a lot of attention and practice. I enjoyed
35mm photography and got permission to
take colour slides so I could put together a
brie ng and lecture programme.
“Flying a T.55, I gave my camera to QFI
Vaughan Radford in the right-hand seat while
I tried to get into positions on the range for
him to take shots of the various weapons
used, including bomb dropping.
“Gun passes on the 15ft [5m] square
canvas targets were much harder as I had
no wish to hit slipstream at 250ft on recovery.
Vaughan did get one decent astern shot and I
was well pleased with the two days’ work.
“The squadron’s training programme had
lacked live missile ring as there’d been no
suitable target, but the Americans devised
a solution. An F-5 ying to starboard of a
Lightning red a Sidewinder missile, from its
port wingtip, which towed a are of the correct
frequency for an infrared homer to lock on to it.
“The F-5 then broke away hard right and
as soon as the target moved beyond 300
yards range the Lightning could lock on
and get ring brackets; it was then up to the
Firestreak to get a hit.
“Even using a camera with a motor-drive I
only captured one frame of the Firestreak off
the rails, but luckily that picture justi ed my
photo trip.”
Other new exercises included ying as
a pair with an F-5E, the Lightning carrying
simulated laser-guided bombs and the
smaller jet the laser designator.
Practice also covered supersonic
interceptions, often with zoom climbs at the
end, Hedley Molland’s personal best being
Mach 2.3 and 75,000ft.
The Iran-Iraq war began in September
1980 but caused little disruption, although an
Iranian F-4 Phantom defecting to Dhahran
was minutely examined by American
technicians to nd whence the Iranians
obtained spares. For its return, four armed
aircraft were put up to ensure it ew straight
home. The Lightnings and F-5s were now
often armed and anti-aircraft guns were
positioned around the air eld.With the nal conversion course at
Dhahran (No.15) taking place in 1981, the
end was in sight, and in December the rst
RSAF F-15s arrived.WINDING DOWN
“For the rst two months of 1982 the
Lightning and F-15 operated side by side
on 13 Sqn,” remembers Hedley Molland.
“The F-15s were getting a fair share of the
press, as was to be expected, and we were
forbidden to bounce them or show them up in
a bad light.
“It was a pity, as a bit of mixing in
dog ghts would have been good for both
sides. As it was we had to indulge in illegal
scrapping and rely on the Saudi pilots not to
tell on us.
“Of course, the big advantage of the F-15
was it could carry so much fuel and its huge
wing area gave it a turning performance to
die for. Straight performance was not so
different and, with any starting advantage, the
Lightning could come out on top.
“I ew my last trip as a Lightning pilot on
February 28, giving me a grand total of 3,202
hours on the type.”
All the remaining Lightnings were
despatched to Tabuk at the end of February
1982, to be operated by 2 Sqn. Hedley
became Senior Simulator Instructor there.The nal farewell to the Lightning was in 1986
when 10 Sqn’s F-5s replaced them at Tabuk.HOMECOMING
British Aerospace bought back 22 Lightnings
as part of an offset deal for Tornados, and
crews from RAF Binbrook would return them
to the UK.
Saudi Arabian markings were replaced by
RAF roundels and the serials ZF577 to ’598
applied to the jets which were recovered to
Warton in two waves – 12 on January 14,
1986 and the nal ten eight days later.
To facilitate the ferry ights, VC10K tankers
launched with the Lightnings from Tabuk and
were later supplanted by Victor tankers from
Sicily onwards. Together they provided the
required seven refuelling brackets.
The ex-Saudi Lightnings were subsequently
offered for sale, potentially to be equipped with
four Sidewinder missiles. But, although Austria
and Nigeria showed interest, no contract
was forthcoming and the airframes slowly
deteriorated in the sea air at Warton before
being disposed of to museums.
The Lightning is often decried for poor
export sales but, at the time, Magic Carpet
and Magic Palm made up the UK’s largest-
ever export order and paved the way for
today’s huge Tornado and Euro ghter
Typhoon contracts with Saudi Arabia.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 39Two bomb-toting Lightning F.53s approach the Dhahran range in the early morning.Lightnings at Tabuk, their Saudi markings removed ready for return to the UK in January 1986.32-39_lightning_saudiDC.mfDC.mf.indd 39 06/02/2017 13:26