One of the best jets ever made, a true classic!

This is a T5, two-seat trainer version. The story of the U2 incident s interesting: apparently the U2 pilot could only remember seeing the image of swords or scimitars as it went past and half thought it was a UFO. It was later confired as an F1 Lightning of 111 Squadron, based at Wattisham in Suffolk, which carried a three-scimitar squadron badge on its tail.

developed in the late 1950s in GB !!!! when we were top of the world! my fave jet ever !!

Best jet fighter ever made. Looks, and performance. Love this bloke for keeping these planes alive. 🇬🇧

I've wanted to fly in one of these ever since I was a teenager, over 50 years ago. Fabulous aircraft.

@sichere

3 ай бұрын

Play Warthunder

This out performs all others. Like the Vulcan again the best of the best

The 'Frightening' as their crews called it - it still holds numerous time to climb records to this day!

@britshop1

3 жыл бұрын

how fast

@sichere

Жыл бұрын

@@britshop1 F53 BAE Version Mach 3

@Resistculturaldecline

Жыл бұрын

No it doesn't

The prototype P1B broke Mach 1 without an afterburner on 11 Aug 1954. It did not need computers for supermach handling or inlet control. Because it wasn't available yet. But known for smooth handling at + 2 Mach at a time when many models had tremendous problems with Mach tuck and pitchout. Like nothing else. A truly charmed machine. One of kind.

I remember my parents taking my sister and me to an air show. I queued for a long time for a chance to sit in the Lightning's cockpit. Later I watched the Lightning take off and almost as soon as it was airborne the nose was pointed in the air and it seemed stationary until the afterburners kicked in and it went up like a rocket. It was an awesome sight that I still remember 5 decades later.

A truly fantastic aircraft, and my all-time favourite. One of the most awesome sights I ever experienced was five of these flying in a tight V formation about fifty feet above my head.

@paulsharrocks7158

7 жыл бұрын

nitramyar 0

As an ex Lightning Engineer I managed to get a trip in a T5 from RAF Binbrook, did low level and practice intercepts with another Aircraft. Someone asked how manoeuvrable it was, actually very is the answer due to its wing shape it could enter a turn and lose speed very quickly, which made it a very good fighter, obviously it did not have the modern Computer inputs as todays Aircraft do. Howeve I also remember going to Germany every year with the Lightning Det and fighting the Harriers, the lightning came off best and that is a fact! although as explained to me by one of our pilots, different tactics were used by us than the Harriers, the lightning would not mess around trying to out position close up, it would go in fast shoot and get out of the melee. I saw some of the g90 films ( thus gun camera) and the proof was in the pudding.

@newton18311

10 жыл бұрын

is that why the American marines have it to day, when Britain scraped it.*****

@johnklockyer

10 жыл бұрын

***** what haha, it is a great fighter,. lol

@johnklockyer

9 жыл бұрын

***** They certainly did! And that is why I still today find it amazing how the Lightning did so well against the Harrier!

@newton18311

9 жыл бұрын

just a fantastic plane, but a cow to work on.

@johnklockyer

9 жыл бұрын

newton18311 hey cut to the chase mate.... a Bastard to work on more like it lol.

William Hendashot. The UK was world leader in aviation until Harold Wilson came in (1964) He cancelled TSR2. He cancelled our space program (Go to the National Space Centre to see what we had. Blue Steel was a topping rocket). The Lightning was replaced by Royal Navy Phantoms when our carriers (real carriers) were scrapped. All because the Lightning didnt have doppler radar

@dutchgoing

10 жыл бұрын

Do you froth at the mouth much when you start talking about military hardware.....

@g8ymw

8 жыл бұрын

What a stupid statement Dutchgoing Do you get an erection when you pick up a white flag?

@jacktattis143

4 жыл бұрын

WILSON WAS PAID OFF BY THE us

Like many I’ve stood near this plane in person and it still staggers me that this 14 tonne monster can go faster than a bullet out of a gun. Amazing. Awesome.

"The lightening was truely brilliant. 💪💪💪🇬🇧

One of the LOUDEST planes I have ever heard! :grins:

HE HAS HIS OWN AIRPLANE COLLECTION? I'd give anything to get just one beautiful warbird, let alone own an entire collection.

It was designed to get up there faster than anything else, and destroy Soviet bombers. Nothing came remotely close to this superb aircraft. As someone says. Brilliant British engineering. As usual the Brits do not around blabbing about it.

To Gary Tarr.... I was with Bendix based in Tabuk looking after all the northern airfields power and remote navaids. Turaif, Qasuma, Badana, Arar etc. The BAE runway was in line with our office and workshops over the road in the Tabuk civvy airport. When their Lightnings took off they shook our buildings. Awesome, going over about 200ft up. Then standing on their tail!

The lightning is the plane form of "The plucky Brit". Genuinely astonishing piece of engineering that went beyond what people thought possible. Check out Mark Felton for some English Electric Lightning stories

This is the aircraft that intercepted the "uninterceptible" U2 and almost caused an international incident. To RAF Lightnings DIVED on a U2 which was at maximum altitude over Britain on the way to spy on the Russians; frightened the bejeezuz out of the U2 pilot apparently, who was at 80,000 feet and didn't expect fighters to be within 20,000 feet of him, let alone attacking from above. Apparently they spotted the American jet, lit up their afterburners to generate absolute maximum speed, then zoom climbed to getting close to 90,000 feet to dive on the poor unsuspecting guy... The story has it that they came up on his radio making machine gun noises in his headphones and calling the obligatory "tally ho!" as they screamed by on each side. It was hushed up for a long time because the performance of the P1 was classified....

@crosstimbers2

8 жыл бұрын

+KathrynLiz1 Standard British bullshit anectdote. The Concorde anecdote needs a source - it is difficult to imagine a Lightning at its maximum speed overtaking a Concorde without running out of gas. Currently it is nothing but a myth.

@StewartNicolasBILLYCONNOLLY

8 жыл бұрын

+crosstimbers2 PS - This aircraft was in service with the RAF when you Yanks were using the Douglas Skyraider in the 'Nam - keep dreaming the American Dream, my friend, " it is called the American Dream because you need to be asleep to believe it." - George Carlin.

@crosstimbers2

8 жыл бұрын

+Stewart Nicol as BILLY CONNOLLY Spelling NAZI is spelled Stewart Nicol as BILLY CONNOLLY BTW your sorry assed plane was an interceptor with limited range as usual and never fired a shot in combat.

@crosstimbers2

8 жыл бұрын

+Stewart Nicol as BILLY CONNOLLY your sorry ass plane never fired a shot in combat where as the Douglas Skyraider actually shot down a Mig. It was also capable of carrying nukes for low level penetration. Your entire comment just shows how stupid you are since your sorry plane could not operate off of a carrier and burned 25% of its fuel just getting to altitude. BTW you used the Fairey Swordfish until 1945. jajajajajaja If the Fairey had to fly into a headwind of any significance, it did not have the speed or range to make it back to the carrier. Can you imagine chasing the carrier but you cannot catch it before you run out of fuel. jajajajajajajaja Keep talking the typical British bull shit because we know you have mad cow disease.

@crosstimbers2

8 жыл бұрын

***** Your piece of shit plane had no range bubba. It did not have enough range to catch an equivalent plane that flew away from it. Most real fighters could circle until your EEL ran out of fuel and then shoot it down It never fired a shot in combat. It has no combat kills It was basically worthless. None of your stories amount to anything more than tribal history repeated down through the years. Your one plane is not ever going to matter much to a country with hundreds and thousands of planes. Right now your fleet air arm is basically zero bubba. You have no carriers and when your carriers are completed they will still be second or 3rd rate carriers.

My Father was in the RAF Regiment and was posted to RAF Tengah in Singapore from 65 to 68 and my family and I went with him. My Infant School was next to the Airfield and at Break and lunch times we'd play and eat our lunches while Lightnings took off on full afterburner and landed deploying it's braking chute.

I saw one at an airshow in the UK, if shot across the field then went vertical on full afterburners and shot up through the clouds, setting off all the car alarms in the car parks, the ground shook with the defining roar of brute power. there was an idiot overflying the airfield above the clouds, if he was not an official photographer but some loony pilot getting too close he would have crapped himself seeing the jet come up through the clouds vertically in front at 10.000ft- awesome machine

Two words - Rolls Royce!!

@maltblossom

10 жыл бұрын

Rolls Royce !!! Nail on the head.......

Why the hell does everything have to turn into a Grade School kid fight? Why can't peoiple watch a video about a unique aircraft and say 'wow', without turning into a country vs country fight?

@woooster71

9 жыл бұрын

Because the World is full of kids.. So few sensible adults. It's a shame. Magnificent aircraft!

@californiazephyr94

9 жыл бұрын

Iridium Halo I know it gets boring after a while. After cease flying on Fridays I used to get a ride home with a pilot on our squadron who told me that a Sopwith Camel could take out his Tornado so which is best? I just have to laugh its the only way to beat the idots.

@MrDaiseymay

7 жыл бұрын

WOW

@crosstimbers2

6 жыл бұрын

Nick Burns. It is a worthless POS with no range. Totally worthless for practical use. Just add a few circles and esses and your stupid plane is out of fuel. Watch the video notice what they say about fuel near the very END...... IF YOUR PLANE IS SO GOOD WHERE IS THE NEXT GENERATION??? Your country has a bad habit of making bad ideas work....especially those that fly.

@zuzbarstikibudz3772

6 жыл бұрын

Hey Nick, dont worry about that Septic, He is just one of those loud mouthed septics who would get a fucking good bashing from the boys on deployment overseas, We used to smash the fake wankers as a sport, Each mess had a tally board, cant fight cant drink, useless cunts

Lightning.............the ONLY Aircraft to have Overtaken a Concord from a Tail Chase

@anels9

10 жыл бұрын

goes to show how amazing the concorde and british engineering is

@EthanDavies

10 жыл бұрын

Two great planes Concorde and the electric lightning would look excellent

@dutchgoing

10 жыл бұрын

A Nelson The Concorde is half French.

@anels9

10 жыл бұрын

dutchgoing lol i know..

@yahatinda

9 жыл бұрын

Any modern fighter like F-22 or F-15 could do that but the E.L. could not.... climb to 60,000 and catch a Concorde ...not enough gas. come to think of it an F-15 might not hav enough fuel either.

Those Brits now how to make things go fast, I think they even have the land speed record now with that thing that goes faster than the speed of sound.

My father in law was a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, his service included various postings including being a Lightning test pilot at certain development stages. He then transferred to to an interceptor squadron. One of his stories; "I was on call in my flying suit dozing, the bell went to scramble, I ran to the aircraft, got in looked down the runway, and could see only one light, at first I thought I was still asleep and dreaming, my second thought was that the ground crew were messing around, finally I reached the conclusion it was mist/fog/low cloud obscuring the runway lights. But the bell had gone, I knew my duty, and so just gave it everything, and tried to keep the Lightning straight down the runway, before climbing out of the fog".

As an amateur loving fighter jets, iv'e never before came across such a beautiful beats like Her. Didn't know much about this plane, before watching this, but my God She's a killer plain. The vertical take of too 10.000 feet is only possible for modern 6 generation jets, so one could say that these Englishmen was ahead of their time ;-) Cheers from Denmark

Nothing, absolutely nothing (Not even the F-15) looks as 'cool' as this on takeoff.

@nicoleonard2420

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe the sr 71? But apart from that I agree

The Lightning was a pure interceptor in that role it could hold it's own against anything anyone else had. Read about the stern conversion intercept attempts on a BA Concorde in 85 travelling at mach 2.2. Only a EE Lightning F.3 managed to overhaul it from behind following a head to head intercept the F-15s did not nor did the F-16s, F-14s, Mirages or F-104s. Time to altitude is one thing, what you can do when you get there is another and that's where the lightning proved itself.

@Resistculturaldecline

9 ай бұрын

Calling massive bs on that story, and likely the telling of it is missing huge amounts of context. The F15 is a vastly faster climber than the Lightning, and very much likely the f16 also.

@MickH60

8 ай бұрын

@@Resistculturaldecline Nope

@supremegodemperordonaldtru3563

22 күн бұрын

wdym nope f15 stats are literally online now and are literally next gen meant to take on mig 25s..​@@MickH60

Beautiful Aircraft,my all time favourite.Awesome.

What a beautiful piece of technology

The best thing about this aircraft is that it could super-cruise! Back then, that was great. Its top speed was rated at Mach 2 (on the later versions). The F-15 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 had higher top speeds but the cost of thrust to weight. Would love to see a modern version of this aircraft.

The greatest fighter ever made!

I remember as a 6 year old watching these at RAF Coltishall .......and seeing a display at an air show at RAF Lakenheath. About 1972-73.

Totally awesome! I never knew a jet like this even existed. Until now.

the truth of course is that its an EE Lightning, and an F-15 MAY in theory be able to climb at that rate but lightnings DID on a regular basis. The new Eurofighter Typhoon matches its climb rate and is the only aircraft to do so

Absolutely gorgeous !

Climbs like a homesick angel

Man wish one would fly in the UK my dad was on these I'd love to see one in the air

@tropicsandoceans7945

5 жыл бұрын

There are some chaps here in the States reconstructing a Lightning, first taxi was done this past weekend. I've posted some video, who knows in may show up in the UK.

@ThisWontEndWell

3 жыл бұрын

A private group owns one at Cranfield airport, they are not allowed to take off (because nothing can catch it and its too close to London) but most weekend you see and hear it around the airfield.

@sahhull

3 жыл бұрын

My uncle flew QRA in the lightning. Later converted to the Jaguar before retiring. He has fond memories of the lightning.. On reheat you have around 9 minutes of fuel

what a plane. it can climb

Absolutely beautiful ❤❤❤

An amazing aircraft. A thing of beauty.

Aaaah! Affectionately known as the 'Frightening' by the RAF pilots of the time.

i had the privelage of seeing one of these on static display at an airshow when we were in west germany. I liked it because it was a bit of an odd looking aircraft. The RAF pilots were a good bunch too.

One of the very best aircraft ever made. Theres plenty of these out there which could be made airworthy. There's one at Norwich Airport UK. It wouldn't take much to get it in the air again as its complete. Many times I've looked at it and if I had the money would take it on as a project

This is seriously one of the coolest jets ever built

"During British Airways trials in April 1985, Concorde was offered as a target to NATO fighters including F-15 Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-14 Tomcats, Mirages, andF-104 Starfighters - but only Lightning XR749, flown by Mike Hale and described by him as "a very hot ship, even for a Lightning", managed to overtake Concorde on a stern conversion intercept."

@George-ls8ms

8 жыл бұрын

+brett cuthbert Funny because out of the jets you listed, the lightning has just about the slowest top speed. Smells like propaganda mate. Concorde was also slightly faster than the lightning.

@DanM012324

8 жыл бұрын

+George ²·º It's not the speed that counts it's the rate of climb, if Concorde is sat at 60,000 ft at mach 2 you need to get up there quickly in order to have any chance of catching it. The astonishing thing is as soon as the lightning got close to Concorde it had to go back to base because it used all its fuel catching it whereas Concorde can sit at mach 2 for over 4 hours, only recent jets like the f22 and euro-fighter have supercruise capability.

@navnig

8 жыл бұрын

+George ²·º It's true. The Lightning did just what Brett says it did.

@GWLAD

8 жыл бұрын

+George ²·º let me guess george your american ???am i wrong ????

@George-ls8ms

8 жыл бұрын

I'm English. And you people don't seem to understand basic mathematics. If the Lightning caught the Concorde, it's because the Concorde pilot allowed it to. You don't catch up to something that goes faster than you do, it's quiet simple.

I was stationed at RAF Binbrook in the eighties. The lightning was an amazing jet. It just oozed cold war and old technology but christ it was quick.

Nought but the best, particularly in the 56 squadron colours

What a glorious aircraft. Basically a small fuel tank with two phenomenally powerful engines attached. I'm just about old enough to remember seeing some of these incredible aircraft flying. WOW!

@yahatinda

9 жыл бұрын

Ys, it was made to climb to 50,000 feet, shoot at the bomber and glide back in....outta whale oil.. The Raptor goes up quickly and then can cruise at over mach one ,shootin down a number of craft that cant see the stealthy killer.

@bigchungus6478

3 жыл бұрын

@@yahatinda bruh ur so brain dead comparing a modern 5th gen stealth fighter to a 1950’s interceptor 😂

Not sure why people keep insisting on comparing the 1950s lightening (first flight 1957) with the 1970s F-15 (first flight 1972). The biggest mistake people keep making on these threads is about rate of climb. Stick the lightening on it's tail so it climbs vertically and quite a few modern aircraft with more thrust and less weight will out climb it (although it will still give most things a very close run, despite being a 60 year old design ;) - the point is, 50 000 ft per minute, vertically, looks good at air shows. It is completely useless for intercepting high altitude supersonic bombers as they are travelling horizontally at Mach 2. The lightening was the fastest aircraft to reach 50 000 ft at Mach 2 - it's rate of climb was not so great whilst doing this. No other aircraft can match it because the role of supersonic interceptor is totally obsolete, so no modern aircraft is designed to fly this climb/speed envelope . The lightening was great (the best) at what it was designed to do. So is the F-15, but they were not designed to do the same things and are not from the same era, so why keep comparing them???

@paulkisling6930

10 жыл бұрын

Probably because the US Airforce did the original comparison. Obviously they thought comparison testing was important. The Airforce does not do anything without a reason, countersigned in triplicate.

@donga1998

10 жыл бұрын

great comments. I do love the old school aircraft though

@eatthisvr6

10 жыл бұрын

trident3b same year (1985 i think) as the concrode intercept a lightning f3 was the only nato plane that managed to intercept a u2 and it did so by DIVING on it from 88,000 feet!!!! the same airplane was also the only nato plane that managed to catch a cruising concorde (mach 2 60,000feet) from the rear. in short the lightning had (and still has!) AWESOME performance and it could deffinately turn fight too. the 2 main things that let it down were crap radar (by the 70s standards) and not enough fuel (although air to air refuelling fixed that)

@SAHBfan

10 жыл бұрын

***** The P1 prototype flew in 1954 - although the first production aircraft (actually called Lightening) flew a few years later. >"it is interesting that you say no modern plane will compare" Who said that? :-o The Lightening was an amazing aircraft right at the cutting edge of what was possible at the time... and it was designed for a flight envelope that is now redundant so no one is intentionally chasing it's interceptor records... but it is 60 years old!

@SAHBfan

10 жыл бұрын

***** I gave the date 1957 because I was being careful not to overstate the case and leave myself open to the criticism that I was comparing the F15 prototype with a research aircraft (The P1) which was developed into the Lightning - that is why I chose the date of the flight of the Lighting prototype itself - comparing like with like. You have to be very careful on youtube... always someone trying to pick apart your comments ;-)

I saw these incredible jets at RAF Coltishall training with Hunters and Javelins, they turned on a sixpence, incredible power in the climb and exceleration

A great aeroplane and the coolest hobby!

I've been to Bruntingthorpe in leicestershire a couple of times to watch lightning and other British jets do full power taxi runs..awesome! the noise good right through you!

@johnburden291

10 жыл бұрын

***** I'll never forget seeing the Lighting in real life at Farnborough in 1959 and then a few years later (1961?) at Coltishall while I was part of an RAF group given our own private air show. Fantastic! What an amazing plane for its time.

in a word....Brilliant

I wish people in their comments would remember that this aircraft was first flown on the 4 August 1954 (P.1A). Amazing aircraft.

@paulturner9195

2 жыл бұрын

And the design thinking began shortly after WW2.

My uncle flew QRA in the lightning. Later converted to the Jaguar before retiring. He has fond memories of the lightning.. On reheat you have around 9 minutes of fuel

stupid music.... why music when we all will hear the jet engine

It's very sad what happened to the pilot of this jet and the jet itself, it wasn't the pilot in this video but a man called Dave Stock, who was flying this Lightning, ZU-BEX, when he experienced difficulties and crashed on finals when trying to land it, and sadly he passed. A massive loss to both mankind and the aviation industry.

In the eighties i watched two lightnings escorting a russian bear out of UK airspace (over Leeds). Could clearly see through binoculars...incredible stuff.

@aemm9934

6 жыл бұрын

The Russians would never actually enter UK airspace just like we would never enter their airspace. The goal is to approach and intercept in INTERNATIONAL airspace

@barrierodliffe4155

6 жыл бұрын

A EMM. Never? 20/05/2017 An MOD spokesperson said: "Two Typhoons were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth this morning as part of the RAF's Quick Reaction Alert in response to two Russian aircraft entering the UK's airspace. "Both aircraft have now returned safely to Lossiemouth." There are other examples, most times the Russian aircraft flew just outside British airspace. As for Britain never entered Russian airspace, are you so sure? I have an idea they may well have done so undetected during the cold war but that Russia did not know. I do know that the RAF flew into US airspace undetected.

@johnsmith-nk1tp

6 жыл бұрын

It is true. And i know what i saw. It absolutely did happen and that Bear did enter uk airspace by some distance as leeds is about 70-80 miles from the east coast.

@jacktattis143

4 жыл бұрын

@@barrierodliffe4155 i HAVE READ THAT THE cANBERRA WENT INTO sOVIET aIRSPACE IN THE 50S?

@sichere

Жыл бұрын

@@jacktattis143 Indeed

Proof that if the engine is big enough you don't really need to bother with wings.

Hold on...We're going ballistic. 10,000ft in that few words off the runway at Biggin Hill 1970. These were amazing to watch. The whole ground shook when you saw them go straight up, into the clouds at 32,000ft. Radar alert operators used to think they were missiles.

Utterly awesome machine… designed and built in Lancashire, UK, close to where I grew up. We used to see them testing. Amazing.

During the 'cold' war, Soviet Bears' flew close up to British airspace on a daily basis. The only thing preventing them from stepping over our door step was the RAF LIghtning - fast, furious and deadly. Its only job, 'to get the hell up there and intercept the Bears' as quick as you can!' Geographically, the UK's traditional enemies lie within a stones throw of our shores. There is little time to respond to air attack. On the other hand, the USA has large oceanic defensive buffers. Any traditional attempt to fly great distance bombing raids against the US would be futile. The US defence system would spot them coming long before they reached US airspace. The US has no need of short range interceptors - so guys', stop making comparisons on which aircraft is best - unless that comparison is based upon 'like for like' - like the TSR2, or its Canadian cousin the Arrow for instance, both superb aircraft - ahead of their time and both doomed to cancellation in favour of the F.111??? Mm! Let's stop the arguing and enjoy KZread's aviation delights shall we? Whoever's aircraft we are watching - I rather liked the Valkyrie actually - nice lines. Pity it never made it into service - for once, a 'pretty' looking American aircraft; streets apart from the 'Warthog'. But, there again, designed to do a different job.

@williamrance5086

9 жыл бұрын

***** Hi, John. How're doing? You just popped up on my email page - just as I was closing down and going to bed. I've had some disquiet over the British government opting for the F35B. In a way I can see where they are going with this appropriation. It's probably the last manned fighter/bomber/ground support aircraft the British will need. If we remain a close ally of the US the F22 can take care of the high altitude threats, the Typhoon anything else, and like the Harrier, the F35B can get on with the job intended - low level strike and vertical up/down performance in support of ground forces. The fact that it is sturdy enough to be carrier based is a bonus - along with those 470 red London buses they say can be carried on the flight deck of the QE carriers - then, I'd say we're in business - Oh! do you mean the Tornado? Bye for now.

@williamrance5086

9 жыл бұрын

***** Well, John, I take your point. All I can say is, give it a chance. The Harrier was seen as a lame duck by many nation's shopping for hardware - even the Argentinians turned it down in favour of much faster French aircraft and look what happened there!. Anyway, us Brits are one of a very few who have battle experience with jump jets, and, if that's what our air-force and navy guys' want, then so be it. We have a way of 'improving' the qualities of aircraft purchased from the US, as do the Americans' when they favour something of ours. Only time will tell, of course. Bye for now.

@yahatinda

9 жыл бұрын

***** F-35 IS a "jump jet" that does not take a super pilot to control in that configuration. The Harrier,a fine piece of work is hard to handle in hover mode.It is,none the less one of the deadlist planes ever built in the hands of a very well traind pilot.

@barrierodliffe4155

7 жыл бұрын

2 years later and the F 35 jump jet still can`t take off.

My late dad was in 92 squadron. I was sang to sleep by Lightnings as a kid.

Whoah! I want one !

I sat in the cockpit of an English Electric Lightning in a hangar at RAF Binbrook many years ago when I was in the Air cadets, it was unbelievably cramped and my knees were so far under the control panel that I wondered how knees weren't severed on ejection, we were warned to keep our hands well away from the yellow and black ejection handles which I believe were situated somewhere between the legs and above the head, they were great days to be in the Air Training Corps, did manage to get a trip in a chipmunk and a couple of glider flights though !! Lol ! 😁👍

My dad was involved in building the wings for these so he was very proud of it when we'd see it at airshows. I've seen them go 100% vertical from takeoff, like the rockets they are, a few times.

Enormous Power to Weight ratio .... absolute Classic. The Lightening was used as the Q.R. that put the fear of shit up the Russian Pilots testing the U.K. Defenses mainly North of Scotland

My goodness Mike she's a beauty. God bless you for keeping her in the air.

amazing jet

It must be awesome to own one of these machines. I first saw them at the Leuchars Air Show in Scotland in 197 ...... ;o)

"There is an ejection seat, but it it's not an experience he is in any hurry to try." Understatement!

My new favourite video. :)

86 Lightning's crashed,the last one in 2009, in 50 years less than 25% crashed with many returned to service.A full list of crashes and the cause can be found on the net

The Lightning could climb at a rate of 50,000 ft (15,240 m) per minute.

It's a shame we have lost Mike, what an amazing guy. Will Lightnings ever fly again?

@sichere

Жыл бұрын

There's group of enthusiasts in the USA currently trying to put one in the air

That's awesome can't say I'm not a little jelly.

To see this aircraft fly again would be a dream come true. Power, speed, rate of climb, ceiling height...the pilot sitting astride two vertical Rolls Royce Avon rockets....this aircraft has not been bettered in over 60 years.

My ALL TIME FAVOURITE jet fighter EVER!!! Sadly this aircraft was sadly withdrawn from service when i was a very young lad under 5 proberly. 😢😢😢😢😢 & apart from KZread. I have VERY SADLY!!! 😢😢😢😢😢never got to see one of these BEAUTIFUL!!! aircraft fly With those FANTASTIC AVON engines that can produce a AWESOME!!! 36, 000 lb + of thrust It was on my bucket list to see one for many, many years. But, i know i will sadly never get that chance or privalige to get my dream. 😢😢😢😢😢

I live near where some were Stationed in the UK , RAF Binbrook. The literally went vertical as soon as they got off the ground, Look up Binbrook last day in Lincolnshire, One of the best planes ever built, only scrapped becasue the Ejection seat would not eject from standstill. also they were pigs to work on , Look up the plane that wanted to die, there are some great stories about them . It still holds some clib rates.records.

@mike_skinner

8 жыл бұрын

+Newton You are right. I sometimes cried when I had to align the fuel pipes. Then they x-rayed them and if they were out you had to start again. I was in 11 sqn. Our instructor spun out of control and died and we were told that it was because he didn't have the red-top and other missile on so he lost his aerodynamics. I was in Malta for final lighning presence in the 70's.

@newton18311

8 жыл бұрын

+Mike Skinner Hi thnaks for your reply, Yes There was quite a few incidents at Binbrook kept quite, Flame outs where common , The pilot use to point them down in the North sea and Bang out. losing about one inch of there high, they where only allowed two Ejections i think becasue it damaged their spine, As kids we use to watch them scramble and go out over the North Sea climbing all the way till they dissaper into the blue, There use to be a lightning over our house day and night every fifteen minutes, but that was at the height of the cold war, The most scary thing i witnessed was the scrambling of the Vulcan's and the Camberas, They was on there way to Bomb Russia over the Cuba incident,we honestly thought that the end of the world had started, they where re called as the ships carrying the Rockets to Cuba turned back. The lightning only had about ten minutes of loitering time , they where told if on an-intercept and they had no fuel or not enough to get back to ram the target, they where a disposable plane.

@mike_skinner

6 жыл бұрын

I just read your reply. They used to eject over the Wash. I heard they lost 1.5 inches but you know how people exaggerate. I didn't know that they flamed out. On the exercises I thought that it was always a suicide mission.You seem to know a lot about this plane.

I watched these fly all the time when I was a kid, I was born at Freckleton just after the war and would spend countless hours waiting for them to take off, E Electric P1 first then the Lighting above Mach 2, I think Beaumont was the test pilot, and for the cancelled TSR2. Anyway if if you want a co-pilot just give me a yell.. in Oz

Interesting bloke!

These are the guys who where grounded, because of poor maintenance of the Lightning and the Martin Baker ejection seat.

can you bring it over to England to our airshows please, a much missed aircraft over here.

Best plane ever......bar none.

It is hard to believe that this wonderful machine was evolving in the designer's head as early as 1947. My father worked briefly with Teddy Petter in EE's Preston design office shortly after WW2. Dad always referred to him as Mister Petter even in casual conversation.

This is the jet they flew when the cold war was the coldest. I think I once read the memoirs of some brittish pilot and if not mistaken they sometimes were stationed in west germany scrambling and also scared the cows since they were not always flying high they flew low too.

At Calday Grange Grammar School in the early fifties,the P1 frequently flew from Preston to our area and us schoolboys liked to think the pilot timed it to our morning break times.

we should have updated or made a new version to the lighting today and built it to fly it instead of the f-35.

@agt155

9 жыл бұрын

Interestingly the F-35 was originally named the 'Lightning 2' in homage to the Electric Lightning.

@agt155

9 жыл бұрын

***** On 7 July 2006, the U.S. Air Force, the lead service for the aircraft, officially announced the name of the F-35: Lightning II, in honor of Lockheed's World War II-era twin-propeller Lockheed P-38 Lightning for the USAAF and the Cold War-era jet, the English Electric Lightning for the RAF

@SunnyD1865

6 жыл бұрын

Honestly, with new technical advancements, a lot of Blighty's cold war-era aircraft could be replaced without major design changes. Of course, that will need a lot of money, which we don't have. Maybe the step out of the EU will mean we have to fend for ourselves a bit more. I could see this stuff coming back with the amount of people interested in Research & Development and the Manufacturing industry, if we indeed had money. We've been pretty much screwed since the 80's, so I reckon we have waited long enough for a change or two..

@jaymorris3468

4 жыл бұрын

It was a cold war intercepter specifically needed to reach nuclear carrying Russian bombers in super quick time and take them out. Different scenario now the bombers became obsolete. It's not required.

Only the British could design the best

Brian Carroll compared the Lightning and the F-15C Eagle, having flown both aircraft, stating that: "Acceleration in both was impressive, you have all seen the Lightning leap away once brakes are released, the Eagle was almost as good, and climb speed was rapidly achieved. Takeoff roll is between 2,000 and 3,000 ft [600 to 900 m], depending upon military or maximum afterburner-powered takeoff. The Lightning was quicker off the ground, reaching 50 ft height in a horizontal distance of 1,630 feet

Awesome 👍 Thanks For Sharing such a Great Informative Video Superb Job ❤️ 👍⭐ 🇵🇰

R.I.P. Dave Stock

@simonmackenzie4664

8 жыл бұрын

+Philip Morkel Yeah, what a nice guy. Flew BEX with him. I've seen criticism of his 'laid back' attitude which is total rubbish. He was hot on safely but just did it a nice relaxed way to not terrify his passengers. Real gentleman.

Any idea what the corner speed and sustained turn rste is on the lightning?

@barrierodliffe4155

4 жыл бұрын

Better than a lot of fighters, especially the F 4 and F 104, strange how it was faster than either too.

This video is ruined by music intruding over the soundtrack. What is going on here?

That looks like a P1 which was made in Preston and assembled at Warton Lancashire in the 50's

would be great to bring this lovely bird to the uk I wonder how many ppl would love to see this bird make some noise.

@ThisWontEndWell

3 жыл бұрын

A couple are still in the UK it's just they are grounded because they are too fast to intercept, my old boss at Coca Cola was part of a consortium who owned one at Cranfield.

Today's aircraft designers could learn a lot from the boffins who made this majestic tiger of the sky. Hunt down the enemy, kill them, home in time for a nice cuppa and your trusty old pipe.

@aemm9934

6 жыл бұрын

The LIghtning was designed in the 50s to get int he air as fast as possible and intercept Soviet bombers at high level. The problem was that the role of the Lightning became low level intercepting and it was not very good at that role. The problem was it's range and it was even poorer at low level. High speed aircraft at low level burn a lot of fuel. The Lightning didn't go very far at low level and in re-heat

@mike_skinner

6 жыл бұрын

The Lightning was a great plane for its day. The fuel lines were made with no tolerance allowance so you had to x-ray the machine after working on those. If the engine on top catches fire, the lower engine may suffer. The isopropolnitrate starter could explode under the pilot causing a problem. It could only do two missions before becoming unserviceable. The refueling probe slowed the plane tremendously at low altitudes. I think it was 650 knots at sea level. Then it would bend. The radar was an afterthought so the pilot had to lean to the side to look through it. No head up display in this baby. The adens were 2nd world war and supposed to be gravity fed. They couldn't do this so they jammed after maybe 3 rounds. I only ever saw about 15 rounds on the target drone. A pilot rotated too fast while his wife filmed him stalling the aircraft at the end of the runway. Our instructor died while flying without the missiles - he spun into the med. The top engine only lasted a few hours and RR started tests to find out why in the 80s. Nobody liked living near the airfield as the aircraft was so noisy. I had the best year of my life on these things. I don't know if it means anything but nearly everyone was Scottish. I opened up my envelope to see my transfer to 11 squadron and when I said where I was going someone shouted back that I was a dead man.

@crosstimbers2

6 жыл бұрын

The EEL was a joke without any useful range. An enemy fighter had only fly a few circles waiting for the EEL to run out of fuel the same way ME262s were killed in WWII. In addition the EELs flown by the UK never shot a down an enemy plane in combat. Near the end of the video even comments on the lack of range of this pregnant dog.

@crosstimbers2

6 жыл бұрын

What a joke. It never shot down a single plane. Ask anyone it was most likely to catch fire. There is the classic photo of the EEL crashing in the farm field. Today the UK no longer builds fighters wonder why?

@jacktattis143

4 жыл бұрын

@@crosstimbers2 tHEY DID NOT HAVE TO tHE BRITS WERE NOT AT WAR WITH ANYONE