Great thread. The Lightning was the RAF aircraft to me. Summed up a time and an attitude now long gone. I nearly said sadly but I suppose if you weren't around in those days then you won't know.
A friend of mine flew the jet in all it's incarnations and I once asked him which was his favourite mark to fly from a pilot's point of view. Without hesitation he said the Mk 1A which in his opinion was the finest handling of the lot. I rather thought he would have said F3 but there you go.