Lakes Lightnings
Neil Airey and Heather Graham - Lakes Lightnings have over the years owned several Lightning airframes be them complete examples or the more manageable cockpit sections.
Below are the details of all those they have owned and where they are now as of 23rd September 2008
This information has been kindly sent direct to Macks Aviation by Neil so should be some of the most accurate currently around for these airframes and cockpits
XM144 F.Mk1A |
is one of 'Lakes Lightnings' and now resides up in Cumbria. The full nose section is only an empty shell with not much in the cockpit however, Lakes Lightnings have plans to reinstall an ejector seat and as many instruments/panels as can be found. | |
XS922 F.Mk6 |
was the first of 'Lakes Lightnings' aircraft and is fairly well complete inside the cockpit. It is under external renovation and will be appearing at Cockpitfest 2008. Although XS922 has been cut down horizontally through the roundel, this makes it easily transportable and is a regular attendee at Country event up in the Lakes and North Lancs. | |
XS932 F.Mk6 |
was the second acquisition of 'Lakes Lightnings' and is a complete nose section from the transportation joint. It was moved out of FAST Farnborough en route the Lake District via Darwen, Lancs. She remained there for some while in storage, however, plans change and she was recently sold to 'Retro Aviation' as part of a Hawker Hunter deal. She is now owned by Richard Scarborough of Walcott, Lincolnshire. | |
XM173 F.Mk1A |
is now owned by 'MSS Holdings Ltd' and was road moved from RAF Bentley Priory to Kirkham, Lancs where she is undergoing a restoration project before going back in the public eye on site at Phils factory as a gate guard.. She is a complete airframe but regrettably, we had to cut the tail and wingtips off to facilitate the road move. They will be reattached professionally. | |
XM172 F.Mk1A |
is the flagship of 'Lakes Lightnings' and has resided in South Cumbria for the last 2 years. She was saved from the scrapman and moved from Booker Airfield to the Lakes. She is a complete airframe and is under slow time restoration. She is available to view by prior arrangement as indeed XM144 and XS922 are up in Cumbria. | |
XS897 F.Mk6 |
is the 6th and latest acquisition of 'Lakes Lightnings' and is now on long term loan to 29 Squadron, RAF Coningsby having been at AeroVenture, Doncaster. She is a complete airframe undergoing reassembly/restoration and repainting at Coningsby. She will be then used as the squadron gate guard. (awaiting new photos of her at her new home) | |
XS420 T.Mk5 |
is an immaculate T5 airframe on loan from 'Lakes Lightnings' to the Farnborough Air Science Trust (FAST). She was repainted in immaculate 226 OCU colours and is an excellent example of a T5. |
