English Electric Lightning F6, G-FSIX / 95116, Classic Jet Aircraft Company
This picture is © Martin Laycock and may not be used or published without permission.
Registration: G-FSIX
Construction Number: 95116
Code Number: XP693
Model English Electric Lightning F6
Operator: Classic Jet Aircraft Company
Airport: Exeter (EXT / EGTE), UK - England
Photographer: Martin Laycock
Date Taken: 1993
Date Submitted: 20/12/2008
Photographed being towed to the main apron at Exeter Airport prior to a high speed taxy test sometime in the early 1990s (possibly early 1993). This Lightning first flew on 16 June 1962 as an F3 but was retained by BAC for development work and was later upgraded to F3A then F6 standard. She spent her career as a trials aircraft with BAC then later BAe based at Warton and was used in the development of both the Tornado and the Eurofighter. On retirement she was delivered to the Classic Jet Aircraft Company at Exeter on 22 December 1992. I vividly remember standing in the middle of the aerodrome, alongside the runway, in the freezing cold with a couple of colleagues watching this Lightning blast into the circuit in formation with another F6 XR773. Unfortunately, operating these aircraft in the UK was not to be and they were later transported to South Africa. Happily she was returned to the air over Cape Town and is now a regular airshow performer operated by Thunder City as ZU-BEY.
Picture ID:1147407