commander-taffy-ho...
With this single comment at the end left by garyl on Aug 23, 2026: "My father was there, your grandfather was my dad's boss. He was reminding me of the story this morning (he is now 97). He described himself as the new tea boy. Dad was deafened in the right ear as a result of the incident"
Holden passed away in Dec 2016 at 90 years of age:
https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/holden/1370331
Wow, that gives a whole new meaning to “ride the lightning” lol.