David Womby Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 IIRC Warpaint lists one but I have never seen a photo of any T4 in 23 Squadron's markings. Has anybody else? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainpeden Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 There's a photo of a T.5 XS417/Z in Richard Ward's book with the information it joined the unit in February '66 from the OCU. Can't find anything about a 23 squadron T.4. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted April 12, 2022 Author Share Posted April 12, 2022 34 minutes ago, iainpeden said: There's a photo of a T.5 XS417/Z in Richard Ward's book with the information it joined the unit in February '66 from the OCU. Can't find anything about a 23 squadron T.4. Thanks, yes, I've seen that pic. The Warpaint by Alan W Hall lists XM973/Z as being with 23 from 1964-65 but I have only found pics of that one with 226OCU, 111 and 19. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 When 23Sqn reformed on Lightnings they initially had one T4, XM973. I have never seen any photos of it either and can't find a date for it leaving 23Sqn but suspect it left as soon as a T5 became available. I have seen photos of several T5s loaned to 23sqn from the OCU and still wearing the bright OCU markings and I do have the dates somewhere in my notes (wherever I have put them! I think they arrived just before one of the Battle of Britain airshows IIRC so Sept 196X?). As 23Sqn only operated the F3/F6 I should imagine they would have wanted to get the more appropriate T5 on their books as soon as was possible. Duncan B 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 Thanks. Yes it makes sense that they would go to a T5 as early as possible. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberra kid Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 (edited) XS417 is the only one I can find @David Womby John Edited April 13, 2022 by canberra kid added another photo 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted April 13, 2022 Author Share Posted April 13, 2022 Me too, John, and she's a T5. Thanks anyway. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberra kid Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 15 minutes ago, David Womby said: Me too, John, and she's a T5. Thanks anyway. David I did try to find a photo of the T.4 mentioned above, I do have photos of her but non with 23 Sqn. If I was to take a punt on colours I'd go with the top two photos. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dambuster Posted April 15, 2022 Share Posted April 15, 2022 (edited) EE Lightning by Stewart Scott Vol 1 page 258 has a photo of a T4 in 23 Sqn marks, captioned as the rarely photographed XM973. The serial is not visible, but you can make out the top bar of the Z. It has Sqn bars either side of the rounded, white spine and fin, swept fin flash at the leading edge of the fin, and the large ‘bird’ emblem on the fin. There are references to it in the text in both Vol1 and Vol 2. Definitely the T4 with the rounded fin top. Peter Edited April 15, 2022 by dambuster Corrected serial 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted April 15, 2022 Author Share Posted April 15, 2022 6 minutes ago, dambuster said: EE Lightning by Stewart Scott Vol 1 page 258 has a photo of a T4 in 23 Sqn marks, captioned as the rarely photographed XM273. The serial is not visible, but you can make out the top bar of the Z. It has Sqn bars either side of the rounded, white spine and fin, swept fin flash at the leading edge of the fin, and the large ‘bird’ emblem on the fin. There are references to it in the text in both Vol1 and Vol 2. Definitely the T4 with the rounded fin top. Peter Woohoo! Thank you, Peter. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted April 15, 2022 Author Share Posted April 15, 2022 2 hours ago, dambuster said: EE Lightning by Stewart Scott Vol 1 page 258 has a photo of a T4 in 23 Sqn marks, captioned as the rarely photographed XM273. The serial is not visible, but you can make out the top bar of the Z. It has Sqn bars either side of the rounded, white spine and fin, swept fin flash at the leading edge of the fin, and the large ‘bird’ emblem on the fin. There are references to it in the text in both Vol1 and Vol 2. Definitely the T4 with the rounded fin top. Peter Peter Can you see if she has yellow bars on the wings and fuselage? Is she carrying Firestreaks? Thanks David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dambuster Posted April 15, 2022 Share Posted April 15, 2022 On 4/13/2022 at 9:25 AM, Duncan B said: When 23Sqn reformed on Lightnings they initially had one T4, XM973. I have never seen any photos of it either and can't find a date for it leaving 23Sqn but suspect it left as soon as a T5 became available. I have seen photos of several T5s loaned to 23sqn from the OCU and still wearing the bright OCU markings and I do have the dates somewhere in my notes (wherever I have put them! I think they arrived just before one of the Battle of Britain airshows IIRC so Sept 196X?). As 23Sqn only operated the F3/F6 I should imagine they would have wanted to get the more appropriate T5 on their books as soon as was possible. Duncan B Hi Duncan, According to Scott the T4 joined on 8 Sep 64, went to 60 MU for mods in Nov 64, returning 31 Dec 64. It transferred to 226 OCU on 31 Jan 66. XS417 is given as joining 23 on 20 Dec 65, with 42.50 hrs. Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 On 4/15/2022 at 8:08 PM, dambuster said: Hi Duncan, According to Scott the T4 joined on 8 Sep 64, went to 60 MU for mods in Nov 64, returning 31 Dec 64. It transferred to 226 OCU on 31 Jan 66. XS417 is given as joining 23 on 20 Dec 65, with 42.50 hrs. Peter Hi Peter, so it was on their books for a couple of years then, surprising that there aren't more photos of it floating around. I know someone who was a very keen spotter (and keen Lightning modeller) at Leuchars around then (or possibly just a little bit later) so will see if he has any photos of it. Duncan B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petetasker Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 pm sent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 To close this up, I did just post my rendition of XM973/Z in 'Ready for Inspection". David 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now