Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - A proper Lightning

The British Lightning once outran the F-14 and F-15 to catch a Concorde? 🧐 This isn't a fairytale, it happened in April 1985 during a NATO exercise. British Airways offered up their supersonic flagship as the ultimate high-altitude rabbit, challenging NATO’s best of the best to a stern-chase intercept at Mach 2.2 at 57,000 ft. While the "Teen Series" superstars struggled to close the gap in the thin, freezing air of the stratosphere, the "old man" of the group - the EE Lightning - was the only one with the raw lungs to overhaul the Concorde and claim the "kill."

Probably put the air brakes away though for that.

You have the only (sort of) T4 Lightning left in the UK at Boscombe Down. A shame it's the wrong side of the security barrier as most cannot view it now. There are still several T5 two seat Lightnings displayed around the world, including XS417 at Newark Aviation museum, that I have a connection with. There is a really good Lightning book published recently, "Lightning from inception to preservation" ISBN 978-1-78155-950-5, well worth a look if these sort of aircraft are your thing, particularly page 140 😊. It was a great aircraft but not so great to work on, I still have the scars!