Friday 4 March 2011

English Electric Lightning author Stewart Scott Ebay sales - Recommended Aviation books (3)


A small selection of the Lightning photos sold (along with other memorabilia) on author Stewart Scott's Ebay sales

THE LIGHTNING FORCE. Hardback book by Stewart Scott, the second in the author's series of books on the Lightning. 700 pages with some 800 images. A significant contribution to the history of the Lightning and its operation by the units which made up the Lightning Force - this is not the usual run of the mill pot-boiler! This is volume II of what was planned as a three-volume exhaustive and authoritative series on the English Electric Lightning. In this volume the author has contacted 300+ former Lightning pilots and engineers to hear their accounts and chronicles every aspect of the Lightning and the Lightning Force. At nearly twice the size of Volume 1, this second volume contains some 800 illustrations comprising photographs, line drawings and diagrams. It examines at some length the extended range developments which heralded the introduction to service of the F.6 and it also looks at the background to the conversion of part of the F.2 fleet to the F.2A version. This first section concludes with a brief look at the careers of some of the experimental and production test pilots involved in Lightning development. A section on Lightning radar tactics and training, the work of two very experienced former Lightning pilots, is followed by a massively comprehensive account of the work of the Lightning Force and its supporting engineering establishments. Finally, a sixty-page section detailing the individual history of each F.3, T.5 and F.6 is followed by several useful appendices.



EE Lightning F.6 XR727 'BH' of 11 Sqn taxiing off the flight line at RAF Binbrook May 1988.




EE Lightning F52 '610' of the Royal Saudi AIR Force undergoing an engine change in the hangar at Riyadh 1967

Pilot group at RAF Akrotiri 2.9.71 during the Squadron's return trip to England via RAF Tengah (where the Lightning a/c were left with 56 Sqn). The five men are Air Marshal Hodgkinson AOC-in-C NEAF, Paul Adams 74 Sqn, Dennis Caldwell OC 74 Sqn, Air Cdr Stacey OC Akrotiri and Brian Farrer OC 56 Sqn.





A&AEE Boscombe Down test pilot George Cannon at RAF Khormaksar in 1961 during tropical trials for the English Electric Lightning. George is chatting to groundcrew by Development Batch Lightning XG311. Note that this shot is slightly against the sun so is a little dark but it is a very interesting historical record.





Below ; 13 Sqn pilots RSAF and BAe support staff at Dhahran Air Base.

comment via Phil Gallagher .. " ..technically the four in flying kit in the group were not 13 Sqdn but from the Lightning squadron based at Khamis Mushayt which had just transferred permanently to Dhahran. Not too certain Johnny Johnson BAC base manager and Jimmy Hamer BAC maintenance manager would be too happy at being 'support staff'. Shot was taken about 1977/78 - by me to mark the arrival of the Khamis squadron..."




5 Sqn group at RAF Binbrook circa 1968.





Dennis Caldwell, OC 74 Sqn, exchanging mementos with C-in-C Thai AF at Bangkok International Airport in 1970. Lightning F.6 XR725 can be seen in the background.





EE Lightning XP701 'BN' 11 Sqn overflying RAF Binbrook after losing its braking parachute during its aborted landing run - the parachute cable can be seen streaming behind the a/c.


Tony Craig and Cliff Robinson of 23 Sqn after arriving at Toronto for the Canadian Int Air Show in 1968. The image is a little dark but the two pilots are quite recognisable



92 Sqn pilot group with GAF aircrew during Sqn exchange August 1968.


EE Lightning T.4 of 56 Sqn showing a 'zap' that it received during a detachment circa 1964.

EE Lightning F.6 of 11 Sqn showing a 'zap' that it received during a detachment to RAF Tengah, home of 74 (Tiger) Sqn, during Feb 1969.











F3s from 111 Sq (bottom), XP739 and 56 Squadron, XP746 and F2's from 19 Squadron, XN779 and 92 Squadron's Lightning F2 XN783 (top)


EE Lightning T.5 XS422 at Boscombe Down. Superb official A&AEE photo.





EE/BAC Lightning F.6 XS919 on display at Torpoint Slipping Co Devenport