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Scramble 468
English Electric (EE) originally developed and manufactured
the Lightning mach-2+ all-weather jet fighter. The company,
later absorbed into the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC),
promoted the Lightning under their flag to foreign custom-
ers. The marketing of the aircraft was not a great success, just
two countries showed their interest. Saudi Arabia and neigh-
boring Kuwait eventually became the only countries outside
the UK that integrated the mighty Lightning in their air order
of battle. Firstly, on 21 December 1965, Saudi-Arabia ordered
34 multi-role F53s and 6 two-seat T55 trainers. The Middle
East country purchased an additional nine Lightnings (all
former RAF aircraft) in the following years. One year later,
in December 1966, BAC received the second export order.
The Kuwaiti government ordered fourteen Lightnings for
their al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Kuwaitiya or Kuwait Air Force
(KAF), consisting out of twelve single seaters and two dual
seat trainers.
Unofficially, the Kuwaiti Lightnings were designated F53K
and T55K. The export multi-mission F53K was based on the
Royal Air Force F6 interceptor with a difference that the air-
frame could be quickly interchanging between interception,
reconnaissance and ground-attack tasks. One unique venture
of the F53K was that the Lightning characteristic overwing
fuel tanks could be replaced by Matra JL-100 combined
rocket- and fuel pods, each containing 18 SNEB 68mm rockets
and 227 litres of fuel. SNEB is the French abbreviation for:
Societé Nouvelle des Etablissements Edgar Brandt, a French
manufacturer of unguided rockets. All fourteen aircraft were
built and test flown at the BAC Samlesbury plant. The first
trainer for the KAF made its first flight on 24 May 1968 and
subsequently, deliveries of the fourteen aircraft started from
December 1968.
The KAF already operated two types of British fighters, the
BAC/Hunting Jet Provost and the Hawker Hunter. With the
arrival of the Lightning, the UK fighter type tradition within
the KAF continued. The Lightning was proudly based on
Kuwait International Airport with the Lightning Squadron
(during the delivery period of the Lightnings, both Ahmed al
Jaber and Ali al Salem airbases were built, but most probably
they were never used for permanent Lightning operations).
From 1969, the type became fully operational within the air
force. At that time, the KAF Jet Provost and the Hunter were
easy aircraft to fly and maintain but the advanced Lightning
needed much more care then expected by the KAF leader-
ship. They overestimated the complex support the aircraft
needed. Although offered by the UK and BAC in the original
1966 sales contract, the KAF refused to include the BAC and
AirWork Services to keep their fourteen aircraft operational,
so the serviceability of these aircraft rapidly decreased.
The Lightnings did not achieve that many flying hours during
their seven and half years operational life within the KAF. At
the end of 1976, the fleet logged a total of 3,133 flying hours,
with three aircraft being lost in accidents. Already during
1973, the KAF Lightnings were offered for sale but no buyer
was found. All residual Lightning aircraft were eventually
placed in storage during 1976 and 1977 at Al Mubarak/Nawaf
Ahmad airbase, a part of Kuwait International Airport. The
tradition of using UK built jet aircraft within the KAF came to
an abrupt end when Kuwait decided in 1974 to purchase 34
French built Dassault Mirage F1s for air defence tasks and 36
McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from the United States who
fulfilled the ground-strike role. The Mirages and Skyhawks
were eventually replaced by 40 US built McDonnell Douglas
F/A-18C/D Hornets. Luckily for the UK industry, trust was
retrieved in their jets; in 1983 twelve BAe Hawk trainers were
ordered and just recently, in 2016 an order was placed for 28
BAe Typhoons. The Typhoons will operate alongside a fresh
order of 28 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
The survivors
Nowadays, the remaining eleven true unique al-Quwwat al-
Jawwiya al-Kuwaitiya Lightnings are still preserved in Kuwait.
Ten are in a pretty good shape, while one example, T55K
55-410 (being damaged during the 1991 coalition bombing
campaign, whilst Iraq occupied Kuwait) can only be found
as a wreck at Ali Al Salem airbase. The survivors throughout
the little country cannot be found easily. Several are placed
inside the well-secured KAF airbases and the Ministry of
Defence headquarters. They are preserved at these locations
near entrances or main buildings. But with a little research,
several can (easily) be found and viewed, like the ones in the
Kuwait Air Force museum (inside the fences of Al Mubarak/
Nawaf Ahmad airbase), a technical school and a university
in Kuwait City. Of special note are the gate guards at Ali al
Salem airbase, home base of the KAF's F/A-18C Hornet fleet.
An extraordinary triplet memorial display has been set up
with three Lightning F53s. A trio of bare metal Lightnings are
preserved on poles in close formation.
Impressive display of a three-ship formation at Ahmed Al Jaber air base. Nowadays, one is no longer on its pole alas. (all photos, Scramble files)
Whatever happened to...
...the Kuwaiti Lightnings?