Another Lightning Displayed At Coningsby

What a beautiful looking aircraft. Lets hope it stays like that.

Put some fuel in, kick the tyres, and off it goes :rolleyes:

Message from the owners of XS897 (aka XP765)

Message from the owners.

We at ‘Lakes Lightnings’ own this lovely machine which is on a 10 year loan to 29 Sqn and the photos used in the 9minute long 29 sqn produced slideshow are made up of a miriad of photos from lots of contributors to which we are all grateful indeed.

Should anyone want to split a Lightning for a move, bearing in mind that XM173 is up for Sale out there, then please PM us here and we can provide you with boundless pictures of Lightnings being stripped down like an Airfix kit assisting you in how to do it whereas, F1a XM172 was moved as a wide load with wintips cut off outboard of the main undercarriage whereas, T5 XS420 was cut down just outboard of the fuse making it a normal width load!.

It was hard work and good fun with plenty of blood and sweat with not many tears thank goodness!

The final outcome of XS897 (aka XP765) is superb as we all agree so, just to reiterate, well done OC 29 and his team for a splendid job very well done.

my dad and his friends used to own it at doncaster and started to restore it and then lakes lightnings bought it and we moved it to coningsby, ive got pics of the second part of the build on facebook: lightning f6 xs897. if you want to have a look, she was a pain to put back together again i reckon she was fed up of moving everywhere haha

You got any pictures of the process at either end Wokka Bob ?

Try the Air Britian site. Has 1 picture at Bentley Priory.
http://www.abpic.co.uk/results.php?q=XM173&fields=all&sort=latest&limit=10
or:
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?regsearch=XM173
😉

You got any pictures of the process at either end Wokka Bob ?

Unfortunately not. There may be some out there somewhere, IIRC we were a team of 8.

The job started at the end of September with a planned finish for end of October. The aircraft was lifted into position on 25th Oct.

Excuses:
1. The ‘Management’ was packing boxes ready for our move to Fat Alberts at the beginning of November and I seem to recollect my box brownie was first to go.:mad:

2. To be quite honest, I didn’t think about it until after the event. As a young SNCO it was a case of get the job done and watch Binbrook in your rearview mirror for the last time!:diablo:

Bob

Cracking job – looks fit to fly again…

You got any pictures of the process at either end Wokka Bob ?

Lightning wing rebuild.

I was pleased to see her wings are able to be disassembled without resorting to saws as well.

Having stripped XM 173 at Binbrook in a warm hangar in 1976 and taken it to Bentley Priory for rebuild, this is not the job for the faint hearted. Apparently we were the first team to complete the task. (Unless you know different!) On an uphill slop at the back of the Officers Mess; with the road slopping inwards to a drainage channel, it was not easy to mate those wings. A number of MT trolley jacks borrowed from Uxbridge allowed us to reassemble the wings. Oh by the way the rain was persistent and this was late October and outside.:)

Thanks AdlerTag.

It’s called “To the Unknown Man”.

Great little video, it just goes to show how much effort, money and expertise has been lavished on this aircraft to save it from the state of dereliction is was in at Rossington.

Anyone know which Vangelis song that is?

She was fitted with a pair of cut wings when she initially arrived at Firbeck. A trade was done and a pair of uncut wings were acquired from Flixton.

Really enjoyed the video, and hearing Vangelis again after all these years. The Lightning looks magnificent… well done to all involved, and especially to the creative cooperation between the RAF and civilians. It seems like a perfect example of what could occur at other bases. I was pleased to see her wings are able to be disassembled without resorting to saws as well. Do you have a maintenance agreement?

Cheers,
Richard

What a terrific film, thanks for posting this up!

Hi Stu,
Great film,she looks fantastic,even got myself and Hooly in it!

Very proud to have played a small part in the project, pity I didn’t get to see it unveiled,hopefully I will get to CBY one day and be able to show the kids,’look what we did!’

Hope you are ok.
All the best ,Alan

xs897

Hey Guys

Have you seen this link to XS897’s rework?;)

http://youtu.be/u6V9rDGcLoU

Stu

Is that the ex Merkle SU-7 cockpit ?

Ben

Following on:

We forgot to mention that ‘Lakes Lightnings’ owns 3 complete Lightning airframes and 3 Lightning nose sections amongst others.

No we dont have a website as we are a private collection viewable by prior arrangement and at events such as Cockpitfest and T.A.S.Manchester.

We are keen to let folks visit BUT at our convenience AND by arrangement. Work gets in the way of play as we all know!

To date we have 13 aircraft(!) in our inventory:
XM172
XS420
XS897 (XP765)
XM144
XS922
WT711
T55 55-715 (ZF596)
WK122
XZ131
Harrier T4 (Ex Cranfield development – no desig)
SU-7 (no desig)
XN597
XS181

All the best for Xmas folks … Fly Safe, Fly the Flag…. Neil & Heather

‘Out of the bag’ so to speak

Greetings all from ‘Lakes Lightnings’,

Yes we did go public last friday 09 Dec 11 with the grand unveiling of our Lightning Hybid on loan to 29 (R) Sqn RAF.

Painted up as XP765 but really XS897 underneath for the number crunchers out there.

The whole project has been quietly ticking away like a swimming Swan; calm on the topside but frantic paddling below. A lot of good people have been involved around and about and the end result is SUPERB as we are sure you’ll agree!

So, she is going to live at 29 (R) Sqn for the next 10 years plus or so.

Stn Cdr and in particular, OC29 have been absolute ‘stars’ with regard to her restoration to this lovely silver standard from her Cammo on one side and Barley Grey on the other as she wore at AeroVenture Museum, Doncaster.

It has been a big team effort all round and ‘Lakes Lightnings’ are PROUD to support the RAF as always.

Fly Safe, Fly the Flag…. EE Lightning, one of the Best of British!

Neil & Heather
‘Lakes Lightnings’

re;

I was initially, as I am by the station having more than one gateguard, the Harrier is there because it represents the resident 3 Sqdns’ (currently Typhoon FGR.4) past.
The Lightning resto looks superb, and it is great to see the squadrons and station remembering their past.

whoops I forgot that, too much mead http://forum.keypublishing.com/images/icons/icon12.gif