Lightning

RE: Lightning

Well somebody must have bought some…..
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RE: Lightning

Steve if you get the chance there is a DD video about the Lightning and on it Roland Beamont gives his frank and to the point account of why it didn’t sell abroad.

RE: Lightning

Actually the very good Flt Lt Mike Hale of 11Sqn(the pilot who ‘shot down’ the entire right column of aircraft you see in my second attachment, Mirage F1, F-15 and Sea Harrier) had carried out in the early 1980’s I believe a STERN conversion intercept on a Concorde doing at least M1.8 (or M2.0) and probably more!!! That comin round the back of the Concorde that’s flying at twice the speed of sound and simulating a missile launch…rather impressive.

RE: Lightning

Hi Steve, I suppose it was 3 things. Lack of range, even the Mk.6 with the big belly tank needed tanker support to have any real reach, it really was a “point defence” aircraft. Only two missiles, although given the lack of endurance it’s doubtful if it could have hung around waiting for targets, and of course, as ever, the Americans and the French with lots of cheaper alternatives. The fact that it could fly the pants off most of the opposition don’t seem to have come into the equation. The export customers were countries of small area, where range did’nt matter too much, and of course they had pots of Oil cash, so the relatively high price was not a problem! It’s still the fastest aircraft the RAF has ever operated, and probably the only one which could have adequately intercepted a bomber version of the Concorde! When the RAF leased a Concorde during the late 60’s to simulate just such a scenario, it was a bit embarrassing when the Phantoms ran out of steam and Lightning was being consigned to the scrapyard!

KeithMac

RE: Lightning

Keith, you’ve touched on something that’s always niggled me.

The Lightning was obviously quite highly thought of, so why did it not achieve more export success? To the best of my knowledge, the only overseas users were Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. What was the decisive drawback – the aircraft’s lack of un-refuelled range?

RE: Lightning

The Lightning was the Biz! In 1969 we had a big exercise in Singapore called “Bersatu Padu”, 74’s Tengah based Lightning 6’s were operating under the control of Bukit Gombak radar against attacking Mirage III’s of 75 Sqn RAAF. The kill ratio was about 4 to 1 against the Mirage. The biggest problem was only having the two missiles. When 75 returned to Tengah after the exercise the Aussies were ready to trade in their delta’s for a REAL interceptor!!

KeithMac.

RE: Lightning

Excellent, big fan of the Lightning.

Regards, Dazza.

RE: Lightning

The gun camera pics are from an old Lightning book by Bryan Philpott…

RE: Lightning

VERY NICE!!! Good to see the Lightning in those positions!

RE: Lightning

Nice, whats the article from?

RE: Lightning

enjoy again…
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