Lightning Preservation Group visit to FoDTVA 23 November 2013 - Dave Anderson
Paul Watterson of FoDTVA arranged for The Lightning Preservation Group from Bruntingthorpe to do a presentation to FoDTVA and other enthusiasts on both the development of the Lightning and the workings of how their group operates. With lots of goodies to buy the 35 attendees had plenty to see and with a number of video's and photo's the presentation was done in a very informative and interesting manor. The LPG (17 of them) have done a tremendous job raising funds to not only keep two "airworthy" Lightning's available for high speed runway dashes (note the Lightning will never be allowed to fly in the UK by the CAA) but also spent over £160k bringing the QRA sheds from Wattisham to Bruntingthorpe. Have a look at their website for events and much more on what the group is involved with - click here - Would be nice to get a Lightning back at Teesside in some form or another!!!
With so many memories coming back from days out at RAF Binbrook (Fighter town UK) I thought I'd dig out my log from the last Air Show to be held at Binbrook in August 1987 (some 26 years ago) just before the Lightning left RAF service.
RAF Binrook in the 80's the start of my military spotting was a great place to watch and photograph Lightnings and other military visitors, the UK often held large scale military exercises (Elder Forrest etc.) and Binbook was always on the route. We had no internet, mobile phones, computers and the only method of communication was the good old landline phone. The grapevine (the old world wide web) was a great source of info, rumours would come out before the exercise of visitors or airfield attacks by NATO forces, trips around bases would be planned to arrive hopefully as the action was taking place. Binbook always did well with airfield attacks and visitors and the Lightning always very active.
The airshow itself drew a healthy list of participants, a number of RAF and foreign types appearing for the static and flying display, as was pretty normal for shows in those days, however on this occasion the true static stars were the resident Lightnings. Most of the remaining airworthy aircraft parked on the active ramps leaving only a few in the static line-up as well as the very rare British Aerospace silver Lightning, XP693. Unfortunately the weather on the day was dreadful and as the morning went on turned even wetter, it was torrential by mid morning I even recall buying an umbrella a decision not taken lightly and I'm surprised how many photo's I did take, in the days of 35mm film it was costly to send them off for processing and wasted shots went in the bin at great expense. The sky was grey and cloud base can't have been more than a few thousand feet if that. The nine-ship of Lightnings was due to open the show, however due to the weather at the time it was a solo Lightning display aircraft that started the show. Eleven aircraft took off one after another staying low before climbing away in full after burner. I remember sheltering under the brolly waiting for the nine ship when out of the murk the two spares hurtled down the runway with a moisture cloud almost covering most of the fuselage, sadly no photo's. I can't remember much of the flying display I think a lot was cancelled or done at low altitude. With nearly 70 lighnings on the field the weather was soon forgotten and another memorable "last" airshow was a great memory.
RAF Binbrook Air Show 22nd August 1987
Link to some scanned photo's from the day
Static Display
| XN634 | 94 | BAC Jet Provost T.3A | Royal Air Force | 7 FTS | |
| XW418 | 126 | BAC Jet Provost T.5A | Royal Air Force | 7 FTS | |
| XZ146 | W | BAE Harrier T4 | Royal Air Force | 233 OCU | |
| XX319 | 319 | BAe Hawk T1 | Royal Air Force | 1 TWU 79 Sqdn | |
| XX322 | W | BAe Hawk T1 | Royal Air Force | 151 Squadron | |
| XT287 | 287 | Blackburn Buccaneer S.2B | Royal Air Force | 208 Squadron | |
| WP844 | de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk 22 | Royal Air Force | |||
| WJ680 | CT | English Electric Canberra TT.18 | Royal Air Force | 100 Squadron | |
| XP764 | DC | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | LTF | |
| XP693 | English Electric Lightning F.3A | British Aerospace | All silver | ||
| XS456 | DX | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | LTF | |
| 81-0956 | WR | Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II A | United States Air Force | 81 TFW 91 TFS | |
| 68-0044 | UH | General Dynamics F-111 'Aardvark' E | United States Air Force | 20 TFW 55 TFS | |
| E-203 | General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon | Danish Air Force | ESK 723 | ||
| ET-614 | General Dynamics F-16B Fighting Falcon | Danish Air Force | ESK 723 | ||
| XX482 | J | Handley Page Jetstream T1 | Royal Air Force | 6 FTS | |
| XM715 | Handley Page Victor K2 | Royal Air Force | 55 Squadron | ||
| XL591 | G | Hawker Hunter T4 | Royal Air Force | 237 OCU | |
| 22+57 | Lockheed F-104 Starfighter G | ex German Air Force | Preserved | ||
| 80-0011 | BT | McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle C | United States Air Force | 36 TFW/ 53 TFS | |
| XT870 | BS | McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II K FG.1 | Royal Air Force | 111 Squadron | |
| XV584 | BF | McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II K FG.1 | Royal Air Force | 111 Squadron | |
| N418FS | North American F-100 Super Sabre F | Flight Systems | |||
| 74-1545 | 45 | Northrop F-5 Tiger II E | United States Air Force | 527 AS | Blue Scheme |
| ZE159 | AW | Panavia Tornado F3 | Royal Air Force | 229 OCU | |
| 43+12 | G-70 | Panavia Tornado GR1 | German Air Force | TTTE | |
| XX741 | EJ | SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A | Royal Air Force | 6 Squadron | |
| XX845 | AZ | SEPECAT Jaguar T.4 | Royal Air Force | 14 Squadron | |
| ZA141 | B | Vickers VC-10 K.2 | Royal Air Force | 101 Squadron |
Active ramp
| XP741 | AR | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
| XP748 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | ||||
| XR716 | AQ | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
| XR725 | BA | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | Black Tail | ||
| XR726 | BM | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XR728 | JS | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | "John Spence" base commander | |||
| XR753 | BP | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XR754 | BC | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XR770 | AA | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | Red Tail | ||
| XR771 | AN | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
| XR773 | BR | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XS451 | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | no markings | ||||
| XS897 | AC | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
| XS898 | BD | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XS901 | AH | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
| XS904 | BQ | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XS919 | BB | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XS928 | AD | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
| XS929 | BG | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | |||
| XS936 | AS | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | |||
Far Side Decoys/ Dump
| XM181 | English Electric Lightning F.1A | Royal Air Force | Decoy | |||
| XM183 | English Electric Lightning F.1A | Royal Air Force | Decoy | |||
| XP695 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | Decoy | |||
| XR752 | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | Decoy | |||
| XS418 | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | Decoy | |||
| XS423 | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | Decoy | |||
| XS449 | 5 | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | Decoy | ||
| XS450 | X | English Electric Lightning T.5 | RoyaL Air Force | Decoy | ||
| XS454 | 4 | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | Decoy | ||
| XM969 | English Electric Lightning T.4 | Royal Air Force | Dump | |||
| XM969 | English Electric Lightning T.4 | Royal Air Force | Dump | |||
| XP761 | N | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | Dump |
| 9 | 30-MR | Dassault Mirage F1 C | French Air Force | ECTT-30 | ||
| 38 | 30-MG | Dassault Mirage F1 C | French Air Force | ECTT-30 | ||
| 68-0074 | UH | General Dynamics F-111 'Aardvark' E | United States Air Force | 20 TFW 55 TFS | ||
| 79-0048 | BT | McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle C | United States Air Force | 36 TFW/ 53 TFS | ||
| 79-0077 | BT | McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle C | United States Air Force | 36 TFW/ 53 TFS | ||
| 79-0220 | WR | Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II A | United States Air Force | 81 TFW 91 TFS | ||
| WL790 | 90 | Avro Shackleton AEW.2 | Royal Air Force | 8 Squadron | ||
| XW200 | FA | Aerospatiale SA.330 Puma HC.1 | Royal Air Force | 240 OCU | ||
| XX162 | 162 | BAe Hawk T1 | Royal Air Force | 4 FTS | ||
| XX238 | 238 | BAe Hawk T1 | Royal Air Force | 4 FTS | ||
| XX689 | 3 | Scottish Aviation SA.120 Bulldog T.1 | Royal Air Force | CFS | ||
| XX693 | 11 | Scottish Aviation SA.120 Bulldog T.1 | Royal Air Force | CFS | ||
| XX894 | 894 | Blackburn Buccaneer S.2B | Royal Air Force | 208 Squadron | ||
| ZA604 | Panavia Tornado GR1 | Royal Air Force | TWCU | |||
| ZB627 | A | Westland Gazelle HT3 | Royal Air Force | 2 FTS | ||
| ZE350 | T | McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II J{UK} | Royal Air Force | 74 Squadron | ||
| ZE351 | I | McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II J{UK} | Royal Air Force | 74 Squadron |
Flying Only
| LX-N90459 | Boeing E-3A Sentry | NATO | NATO | |
| XV244 | 44 | Hawker Siddeley Nimod MR2P | Royal Air Force | Kinloss Wing |
Hangars
| XS419 | DV | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | LTF | H1 | |
| XS895 | AO | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H1 | |
| XS925 | BD | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H1 | |
| XR724 | AE | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H2 | |
| XR747 | AL | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H2 | |
| XS416 | AZ | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H2 | |
| XS458 | DY | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | LTF | H2 | |
| XS922 | AF | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H2 | |
| XS932 | AG | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H2 | |
| WK624 | 12 | de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk 22 | Royal Air Force | 10 AEF | H3 | |
| XR727 | AB | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H3 | |
| XR759 | BJ | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H3 | |
| XR769 | BE | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H3 | |
| XS459 | AW | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H3 | |
| XS923 | BE | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H3 | |
| XS927 | BB | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H3 | |
| XR755 | BN | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H4 | |
| XR757 | BL | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H4 | |
| XR758 | BF | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H4 | |
| XS903 | BE | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H4 | |
| XV328 | DU | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | LTF | H4 | |
| XP694 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XP701 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XP702 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XP706 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XP749 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XP750 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XP751 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XR720 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XR751 | English Electric Lightning F.3 | Royal Air Force | no markings | H5 | ||
| XR756 | BH | English Electric Lightning F.6 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H5 | |
| XS417 | DZ | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | LTF | H5 | |
| XS420 | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | o markings | H5 | ||
| XS452 | BT | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | 11 Squadron | H5 | |
| XS457 | AT | English Electric Lightning T.5 | Royal Air Force | 5 Squadron | H5 |
Civil
| G-BGSE | Aerotek S-2A Special | Private | |
| G-BNIT | Bell Helicopters 206 Jet Ranger II B | Private | |
| G-HFTG | Piper PA-23 Aztec E 250 | Private | |
| G-WREN | Aerotek S-2A Special | Private | |
| N1337A | Vought F4U-7 Corsair | Preserved Aircraft | |
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