One of my hobbies - EE Lightning

[DaveSmith]

I am part of the engineering team for this beauty.
For the uninitiated, it is an English Electric Lightning F6 cold war interceptor.
Quite a bit of kit back in it's day and the specs are pretty impressive even now.
Mach 2.2, 50,000 ft/min climb rate, brake release to 36,000ft in 2.3 mins.
We are currently returning it to serviceability and painting and and preserving it (sadly, it will never fly again).
The temporary hanger it is sat in I help build and I have fitted it out with DC and AC lighting and also AC power distribution as well as all portacabins we use for crew rooms and equipment / parts storage.
It is based at the former RAF Binbrook airfield where it spent a lot of its service life when in service.

We have a Facebook site for those who are interested https://www.facebook.com/XR724 and a website https://www.lightningassociation.co.uk.
I you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Dave.

 

[Seriously?]

Very cool
I'm rather partial to the Cold War iron myself

 

[DaveSmith]

Very cool
I'm rather partial to the Cold War iron myself

She's a beauty mate. An absolute pig to work on though. Everything is so inaccessible. They is an old saying that working on a Lightning is akin to trying to wallpaper you lounge through your front door letterbox. I can tell you from my experiences, it isn't far off the truth.

 

[Seriously?]

They were apparently just a tad thirsty too with both reheats lit - something crazy like over 10gallons per second

 

[DaveSmith]

They were apparently just a tad thirsty too with both reheats lit - something crazy like over 10gallons per second

Yep, with both reheats engaged, you can empty one in about 10-15 minutes.
Hence why when we run it at demos and for anti-det runs we only use one engine and very rarely above 70% as we simply can't afford it (being a charity and self-funding).
The starting system uses about a gallon of AVPIN (Isopropyl Nitrate) per start. AVPIN is essentially liquid rocket propellant and hideously expensive.
The oils and lubricants and specialist anti-corrosion protection fluids (e.g. ACF50) we use a lot and they don't come cheap.
We have a GoFundMe page and without kind donations from the general public, we'd be stuffed.

These donations along with quite a lot of personal financial input from the team, allowed us to get planning permission, and buy and build the shelter she now sits in. Before that, she'd sat outside for best part of 30 years (since she flew in) in all weathers under tarpaulins. Meaning that maintenance was very difficult as we were very much weather dependent. I've had days up there is howling wind and horizontal sleet, performing maintenance activities. Not at all pleasant, but we do it for the love of the old girl. Plus it's kind of cool to be able to tell people what I get to do. Not many get to work on a live cold-war iconic jet aircraft.