English Electric Lightning

Hi to all...The Mig-21 is a great jet its old but it still flys...the lightning is similar to the Mig-21 but it has two engines that makes im faster and superior....So i would like to see a pool of votes to see the wishes of the users....thanks:pilotfly:

Fast yes, superior......... no so much.

Hi to all...The Mig-21 is a great jet its old but it still flys...the lightning is similar to the Mig-21 but it has two engines that makes im faster and superior....So i would like to see a pool of votes to see the wishes of the users....thanks:pilotfly:

This thing is so ugly it doesn’t deserve the right to fly :D

This thing is so ugly it doesn’t deserve the right to fly :D

 

You're just jealous that we put two engines in our interceptor, and France only put one.

Limited to 2 missiles and limited Ground Attack with less air time than the Mig-21...

Obviously, with the landing gear taking all the place into the wings, you didn’t know where to put the fuel tank, so you gave her a fat belly :D

The SOP for belly landing is to eject...

You're just jealous that we put two engines in our interceptor, and France only put one.

Well those two engines makes it heavier, more expensive and reduces its endurance significantly.

So i dont see whe the French should be jealous about it.

Having more engines does not automatically mean better it just means its a less efficient design as it requires more thrust for comparable performance.

For example if we compare the Lightning and the Saab J35 Draken.

They both use the Avon engine.

They both do Mach 2.

they had comparable range

(slightly better If carrying Exteral Fuel tanks),comparable climb performance and armaments capacity

(and superior armaments load for those upgraded in the 1980s with two extra pylon

which gave it 6 weapons pylons with 4 able to carry External fuel tanks or missiles).

But the Lightning has two engines instead of 1 and weighs significantly more

(Empty the Lightning is almost twice the weight as the Draken).

In my eyes this makes it an ineffecient design rather then a better one and its a similar case with the mirage III as its engine is actually less powerful then the Avon but still capable of similar performance.

The Lightning was not a bad interceptor but if i had to pick between similar aircraft of that era (J35 Draken,Mirage III,F-104)

to serve as the main Fighter for an airforce the Lightning would be my last pick.

... The Lightning was not a bad interceptor but if i had to pick between similar aircraft of that era (J35 Draken,Mirage III,F-104)

to serve as the main Fighter for an airforce the Lightning would be my last pick.

I'd love to fly an F-104 on DCS: 60`s avionics, multirole, used by a lot of Countries, a natural oponent to the Mig-21 .... I'd purchase it on a heartbeat :)

Oh god no. Its ugly and next to useless. Its from an era where they threw 100 planes at a target and hoped 1 would actually hit it.

It's job was to get in the air and at altitude as fast as possible and shoot the missiles and land.

Not sure the early marks had a gun.

I'd love to fly an F-104 on DCS: 60`s avionics, multirole, used by a lot of Countries, a natural oponent to the Mig-21 .... I'd purchase it on a heartbeat :)

Oh yes, the Starfighter would be a really nice addition to DCS. :thumbup:

In the late 1940s the RAF wanted a short range high climbing interceptor and it was also originally designed at a time when they were not sure if they would be getting an engine with Reheat (Afterburner) - that is why it was designed to fly Supersonic without afterburner (supercruise)

Speed was the priority thus stacking the engines reduced the frontal area for a very low drag design - however the fact the configuration was never seen again (AFAIK) would suggest it was too much of a compromise.

The belly tanks on the early versions could be jettisoned (IIRC)

RE above - the only single seat Lightning that didn't have internal guns was the F.mk3 - however they could replace the missiles with an internal 30mm gun pack if required.

Ah yes the only aircraft to be so ugly that even the air wouldn't take it.

Should it be in DCS? Sure. I just don't know that it's marketable.

Sent from my Moto Z2 Play using Tapatalk

Oh yes, the Starfighter would be a really nice addition to DCS. :thumbup:

Must have. F-104 should come with a "bribary" DLC as a early-access bonus ;)

Some looked quite striking in polished aluminium alloy skin, though if some of the information about it is true, not sure I'd fly it in combat.

Fast yes, superior......... no so much.

can you prove that on DCS.

The Lightning certainly has some aerodynamic issues that make it a handful to fly, but to say that a Draken is comparable in performance (i.e. acceleration and climb) is not really a true statement. The Lightning could given an F-15 trouble in climb/acceleration. I don't ever remember seeing the Draken cited as being a world class climbing aircraft. I think of the Lighting as an F-104 with more power/weight and maneuverability, but less stability and a much less capable weapons/radar.

I would love to see the Draken (one of my all time favorite aircraft), the Lightning, and the F-104 in DCS World. To date, I have enjoyed all three aircraft in The SFP1/WoX/SF2 series games. But after a taste of the Viggen, I really want to see a DCS Draken. As a die-hard air-to-air virtual pilot, the Lightning and F-104 are extremely appealing, too. The problem is that DCS tends to pick one variant, usually the latest/best and will never get around to releasing other versions. Aircraft like the Lighting, F-104, and MiG-21 went through some radical revisions that really changes the way you fly/employ the aircraft in combat. The Lightning in particular was very hard to fly in its initial production form and was progressively improved. So it is nice to fly the different versions, especially the first and the last to contrast the refinement in flying qualities. The F-104A vs the F-104G wasn't as big a change, but still had some significant changes in stability and power-weight. The MiG-21F-13 is really quite a bit different from a MiG-21bis between increased weight, increased thrust, upgraded avionics/weapons, canopy changes, etc. I would love to fly every variant in between, too, especially the PF and PFMA.

Ugly?... are you crazy?

well maybe with the external fuel tanks but clean, I think its beautiful! :)

As a Brit, I can only say after the Spitfire our designs manage to throw up some of the ugliest flying machines ever. The Lightning isn't close to ugly in comparison to some.

Love to see it in DCS but this really was a proper old fashioned interceptor, a rocket, and I can't see the appeal of intercepting as a game, where much of it is a ground calculation for a narrow window and the weapons are probably less accurate than a modern Hydra.

Apparently it was interesting to fly.

are you forgetting the Hunter Pikey?... best looking aircraft ever built IMO. (single seater obviously... trainer is a complete eyesore!)

I can’t believe the criticism the lightning is getting here ???? We need to even this up, I think it looks astonishingly good, one of my all time faves no doubt, really good looking. I agree, over wing tanks are not very flattering but a clean versions with two missile looks great in any colour. Ok, got that out of my system. ????

I would love to see it in DCS but agree that without proper GCI it’s use would be pretty limited. However, same could be said of the Mig 21. I would fancy my chances against the Mig, 19, 21 or 23!

Overall I don’t expect I will ever see it, but I can dream.

I had to post this story of the "Frightening" here. Basically, a ground engineer was doing throttle checks and accidentally got it stuck in reheat and had no choice but to take off (with no jet experience)

Quite an amazing story.

http://www.historicracer.com/aviation/accidental-fighter-pilot/

I had to post this story of the "Frightening" here. Basically, a ground engineer was doing throttle checks and accidentally got it stuck in reheat and had no choice but to take off (with no jet experience)

Quite an amazing story.

 

http://www.historicracer.com/aviation/accidental-fighter-pilot/

Fascinating reading ... I didnt knew the story, so thanks a lot for pointing it out :)

I'm happy to have been a line mechanic for a year on all of the last four to fly in UK, including XP693.

Neat articles on the 'Frightning'.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/1960-english-electric-lightning-two-everests-in-three-minutes/

https://www.baesystems.com/en-uk/heritage/english-electric-lightning

For me they are a thing of beauty and hold a special place as my dad worked on them too. I would love to see one in DCS.