As soon as the plane took off the little boy started to cry.

[Nonverbis]

Book: Upstream Proficiency by Virginia Evans and Jenny Dooley.

Direct order: As soon as the plane took off the little boy started to cry.
Inversion: No sooner took than the plane off than the little boy started to cry.

The question is whether such variant with the past simple is possible or past perfect is an absolute necessity here?

No sooner had the plane taken off than the little boy started to cry.

 

[5jj]

Inversion with the past simple would be: No sooner did the plane take off ...

It's possible.

 

[jutfrank]

The past simple version sounds dodgy to me. I really feel you need the sequencing that the past perfect brings to this kind of sentence.