XS458

myself and my crews long term plans are for xs458 are for her to be maintain in her present high standard of maintainence condition and to continue high runs. there are no other plans for her at this moment in time.rmc

Very nice to see this lightining being so looked after its been there some time now and kept in tip top condition ,
So my question is what is the long term plans for this airframe as anymore approaches been made to the CAA. or is it going to be sold off or just kept behined closed doors so to speak .

458 is a guest of Cranfield and enjoys a lot of support there, This is a very active GA comercial airfield and it is not practical to have public swarming all over it, invited or not. The owner has to preserve his unique relationship with this very active airfield.
The airframe is worked on every saturday and it is aimed to do antidet runs on engines and systems every 28 days.

Hi All.

Andrewman, No wings still not in place still constructing a trolley to hold the rear end of the aircraft so it can be moved around once into seperate parts. This is nearly ready just some formers to make and to put the whole thing together.

Scott c

rmc

yes milt i am deaf now from listening to 32,600 on full max with reheat. rmc

yes it is only a rumour we have not decided yet i can tell you it wont be two two six or treble one.rmc

Russ, you’re such a hooligan you, making all that row and noise ! :dev2:

😀

MJR

www.gatwick-aviation-museum.co.uk

Hi scott

How are you getting on with your Lightning F3 ?

Have you got the new wings on yet ?

Hi rmc

Welcome to the forum. Now im not the only lightning owner here.

Scott C

FOR ALL YOU XS458 FANS I AM THE NEW OWNER I HAVE BEEN SINCE DECEMBER 2001WHEN I BOUGHT FROM TONY HULLS THE AIRCRAFT IS THE MOST ACTIVE LIGHTNING IN THE UK SHE IS STARTED ONCE A MONTH FOR EITHER STACTIC OR HIGH SPEED RUNS.IN AUGUST WE CELEBRATED THE 50TH WHICH IS IN NOVEMBER ISSUE SORRY I COULD NOT MAKE IT A PUBLIC DAY BUT THERE IS ONLY SIX OF US IN THE CREW AND CRANFIELD IS A CAA AIRFIELD. WE WILL HAVE A WEB SITE VERY SOON KEEP YOU POSTED RMC

How nice to hear from you and I, for one, so much appreciate an actual Lightning owner contributing to this. Now that the 50th Anniversary is over, I have heard a rumour that the port side of XS458 will be repainted in 111 Squadron colours, the same as the starboard side. Such a shame, as I never did get to see that gorgeous 226 OCU scheme that it had on the port side. Any chance of reverting to that scheme?

Poor guy’s lost his hearing – hence the shouting.

Sorry m8, just a little joke at your expense. It’s nice to know that someone has both the desire and the wherewithall to look after her.

FOR ALL YOU XS458 FANS I AM THE NEW OWNER I HAVE BEEN SINCE DECEMBER 2001WHEN I BOUGHT FROM TONY HULLS THE AIRCRAFT IS THE MOST ACTIVE LIGHTNING IN THE UK SHE IS STARTED ONCE A MONTH FOR EITHER STACTIC OR HIGH SPEED RUNS.IN AUGUST WE CELEBRATED THE 50TH WHICH IS IN NOVEMBER ISSUE SORRY I COULD NOT MAKE IT A PUBLIC DAY BUT THERE IS ONLY SIX OF US IN THE CREW AND CRANFIELD IS A CAA AIRFIELD. WE WILL HAVE A WEB SITE VERY SOON KEEP YOU POSTED RMC

I stand corrected – it would appear not…

Does Tony still own this aircraft?

I so wish the owner of this T5 would do public events but at the end of the day its his plane and he can do what he likes with it lets just be glad that this Lightning is not in the same mess several others are.

In all honesty, Cranfield’s a very active GA airfield, so I doubt the resident FTO’s and pilots would be too happy about curtailing their activities just so the Lightning owner can let the public in to help him finance lighting up his toy…

But yes, it’s great to see this one’s kept in such a good condition, and Tony Hulls certainly deserves a round of applause for his gesture in painting the aeroplane to reflect the anniversary. 🙂

I’ve heard of ‘bottleglass’ lenses, but that’s ridiculous! I used to have a lens that took photos like that!!

Damien that is one nice photo you can almost feel the noise and power just by looking at that photo 🙂

It makes the Hunter ground run I was at recently seem very very calm but I can assure you standing right next to a Hunter when its having a full power engine test is bloody loud.

I so wish the owner of this T5 would do public events but at the end of the day its his plane and he can do what he likes with it lets just be glad that this Lightning is not in the same mess several others are.

Fabulous! Next time you get a heads up, let me know. I work in MK, so with about three minutes notice I can slope off out of the office and get over to Cranfield to have a gander… 😉

Didn’t say it was my office did I…? 😀

Aaah ‘The’ Office…as per BBC1, perhaps?? :rolleyes:

I’ll take a look tomorrow. She looked same as always yesterday… mind you I can only see the starboard side from the office!

‘Office’…what office? Last time we spoke you didn’t have an office? :confused: