aviation - the past, present and future of flight

Former Lightning pilots were contacted,

including Wg Cdr (later Gp Capt) Andy

Williams, former Officer Commanding 5 Sqn

at Binbrook, and John Spencer himself, who

were both delighted to be asked to carry out

taxi trials. And then a bigger step – whether

to engage reheat?

First a static test. Excitement was intense

as, singly, each reheat lit successfully.

Diamond shock waves speared the winter

gloom as ’728 strained against the chocks

that were spigotted into the concrete. The

huddled form of Pete O’Callaghan was

perched on the port tailplane, peering through

inspection holes on the lookout for leaks –

ear defenders clamped tightly to his head as

the tailplane lurched beneath him. All was

well, and the group members breathed a

sigh of relief. With professional pilots in the

‘hot seat’ and a very long runway to provide

a large safety margin, the decision to begin

reheat taxi trials was taken.

Before long, the pilots who took the aircraft

down Bruntingthorpe’s runway began to read

like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the Lightning world and

included two former BAC Chief Test Pilots

of major consequence to the P.1A and P.1B/

Lightning programme, Wg Cdrs Roland

Beamont and Jimmy Dell, both of whom

became enthusiastic supporters.

Christmas 1992 and Britain’s Lightning

era was ending. The five Lightnings used

as targets by British Aerospace (BAe) in

Tornado F3 AI.24 Foxhunter radar trials

were up for tender, and the LPG’s New Year

celebrations were complete as Lightning F.6

XS904 approached Bruntingthorpe’s runway

on January 21, 1993. BAe Warton’s Peter

Orme had been tasked with delivery – the

last military flight of a Lightning, escorted by

its successor, a Tornado F3 flown by Andy

Williams who just happened to have a training

flight scheduled!

Q-SHED

In January 1994 five 40ft (12m) trailers

of girders and metalwork arrived at

Bruntingthorpe. This was the Quick Reaction

Alert (QRA) hangar or ‘Q-Shed’, from RAF

Wattisham in Suffolk – one of three erected

at air bases along the east coast of Britain to

house Lightnings at ten minutes’ readiness.

LPG President Richard Norris (then and

now) had persuaded the demolition contractors

to donate the historic building to the group.

Again, the Walton family appreciated the

hangar’s Cold War significance and allocated

a dispersal area for reconstruction. This would

be a massive task for the LPG and a major

financial burden, but it offered the prospect

of both aircraft being housed under cover,

facilitating deep maintenance and ultimately

the development of a Lightning museum.

Estimates of £250,000 were received,

partly due to the cost of raising the surface of

the proposed hard standing to be level with the

taxiway. A Heritage Lottery Fund application

was rejected as a lease for the building

plot was not available, so other strategies

were required. One idea was to record a

benefactor’s name on a Donors’ Board for

a minimum £50 contribution. This worked

incredibly well; over £130,000 was raised and

with generous practical help from individuals

and companies sympathetic to the project, the

Q-Shed was completed in June 2010.

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 45

Above: Two good ’chutes – the first double

fast-taxi run in May 1997. Tim Senior

Right: John Ward crews up Lightning F.6

XS904 in 2010.

Below: On alert. The two ground-running

Lightnings in the Q-Shed during an LPG

night photoshoot.

42-47_lightning_lpgDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 45 02/03/2018 17:16