I recall having lunch at Ferranti’s facility in Nottingham back in the 80s with a guy who worked as a technician on Saudi Lightnings and his tales of Saudi operations were far from complimentary. My foggy memory recalls some dit about 2 Lightnings dispatched to escort a VIP aircraft back to base, apparently they got lost in a sandstorm and ran out of fuel and crashed, the (British) line crew fell about laughing on hearing the news - no idea as to the truth of it. Ferranti did a nice lunch though - I can at least attest to that.