In this issue of Aviation Classics...

• Introduction
• Dawn of the Lightning
• 18 'Tigers'
• Lightning weapons system
• The 'Hole on the Wall'
• 'Bee' - test pilot of the ultimate British fighter
• Lightning F6 in detail
• 'Gas guzzlers'
• Fighting the Lightning
• Eject! Eject!
• Last of the Lightnings
• See the full issue contents >>

Foreword by Editor, Jarrod Cotter

Welcome to Aviation Classics, a new series of high-quality glossy publications centred on the world’s greatest aircraft, the events in which they played crucial roles and those who flew, maintained and supported them. It was a balmy autumnal morning at RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire on 17 October 1984. That was the date of my passing out parade from basic recruit training in the Royal Air Force, and while we were promised the customary flypast, you weren’t told what aircraft it would be carried out by. I was hoping for something ‘tasty’...
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News: Paul Bonhomme awarded Segrave Trophy

Paul Bonhomme was awarded the prestigious Segrave Trophy on 28 June 2010 at the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall in London. Paul joins a very distinguished list of UK motorsport and aviation legends who have received the trophy, including Amy Johnson, Malcolm Campbell, Geoffrey de Havilland, John Derry, Peter Twiss, Stirling Moss, Donald Campbell, AW ‘Bill’ Bedford, Wg Cdr Ken Wallis, Brian Trubshaw, Jackie Stewart, Gp Capt John Cunningham, Barry Sheene, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton...
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Preview article: The 'Hole on the Wall'

Sqn Ldr Clive Rowley MBE RAF Ret’d recalls in present tense an incident in Lightning F2A XN789 where hours spent training in the simulator paid off.
On my lounge wall at home is a strange looking object, which could, at first glance, be taken for a piece of modern sculpture of dubious artistic merit. On closer inspection, a brass plaque explains the jagged hole in the centre of the metal panel: ‘THE HOLE, Reheat Fire damage to Lightning F2A XN789 on 11th May 1976’...
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Preview article: Eject! Eject!

The story behind a famous photograph of an ejection from a Lightning.
The photograph opposite was taken by Jim Meads on 13 September 1962. It was published in newspapers all around the world at the time and, as it was so widely seen, it naturally caught the attention of manufacturer Martin-Baker.
At the time Jim lived next door to de Havilland test pilot Bob Sowray in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and on this day both of their wives had gone clothes shopping in London...
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