MORE bloody pics!

[Martin H]

The one in Project Cancelled is based on a T55 with VG wings, whereas Davey's example is taken from the Tony Buttler fighters book and is the final developed version.  It looks chubby as the whole of the lower fuselage is a fuel tank - the F6/T55 tank extended fore and aft.

My own view is that the aircraft wouldn't have lasted very long in naval service had it been adopted - that u/c wouldn't take too kindly to carrier landings.

Incidentally, the brochure for the Sea Lightning survives and copies can be obtained from North West Heritage.

I take it u mean this version Lee?

I agree with you ref how long it would last as a navy fighter. Some how i doubt it would have got past the flight test stage if it had been built.

And yep the brochure is a good read. Got one many years after building the model

[Davey B]

Well, if I ever get around to doing this, it'd be the RB.153 version, rather than the Spey version I posted -- imagine the front end of the gif grafted onto Martin's bird  

I'm thinking of trying a radome from the 1/48 conversion kit (F.3 into T.5) to see if it'd fit onto the front of the T.55 I've got squirreled away. And for the intakes... MiG-23? Phantom intakes just look bloody stupid on a Lightning  

Tophe, I must admit, I didn't really draw it from scratch.  I tried scanning the picture from BSP, but it came out in a wierd array of colours. Tried to save it in monochrome, half of it disappeared

I patched the rest up as best as I could, hence the lack of symmetry.  BTW, your modification is brilliantly funky! In my back story, the Aeronavale would trial the Sea Lightning, but decide that thay'll keep the F-8 on until the arrival of the mirage F-1M in the early 1980s  

[Tophe]

the Aeronavale would trial the Sea Lightning, but decide that thay'll keep the F-8 on until the arrival of the mirage F-1M in the early 1980s

Never heard of this naval F-1M...  Thanks for the information  

[Davey B]

That's coz I just made it up!  

It'd be a standard F-1 in appearence, albeit with wing fold and single wheel main gears (like the Jaguar M). But internally, an M.53 engine and Mirage 2000 avionics suite. I went with the F.1 idea, because the wing would be easier to fold    

[Tophe]

That's coz I just made it up! It'd be a standard F-1 in appearence, albeit with wing fold and single wheel main gears (like the Jaguar M). But internally, an M.53 engine and Mirage 2000 avionics suite. I went with the F.1 idea, because the wing would be easier to fold

Nice scenario... and maybe a nice model to come...  

[Tophe]

The best BAC-Lightnings, for me, were twins... (what-if)
Here is a picture    posted by MartinH on the MSN site in 2001, and I have included the vertical-twin    drawn in Japan.    (twin-smile)

[elmayerle]

That's coz I just made it up!  

It'd be a standard F-1 in appearence, albeit with wing fold and single wheel main gears (like the Jaguar M). But internally, an M.53 engine and Mirage 2000 avionics suite. I went with the F.1 idea, because the wing would be easier to fold  

Sounds basically like a navalized Mirage F.1E (F-16 competitor for "Sale of the Century") with an avionics upgrade.  See if you can find a good 3-view of the F.1E to show the M53 installation (as I remember, it did require some fuselage changes).