English Electric Lightning

Pictures available soon.

Kit

Kit Manufacturer

Scale

Price

Options

Out of Box (OOB) or Modified

Rating (1-10 10=best)

BAe Lightning 1/1a/2/3

Airfix

1:48

$28

Four variants with appropriate tail, missile, markings, details

Not yet built

The Lightning - not the WWII American fighter, which you'll also find in these pages, but the British interceptor - almost didn't come into being. Developed as a fast jet interceptor, the only reason it reached production was because "it was too far along in development to be cancelled" after an infamous White Paper was circulated in the British government, stating that manned aircraft were obsolete and would be replaced by missiles. Many other aircraft (that held a great deal of promise) fell vi ctim to this way of thinking, which held sway for many years and almost prevented the creation of the Harrier "jump jet."

The Lightning was the first English production jet to break the sound barrier in level flight. It also had incredible climbing performance. Its biggest weakness was in range.

The Airfix kit is quite versatile. It's one of two kits - this one allows you to build any variant up to and including the Lightning Mk.3, with the various detail bits, cannon arrangements, and even seperate parts for the two vertical tail style s. It has decals for five squadrons on an extensive decal sheet, and details rather clearly which parts go with which variant. The later variants with the "cranked" wing are handled by another Airfix kit.

More as this (somewhat large) model gets built.