Iggy Lightning Rod
Working with 'Iggy' Ignatowski on 202Sqn in the early sixties as a Cpl rigger I can verify that lightning strikes were an almost daily occurance on the Met recon 'Bismuth' flights over the big pond - the siggies had to have spare trailing aerials as they were usually chopped off by the strikes. As each aircraft had to be degaussed and have a full compass swing before it's next mission, and the nearest 'magnetically pure' airfield was Lindholm in Yorkshire, that created quite some action - we only ever had five or six aircraft so you can figure there were usually one or two needing the treatment. Generally airframe damage was limited to some pepperpot holes in the nose and a number of static wicks burnt off the elevators and ailerons but only once did I hear an aircrew complain about a loud bang and smell of 'burning' or ionised air after the strike so the risk was acceptable with no injuries or lost aircraft reported.