Big Toys

Here are some shots of my Lightnings being moved, XR725 from Rossington to Binbrook on a motorway bridge waiting for the relay police escort to arrive, XM192 going from the Bomber County Museum at Hemswell to the Thorpe Camp Museum at Tattershall Thorpe (photo Darren Swinn), and the cockpit of XS899 on its bomb trolley (now available for another cockpit – see the bomb trolley thread) being manoeuvred around. You need a lot of heavy kit, a lot of specialist knowledge and a lot of muscle.

Lightning XR724

Well, here I go again. Many thanks to everyone for their good wishes, both on the forum and privately. Things are getting better, albeit slowly. Thanks again.

I had been going to post more of the ideas on how people thought we should approach the situation at Binbrook by removing XR724 to another location, but I’ve been asked by a lot of people about the current state of the airframe in order to resolve some of the very different opinions circulating in the various forums. In consequence, this post is an account of the current engineering situation, including what has been done and what is being done. It also includes some detail on the maintenance of the ancillary and ground equipment required to maintain an aeroplane in an operational state, something which is often overlooked by those who have no knowledge of the engineering tasks involved. This information has been provided by John Watson, Chief Engineer, XR724.

However, before continuing I see that a number of members of this forum have been discussing alternative means of getting her to another location, but although I will go into more detail on that in another post I would ask everyone to take on board what MJR says. He is an experienced and respected engineer with a great deal of knowledge of the Lightning and its systems and, like it or not, his observations are absolutely correct.

As you all probably know, the Lightning Association needs engineers of all trades, as we have not just XR724 to look after but a substantial amount of ground equipment and spares. Currently we have to try to maintain and keep serviceable a Douglas conversion of the David Brown airfield towing tractor and a diesel Houchin 200v 3-phase/28vdc ground power unit. We also have a Rolls Royce Artouste Mk102. There are many other items of essential ground equipment which require regular servicing and maintenance if they are to be able to be used to keep XR724 as a live aeroplane. Unfortunately this is not done by magic but by what is realistically achievable by the engineers we currently have, and good engineers with spare time and understanding families are always in short supply.

As far as the ground equipment is concerned, the current status is that our tractor needs the braking system overhauling yet again and a good lick of paint would make her look nice once more. She is more or less serviceable and appears to run well, but the gearbox needs new oil seals to stop a small leak. Apart from this, the exhaust system blows a bit and needs slight attention. A brand new tractor battery has been sourced and fitted, and the tyres still hold their pressure well. All of the engine & transmission oils have been topped up and the radiator has had plenty of antifreeze. Otherwise all mechanical systems seem to work quite well (apart from a lack of brakes)!

Much work has continued on our Houchin ground power unit. This has taken up quite a bit of time as the electrical control panel was badly corroded and needed attention. Currently, all we have left to do is swap a 3-phase trip and a noisy potentiometer, which sets the dc output supply voltage to 28vdc, fit a new starter battery and mend the blowing exhaust. Apart from this, our Houchin still regularly supplies our Lightning with AC/DC ground power.

The Rolls Royce Mk 102 Artouste is a small jet engine which is able to perform an air delivery of min: 2.2 lbs/sec @ 38 psi with engine mass flow: 7.2 lbs/sec @ 35,000 rpm, supplying air via the airhose to the Lightning main air system connection. The last Artouste run took place at the end of September 2010. An adjustment to the butterfly valve and routine maintenance needs once again to be done, thus enabling further Artouste runs to be performed on ‘724 in 2011.

We also own a 1960s AEC refuelling bowser which has been totally renovated and is currently on long-term loan to David Walton at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire, refuelling many of the operational aircraft at the Proving Grounds. David’s massive support for the aviation heritage movement needs no introduction from us, and the loan of our bowser is a small return for the resources he has for many years put into maintaining classic aircraft in operational condition.

As for XR724, this is the current situation, warts and all. The two Rolls-Royce Avon engines are regularly spun by hand and both appear visually to be in good shape & condition, spinning freely and showing no signs of water ingress, but an internal inspection with a borescope needs doing before we could even consider running these again. On the last engine run we had an A-failure on No.2 engine (an A-failure is when combustion of the ipn or avpin fuel does not take place in the starting system). The No.2 avpin starter has inherently had bad fuel drain problems and needs further attention, with No.1 engine starting & spooling up and then petering out due to fuel starvation. The most likely causes are the L/P cocks, fuel pump problems or fungal growth in the fuel system.

A Turb warning light still illuminates, but only when running No.1 engine. It goes out when a No.2 only engine run is made, and is possibly due to a sticking relay in the air turbine gearbox. No.2 reheat fuel drain still needs to be fitted & the stacking order of the JPT amplifier connections needs to be checked (we do have AP 101B-1000-5A3C). The JPT (jet pipe temperature) circuit to No.2 engine cockpit indicator still needs slight rectification.

Since 2004, the No.2 jetpipe, which was replaced by the corresponding jetpipe from XR725 overhauled by Les Overton, Geoff Commins & myself, has had the solenoids refurbished & rewired, resulting in what appears to be a very serviceable jetpipe. To this day she has an annular gear which spins freely, including the eight screwjacks & rollers which can be turned by the pilot’s fingers (they always do this, don’t they?!) Since fitment of the refurbished jetpipe, the No.2 engine needs its max. rpm governor adjusting if engine runs permit, as the newly datumed No.2 jet pipe has a larger variable nozzle area than before. No.1 jetpipe has still to be overhauled when time and engineering resources permit.

The air turbine gearbox is in remarkably good order, with a blanking disc fitted in the exhaust to keep water out. Such water as gets in is regularly drained and the ATGB spun by hand. It is also Artouste spun with hot bleed air when time permits. The aircraft hydraulic systems need attention & the airbrake ram seals both need overhauling. The dc fuel pumps have been switched on and swirled on a regular basis. The aircraft battery has been overhauled with new cells, enabling a full dc battery supply for ‘724.

A new wheel/tyre change has been done on the starboard side and the port side is to follow suit. We are still looking for help sourcing Schrader tyre valves, as tyre pressures in both main wheels only lasts 6 weeks or so when pumped to full working pressure. This will be an ongoing problem for us until new spare valves are sourced. The reference numbers are as follows: Schrader 6100E , 5230 & AHO 81765 . If you have any or can help, please contact us. Other items that would be very useful are a maintenance manual for the David Brown aircraft towing tractor and the relevant air publication for the diesel Houchin ground power unit, OM15 hydraulic oil & OX38 engine oil, Waxoyl, PX25 and WD40.

The cockpit seat has been very kindly re-packed by Mike Ramsay, an ex-Binbrook armourer, following an earlier break-in before the site was fitted with security cameras & manned 24/7, and is awaiting fitment to the aircraft. This has deliberately not been carried out at the present time, as more work needs to be done in the cockpit. Many cockpit instruments have been switched on & switches cleaned & exercised.

‘724 has been moved several times but always parked in the usual place, except once when it was decided to move her to the side and the other way round for the June RAF Binbrook 70th Anniversary weekend organised by Ray Whiteley. In September 2010 we towed ‘724 yet again around the pan with our tractor as fast as was safely possible, thus keeping the oleos exercised and the brakes from sticking. We have been able to do this as the pan is currently free of equipment, but over the years the oleos have dropped in pressure a little bit and although not a problem for now will need rectification in the future.

A new thicker spine cover has been made which keeps the essential parts in the spine dry with a new cockpit cover being donated by Dart Engineering. XR724’s fibreglass jetpipe cover was lent to XR770 for the 2009 RAF Waddington airshow season and has now been returned. The jetpipe cover was going to used as a mould for one to be manufactured for ‘770, but in the end a suitable cover was sourced elsewhere.

The airframe preservation situation is that during the last three years over 30 gallons of WD40 and Waxoyl have been applied by Ray Whiteley, Darren Swinn and myself over many occasions, including a liberal coating of PX25 in the wheel wells, although this does not last very long in the Binbrook weather.

A planned technical inspection of the airframe and engines is to follow in 2011 if enough suitably qualified engineers can be assembled at the same time, with a view to assessing the status of the airframe and its systems and what will be needed to ground-run XR724 safely once more.

Finally, we must acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to Winchester Marine for all the company’s help concerning XR724, including the use of their heavy equipment which on many occasions was essential to enable us to complete specific tasks.

I hope that this page answers some of your questions regarding XR724 and its associated ground equipment. Thanks to all who have supported and continue to support us and for having an interest in what we do here at Binbrook. Please note if you would like to volunteer to work on XR724 and the associated ground equipment we would love to hear from you. Former experience within the RAF or aviation industry would be ideal, but any engineering help is of use and other skills may benefit our various ongoing projects. For anyone with a technical question or who wants to know more about XR724, I can be contacted via the details below.

John Watson
Chief Engineer, XR724
15 Cuthbert Avenue
Barnetby,
N. Lincolnshire

Mobile: 07765450612
E Mail: [email]ultrasonicsystems@tiscali.co.uk[/email]

The pictures below are captioned:
1) XR 724 being prepared for an engine run with the top engine cover off and ground power being supplied by the Houchin.
2) Pip Sweetman behind the radar bullet doing a FOD check and an inspection of the turbine blades. Taken a few years ago – he wouldn’t be able to squeeze down the jet intake these days!!
3) Removing the upper engine jetpipe from XR724 using the correct jetpipe trolley supported by another piece of our ground equipment, an ex-Bloodhound missile side loading fork-lift truck rated to 12,000 lbs at full tower extension. It’s tatty, but it all works.

There are lots more, but modern cameras seem to take very little at less than 2 Mb per picture and I can’t post these as the forum limit appears to be 300 Kb per picture. I don’t know what to do to achieve a lower resolution, so you’ll just have to access our website to see them. Sorry.

Charles

Lightnings at low level

Just getting into the forum, mainly in my capacity as chairman of the Lightning Association posting the real story behind XR724 in the ‘724 thread. If you have any interest in the ‘warts and all’ problems of buying, recovering for flight and maintaining a Lightning in operational condition, have a look. My bit starts around Page 4, when I got fed up with all the uninformed bad press, often from guys whose lifetime contribution to aviation heritage appeared to go no further than their keyboard. However, browsing other threads I saw in this one a post by markp451a, #318, showing two shots of Lightnings at low level.

The first is copyright David Henchie, and the story behind it was printed in our magazine, the Lightning Review, in November 2000. For those of you with an interest in the stories behind the photographs, here it is.

LIGHTNINGS AT AKROTIRI – A SATCO REMEMBERS!

It seems a long time ago now, but my years as SATCO at Akrotiri (1981 to 1983) were amongst the most enjoyable of my 30 odd years in the Air Force. I arrived just as the main runway resurfacing was being completed, and the first detachment of UK aircraft to arrive was a squadron of Buccaneers. There had just been a seasonal deluge and the runway was wet, if not actually flooded, and the first two aircraft landed and disappeared off into the bundoo as a result of the total lack of braking action! Consequently, the runway had to be ‘grooved’ from end to end before APCs restarted in earnest.

The start of my tour coincided with the arrival of a new Squadron Leader Ops – Henri Ploszec – who was an ex-Lightning Pilot of note, on his second if not third tour of duty at Akrotiri!. Already completely ‘hooked’ on Lightnings, I came to appreciate that aircraft more and more over the next 2 years, as 5 and 11 Squadrons returned annually for the APCs (Armanent Practice Camps). I was amazed that the Lightning boys always seemed to win the annual gunnery trophies against the best of the Phantom Squadrons. It seemed to me that any aircraft that carried a Navigator was bound to be superior, given that Navigators (and indeed air traffic controllers) told pilots where to go! Yes, you have guessed it – I was both!

The picture of a 5 Squadron Lightning on a Lo go-around (overshoot) to the parallel taxiway at Akrotiri -Operation Block-off – occurred as 5 Squadron departed for UK at the end of their 1983 APC. The Squadron Commander was about to hand over command on his return to UK, and he led a 4 ship flypast. As a Wing Commander, his over-shoot was impeccably correct at 200ft. His number two was a flight commander and he came past at about 100ft, whilst number 3, a Canadian exchange officer as far as I can remember, was just a little bit lower. No 4, and the last of the stream, was a Flying Officer known as ‘Kiwi’, and he made his approach almost to touch-down (which was expressly forbidden) before cleaning up and executing his over-shoot. As the photograph shows (taken from the top of the Tower) he was on full bore with the air brakes still extended, and he appears to have been unable to rotate because of his high angle of attack and relatively slow airspeed. He built up speed until the airfield boundary before getting the airbrakes in and climbing away. When the photograph was developed, Henri would not let me show it to anyone, let alone the Station Commander John Willis, for fear of getting ‘Kiwi’ the sack….! The last I heard of this young man was that he had been posted on to Hercs!

Now, some 17 years later, having just retired form the IWM Duxford where I was Head of Airfield Services and Air Display Director for the past 10 years, I bemoan the fact that there are no Lightnings flying in the UK. They were, and are, the most exciting aircraft that I have ever watched, and I remain in awe of those pilots who intentionally strapped such a rocket machine to their ‘derrières’ without a second thought. Never in the field…………..!
S. David Henchie
Squadron Leader, RAF retd.

Here’s another shot of the same aeroplane without being cropped. Sorry about the quality, it’s the best I can get. David and Heather produced these two photographs as Christmas cards and I bought a large number to send to everyone that year. They certainly stood out on the mantlepiece amongst the Santas and robins and 18th century coaching scenes!

http://forum.keypublishing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=190520&stc=1&d=1290944937

While I’m in my Pictures file, here’s another of a Lightning of the Binbrook Wing displaying with a very low flypast. It may be from a Families Day or show put on for visiting brass, as I don’t think this altitude would be tolerated by an airshow officer at a show attended by the general public. I don’t know who has copyright on this but if anyone recognises it please get in touch.

http://forum.keypublishing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=190521&stc=1&d=1290944937

The second shot on markp451a’s post is one I’ve never seen before and doesn’t look right to me. I’m not a photographer, but compared with the rest of the shot the Lightning is very sharply defined and the colours are much brighter. It looks as though the Lightning has been superimposed on the photograph, but does anyone have any further info on it?

Finally, as someone new to the forum, can someone advise me how you see photographs or videos on a post where there is no apparent way of doing so. One guy might write ‘Here’s a shot of a Canberra low over a lake’ but there’s no photograph and no link. However, other people seem to have been able to see it because of their comments in subsequent posts. What am I missing?

Lightning XR724

Before the next post on ‘724, a couple of replies.

Salad Fingers – took me a while to make the connection about photographs 15 years ago, but the penny eventually dropped. The space reserved for them on the walls of the Lightning room is still there, so if you have any spare time the offer to buy them holds. I can resend the list if you like. In the meantime, many thanks for your good wishes and support and one day you must tell me how you came by your username – there’s got to be a story there!

Benyboy – the girls loved it and they were all at Binbrook as my guests when ‘724 flew in. Let’s face it, for a bunch of pretty girls stuck in an office, aviation (and a few aviators) make a nice change from filling in vaccination records and writing letters. They were all size 8-10 because that was the size of the uniforms I had available. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Peter, Bruce and LightningMk6, many thanks for your patience and kind words, much appreciated.

Heading21 – Well, what can I say? You’re not prepared to offer your help but you are apparently prepared to offer your advice. OK, let’s have it, and let the forum decide whether your way is better than mine. I think ‘Put up or shut up’ is the traditional term.

OK, so ‘724 has flown in and we are in the same position as other groups who got theirs direct. Wrong! We were for a short time, but the ejection seat had to go back and, more importantly, Barry decided he wanted his engines back. That was all fair enough as far as it went, but Barry also decided that he wanted our jetpipes on loan, which he said were now ‘matched’ to his engines and would make the task of getting his own aeroplane flying much easier. I don’t know whether or not that was a fairy story – perhaps some of the engineers out there can tell me – but as he had given us so much help I drew up a proper loan agreement which was signed and witnessed and gave permission for him to take the jetpipes as well.

Unfortunately, and unknown to me at the time, he also asked to borrow, and was given by one of our engineering team, the Form 700, which he said would be good evidence of his competence to place before the CAA. Why a photocopy would not have sufficed I don’t know, but, as I said, it happened without my knowledge. The jetpipes had been fitted brand new just before ‘724 left Warton to fly into Shawbury and were without doubt the lowest-houred, documented jetpipes in existence. Once safely back at Exeter, however, Barry then told us that unless we paid his CAA costs for the flight that never happened, we would not get the jetpipes and Form 700 back, and since that was financially impossible we never did. Those jetpipes went out to South Africa and Barry probably still has the Form 700 to this day. As said about Pover before, all this is fully documented in past issues of the Lightning Review and is all in the public domain.

So, we have a dead jet, but only temporarily. Cutting a long and fraught story short, I found and purchased a seat with my own money and this was duly installed. I also managed to successfully tender for three air-lifed and documented engines in an MoD disposal sale, and when we got them back to Binbrook, two were installed in ‘724 and one is still here in its box untouched. We also eventually managed to source the necessary jetpipes, and these were also installed to finally bring ‘724 back to life. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t cheap, but we did it.

Many people have understandably asked why, with so much hangarage available, XR724 is currently outside. That’s a good question. When she flew in, the airfield was owned by MoD and although unmanned, was still designated as a reserve airfield. We now understand that before the first Gulf War when thousands of casualties were expected, Binbrook was going to be reactivated to receive the many expected dead. This was why one pitch-black night, not knowing this, I went up to walk round the airfield with a little head torch because Furz Lloyd had said it would be OK and to check out the firedump for possible parts. As I came back past the tower I heard an engine and saw headlights racing across the runway in my direction. It sounded like a Land Rover but it was moving very fast. For a fraction of a second I toyed with the idea of ducking behind the tower but my brain stuck ‘possible military’ in front of ‘Land Rover’ and the IRA were very active at that time. In consequence, I stood there like a lemon between the tower and the hangars and the Land Rover screeched to a halt with me squinting against the headlights. Four soldiers jumped out and immediately knelt in the firing position pointing their weapons at me.

At this point I resolved to have a bit of a chat with Furz on my return, if I ever did return. ‘Who the xxxx are you?’ came the challenge. ‘I’m the Chairman of the Lightning Association’ I responded. OK, what would you have said? Two soldiers remained in the firing position while the other two cautiously approached me, one from each side and still with weapons aimed. After eventually assuring themselves that I was a harmless eccentric and not trying to blow up the tower, I was bodily thrown in the back of the Land Rover, taken to the crash gate and thrown right over the top. It was quite painful. The guys roared back off into the night with a final rejoinder that if they ever saw me again they’d shoot my tackle off as a lesson to me. I’m sure they would have. Now you don’t get that sort of thing at Bruntingthorpe!

Anyway, back to ‘724 and hangarage. The following is the story as best I can remember it. At that time Richard Lake was running his Global Aviation restoration of the ex-RAF Jet Provosts in the 5 Sqn hangar and very kindly gave us a corner. In return, we (well, Phil Wallis) helped him with some airframe repairs to flying condition standard. That continued for some time, and this enabled us to initially run ‘724 regularly with Barry’s engines and, when they were removed, to install the engines and jetpipes we bought.

However, the writing was on the wall as far as MoD ownership of Binbrook was concerned. It had originally been purchased in 1940 under the Crichel-Down Agreement. Although an absolutely fair price was paid for the land, the Agreement stated that if MoD ever wanted to dispose of the airfield, the original farming families (there were 3 or 4 of them) who had owned any part of the airfield had to be given first refusal to repurchase their land. However, the Agreement also said that the land had to be returned in its original condition. Now, this was clearly impossible, as apart from the hangars, runway and peri-track, the site is crossed by hundreds of cable runs, drains, culverts etc and the cost would be astronomical. So, these affairs end with each side trying to negotiate the best deal possible for themselves, and that is what happened at Binbrook.

At first, things went well. We introduced ourselves to the farming company taking over the hangars and were allowed to stay inside without rent. Once again, something had gone right for us and we were extremely grateful to some very enlightened guys. I’m not sure whether or not we moved at one time from the 5 Sqn hangar to the ASF hangar – I think we did – but we were still under cover.

However, at that time there was a local authority purge on businesses not paying rates, and inspectors investigated the Technical Site where a number of small operations such as car repairs, paint shop, wood products etc had sprung up. Unfortunately, they also managed to see into our hangar although it was shut and padlocked, but you could just see ‘724 through the crack between the doors. At that time there was no other machinery stored there, just us, and it’s possible that no rates were being paid by the owner as he wasn’t using it. It was quite a shock a few days later to receive a business rates demand for the area of the hangar which the authority estimated we occupied, £4,800 for six months, payable every six months. As we didn’t have £4,800, I was told that they would come after me for it.

As you may understand, being Chairman of the Lightning Association has not been without its stresses. Once again, cutting a long story short, I found out that any business rates demand is made up of small parts from a number of departments. I then started going round all the departments in turn, pleading and cajoling, emphasising the local history importance of the aeroplane and calling in some good will as well, since quite a few people involved were my clients. Eventually I got it down to £250 for the previous six months, which we had to pay, but we didn’t have the money to go on doing this indefinitely and we knew the inspections would continue, so XR724 had to come out into open storage.

At this point I attempted to buy one of the buildings on the Technical Site, again with my own money, as the Association, as always, had very little. The building was of corrugated iron construction on a framework and was tall enough and wide enough to accommodate a Lightning, although we would have had to have taken one end off and manufactured ‘hangar’ doors to enable her to get in and out. Unfortunately, however, the owners refused to sell the building although they were prepared to lease it to me for a minimum period of five years at a rent of £5,000 per annum, a commitment of £25,000. Of course, as soon as we occupied it, business rates would become applicable again and I would be completely liable. It just wasn’t a viable plan.

The farming company then pulled out of Binbrook and new owners bought various parts and used them for different things. It’s been difficult at times to know who owns what, as people are understandably cagey about commercial secrets, but the hangars, including the QRA sheds, were variously used for machinery storage, grain storage, sugar storage, furniture-making and, after refrigeration equipment had been installed, storage of the carcases of foot and mouth infected cattle until sufficient incineration facilities could be arranged for their eventual disposal. Anyway, there was no room for us anywhere. However, I did manage to get permission to put her nose-first into the opening to the crash equipment bay, which meant that the canopy was under cover although the main fuselage was still in the open. Still, it was the best we could do.

Then in around 2005 the 5 Sqn hangar was bought by a company which initially thought it had purchased the Lightning as part of the deal and were a bit upset to be told this was not the case. We kept our heads down, but after some time were eventually sent a bill for around £4,000 for rental of the patch of concrete we occupied on the pan. Once again, this was going to come out of Alex’s inheritance. At this point, however, and mainly through the sterling efforts of John Watson, we met the new owner and established good relations with him, and since then he has been extremely supportive and helpful. He was using the hangar for storage of heavy machinery, but we were allowed back inside at the back of the hangar. Unfortunately, we were soon completely hemmed in by machinery and not only couldn’t get her outside to run (as the rear doors had been completely welded shut to avoid vandalism) but couldn’t do any work on her. The engineers took the view that being inside was more important than running her, and that is how it remained for some time.

However, the owner asked if it would be possible to get her running again as he felt it would be something which his customers would find very interesting, so as we owed him a big favour we cut the rear doors open and eventually managed to free them from the accumulation of rubbish, rust and other things (a brick wall had been built across the doors on the outside) and ‘724 was pulled out into the open again. The space she had occupied was rapidly filled with equipment, and that area was no longer available to us. Since then she has been in open storage.

At the time of writing, parts of Binbrook are now in the process of changing hands again, and once again we shall have to establish good relations with a new owner, and so it goes on. Perhaps we shall get under cover again, perhaps not. Over the years I have had a number of projects which may have led to us getting our own building, but they either came to nothing or I couldn’t afford it (and it would have been my money). I could have had a RHUB hangar from Bristol, but it would have cost £65,000 ex site and I would have had to pay transportation and erection costs. There was a possibility of an ex-MoD Kevlar hangar, but that fell through. For much of these negotiations, it has not been possible to go public about them, either then or now, but for those of you who think we have been sitting doing nothing about hangarage, that’s not been the case.

Another problem is that due mainly to the efforts of a particular councillor who had a bee in his bonnet about the airfield, Binbrook has now been declared an area of outstanding natural beauty and permission for any building, if granted (and that’s far from certain) would have a height restriction of ‘not more than a double decker bus’. Now, that would just fit over the canopy and spine, but not the fin. Nevertheless, I have a cunning plan, but I can’t tell you about it yet. However, I will say that it’s probably the most likely plan so far for ‘724 to eventually be under cover which we control. Watch this space.

Next post – the problems of manpower and man management.

Lightning XR724

Part two. OK, so the situation is that we have bought a Lightning at RAF Shawbury, but we have problems. Number one is that the clock is already running on the 28 days to get her out. Number two is that every other Lightning in operational condition in the UK came with a piloted flight into the airfield of the purchaser’s choice as part of the deal. Not ours. Number three is that our Lightning has no engines or ejection seat. Nobody else had these problems.

The decision at Binbrook on the day of purchase was that we would try to fly her out. The engineering work would be done by members of the Lightning Association and Barry Pover’s Lightning Flying Club, with Barry in charge on the ground at Shawbury reporting to me as overall Project Manager. Barry was going to loan us two zero-timed Avons from his assets and Mick Cameron, who was a senior armourer at Wattisham, was going to rebuild an ejection seat from a bare pan. My job was to ensure that it all happened and that all the people who would eventually have to be involved, from directors of British Aerospace to the runway sweepers at Binbrook, all did their bit, on time, and all as complete volunteers. It had to cost us virtually nothing, because we had virtually nothing.

At that time, Barry was trying to rebuild XS451 to flying condition and having problems convincing the CAA that he was competent to do so, as the aircraft he had worked on as a CAA certified engineer (Beech King Air etc) were not Mach 2 jets. His Lightning was being recovered from instructional airframe status, whereas ours had been flown into Shawbury from Warton and had simply had the engines and seat removed, remaining since in a climate-controlled hangar. Barry was prepared to put in the time, as if we managed to fly ‘724 out under his engineering control, it could do nothing but good for his efforts to persuade the CAA to let him fly ‘451. (Sadly, ‘451 eventually flew in South Africa as ZU-BEX and was lost with its pilot, Dave Stock, one of the best, while attempting to recover to Bredasdorp AFB during the Overberg Airshow after Dave lost control of the flying surfaces due to fire).

My first task was to secure an extension to the 28 days, as it was going to be impossible to do anything in that time. Apart from installing the engines and seat, we would have to do all the ground functionals, undercarriage retraction on jacks etc etc and at this stage we didn’t even know if we would be allowed on the base at all, never mind work on the aeroplane. My first letter to the MoD guy in charge of the disposals was not good news. 28 days was 28 days and we had to be out. This would have meant cutting off the wings and fin, ending any chance of flying or even taxying again.

At this point, I learnt two valuable lessons in aviation. Number one – never give up, and number two – if you can get the person with executive authority on your side, you can achieve virtually anything. So, I wrote to the base commander, explained who I was and what I was trying to do. I told him the situation with MoD. I got a letter back saying that as long as he commanded the base we would have as much time as we needed to recover ‘724 for flight and we would have as much access to the airfield and its facilities as we required. It was a great day and a fantastic example of what enlightened RAF officers can do to maintain public support for the Service in these difficult times.

So, recovery for flight began. Despite RAF help on the ground, the Permit to Fly depended on the CAA and their time even in those days was costed at £150 per man-hour spent considering any project. We didn’t have that sort of money, so Barry Pover agreed to cover that if I gave him exclusive control of contact with CAA on our project, as he didn’t want the Head of Applications at CAA to be phoned up by a variety of different people all asking the same questions. This seemed reasonable, so I agreed to that as long as I was kept in the information loop at all times.

It took many months of intensive effort, but eventually the good news was that the engines and seat were installed and that British Aerospace signed off the airframe and Rolls-Royce signed off the engines as serviceable. The bad news was that the CAA would not issue the Permit to Fly, although I had been told by Barry that they would. In consequence, I had arranged with the Vulcan boys for XH558 to be up for an air test on the same morning as ‘724 was supposed to depart Shawbury. Of course, formation flying had to be authorised with the appropriate people, but if two aircraft happened to occupy the same area of sky at the same time by pure coincidence…… It would have been fantastic to have seen the Vulcan and Lightning overfly Binbrook, Scampton and Waddington at the same time, but it never happened. The CAA had never agreed anything, and the rest of that story is included in past issues of the Lightning Review. If you want to know what happened, read them. It’s all in the public domain.

So, back to square one, but remember my valuable lessons in aviation. I then wrote to Sir Graham Day, then Chairman of British Aerospace, and again explained who I was, what we had done and what had happened to date. I asked if there was any mechanism within the Company by which ‘724 could be recovered to Binbrook. I will never forget the two-line letter which I received by return. It read: ‘Dear Mr Ross, I have instructed my military aviation division to put themselves at your disposal to recover your Lightning to RAF Binbrook.’ Like Winston Churchill at the beginning of WWII, the right man with the necessary vision had been in the right place at the right time. The next day I was contacted by senior management at BAe who simply said that Sir Graham had told them to recover our aircraft and what would I like them to do. Another great day and another great decision by a great man.

In the event, XR724 was flown back to Binbrook by Peter Gordon-Johnson, Deputy Chief Test pilot of BAe and the same pilot who had flown ‘724 into Shawbury on its ‘final flight’. At our request, RAF Scampton temporarily reinstalled the RHAG (which had been removed) in case of chute failure and provided a mobile Air Traffic unit and fire and ambulance cover, yet another decision by an enlightened RAF base commander which gained the Service enormous public support and approval.

There’s still a great deal of what happened which is confidential and cannot be told, but on a grey day on the Windy Hill, ‘724 broke cloud to the north and flew down the Binbrook runway and, after doing flypasts at Scampton, Waddington, Wattisham and Coningsby, touched down at the spiritual home of the Lightning in front of an enormous crowd and shut down its engines after back-tracking down the runway to taxy back to the ASF pan past the old Bomb Dump and into the 5 Sqn line where it was received by Phil Wallis, Mick Cameron and Geoff Commins. We had taken a dead shell and returned it to life and to the air, proving that it was possible for a group of professional engineers to come together from their various occupations and prepare an aircraft of this complexity for flight, to the complete satisfaction of the Design Authority and the engine manufacturer.

At this point, and at this point only, the Lightning Association was at the same stage as the other civilian purchasers of operational Lightnings, but only after achievements which, I think it is fair to say, many could only have dreamed of. Since then, some have done far more than we have been able to do, but perhaps this might put into perspective some of the subsequent requests from people who never went through these trials and tribulations for us to scrap her and give away her heart and, with it, that of the Association.

Part three to follow.