Cranfields Lightnings

hi everyone unfortunately 458 does not take part in any airshows these days but she is very much alive and in a very good condition of maintenence apart from the usual common lightning fuel leaks she is started up every 6weeks for a stactic engine run with full reheat unfortunately these days owning to limited amount of avpin we alternate engine starts to conserve this rare starter fuel.
but we still intend to have a full program of high speed runs this summer which usually is up to a maximum of ten.
if any body knows of a sorce of avpin i would be extremely greatful and appreciative for any known sorces of avpin
i know a lot of you lightning freaks would like to visit 458 and it is possible to do so for a small fee to go towards the conservation of 458 which we would greatfully appreciate for as we are a very small group with just four of us, if you are interested in a visit which would be on a saturday please email me for info on tour or photo opportunity with 92sqn on port and this 111sqn on starboard this would make a ideal day rmc

Born in NP

NP? Know it well – I was born there! There used to be a maternity ward but it is now a housing estate. Likewise the railyard where my dad used to take me along with him to work when he was driving a coal delivery truck. Great memories of getting a look at the footplate on ‘Nobby’ the steam train that ran to and from Wolverton.

I too have a fair number of still pics from Cranfield over the years but lawdy knows where they all are. Organisation and filing have never been one of my strong points.

The first camcorder I ever had a go with was like your dad’s. My mate bought a Sony ‘portable’ – it had a massive battery in a shoulder bag power pack. Nice chap sat in his car recharging the spare while we wandered the soggy static at Mildenhall 82.

Mind you my ‘modern’ Sony c/c is still a battery eater. I have now got one that lasts a Duxford day trip (but I still take a spare and don’t use the screen much).

We could almost be neighbours Royzee i live in Newport Pagnell near Aston Martin’s luckily i cant see the xscape from here as it is a bit of a carbuncle (looks like a big American Air Museum with a ski slope and cinema etc instead of aircraft etc).

I missed the last one as it became all cessnafied and boring so i stopped going, i remember the jet car they had one year and the NEW Tornado screaming up and down the runway and as always the lightnings, red arrows, Hunters and there was a Phantom one year but i dont remember all of them !!

My dad took his camcorder to one show but it only recorded half an hour at a time and looked like one of those Russian one’s off Only Fools & Horses, and all the 35mm pics i took there have vanished over the years.

Still good to meet another local.

curlyboy

close to Cranfield

Hey Curlyboy we could almost be neighbours… I live in sight of the Xscape in CMK.

I was there when they had the final airshow for the Vulcan (such a pity I didn’t have a camcorder back then, should have borrowed one!) and the Bucc.

But I have vids of the later shows…

all I have to do is dub them off the analog camcorder.

All were brought by Arnold Glass, who intended to make a flim

MMMM A Vulcan (almost) flying, Lightnings, Buccaneers, Hunters, all flying somewhere. There is even a Phantom or two somewhere.

How are we off for Russian and other Baltic area planes??

There are plenty of authentic cockpits for filming in too.

There’s got to be a story out there somewhere.

Someone’s got some money to invest somewhere, I’m sure a gung ho story would bring in much needed investment, even if these aircraft never fly within several thousand miles of each other.

:diablo: :diablo: PM me, if you’ve got money, a story, assets. It all needs one big melting pot, and a few heads banging together.

Oh the spectacle, a couple of Lightnings scurrying off down Brunty’s runway (in the wet, so we never really need to see them take off), hotly pursued by an enraged Vulcan on full power. “More Power”!!!!! (Triple manly grunts).

I wonder if Steven would be interested in writing a sequel to the Dambusters? “617 over Iraq” (quick, while we still have Tornados).

My fondest memories are things like wanting to look at the exhausts of a running Lightning (which you could walk up to and touch non of this nanny state stuff we have now) or the memorable Hercules display of the guy putting a mark on the runway and the aircraft taking off before it got to the mark.
curlyboy[/QUOTE]

If you come to Bruntingthrope in July you will be able touch as much of either our two Lightnings as you want,:D even climb in them for a small fee 🙂

I used to go to Cranfield every year until it became a show for cessna’s and the like, i always used to be impressed that they could turn out a great show without lots of ho ha, but i always went because i only live about 4 miles away and the MD of Aston Martin (pre Ford) used to get us in for free.

My fondest memories are things like wanting to look at the exhausts of a running Lightning (which you could walk up to and touch non of this nanny state stuff we have now) or the memorable Hercules display of the guy putting a mark on the runway and the aircraft taking off before it got to the mark.

But my greatest memory is of a Vulcan (XH558 ?) flying straight over my house and going into a bank before vanishing over the nearby houses the one year i missed it because i had Scarlet fever.

Still it was a great show well missed.

curlyboy

Brunty

Bruntingthorpe has been on my wish list for years. So fingers crossed we might make it in July. Have been past several times.

I did mean the Cranfield jets day and then earlier the PFA Rally – we sneaked in late in the afternoon as no one wanted to be out in the rain we were able to just drive in. The Lightning and some less interesting planes were close by so I was able to film it with my new camcorder – to hell with the rain.

I think those were the only times I saw a Lightning at Cranfield in all the years of going to airshows there. We used to go when I was a kid – they had that HP 155 research plane up one time. Red Arrows Gnats all lined up. The TSR2 in a hangar.

Distant daze.

blimey, I hadnt realised that 458 had been sat around 10 years or so, before she was woken up. I’m surprised the engines were any good, or that the rheat pipes still worked.

out of intrerest, how long had 452 and 458 been sat about before they were rescued?

452 was left untill around 1990/91 before she was brought back to health, 458 I think was was about 1998ish so there was alot of work to do on her.
It was around the time that 452 was sold to Mike Beechyhead and stripped for transport to South Africa

Looks like the late great Baz Livesley in picture number 8 Andy.

Yeh, like markp451 said above thats the great Baz Livesly on the wing, what a true Lightning man he was, and a real nice chap the boot, what he didnt know about Lightnings.
I will always remember his answer for a jammed shut starter air valve, ‘boil it it owt boy’ Classic.

Cheers

out of intrerest, how long had 452 and 458 been sat about before they were rescued?

Looks like the late great Baz Livesley in picture number 8 Andy.

It is Mr Lightning a great man sadly missed

Looks like the late great Baz Livesley in picture number 8 Andy.

Last time we got to see a Lightning do anything other than rot in the rain was at the Classic Jet Airshow in the late nineties. Don’t think there has been a public airshow with a Lightning in it since then. I drove by Cranfield on the way back from the Little Gransden airshow last year and there was still the two-seater visible from the road.

I distincitly recall how loud it was, not the jet pipe but the compressor I think, a horrid piercing whine. Worse than the mother in law!

Hi I assume you only mean the Cranfield airshows not our open day at Brunty ?

Why not come along to Bruntingthorpe on July 22nd and see our two perform 🙂

My mother in law doesnt sound as sweet as an Avon at full power, thats a fact 😀

Classic Jet

Last time we got to see a Lightning do anything other than rot in the rain was at the Classic Jet Airshow in the late nineties. Don’t think there has been a public airshow with a Lightning in it since then. I drove by Cranfield on the way back from the Little Gransden airshow last year and there was still the two-seater visible from the road.

In the early 90s we used to drive by the airfield and there they were looking all forlorn in the field tied down and half covered by tarps. I took some pix at an earlier show in the 80s and there were at least three there with the Binbrook markings on the tail a gryphon or whatnot. They were outside a hangar but not in the ‘static’ part of the show. A nice surprise but nothing ever came of it.

I have some footage of the Lightning at the PFA in the 90s in the pouring rain – one of the first warbirds I filmed with my new camcorder. And the smae plane again in the Classic Jets show when it started up, taxied past and then did a launch abort. I distincitly recall how loud it was, not the jet pipe but the compressor I think, a horrid piercing whine. Worse than the mother in law!

It was ‘Wing-Commander’.

http://www.amazon.com/Wing-Commander-Ken-Bones/dp/6305475822

John.

Well remembered John, I sat here raking the grey matter !

Mind you it was easily forgotten 🙂

might even have been Star Wars.

It was ‘Wing-Commander’.

http://www.amazon.com/Wing-Commander-Ken-Bones/dp/6305475822

John.

Arnold Glass was associated with at least some of the Lightnings, he also operated the Gnat G-GNAT.

I think some of the Lightnings ended up in Southampton or Portsmouth and the cockpits were the basis of some sci-fi movie mock-ups, might even have been Star Wars.

None of the Cranfield cockpits ended up as flim extra’s, the cockpits used were some of the Ex Saudi ones that were brought from Marine Salvage.

MJR will fill the gaps here, I carnt remember the films name

All the Cranfield cockpits are presently cared for as Museum exhibits, XS328 is with the Phoniex guys at Brunty

Arnold Glass was associated with at least some of the Lightnings, he also operated the Gnat G-GNAT.

I think some of the Lightnings ended up in Southampton or Portsmouth and the cockpits were the basis of some sci-fi movie mock-ups, might even have been Star Wars.