English Electric Lightning

Thanks Peter - your words are now on the website.

hydealfred;110520 wrote:

Yes please Dr B - very much look forwards to receiving them.

Give me a day or two to clean it up and can you pm me an email address please.

www.go-dove.com/en/event-15794?lcid=en

Shattering everybody's eardrums & stealing the show as always. Here's some pure Lightning power at Brunty last Sunday -



Steve

Some nice Lightning shots at Binbrook here posted recently on UKAR -

forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=58122



Steve

Cheer them on for me Steve. Wish I lived nearer so that I could be there.

Pauline.

pauline;148395 wrote:

Cheer them on for me Steve. Wish I lived nearer so that I could be there.

Pauline.

Will do Pauline . A real shame you can't pay them a visit.

Fantastic; my first airshow was to Biggin Hill when I was about 10. In those days you could range up at the end of the runway staring right down the throat of the jet tubes. Without a doubt the Lightning that swung round infront of us and then screamed down the runway like some banshee was the most impressive and memorable plane that day.

I can still feel the heat and smell of jet fuel 40 years later...

XS456 at Skegness.
I have just had the opportunity of (re)examining trainer XS456 at Skegness -- as per the photograph taken earlier, which will be found on the Water Park thread.

When I first checked the aircraft's front fuselage number (FFN) in the 1980s is was B1/95015. According to all the reference sources, it should be 95016. However, all the reference sources are wrong for this and a number of other Lightnings. The FFN list which entered circulation in the 1960s appears to have been the planned assignment of airframes, which was thrown into disarray by occasional swap-rounds of front fuselages.

I was taken aback to see that XS456 now conforms to the incorrect list! The picture shows the plate in the nose wheel well, with the final digit of 95016 being slightly non-uniform. Has it been changed to fit the list? And if so, by whom?

(As an aside, the South African registered XS452/ZU-BBD is quoted as B1/95012 in the registration documents, but is actually 95013.)

Finally, the drawing number for the T. Mk 5 (second line of the maker's plate) shows that this mark has the SBAC designation EB5.

Do I get a prize for pointing out that all the RAF Lightning bases in the UK have closed or are about to close?