Lightnings – Uneven Preservation!

Hi all

DGH dont forget the Lightning F.3 There are only 5 complete F.3’s left

Merlin 70 I wont go into figures on here but to buy and move my Lightning was’nt cheep.

Scott C

Can someone put a figure on how much it costs to save a lightning?

I guess there are the dismantling and transportation costs followed by the hangarage and reassembly.

Can we put a figure on it and lets go save a lightning. 😎

The later marks of Lightning are well repersented. The earlier ones not so. The first aircraft you have to worry about is P1B prototype XA847 ( the first british aircraft to fly at Mach2 ). This aircraft was shamefully sold of years ago by the RAFM having had its place at Hendon taken by F6 XS925. Although scrappies were bidding thankfully the aircraft passed to Wensley-Haydon Bailey. After quiet a few years in storage the aircraft was sold to Portsmouth Marine Salvage who although being scrappies like to find good homes for things. From there the aircraft has passed to a private owner near Stowmarket who I believe is restoring it on his farm. I give him my full support and wish him the best of luck but as with all things owned by individuals there’s always an element of risk involved.

Next on the list is pre-production F1 XG329 again owned by an individual and parked outside at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum. This would be followed by the only other surviving pre-production F1 XG337 which is at Cosford. Both should be ok for the time being but with one outside and the other at the mercy of a goverment run body – you never know.

Moving onto the F1 you then have the sole survivor XM135 which is at Duxford – this is undercover and should be pretty safe. :rolleyes:

It’s the F1A’s were the danger starts to lurk. XM173 is a gate guard and has been under threat a few times in the past. XM172 is privately owned and not looking to good parked out at Booker. XM178 is in France in the open at a private collection and XM192 is still I believe owned by Charles Ross ( who loves his Lightnings! ) and is located at the Bomber Country Museum, Hemswell out in the open.

The other worry is the only T4 surviving which is the 2nd prototype XL629 which can be found on the gate at Boscombe Down.

Of these aircraft in reality most are pretty safe the ones to worry about to me are XM173 + XL629, hopefully someone out there with bigger pockets than me is keeping an eye on them. That is of course if anyone knows of there disposal. The first anyone seemed to know about the last F2 being sold was when the scrapman arrived at West Drayton.

Hope this helps 🙂

Despite the fact that there are a number of Lightnings preserved in the U.K , the actual reality is that a number are outside and some of the rarer types are in danger. I think serious steps need to be taken to identify the Lightnings
which really deserve to be undercover as benchmark examples.

I’m afraid one of those ‘benchmarks’ has already gone, and relatively recently, the sole surviving unmodified F.2 (XN769) that used to be the gate guard at RAF West Drayton……..scrapped with just the cockpit IIRC being saved.