English Electric (BAC) Lightning F.2 / F.3

Production of a further refined Lightning, the "F.2", had been authorized in 1958, and the first of 44 production Lightning F.2s performed its initial flight on 11 July 1961. Two of these 44 machines were actually upgraded to other variants before their first flight. The F.2 featured:

• A standby DC electric generator.
• A liquid oxygen breathing system, replacing the previous gaseous oxygen system.
• A new "OR.946" integrated flight control system, linking navigation systems to an automatic flight control system and featuring a substantially revised cockpit layout.
• Avon 210R engines with a slightly improved afterburner control scheme.

The F.2 was externally all but identical to the F.1A, except for a small intake right on the center of the spine to provide cooling air for the DC generator. Initial service deliveries of the F.2 were in 1962. The F.2 would generally be regarded as the most pleasant Lightning variant to fly, since the match between the engines and the inlet was optimum.

Improvement of the AIRPASS radar to AI.23B standard, which permitted collision course intercepts instead of tailchase intercepts, and of the Firestreak to the Red Top AAM led to the "Lightning F.3". The prototype, which was a modified P.1B, performed its initial flight on 16 July 1962.

The Red Top had originally been designated the Firestreak 4. The two missiles were clearly similar, but the Red Top had a rounded seeker nose while the Firestreak had a conical nose, and the Red Top's flight surfaces were considerably modified, though the overall arrangement remained the same. The Red Top featured greater range, speed, and resistance to countermeasures. Its improved seeker also featured a limited "all aspect" capability, though only against a target flying at high speeds and warmed up by air friction. The Red Tops were required for collision-course intercepts, since the older Firestreak AAMs could only be used "tailpipe" shots. In practice, most F.3s still carried the Firestreak for a time, since the Red Top's reliability initially left something to be desired. The Aden cannon were deleted from the F.3.

Rolls-Royce Avon 301 (RB.146) engines were fitted, with 58.86 kN (6,000 kgp / 13,220 lbf) max dry thrust and 72.77 kN (7,420 kgp / 16,360 lbf) afterburning thrust each. Not only were the new engines more powerful, they were also much more tolerant of airflow and throttle changes, allowing pilots to fly the machine with much less worry over engine handling. The F.3 was also fitted with a square-topped tailfin, with area increased by 15% to compensate for yaw instability caused by the carriage of AAMs.

The F.3 was supposed to be the "definitive" Lightning, but in reality it wasn't that much of an advance over the F.2. BAC proposed a wide range of other refinements for the F.3, but the RAF was taking a minimal attitude towards Lightning improvements since it was still regarded as an interim type. The RAF even refused to buy a completely automatic intercept system that had been developed by Ferranti, Elliot, and BAC, despite the fact that the system had been fully engineered at a cost of 1.4 million pounds and trialed in one of the P.1Bs. It would have turned the Lightning into something like a "manned missile" and greatly simplified intercepts.

This was not a mere nicety, either, since if an F.3 missed its target on its first pass, it almost never had enough fuel to make a second attempt without topping off from a tanker, which would give an intruder plenty of time to get to its target and then depart. In addition, although the F.3 had strengthened wings to carry jettisonable overwing ferry tanks with a capacity of 1,182 liters (312 US gallons / 260 Imperial gallons), which like the automatic intercept system had been fully developed and qualified, the RAF didn't show any inclination to buy the tanks for the moment.

Ironically, by this time the idea that manned aircraft were going to be replaced by missiles in the short term was beginning to seem much less a certainty, and RAF officers who felt the service needed to obtain improved manned aircraft had stuck their heads cautiously out of their holes and were lobbying to that end. However, the result was that the Lightning was confronted with rivalry from various schemes for wonderful new manned aircraft, particularly the Hawker P.1154 Mach 2 vertical takeoff fighter.

The P.1154 fell foul of interservice squabbling between the RAF and the Royal Navy, and was probably too ambitious anyway. Many of the other schemes for British advanced manned aircraft concocted at the time didn't work out either; those that did would take much longer to get out the door than expected; and the 1960s are largely remembered by British military aviation enthusiasts as a nightmare time. As it turned out, the Lightning would be further proof, if any were needed, that "there is nothing so permanent as a temporary solution."

The F.3 entered service in 1964 and 70 production aircraft were built in all, not counting the modified P.1B that served as the prototype and a single F.2 that was upgraded to F.3 standard before its first flight. The F.3 equipped a total of four RAF squadrons. The older F.1 and F.1A were generally out of frontline service by the mid-1960s, though they continued in training and other secondary roles for a decade longer, many of them fitted with radar enhancement devices to act as radar targets. In some roles these aircraft were stripped of nonessential kit, making them real "hot rods" to fly. The F.2 and F.3 had longer lives in first-line service, as is discussed later.

English Electric (BAC) Lightning F.3A (interim F.6) / F.6

The F.3 really did little to address the endurance issue, and so in 1963 BAC began work on an "F.3A" or "F.3 Extended Range Aircraft (ERA)", the primary feature being a much larger and longer ventral tank that gave the aircraft something of a "pregnant" appearance. The tank could be removed on the ground, but not jettisoned in flight. The larger ventral tank had actually been prototyped on P.1Bs several years earlier. It featured twin dorsal fins instead of the single dorsal fin of earlier Lightning variants.

The F.3A also featured a new wing that featured a leading-edge camber and a "kinked" outer wing panels with slightly increased sweep, providing better low-speed handling. The kinked wing had actually been demonstrated on a P.1A in 1957. The F.3A retained the Avon 301 engines.

Initial flight was on 17 April 1964. There doesn't appear to have been a specific F.3A prototype, though an F.2 was fitted with the kinked wings on a trials basis. A total of 16 "F.3As" was built. There were 14 upgrades to F.3A specification as well, including 12 F.3s that hadn't been delivered to the RAF yet; an F.2 that was upgraded before its first flight; and the single F.2 that had been previously upgraded to an F.3.

Production then switched to a further improved variant that could actually use the overwing tanks and featured a few other minor improvements in avionics kit. This version was known as the "F.6", with initial flight on 16 June 1965, with Jimmy Dell at the controls.

39 production F.6 Lightnings were built. There doesn't seem to have been any specific prototype since the F.6 was basically a simple production change of the F.3A. The F.3As accordingly were given the redesignation of "Interim F.6", though all but one of the 16 F.3As built were later upgraded to full F.6 specification. Seven F.3s were also upgraded to F.6 specification before their entry into RAF service.

The F.6 suffered from the "weight creep" that often afflicts aircraft over their evolution, with an empty weight 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) greater than that of a F.3 and 1,045 kilograms (2,300 pounds) more than that of a F.1. This affected its handling somewhat, and of course full afterburner had to be used on takeoff.

The RAF liked the F.6 very much, and so beginning in the late 1960s 31 F.2s were brought up to a partial F.6 standard and redesignated "F.2A". It featured the airframe improvements of the F.6, but armament remained as before, with twin Aden cannon in the top of the nose and two Firestreak AAMs.

There were also no significant changes in avionics and the Avon 210s were retained. The upgrade was surprisingly cheap, and since the F.2A was cleaner and lighter than the F.6 RAF pilots found it one of the most agreeable Lightning variants to fly. In an unaggressive high-altitude flight, they could get two hours of endurance out an F.2A, which no other Lightning variant could touch.

English Electric (BAC) Lightning T.4 & T.5 Trainers

Since the Lightning was such a "hot" machine, a two-seat conversion trainer seemed like a good idea from the outset, with work beginning in 1957. Initial flight of the first two-seater, then known as the "P.11", was on 6 May 1959. It had a side-by-side cockpit and lacked the twin Aden cannon in the nose. This particular aircraft was lost in an accident on 1 October 1959, the first Lightning to suffer such a fate, but a second prototype performed its first flight on 21 October.

Deliveries of the first production trainers, which were designated "T.4", was in 1962. A total of 20 were built, not counting the two prototypes. The T.4 was generally comparable to the F.1A except for the two-seat cockpit, which widened the forward fuselage by 29 centimeters (11.5 inches), and the lack of nose guns. Except for that, it was fully combat capable, with AIRPASS radar and Firestreak capability, and the Firestreaks could in principle be swapped for a pack of two Aden cannon or 44 unguided rockets. The crew sat on Martin Baker BS4.B Mark 2 ejection seats.

The F.3 also led to a similar side-by-side trainer, the "Lightning T.5", with Avon 301 engines and the square-topped fin. The first two production T.4s were converted to serve as prototypes for the T.5. The initial T.5 prototype performed its maiden flight on 29 March 1962, though it was later lost in an accident, and the second prototype didn't fly until 17 July 1964. As with the T.4, the T.5 was combat-capable. 22 production T.5s were obtained by the RAF, with initial deliveries on 20 April 1965.

Crews apparently gave the trainer versions of the Lightning the nickname of "Tub" because of the wide cockpit. Sources seem a bit fuzzy on how they were regarded. Apparently they were lighter on the stick than the single seaters, but it seems they were not generally liked, partially because they were used for sweatshop training courses that turned them into something like an instrument of torture. One cynic suggested: "The best thing that could happen to the T Mark 5 would be if someone flew it into the simulator."

Both the T.4 and T.5 remained in service through most of the Lightning's life. The T.4 was useful for training pilots for the F.2A, since the F.2A's improvements didn't include new avionics and the older kit of the T.4 was a better match than that of the T.5.

English Electric (BAC) Lightning In Raf Service

Initially, RAF Lightnings were assigned for point defense of high-priority targets in the UK, such as V-bomber bases. They didn't have the range to do much else. Interceptions of Soviet intruders over the North Sea on "quick reaction alerts (QRAs)" had to wait for the F.1A with inflight refueling, with the Lightnings kept originally kept in the air by Vickers Valiant tankers. The abrupt grounding of the Valiant in 1964 was a great inconvenience, but gradually the Handley Page Victor took up the slack. Apparently the US Air Force helped out in the interim, using Boeing KC-135s with the boom fitted with a probe-and-drogue refueling adapter.

The pilots sat in a ready shack at base to wait for an alert, and when an alert came they got their Lightnings into the air as fast as possible, accompanied by a tanker. They would escort Soviet aircraft, usually Tu-95 Bears, Tu-16 Badgers, or Il-38 Mays. Sometimes the Soviets would press their luck, trying to intrude on a naval exercise or whatever, and there would be a tense confrontation, but usually the encounters were friendly. Long ocean-patrol flights tend to be boring and the Soviet crews would smile, wave, and hold up bottles or pinups. One Lightning pilot escorting a Bear lost track of his tanker and couldn't raise it on radio. He was preparing to divert to Iceland, when one of the aircrew on the Tu-95 radioed the British pilot with range and bearing to the tanker, ending the conversation with: "English Electric MiG, bon voyage!"

Two Lightning squadrons were deployed to Germany in 1965, where they were assigned the low-level intercept role. They often escorted intruders that had strayed across the border from the East, sometimes because they had got lost but sometimes because they were probing NATO defenses. RAF Germany Lightnings destroyed the only aircraft ever shot down by a Lightning in anything but target practice. A RAF Harrier pilot's mount began to misbehave and the pilot punched out, but the fickle aircraft then decided to keep right on flying East towards the border. It was destroyed in order to avoid an incident.

Number 56 squadron deployed to RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus in 1967, returning to the UK in 1975. Number 74 squadron deployed to RAF Tengah, Singapore, also in 1967, to return and disband in 1971. Of course, Lightnings paid visits to a large number countries as far away as Iran.

By 1969, the Lightning equipped nine first-line squadrons, with five of those squadrons in the UK, and the notion that the type was an "interim" aircraft finally faded out completely. The RAF accepted that the type was going to be around for a while and implemented some upgrades. A runway arresting hook was developed and fitted to most Lightning survivors; the hook was spring-loaded and had to be reloaded by the ground crew.

More significantly, in a tacit acknowledgement that the idea of all-missile armament was a mistake, beginning in 1970 F.6s were retrofitted with cannon in a new mounting scheme. The ventral tank had three sections, and the forward section could be swapped out with two Aden cannon with 120 rounds per gun for a fractional loss in fuel capacity. This gave the F.6 backup in case the missiles failed to destroy their target, and also allowed engagement of targets from within minimum missile range. Only a few F.2As received this modification.

Up to the 1970s, Lightnings almost always flew in natural metal finish, though with a fair variety of markings and trim colors such as red-checkered tails and so on -- in fact such a variety that in 1966 the killjoy brass established stricter guidelines for what decorations were and were not permissible. In 1972, RAF Germany Lightning squadrons established a camouflage scheme for their aircraft, with a single-tone dark green on top and natural metal on the bottom. This color scheme was used because Lightnings were used for low-level intercepts in Germany, and a natural metal finish made them much too visible to a high-flying intruder against the generally green German countryside.

A few years later, UK Lightning squadrons adopted a two-tone gray-dark green camouflage pattern on top, with natural metal finish or light gray on the underside. In 1981, UK Lightnings began to be painted in various natty "air defense" gray schemes, such as gray on top and lighter gray on the belly.

English Electric (BAC) Lightning In Saudi & Kuwaiti Service

The Lightning did poorly in export sales. In December 1965, as part of a large package deal, Saudi Arabia ordered 34 single-seat and six two-seat Lightnings. The single-seaters were to be "F.53s", which were basically F.6s, featuring the long ventral tank and the kinked wings, but which were more capable.

BAC had tried to promote a multirole version of the F.3 to the RAF as the "F.3B", which would have added strike and reconnaissance capabilities, but the RAF wasn't interested, apparently because at the time RAF doctrine was focused on single-role aircraft. Some authors believe that had the multirole Lightning been more aggressively promoted, it could have led to export sales of the type rivalling those of the wildly popular Hunter.

The Saudis certainly liked the idea, though they had also been impressed with a low-level run performed by Jimmy Dell over the middle of Ridyadh, conducted at the request Prince Sultan, the Defense Minister. Dell had kept the machine under Mach 1 but local papers still reported miscarriages and dogs going mad. The Saudi Air Force's chief test pilot, a Lieutenant Hamdam, also took a trip to the UK, where he pushed an F.2 through Mach 2.1 on his first solo flight in the type. He was suitably impressed.

In any case, the multirole F.53s could be fitted with a single pylon under each wing to carry unguided rocket pods or bombs of up to 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) size, and the overwing pylons were also reinforced to allow carriage of external stores as well. Exactly what external stores Saudi F.53s actually carried is unclear, but the available options were impressive and surprising.

Each underwing pylon could carry either one or (using a side-by-side adapter) two 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) general purpose bombs, or one or two French Matra Type 155 rocket pods, each carrying 18 SNEB 68 millimeter (2.68 inch) unguided rockets. Of course, the top pylon could carry a standard ferry tank or a rocket pod, but it could even carry a parachute-retarded 450 kilogram bomb, tossed up from the wing pylon using an explosive cartridge ejector mechanism. An even more surprising stores arrangement for the upper pylon featured an adapter that could carry two Matra JL100 pods, which contained an 18-round SNEB rocket launcher in front and a 227 liter (50 Imperial gallon / 60 US gallon) fuel tank in back. This gave the F.53 such formidable warload configurations as eight rocket launchers, with a total of 144 rockets.

The weapons pack for the Red Tops could also be swapped out with the Microcell unguided rocket pack or a reconnaissance pack. Day and night reconnaissance packs were developed. The day reconnaissance pack featured five Vinten 70 millimeter film cameras. The night reconnaissance pack featured cameras and an infrared linescanner, backed up by photoflash flares carried on the wing pylons. The cameras in the reconnaissance pack rotated out for use and then were rotated back for storage. It is unclear if the Saudis obtained both types of reconnaissance pack, and very unclear if they obtained the Microcell rocket pack.

The F.53, like the F.6, could accommodate two 30 millimeter Aden cannon in the front of the ventral tank, and in fact this feature was developed for the F.53 and then retrofitted to the F.6. With the unguided rocket pack, unguided rocket pods on the wings, and the twin Aden cannon, the F.53 had a fair punch in the strike role. The T.55s were even more unique, being basically a trainer version of the F.6. Some authors claim the RAF missed a bet by not taking any interest in such a variant, as it would have made an excellent basis for a very capable multirole aircraft.

The Saudis were in a hurry to get their Lightnings, since Egypt and Saudi Arabia were currently at odds over the civil war in Yemen, trading accusations and shots, and the Saudis wanted to counter Egyptian MiG fighter incursions. Under the "Magic Carpet" deal, in July 1966 the Saudis were provided four F.2s as "F.52s", with a fifth passed on as an attrition replacement a year later, and two T.4s as "T.54s". Ironically, the Egyptian incursions stopped before these interim Saudi Lightnings got into service, but they were useful for bringing the Saudi Air Force up to speed on the type.

The one F.3A that wasn't upgraded to an F.6 became the initial F.53 prototype, performing its initial flight on 19 October 1966. Deliveries of the F.53 began in July 1968. All Saudi Lightnings would fly in natural metal finish. They performed ground attack missions during Yemeni incursions in late 1969 and early 1970 and proved highly effective in the attack role, though one Lightning was shot down, the pilot ejecting safely and rescued.

Saudi Lightnings were replaced in the ground-attack role by the Northrop F-5 from 1971, and lost the reconnaissance mission not long after, reducing the Saudi F.53s to single-role interceptors with no great distinction from an F.6. The Lightning was formally retired from Saudi service in 1986. Of the 47 delivered, not counting two that had been lost before delivery, 18 had been lost in Saudi service, 22 were returned to the UK for possible use or resale, and the rest were set up as gate guards and other static displays. Some of the display items have camouflage color schemes, but such paint jobs were apparently not used in actual service.

The only other foreign buyer was Kuwait, which ordered 12 "F.53Ks" and two "T.55Ks" in late 1966, with these aircraft largely or completely the same as their Saudi equivalents. Deliveries were in 1968 and 1969. The Kuwaitis did not find them very satisfactory since Kuwait lacked the capability to properly service them and keep them flying. By 1973 the Kuwaitis were trying to sell them off, and in 1977 they were finally phased out completely, replaced by the Mirage F1, which was much simpler and more in line with Kuwaiti needs and capabilities. Some of the Kuwaiti Lightnings also survive as static displays, though apparently a few of these were destroyed during the Gulf War in 1990:1991.

Twilight Of The English Electric (BAC) Lightning / Production Summary

By the late 1970s, the Lightning was beginning to be replaced by the McDonnell Douglas Phantom in RAF service, with a number of Lightnings relegated to such roles as ground decoys. Overall performance of the Phantom was comparable to that of the Lightning, with pluses and minuses, but the Phantom provided better endurance; more sophisticated and capable avionics; and much more substantial missile armament: a Phantom could carry four Sidewinder short-range AAMs and four Sparrow medium-range AAMs, in contrast to the two Firestreak or Red Top short-range AAMs carried by the Lightning. Later model Sidewinders and Sparrows were also far superior technically to the older Firestreak and Red Top. The Lightning was superior in terms of gun armament, however, since RAF Phantoms were limited to carriage of a centerline 20 millimeter Vulcan cannon pod, which lacked both the accuracy and the hitting power of the Lightning's twin Aden cannon.

However, the Lightning persisted in RAF frontline service for another decade. 1979 was the 25th anniversary of the Lightning's operational service, and so a special display was planned for RAF Binbrook, with Lightnings painted up in colors of various past users and a 25-aircraft flypast planned. Unfortunately, strong rains did much to dampen the spirit of the exercise.

Also in 1979, a program was begun to strengthen the wingroots of F.6s and T.5s. In 1985, British Aerospace (BAE, which had superceded BAC), performed a "service life extension program (SLEP)" on 35 F.6s, but this was squeezing the last droplets out of the type. Ideas for many improvements were not followed up. A modern off-the-shelf radar would have provided a significant increase in capability. Fit of the modern AIM-9L "all aspect" variant of the US Sidewinder AAM, proven in the Falklands to be an extremely effective weapon and far superior to the antiquated Firestreak and Red Top, would have been straightforward, since its seeker acquired a target without use of other gear, indicating a lock with a tone in the pilot's headphones. Sidewinder fit had been mocked up on a Lightning in 1982 but that was the sum of it.

The Lightning was finally phased out of first-line service in Britain in 1988, being completely replaced by the Panavia Tornado. A small number of Lightnings did serve on for a few more years in secondary roles, such as chase aircraft and as radar targets for Tornado evaluation. A "farewell flight" of three Lightnings was organized in 1992, though a few kept on flying for a bit after that.

While RAF pilots liked the Lightning, they weren't all that unhappy to see it go. It was a fantastic ride, but as a weapon system it was inadequate in both armament and endurance. Lightning pilots were said to be the last people in the world who would run out of gas while driving on a road trip, as checking fuel levels was an activity somewhat like breathing to them.

Much more could have been made of the Lightning if the will had been there. As mentioned, the Saudi T.55 could have been the basis for a really capable machine. EE / BAC also proposed a number of significantly improved variants, one of the most impressive being a navalized Lightning proposed in the late 1960s with an improved long-range derivative of the AIRPASS radar, in a solid nose; side-mounted air intakes; variable-geometry outer wings ("swing wings") like those of the Soviet Su-17 to permit carrier landings; greater fuel capacity and less thirsty, more powerful engines; and armament of four missiles, not just two. It didn't happen.

Many Lightnings survive as static displays and a group of British air enthusiasts keeps at least one in flight-worthy condition, though since the British Civil Aviation Authority won't approve it for flight it is restricted to noisy runway runs. A South African outfit named "Thundercity" that hires out rides and airshow displays on classic combat jets has two flying T.5s and an F.6.

The Lightning was for all practical purposes the last truly British air-superiority fighter. From the 1960s on, the British government would, for good reasons but not always with the tidiest results, join into collaborations with other nations to develop leading-edge combat aircraft such as the Jaguar, Tornado, and Eurofighter Typhoon. The Lightning was the last of a very distinguished breed.

According to one story, late in the Lightning's service life a relatively inexperienced US Air Force pilot in an F-16 tried to take on a very experienced RAF pilot in a Lightning F.3, and found that the "old dog" repeatedly frustrated his missile attacks. The Yank pilot blindly kept at it and in the after-action analysis he was asked what he thought he was trying to accomplish. He replied: "I was going for a 'Fox Four'. I was trying to get alongside, open my canopy, and club the son of a bitch to death."

I doubt that a Lightning in itself would have been a match for an F-16, armed with modern air-to-air missiles, and certainly if all else failed, an F-16 could simply have run the Lightning out of gas. But though I am not a pilot I do play the piano a bit, and I suspect that flying a combat aircraft is much like playing a piano -- skill makes a big difference.

Author: Greg Goebel

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