Expo Purchases

[tor lives]

Hard to describe the Lightening as "beautiful", but is certainly does have a certain brutish and purposeful charm about it. Now the Canberra, that's another story.......she was elegant and good-looking from nose to tail.
TOR

[F-27pax]

I won't hear a word said against Lightnings. Form follows function and in their day they were the best interceptor going around. The result was an elegant and purposeful shape which, as folks used to say, looked like it was doing mach 2 while standing still. Hunters and Canberras might have looked sleeker, but they never achieved mach 2, and never looked like they could.

Leigh

[Adam the Akrodude]

Totally agree Ray. There is something just so purposeful and menacing about the Frightning. Up close it's such a beast to behold. Yep, Canberra - just beautiful - love that wing! Got to love a bomber that the fighters of the time had major issues intercepting at altitude.

I'm so looking forward to seeing Eric's Frightning finished.

[kfutter]

Warning - Thread drift alert! WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!

Thread drift, all right! I started this thread so I could ask a couple of questions about my Expo purchases, and look where it is now!



Kev

[tor lives]

It's all good aeroplane talk Kev
At least people aren't fighting with one and other, or causing each other grief. Just a bunch of aerosexuals having a good old chin-wag about sexy aeroplanes......and that can't be a bad thing now can it.
TOR

[tor lives]

I won't hear a word said against Lightnings. Form follows function and in their day they were the best interceptor going around. The result was an elegant and purposeful shape which, as folks used to say, looked like it was doing mach 2 while standing still. Hunters and Canberras might have looked sleeker, but they never achieved mach 2, and never looked like they could.

Leigh

Trouble is they forgot to design in any (meaningful) fuel tanks . The crew van the pilots used to get to the aircraft had longer range
TOR

[F-27pax]

Lightning range!! Details, mere details.

Speaking of which and getting back to the topic, I wouldn't have minded picking up a couple of Trumpeter LIghtning F.3 kits but didn't see any at the swap and sell. I recall a couple of Airfix F.6s, but at around what you'd pay retail for. In general, in fact, it seems to be getting harder to find rare gems or real bargains at these events.

Leigh

[Adam the Akrodude]

This is my kind of thread drift!

Agreed the first Lightnings had woeful range. Wasn't the joke at the time that the pilot had to declare a fuel emergency lining up for take off! This range issue was much improved with the later F.6 with those strange looking over-wing tanks and the larger belly "slipper" tank. The sad thing for me with the Lightning was it's woeful marketing for overseas sales (Kuwait and Saudi Arabia being the only other users) and woeful underdevelopment of it's weapon systems.
F.1 had two cannon and two Firestreak missiles (I.R that could not be used in cloudly conditions - what a feature in the UK environment! )
F.2 had four cannon and the two Firestreaks
F.3 - No cannon! Two Firestreaks/Red Tops
F.6 - Two cannon in a pack under the fuselage plus two Red Tops (missiles could also not be used in cloudly conditions and was rear-aspect use only. It was more sensitive than Firestreak though being able to look onto heat generated by skin friction).

Imagine the Lightning with a decent radar, AIM-9L/M's and even the AIM-7F Sparrow. The Saudi F.53's could drop bombs and fire A/G unguided rockets at least, so of much greater use.

Lightining must go down as one of the greatest fighters ever built from a pure performance aspect and one of the most under-developed and marketed. Lighting would have been a much better fighter for NATO countries than the F-104 in my opinion, if it had been better optioned as far as A/G weapons goes. Lockheed had way better sales and marketing people than E.E/BAE and the F-104 offered much better A/G weapons versus pretty well nil for the Lightning (until developed for the Saudi's and Kuwaiti's).

From a range point of view, RAF F.6 Lightnings did deploy to Singapore for a perod - took something like 15 air refuelings. These Lightnings also visited Darwin on exercise over the four years of this deployment.

[DesTROYer]

"Former" Top Gear host, Jeremy Clarkson bought one and has it in his garden.

[Adam the Akrodude]

Very cool! Just Googled it - it's a F.1A (XM172) and formerly a gate guardian at RAF Coltishall. If I owned one, I'd put it in a shed - not out in the elements. It's a former Firebirds Lightning.

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/survivor.php?id=31

XM172 first flew on 10th October 1960 and was delivered to 56 Squadron at RAF Wattisham in December. When 56 formed a Lightning display team named 'The Firebirds', XM172 was one of the team aircraft. In February 1965 the aircraft left Wattisham for RAF Coltishall and joined 226 OCU (65/145 Squadrons) until October 1973 when she was delivered to RAF Leconfield for disposal. Her last flight was in June 1974, to Coltishall in preparation for static display on the gate, wearing 145 Squadron marks initially but later changed to 226 OCU's own markings. In 1989 she was put up for disposal as the dreaded 'one gate guard' policy was put into force. Thankfully Wensley Haydon Baillie bought her, and asked that she remain on the gate at Coltishall. When he became bankrupt in 1998, XM172 was once again put up for disposal and in 1999 Barry Parkhouse bought her and had her removed from the gate and transported to his facility at Booker. On removal from Coltishall she was damaged in several places, faded, and had the tail and outer wings cut off. XM172 spent a brief period in Jeremy Clarkson's garden for his TV show 'Speed', but didn't stay there no matter what you might have been led to believe! She also showed up in the static park at the 2000 SBAC display at Farnborough, but soon returned to Booker. A plan to display her on a roundabout in Farnborough came to nothing, and she was placed in imminent danger of being scrapped because British Airways (owners of Booker) wanted the aircraft removed from the site. Anyway thankfully Neil Airey stepped in and bought her, moving her to a new home at Spark Bridge in Cumbria. This was made a needlessly urgent and hurried task by the airfield owners wanting her off site by the end of April 2006 or she would be scrapped! Thankfully the task was completed in time and she now sits resplendent in Neil's back garden - viewable by appointment. She's in good hands, that's for sure. - See more at: http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk ... ona0v.dpuf