Fmk.6john

Am I too late to order a couple of copies? JB.

All F.3 Lightnings had grey cockpits. HTH, John.

Stew, Please put me down for a couple of copies of the echelon plans, I would be very grateful if this came to fruit JB.

Re the leaflet drop, I have heard of said drops being made at Coltishall and a.n. other airfield but this has just been by word of mouth, although just a story it is totally plausable as there was quite a bit of room for leaflets inside the airbrake area. Regards, JB.

Looks good to me, if you need anymore then just shout out, I have more detailed shots than I care to remember lol JB

Tony....... ECU hatch bolts being spannered open....... Hatch locked open,,,,, The most eagle eyed among you will notice the bleed air pipework for the standby DC genorator (in the spine on top of the ECU hatch) is missing HTH JB.

Gents, To clear up a couple of points, the airbrakes could be pumped in and out on the ground and the fuses had to be removed when working inside the brake area only for safety reasons, pumping the brakes open/shut is not so bad but should only be done once either way (or suffer badly from popeye arm!!) The brakes are on the same hydraulic curcuit and have interlocks to ensure they operate together, otherwise if one should open in flight then the handling penalties would be catastrophic (as one pilot found out when a portion of the No.2 interpipe ejected iteslf through the fuselage and opened one airbrake in the process). HTH JB.

Hope these help........ Regards JB

Nice project, I have about a thousand and one pics of both P.1's, will put some up later for you when i get round to it. JB.

Yay....... A Lightning that has actually got the nav lights painted correctly!!!!! Nothing wrong with the flap position either, they were regularly dropped for several reasons. Very well done. JB.

51 pages of pure modelling pornography!!!! JB.

Found out it was a sanctioned mod........ http://ghostgrey.gaetanmarie.com/articles/...20Spitfires.htm JB.

Fantastic set of pics. JB.

One Viagra and it will be right as rain!! JB.

A few more to show the lineage of development...... JB.

Evening all, I have had a set of ground handling notes for the prototype Lightning XA847 for a while now, they are for the first all British supersonic jet to acheive twice the speed of sound in level flight, more recently though I have aquired the jewel of my collectiuon which is the sticktop. It is almost certainly unique as it is believed to be from one of the development batch (DB) Lightnings XG327, it is certainly a prototype sticktop and the Lightning heritage is clearly evident, I also have photographic evidence of this top fitted to a DB airframe, it will be mounted on its own stand very soon JB.

It's also worth noting that the Mk.2 wing which had a straight leading edge was modified to the Mk.6 CLE wing without being removed from the fuselage. HTH, JB.

Sean has the general grip of it, the Mk6 wing was a modification and not a 'new build', wing sections on the production line had their wing leading edges modified to Mk.6 standard by means of the following..... New Leading Edge:- The construction of the cambered edge is essentially the same as that of the plain leading edge, no changes being required for the attatchment to spar 1 of the wing. Because of the camber the following new components are required:- 1New access panel imidiatly outboard of the leading edge tank. 2 New leading edge ribs 5 to 16 and 18 to 21a 3 An additional rib 17 is required positioned outboard of the aileron lever pivot point. 4 New acces panel ribs 10-11 5 New slinging sleeves are required This may seem a bit gobbledegook as it is copied from the English Electric document on the modifications to the Mk.3 for 'Ferrying' which was later to be designated the Mk.6, there are some excellent diagrams to which I am not able to put on here at the moment Regards, JB.

Andy, Yes they are different but you would have to be a serious geek to know the difference, the port side is largely the same, comprising of the AI23 hand controller and throttle box, the throttle grip on number one engine still retaining the twist grip ranging for the Pilot Attack Sight. The starboard is the biggest difference with the lack of a weapons panel and the location of the fuel gauges, UHF and autopilot all different, it also lacks the 'gang' starter panel too. As I said previous the best picks are in the Vol 2 book which are from the actual pilots notes, as an asside the Lightning cockpit underwent many mods and 'in house' additions in service so total accuracy can be given some artistic licence in places. Regards, JB. Oh and the combing panels are different too but that really is getting anal now for this time of night lol !!!

Pit colours...... Gents the P.1, P1A, DB, F.1, F1A and F.2 marks of Lightning all had black cockpits, it was with the introduction of the partial fitment of the IFIS system on the F.2A that the cockpit became grey. The F.2A cockpit instruments are very close to the F.3 and 6, it lacks the strip speed indicator and uses a different gun sight, the fuel panel is different in layout and it is also missing the weapons panel of the later marks. For excellent reference photos you can't beat Stewart Scotts Volume Two, The Lightning Force which is still available. Regards, John.

Tom, Keep your eye on the LPG website for dates of future events, usually there is a full open day around May and then in August time but be patient, the dates aren't set until quite close to the time due to the fluid activities of the airfields primary role as test centre and storage facility. The LPG also hold a static twilight run early in the year which is quite un-missable:) Regards, JB.

Smashin!!! what a superb SB.5 JB.

Thanks Dave, didn't realise there was a conversion set, looks like I will be spending some crimbo money lol !!. JB.

I've been watching that one for a while now (2 years +) and they dont seem to be any closer to release, your probably better off finding a maintrack vac form kit, although scarce they do crop up every now and then and the detail is very crisp and clean. JB. EDIT:- Just looking at my maintrack kit it has one floor, you can only make the low set tailplain from this kit, there are no parts for the 'T' tail that was eventually dropped after trials, maybe the olimpmodels kit will redress this.

XR213?, As far as I know XR219, XR221 and XR223 were sent to Shoeburyness for weapons damage testing, I can't recal a 213 at Foulness but that might just be bad memory. Regards, JB.