Lightning XR770 Waddington

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 10,168

Looks like they are making steady progress on the old girl.....
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs018.snc1/4232_80875028771_707603771_1788085_2692600_n.jpg

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Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 409

Good to see 5 Sqn are getting the old girl ready for the LPG's stall at waddington airshow!! How complete is she? Obviously still got the Radar installed, is the cockpit complete? Have they got donks for her? 320psi?

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 92

I remember that Lightning so so well from lots of visits to 5 Sqn at Binbrook when I were a s****y! Good to see her receiving TLC.

I'd now like to see 8 Sqn source a Shack as their garden ornament....

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 10,168

Here are a couple of pictures of the refurb on XR770. Thanks Dean for allowing them to be used!:)

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Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

Reply to conversation between 320 psi and peter.

Looks like they are making steady progress on the old girl.....
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs018.snc1/4232_80875028771_707603771_1788085_2692600_n.jpg

Yeh, they are 'tarting' her up, not just for us though :rolleyes:

We will hopefully have our newly bought stall pitched next to her for the Waddo weekend ;)

Theres very little in her, no 'donk's, jet pipes, cockpit stripped, no radar,wiring looms sawn though, nothing really, just and empty corroided shell

She was however spilt properly when she left Binbrook, in her 728 JS guise back in 1988, for Grimsby council, they doing nothing with her, so she ended up being sort of put back together at Gainthorpe and repainted back to her red finned AA livery, where she sat in that field untill moved to waddo and bolted back together

But she will make an exellent static show piece and hopefully will look like this again

Photo from Terry Senior collection, thanks Terry ;)

See you at Waddo ;)

Cheers

I am writing as the owner of XR770 and to dispell any misinformation or rumour that seems to be floating around the forum.:mad:
Myself and my husband Dave Blissett have loaned XR770 to 5 Sqn for the next ten years (subject to change). The Squadron are not, due to circumstances, work commitments and lack of Lightning knowledge, able to refurbish her fully themselves. My husband and I and our friend Steve who is an aircraft painter are putting in the hard work and occasionally a pilot from 5 sqn helps us when he can take time from a very busy flying programme. The LPG have absolutely nothing to do with our aeroplane and she is certainly not being "tarted up" for their benefit. Over the past eight years that we have had the aircraft we have had no contact from the LPG and certainly no offers of help and so we find it incredible that there should be any talk of her being "tarted up" for their benefit which is of course as I said before, completely not true. She is going to be unveiled on airshow weekend all being well and will this year and subsequant years be used soley for display by us and the Squadron and most certainly not any other groups.
Also the correct information about our old gal is that she has a full radar, fully intact and instrumented cockpit and is in no way rotten or corroded.
In future I would suggest that people gain the correct facts before commenting on issues surrounding our aircraft. We would be happy to answer any questions and to show people around the aircraft on airshow weekend or any other time by prior arrangement. After all most people know us or how to contact us but funnily enough no one from the LPG has.
See you all on airshow weekend!

Member for

16 years 10 months

Posts: 3,214

thanks for that :) certainly clears a few things up for us.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 8,464

Welcome to the forum.

I dont believe the LPG were claiming any involvement or interest from a brief read of the post - just offering information that they believed to be true. There is an element of tongue in cheek here, which you wont pick up unless you are a regular reader/poster.

Many thanks for joining the forum - perhaps you would be so kind as to keep us updated with progress. You will find many knowledgeable people on here who will be delighted to offer help, advice and even parts!

Bruce

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 894

Lightninglady - I thought that 770 was owned by the people of Grimsby? Are you the actual owner of the aircraft, did you just house her for a number of years? I mean nothing bad by that... It's just a question?

I'm not sure what the relevance to your LPG comments are? Why would they want to be in contact with you? Again, I dont mean that disrespectfully, but you almost sound 'angry' with them (and with the 'mad' smiley face I suspect you are!). She may have a full cockpit, but she certainly looks pretty empty when you look at her from the back end when I saw her a few weeks ago, and I struggle to believe that she has no corrosion... If indeed she is corrosion free, then perhaps you can share your wisdom with us all as to how you kept her from corrosion whilst still keeping her outside without cover?

Anyway, nice to see her with 5Sqn once more... I'm sure they will take good care of her!

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

Hi
Firstly my husband and I were given XR770 last year as we had housed her for sometime as you know. We on numerous occasions contacted the council re "tarting her up" ourselves but unfortunately our hands were tied without the go ahead from the council, this is why she was left in the field and not worked on very much by ourselves. We called on the council last year to make a decision on the future of her as we were intending to move and they said that as they had neither the time, money or inclination to do anything with her that we could take on ownership of her and move her along with our twin seat Lightning and our newly purchased Tornado GR1. So the paperwork was done and she was oficially handed over to us. It was shortly before we moved that we had a call from 5 Sqn to see whether we would consider loaning them an aircraft and so with great deliberation we decided that it would be a great move for her. Unfortunately things have not gone too easily as the Squadron have given very little support to the Flt Lt who has been trying to get her sanded and sprayed so we have had to do most of the work, which we don't really mind as we have a lot of knowledge between us as we are both ex Binbrook and my hubby worked on them for years.We also have two great teenage kids who are not afraid of hard work (thank you Victoria and Luke) Also being ex Supply I have sourced many parts over the years, in fact we have 2 x 40ft containers full from floor to cieling!! We have in fact supplied various parts to other Lightning groups in the past and my husband has moved three or four Lightnings for people including 11 Squadrons' aircraft from RAF Leeming to here at RAF Coningsby.
In answer to the question of corrosion no she is not bad at all and to see her all sanded down and nearly ready for painting is great. We also covered her in px24 every winter!
Hope that answers some questions and please feel free to come and see her and have a chat during airshow weekend. :)

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 521

I am sorry for anything Ive said, there was no harm meant at all.

I shall delete all my previous posts, and keep away from the subject of Lightnings, even after 21 years in the 'game', :)
Sorry

We have been invited by 5 Sqd to pitch our stall next to her however

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

No problem really, we just try to keep ourselves to ourselves as you must know how funny some of these aircraft groups can be. We know because we have been part of a couple and we haven't liked the way they all treat each other. We are always willing to help or take advice from others but unfortunately most people run a mile if you ask for genuine help!

Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 894

We have been invited by 5 Sqd to pitch our stall next to her however

I'll bring the beer!

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

Its ok, I think Danny Mellor has moved the RNLI closer to us and moved you further away so as not to detract from our fund raising efforts:)

Member for

15 years 3 months

Posts: 125

just a quick question for Lightninglady what happened to your Draken?

Member for

18 years 2 months

Posts: 409

Lightninglady.

I apologise for my earlier comment about 770 being tarted up just for the LPG, trust me when I say that this was meant as a joke!

I only asked 320 psi's advice about how complete she is as he's been in the lightning game for a long while and generally knows the status of most lightning survivors.

I'm all for her getting some attentions and look forward to seeing the results. Best of luck with your project!

Profile picture for user Phantom Phil

Member for

16 years 4 months

Posts: 1,067

Is there any idea if 770 will be ready for the RAF Waddington Airshow?

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

Hi
Well firstly the Dracken was given to a guy from Manchester, we had to give her away as we did not own her. She was part of our collection but was owned privately by a group of people, they never contributed to her maintenance or helped look after her and certainly one of the fellows was a bit of a crook so we asked them to move her and the Starfighter as we were moving. They never moved her so we gave her away, simple as that! The crooked fellow sold the Starfighter and kept most of the proceeds for himself and left most of the other members of the group with very little. This is why Dave and I tend not to involve anyone but ourselves with our aircraft, at least we know where we are then: 0 )
Secondly we hope very much that XR770 will be ready for Airshow weekend, we are working till gone ten at night on her to prepare her for the respray! Keep your fingers crossed for us! She has to be ready as we are having the official hand over ceremony on the saturday and our friend Group Captain Andy Williams will be with us to sign prints and chat to folk!!!;)

Profile picture for user Phantom Phil

Member for

16 years 4 months

Posts: 1,067

Great stuff! I noticed that the canopy is a little cloudy from years of standing out in the British outdoors. Will this be getting replaced or just a polish up?

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

Hi
Yes it is rather cloudy and to be honest as much as we could polish it I don't think it would make very much difference at all. We do have a replacement but doubt we will be replacing it before the airshow unfortunately. Have you seen her recently then? If so you must be a Waddoite! Feel free to come over and chat to us anytime. We will be there most nights up until the Airshow : )

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 13

Lightning Lady,

I can see your point about lack of support from the Squadron, but a lot is happening 'behind the scenes'. Some hard work by the resident Royal Engineer and a team of overdressed volunteers (flying suits and shovels don't mix) mean the plinth for the aircraft is finished and drying ready for the big move.
Plans for raising funds are coming along nicely - just need to mug the Corgi bloke:)

Just wondering how you are planning do get her across the airfield when the time comes? - the tyres looked pretty flat and knackered last time I was over there. Do you guys have spares or is it just a case of pumping them up?
I was also wondering how several tons of Lighting is going to move over the grass to the plinth:eek: Big ropes and lots of blokes?:D

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 23

Hi
Yes we are very aware of what is going on behind the scenes but a little forethought from the powers that be may have proved that the project was a little too big for them at this time especially with one guy on the Sqn co-ordinating everything and also helping us at every spare moment,including tonight, instead of us all going to the dining out, he and us were sanding!
Anyway yes we will blow the tyres up although apparently even the Sqn walk round kit is u/s! We will then use psp to position her.:) Yes we do have spares but if the Sqn can't manage to blow a tyre up there's not much chance of them taking a wheel off for a tyre to be changed!!:D