English Electric Lightning

A test pilot once told me they used to take off from Cranfield, refuel, fly to the coast and back, refuel, and land. A gas-guzzeler, but a very fast one nonetheless! Although retired, a few planes owned by a private owner in South Africa are still maintained and flown on a regular basis.

the Lightning was the first aircraft i ever saw at an airshow....RAF Leuchars In Scotland and the year was 1976. I was 9 years old and i remember being totally gob smacked as the pilot got the wheels about 2 inches off the runway,lifted the undercarriage then proceeded to light the afterburner and climb vertically out of sight in less than a minute....absolutely amazing ! It will stay with me forever.

very nice vidoe

Indeed one of the first ever aircraft to attain the much vaunted super cruise they shout so much about these days, however the lightning had quite a few other tricks up it%u2019s sleeve as well, When originally designed as a high level, high speed interceptor it%u2019s role was already fixed, however the designers managed somehow to not only build a fighter that conformed too the ministries specifications, but retained a lot of what made a good combat platform within it%u2019s flight envelope, guess it was a hangover from the war not long over, such a pity British aviation design was finally done for by it%u2019s own government so preventing further development of this fighter beyond the F6 variant., Music is Van Gelis I believe.

Until now, I nven't seen much of this jet. I do, however, remember that this is a playable aircraft in Konami's "Air Force Delta" series of arcade/flight sim games (in the first, it was a secret jet that you had to beat the game to get). It was a whole lot of fun to fly, and had enough performance and firepower to casually smack F-15's and the like out of the sky. ;)

It's strange how well this plane performs but with so little recognition. It was not a famous aircraft, but was very, very fast and could fly higher than any F-15. I wonder how well it maneuvered in a dogfight situation...

I ve always love this bird since i m kid. Over that, this is a really unic airplane. this engines configuration and those hardly shaped winds gave hima great look .... anyway british aircrafts are always unique in terms of design ...
Thanks

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I love the Lightning

Quote:


Vangelis - To the unknown man.

Old dandy music :D

And by the way, does anyone know where thr song come from? Just love it!!!

What an aircraft.
Anyone going to UK, you can find 2 of them kept in flying conditions at Bruntingthorpe (even though so far they're only used for fast taxing shows to raise funds to keep them in great shape), here's their website: http://www.lightnings.org.uk/
On YouTube you can find some great videos of Bruntingthorpe's Lightnings during engine runs and taxi trials!!!
Well worth a visit!!!

cool stuff

The Lightning was the first aircraft to achieve super-cruise, in 1954. Initial rate of climb was 50,000 ft per min. A Lightning intercepted a U-2 at 88,000 feet.