the Lightning had a very good autopilot
When Binbrook was running down a few plumber mates and I (I was avionics or flight systems as it was then) blagged a ride in the sim. The boys flew it with varying degrees of success and then it was my turn. They were all amazed at the accuracy with which I flew it and of course I basked in their accolades, although I did forget to mention purely accidentally that I flew almost the whole sortie with the autopilot in...
Edit: I do remember the sim techs didn't like you slamming the throttles open, did something nasty to their magic boxes apparently.