ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING - PICTURES

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ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING

PICTURES - COCKPIT

ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING
PICTURES - COCKPIT

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This page last updated on 29th February 2004

[Survivors 1] [Survivors 2] [Survivors 3] [Survivors 4] [Survivors 5] [Survivors 6] [Survivors 7] [Survivors 8] [Survivors 9]
[Gallery 1] [Gallery 2] [Gallery 3] [Gallery 4] [Gallery 5] [Cockpit] [Fuselage] [Wings] [Undercarriage] [Weapons]

F.1 (DEVELOPMENT BATCH)

Some rare shots of XG337 at Cosford. My thanks to the two volunteers who let me climb onto a platform by the side of the aircraft at 1998's airshow!

General view of the instrument panel.
Panning right...
...holding the camera as far away as I can and blindly pointing it at the port console! Throttles visible at top right.
...and the seat and canopy. Note that the early marks had black interiors, not grey, though it looks fairly grey from wear and tear! The red thing is a canopy lock.

F.2A & F.3

The cockpit access ladder; note the cranked layout to clear the missile.
F.2A XN776's ejector seat at East Fortune.
Port console (throttle etc.).
Instrument panel.
Starboard console.
A view of the ejector seat and raised canopy.

Those shots were kindly supplied by Euan Withersby and 611 Squadon ATC, and are of an unidentified Lightning F.3 cockpit held by the Squadron. These images are copyright © 1997 Euan Withersby; personal use is unrestricted but if you want to use them commercially you must contact Euan (removing the .no.junk.mail text from the address first!) for his permission.

T.5

These shots are of T.5 XV328, a cockpit section owned by Phoenix Aviation at Bruntingthorpe. First shot looking into the cockpit from the port side, and you can clearly see the throttles for the right-hand pilot are on the right-hand console, very unusual. All T.5s had the throttles positioned like this, whereas the T.4 had them always mounted to the left of the pilot.
Now sitting in the right-hand seat and looking to the left, unfortunately the bright sunlight fooled my camera's exposure meter for this shot so it's rather dark.
Now standing up and looking back at the seat tops...
...and out of the cockpit and a similar shot to the first one, but a lower viewpoint. The odd looking things on the top edges of the coaming are the radar boots, fold-up hoods for the radar screens.

F.6

F.6 XR728 at Bruntingthorpe. Where else can you go and sit in the cockpit of a real live Lightning?
XR728 again.

F.53

Now F.53 ZF586 at Marine Salvage near Portsmouth; the wooden stick across the top of the seat was just there to hold the canopy open, as it weighs a fair bit (needing two people to open it manually!).
ZF586 again, turning to the front...
...and a nice view of the pilot's console. A little bit out of focus but still useful...
...and a similar shot, further back and getting the windscreen framing in too.

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