F.53 ZF587 at Headcorn, 7th May 2004; author	T.55 55-410 at Ali Al Salem, 2001; Les Turner via Garry Lakin

The 18 ft long nose section of Lightning F53 ZF592 arrived at the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum at Headcorn Kent for display on Thursday 17th May 2001 on loan from its owner; my visit in May 2004 found it stored next to a hangar near the museum with no obvious work having been carried out and a few panels missing. It certainly doesn't appear to be on display at the Museum. Information current as of 07/05/2004.

The sad remains of 55-410... at least one Kuwait Lightning was destroyed by an F/A-18 attack during the Gulf War, and possibly this is it. Wings and tail have parted company (except for the port wing which is hanging on by a thread) and the fuselage is somewhat chewed up but otherwise she's remarkably intact, with many fittings still present - including the ejection seats! Sadly however not only did the USN bomb the poor old girl, but USAF crews have daubed graffitti all over the remains. They probably think it's a MiG.

T.55 ZF595 at Stennis, July 2001; Anglo American Lightning Organisation	T.55 ZF596 at Bruntingthorpe, 11th June 2000; author

Another Lightning nose once to be found at Bruntingthorpe was T.55 ZF595. One of the ex-RSAF Lightnings bought back by BAe, then bought by a collector, then bought by Marine Salvage, then bought by AALO and transported to Bruntingthorpe, but since transported to the USA. It is being used for spares by the Anglo American Lightning Organisation in their effort to get T.5 XS422 flying in the USA. The original plan of using ZF595's nose instead of XS422's one has been shelved after finding significant corrosion in ZF595's nose wheel bay.

Stored at Bruntingthorpe along with various wings, undercarriage legs and other bits and pieces is the fuselage of ZF596, to be used for spares in the Anglo American Lightning Organisation's restoration of a Lightning to fly in the US.

T.55 ZF596 at Warton, August 1998; Mark Ray

On display at a Warton Families Day, the nose of ZF596 was at the time a recent arrival from Marine Salvage and as such lacking a few panels but generally complete. I'm told that since then she's had some restoration work done so hopefully looks a bit less knackered.