English Electric Lightning Walkaround

[deeka24]

if you want to get up close and personal with a lightning then the best place in britian is the T5 at cranfield, a wonderfully preserved lightning in full working order and performs fast taxi rund quite regularly, full access is given to the aircraft including cockpit tours,being a two seater much more room for the cockpit tour by a lightning pilot

[fairclought7]

the finest interceptor of its generation bar none and the worlds first to super cruise. god damn what a beast, you have to go to thunder city in south africa to see them fly now

[LIVERPOOLSCOTTISH]

@fairclought7 Agree entirely, the Lightning stood head & shoulders above other interceptors in the late 50's & 60's. Even today, it terms of sheer performance it will humiliate the vast majority of contemporary jet fighters ie climb rate- it STILL holds records! It is almost criminal that the CAA will not permit this icon of British aviation engineering to fly on a civil basis. The great tragedy with the Lightning is that it suffered a lack of development due to short sighted politicians.

[fightboss]

Very Cool! this 'Old Bird' inspired me to try Building a Model of it!!!!!! if they could Revive it, it'd Kick Ass!!!!!!!! Stay Cool!

[miwifeslegs]

nice vid if a little erratic . served with no.s 5 and 11 sqadrons and the LTF at binbrookin the mid 70`s

if they can allow a vulcan to fly again ( and why not ) how about letting one of these old leaky crates find it`s wings again.

reckon it could still give the eurofighter a run for it`s money !!!

[mrrmancunian]

They do fly. There're four in South Africa, two of which are duel seated, and the company that owns the collection offer supersonic flights to the general public.

[scrillamanila]

God I hate the CAA, bunch of unpatriotic Nazis!

[djwilko7]

ye i think everyone involved in aviation has some sort of battle with the CAA sometime in their career dont they peace ,, xx wilko xx

[Teab0y]

It wouldn't be so hard to replace the warped panel I'm sure, theres just no point at the moment.

[johnklockyer]

Lovely! I had a flight in a T-Bird of Lightning Training Flight Binbrook Lincs. around 1985 ish.

Thanks for this one. John.

[steviep918273]

john.Were you on LTF at that time??Your name looks familiar because I was there then?

[johnklockyer]

yes ltf mate. MEATBALL here lol, whos this?

[steviep918273]

do you remember a jt sootie who worked in the hangar (steve pauls)???thats me mate.

[ludocrat]

Oh yeah, the F-35. I forgot. Surely some mistake. Why not the 'Harrier III' for the F-35 - or something original perhaps, like the 'F-35 Seagull'. Seagulls land with poo coming out of their bums too, don't they - sort of? I dunno. I'm not a birdwatcher. Anything would be better than 'Lightning II', though, which is pretty much an insult, isn't it?

[tommoon]

It's probably called the Lightning II because of the P-38 Lightning anyway.

Even worse.

[ludocrat]

lol - yes!

[djwilko7]

haha defo

[ludocrat]

Shame there will never be a Lightning II. Now what a machine that would be! Thanks for this.

[FallenPhoenix86]

only 9000.... man I need to win the lottery lol, hopping to get a ride in a hunter T.7 sorted out next year

[brynteg]

One of my favourite aircraft. One flew over my house back in 87. That was the first and last time. Sad to see such an icon left just to taxi !

[lightning1975]

If you go to Cape Town, South Africa you can fly in one for £9000! They just got XP693 up and running as well!

[lightning1975]

Well, I just use a really cheap digital camcorder that I got off e-bay. It's only 3.1 megapixels and I bought it a few weeks ago. I also use a Sony Cybershot@ 5.1 mpxls....

[TheFeralMonk]

Serving up some Sky nerd supreme there man.Thanks for this one!!!

[royzee]

We were going to Bruntingthorpe that day but got lured away to another airshow instead - how was it? Brilliant I expect. What camera etc equipment do you use?