BOAC, I was told a story in the dim, distant past that the original concept for Lightning operation proposed by English Electric was along the lines of "operational use and currency flying only" with Hunters being used for day-to-day work. Hence the original design life of only 1,000 flying hours (this of course was subsequently extended many times over the aircraft's career). Thankfully the RAF did not sign up to this method of operation!
lightningmate, you are right about the engineering effort required to keep the beasts flying. After every jet pipe/inter pipe/engine removal full reheat runs were required. Despite the high workload the Lightning generated great affection amongst the groundcrews (and obviously amongst the pilots). After all, it was British and there wasn't a navigator in sight! And before anyone asks the question, the best variant by far was the FMk2A.
