Lightning Decoys in Germany

[Neil Porter]

Went to RAF Bruggen in 1989 for a weeks stay & one of the places i visited was a ammo dump near Bruggen i think - & distinctly remember some ex Germany based Lightnings (F2A's & T4) dotted around & also a T4 "in the trees" near one of the then Tornado Sqn HAS complexes at Laarbruch - anyone got any pics of those or know what happened to them????

[Dark Helmet]

Neil,

There were lots of Lightnings dotted around all the RAFG stations. They were used for all sorts of things ranging from BDR (Battle Damage Repair) to towing practice.

I carried out lots of BDR repairs on them during exercises . It was so sad to watch the DISTAFF walk up to them with a big axe and chop a hole for us to repair.

I have no idea what happened to them; probably just sold for scrap.

[FL575]

I remember these Lightnings well. They spent most of their lives at Laarbruch being moved around during exercises. I seem to remember that there was a chap actually posted to the station to be i/c them.

There was a story that shortly after they had been retired from flying duties, it was realised that the engineer concerned had used the wrong calculations in their fatigue life, and that they could have flown for a couple more years or so. The engineers immediately came to Laarbruch to inspect the Lightnings, but by now the birds had sat on the fins for some considerable time, with the inevitable, corrosive, results. That was the story I heard.

[BEagle]

Wasn't JF's near terminal plunge into the North Sea at night in the late 70s, followed by an almighty pull, overstress, black out and then waking up in a gentle climb above the oggin with the IAS falling back through 200 knots partly responsible for the Boffins getting out their slide rules again as his aircraft was nothing like as damaged as it should have been after such an overstress?

His tale of coming out of the radar visor to see nothing but black on the AI with the nadir star right in the middle, IAS almost off the strip and altimeter spinning frantically anticlockwise was quite terrifying.

But the Lightning world learned just how tough the old bird really was!

[Shorty Final]

yes FL575 that is more or less the story. Only of course it was not one single alone angineer but a team of them. Shows that even clever chaps can get blinded by their numbers.
Sadly missed the Lightnings. :(

[soddim]

It would appear that as part of the current defence cuts we are to throw away even more airframes prior to the end of their effective lives.

At least we replaced the Lightnings with a more effective weapons system.

[Neil Porter]

Read an article from Ian Black about Lightning flying at the end of their lives. Interesting stuff, one piece was about when 11Sqn sent a couple of Lightning F6's to Wildenrath in 87(?), they "robbed" bits of an F2A decoy (which had sat there for 10+ years) which then made this certain Lightning F6 serviceable again - amazing stuff & his book "Last of the Lightnings" in the New Edition format is a fantastic read..

Has anyone seen the ex RAFG F2A at Balderton, Nottinghamshire recently - i will try to upload a pic of it from about a year ago but it is a real pile of sh1t now...graffited all over, alot of parts missing etc & the owner didn't want anyone to touch it (Hmmmmm too late mate!!).

[Ali Barber]

I was one of a pair of lightnings that went to Gutersloh in the early-mid 80s and developed a leak from the ventral leak (well, leaking more than usual!). Put a station tannoy out for any ex-Lightning rigger and the very helpful chap robbed the valve from one of the decoys. After a bit of buffing with emery paper it came up good as new!
Also heard of someone who had part of the brake pipe from the Wattisham gate guard.
Don't mention it to SEngO!!!

[teeteringhead]

You might find more info here. (http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/contents.html) A top site for all sorts of fast and pointed stuff. (OK, I know the Lightning wasn't very pointed .... but it was very fast)

[Dengue_Dude]

Yes I remember the Frightenings at Gutersloh, they then got disbanded and a few of the 'wrecks' were left there when the Harriers arrived.

I seem to remember too, an edict from the CO stating the the phrase 'Come back Lightnings all is forgiven' was not to be used as it had a negative effect on the Harrier jocks. There were even stickers in the urinals saying it - fabulous!!

Shame, little bit like the edict in the South Atlantic not being able to say 'Benny's' which got changed to 'Stills'.

I SO miss service humour, it was so gentle, sensitive and caring . . .

keep it up chaps

[teeteringhead]

But the bestest time at Gut had to be mid changeover from Frightening to Hairier.

One Lightning sqn, one Harrier sqn, one Wessex sqn and a Rockape sqn (and some blunties too I s'pose).

Bar banter and Happy Hours were awesome....

[Proletarian]

I was also at Gutersloh during the Lightning / Harrier transition and they really were halcyon days. I was single and living in the Officers' Mess in those days and joined forces with the 18 and 63 Sqns blokes to bait and generally irritate the new arrivals. However, much of the animosity was generated by the new, rather upper crust, Stn Cdr would would barely speak to anyone other than his 'bona mates'. I though it was strangley appropriate when his young daughter was later discovered 'flagrante delicto' with a young Rock Ape Gunner up against the back of the Malcolm Club one night.

I lay claim to the stickers which started with 'Bring back the Lightnings - we never realised just how sharp they were - until now' moved on to 'Eat a Harrier pilot - after all 6 million flies can't be all that wrong' and ended with 'Be a Harrier pilot, drink the nectar of the gods and help send Fred Mulley to sleep'. I still have some in a drawer somewhere.

Happy Hours were the place where your true allegiance was tested, as there was an invisible dividing line across the bar floor - Harrier mates and clingons or one side, with the rest of the station on the other side.

Probably the best Happy Hour was when 18 Sqn built a huge bird cage out of bodge tape across the Harrier Force side of the bar, complete with dangly mirrors and cuttlefish. When the 'bona mates' were assembled in the cage, they were bombarded with bird seed and other less pleasant detritus, but for some reason they didn't appear very amused.

Happy days and I even have a photo of the dead Lightnings F2As somewhere.

The KOS lives!

[BEagle]

The local Boxhead mayor at Wildenrath got to hear that the Bona Jets and their egos were off to Gut, and that they were being replaced by F4s. Now, the GR3 was scarcely a quiet a/c, but the F4 was very much louder. Boxhead mayor thought he would drum up local support against the deployment of F4s, so wrote a few letters. Including, allegedly, one to his oppo on the Cloggie side of the border.....

Apparently he got a letter back saying something like "Yes, we know that the noise of the F4 is louder than the noise of the Harrier. However, we prefer either to the noise of the Stuka......"

Which stopped his little protest rather...