English Electric Lightning F3 XP701

[David Harvey]

Hello there,

I am a member of the Robertsbridge Aviation Society where amongst many other items, we have the cockpit section of English Electric Lightning F3 XP701. I am building up a history of XP701 plus an on-line photo gallery. I would be pleased to hear from any former pilots, particularly J Webb and Bob Bees.

It would be good to hear from any former XP701 pilots who were with;

29 Squadron from September 1967 to September 1970 or May 1973 to October 1974
111 Squadron from September 1970 to February 1972
56 Squadron from March 1975 to March 1978
11 Squadron from March 1978 to May 1984
5 Squadron from May 1984 to February 1985

Thanks in anticipation.

David Harvey
Heathfield
East Sussex
[email protected]

[Audax]

I joined 29 in 1969, first flew 701 on the 25th Mar on my second radar convex sortie, S1Bs which were 180s using loose control. Flew 701 on many ocassions after that including a visit to RDAF Skrydstup for a NATO exchange on 28th Jul 70. I have a photo which shows the 4 Lightnings we took in formation with 5 RDAF Hunters and 1 RDAF F104. It's not posssible to read the serial numbers of the a/c, the picture being taken by an RF 84F which was barrelrolling around us but 701 must be in the picture as we only took 4 airframes. On a quick glance through my logbook, looks like my last trip in 701 was on Oct 1 70 acting as a high flying target at night---a whole 35 mins worth!