London Lightning

摘要

There are over 75 English Electric Lightnings preserved around the world, and XS925, currently on display at the RAF Museum in Hendon, is an F.6 variant, of which fewer than 20 complete examples survive. (A handful of nose sections are also still in existence.) The jet made the first of its six pre-delivery flights on January 26, 1967, in the hands of experienced test pilot Roland Beamont. It was received by its first unit, 5 Squadron at Binbrook, Lincs, in March of that year, tasked with policing UK skies. It was also detached to Beauvechain, Belgium, and Luqa in Malta. Following a landing accident at Binbrook airshow in 1968 it was transported to Warton, Lancs, for repairs, making a successful return to flight at the nearby Samlesbury on February 24, 1970. Back with 5 Squadron, it again suffered damage in December of that year due to a bird strike. Repairs and an overhaul were undertaken at Leconfield, Yorks. Over the next 12 years it repeatedly changed hands between 5 and 11 Squadron, and in 1985 became one of 35 F.6 aircraft to be upgraded by British Aerospace to extend flying hours.