aviation - the past, present and future of flight

W

hile the number of English

Electric Lightnings built

• 337, including 25 pre-
  production, prototype and
  test aircraft – mean it wasn’t the most
  numerous type to be operated by the
  RAF, the charismatic  ghter does have a
  special place in the service’s long history.
  The Lightning was, for example, the only
  all-British  ghter capable of Mach 2 and

it was also the RAF’s longest serving

interceptor.

Deliveries of the F.1 variant to

frontline RAF units began in 1960.

Once established, the Lightning formed

the backbone of Britain’s air defence

system, eventually equipping nine RAF

squadrons, plus a host of training and

test units. The last Lightning  ghters

were officially retired from front line use

at RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, on April

30, 1988.

GONE

BUT NOT

FORGOTTEN

Aviation News charts the units that operated the

amazing English Electric Lightning fi ghter in RAF service.

48 Aviation News incorporating Jets April 2018

ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING SPECIAL

Above: The  nal days of the type in RAF service in the late 1980s: F.6 XR728/JS,

in Lightning Training Flight markings. This aircraft is kept in live condition at

Bruntingthorpe. See the feature that starts on p42 for more on this aircraft and

the Lightning Preservation Group.

48-52_lightning_unitsDC.mfDC.mf.indd 48 05/03/2018 12:20