XS458 T5 Mk. 5 Lightning preservation
Some snippets of my time looking after XS458, English Electric Lightning aircraft at Cranfield.
Some of our work and the people who made it happen
21/04/1998
Start up and taxi run
Bob and Tony crew the start up, ready for a fast taxi run.
24/11/1997
24/11/1997
Taxiing
Looking at the dates of these fuzzy images (recovered from some old floppy disks I found), these were the days we would be running or taxiing several weekends in a row between maintenance tasks.
02/12/1997
Radar
Bob explores the AI23D Radar system (ARI 5897/8).
06/02/1998
Reheat and repaint
The gloss dark sea grey was a really nice paint scheme.
01/1999
Reheat trials
XS458 being towed into running position, various panels open to allow inspection during engine running and reheat trials.
20/09/2003
Brake parachute pack installation
Back when I had hair... Andrew and I install a brake parachute, it's a two-person job, one to shove with their shoulder, the other to fasten the 1/4 turn Dzus fasteners.
09/2003
Brake parachute cables clip into a slot in the rear of the fuselage round the jet-pipes, up to the release shackle at the top.
09/2003
50th anniversary of the P1's first flight
Two people sadly no longer with us, Brian Carroll, and Jimmy Dell. Brian was our regular pilot in this era, a lovely gentleman and a pleasure to spend time with. Jimmy Dell (Lightning test pilot) was invited along for the special day. This was the last high speed taxi run by Brian in the UK, and Jimmy Dell's last taxi run in a Lightning. Brian went on to fly a Lightning at Thunder City before he passed away.
08/07/2004
Ventral tank repairs
John, Rod and Colin, all very sadly no longer with us, plus Andrew all very busy removing over a thousand 2BA bolts from the ventral tank access hatches. This effort was all to just renew an small 2-way electrical connector for the float switch, all because one of its pins had corroded through and broke off.
23/10/2004
13/11/2004
Cockpit
A view of the T Mk. 5 cockpit, taken from above the ejection seats, camera pushed up to the canopy.
20/11/2004
Isopropyl Nitrate (IPN) / "AVPIN" Replenishment
AVPIN is the services name for IPN, the rocket fuel used to start the engines. XS458 is now converted to electric start as IPN became increasingly hard to acquire, and very expensive, in the end costing around £100 to start each engine making taxi-runs and engine testing prohibitively expensive. The only way to operate the aircraft was to convert the starters, this project began in 2011. Andrew tops up the tank for one of the last times.
20/11/2004
Chocks away
Russell and Rod poised to pull the chocks for a taxi-run. Ventral tank not fitted due to ongoing repair work.
11/12/2004
The Houchin 25 kVA GPU (ground power unit) in the foreground provided good shelter from the exhaust when the aircraft would turn the corner.
11/12/2004
The contrast between the professional modern flying schools at Cranfield, and a group of excellent volunteers operating a vintage fighter jet.
11/12/2004
Andrew returns from a high speed taxi run with Dennis Brooks. Experiences you never forget...
11/12/2004
Regular maintenance days
Andrew busy re-packing a brake parachute. This is quite an art that takes training and experience to master.
09/09/2006
After lunch at "Cafe Pacific" we head back to the aircraft, Colin, John, and Andrew.
09/09/2006
John polishing the air intake lip.
09/09/2006
Aircraft and ground equipment.
09/09/2006
Run day
I run the Houchin GPU for a start-up and high speed run.
22/02/2006
We sometimes had friends visit, here Mark brought Vampire WZ507 "74" for the day.
22/02/2006
Parachute deployed (from a few images above) on a high speed taxi run.
22/02/2006
Repaint
The massive task of respraying the aircraft starts with surface preparation and masking-off. Not having the luxury of a hangar, this relies on a day of low-wind speed, and few insects in the air.
03/06/2006
Houchin 25 kVA GPU
Before a fast taxi run, I have a small audience connecting the Houchin GPU 28 V DC power cable, the 200 V AC 3 phase cable is already in place. The Lightning needs a ground power unit to provide the current required by the Plessy starter system, as the AVPIN (IPN) fuel pumps take a few hundred Amps.
21/05/2011
Flying helmet reflection
I tried to get a little bit artistic, and capture the reflection of '458 in the visor of a Mk. 3C (Mk. 2A conversion) flying helmet I'd restored. Don't really think it worked.
21/05/2011
Walk-around between fast taxi runs
A quick walk round the fuselage. In the reheat jet-pipe you can hear a combination of the metal cooling down, and the engine being "windmilled". This video also gives an idea of the number of people who would love to come and take part in the taxi run days.
21/05/2011
Firestreak missile removal
Andrew, Colin and Tim remove a Firestreak missile to make some space to work around No. 1 engine. You can tell by the weight of it that it's an empty shell!
03/09/2011
No.1 engine view
A glance along the bottom of No.1 engine.
03/09/2011
Exploring the air intake
Crawling round the air intake system of XS458 during the electric starter modification process, exploring the fronts of both Avon 20301 engines, back of the AI23D radar bullet and the shapes of the air intake.
17/09/2011