BAC Lightning PR7

[albeback]

Very nifty!

One of my forthcoming "what ifs" will be the Lightning F-7. I will be using the Airfix 1/48 Lightning F6. Modifications will include ;
Enlarged radome for the upgraded Ferranti Airpass AI radar
150 Gallon "slipper" type fuel tanks fixed to the upper wings ( jettisonable if needed).
4 X AIM 9D Sidewinder missiles carried on twin fuselage  mounts - like the F8 Crusader
2 X BAE Skyflash missiles on underwing launch rails & 2 x BAE SKyflash on wingtip launch rails
New canopy giving full 360 degree vision ( if I can modify one to fit!! )
Aircraft will retain its 2 30mm cannons

Not sure when I'll bet around to it but, I'll be sure to post pictures.

[deathjester]

Somewhere in the Central USSR.....

'It could be worse, I could be in Siberia!', Major Ivan Grishenko thought sourly.  He was flat out bored.  Beyond bored - it was so bad he'd begun smoking once more - 'Wait 'till the wife finds out about this' he muttered, lighting a new cigarette from the butt of the old one.  He didn't enjoy them in the slightest, it was something to do on cold, boring night watches.  His battery didn't even have the kudos of having shot down a Yankee spyplane, like one of the other SA-2 batteries in the division had, to make it all worthwhile.  Nothing ever happened on his night watches - it was such a load of sh....
    'Comrade Major' shouted Grishenko's senior NCO, 'You need to see this!'  The man was waving from the radar shack doorway, and he jogged over to see what all the fuss was about - he groaned inwardly - maybe they'd tracked a UFO again, that was sure to have the local KGB sniffing around!

When Grishenko got to the big radar screen, he first thought it was some sort of a malfunction - their 'target' was apparently cruising at 450 kts.....at
one hundred and four thousand feet!

'Have you checked.... for correct function...?'  He managed, adjusting the range controls.  The Corporal manning the display double checked his switches.
'Da, Comrade Major!  Everything is working correctly!'
'Then we've got one!', muttered Grishenko
Just then, the hotline from the command centre rang shrilly.

'Alright men, prepare to lock on, ready to fire!'

[deathjester]

Very nifty!

One of my forthcoming "what ifs" will be the Lightning F-7. I will be using the Airfix 1/48 Lightning F6. Modifications will include ;
Enlarged radome for the upgraded Ferranti Airpass AI radar
150 Gallon "slipper" type fuel tanks fixed to the upper wings ( jettisonable if needed).
4 X AIM 9D Sidewinder missiles carried on twin fuselage  mounts - like the F8 Crusader
2 X BAE Skyflash missiles on underwing launch rails & 2 x BAE SKyflash on wingtip launch rails
New canopy giving full 360 degree vision ( if I can modify one to fit!! )
Aircraft will retain its 2 30mm cannons

Not sure when I'll bet around to it but, I'll be sure to post pictures.

Sounds pretty good - how about conformal fuselage side tanks, and put the underwing Skyflash on the overwing pylons?
Like the idea of the new canopy, just what the Lightning needed!

[deathjester]

Several hundred metres from the control bunker....

The ground shook, and foul smelling plumes of smoke rolled across the launch pads, as first one, then a second, SA-2 Guideline surface to air missiles thundered away from their launchers.  Peering through the vision slit of the bunker, Grishenko watched the missiles lean away, towards their target, until they disappeared out of view in the low clouds.
 Inside the bunker, the radar operators watched as their missiles marched resoloutely towards the blip representing the target, 'Almost there...', breathed the senior NCO.
And suddenly, it all changed.

'Nyet!! The sergeant nearly screamed, as, within the space of one sweep of the Fan Song radar, the target descended to 78,000 ft, and increased speed to over 1,600 kts.....

'Missiles 1 + 2, no contact', reported the radar operator.  'Target aircraft now exiting our area, at 72,000 ft, speed 1,720 kts!'

'That was no U-2!', moaned Grishenko, half to himself.  Behind him, the phone began to ring; idly, he wondered what Siberia was like at this time of year......



Of course, what the Soviet fighters and interceptors faced that night was no mere U-2....

[deathjester]

Created in the late 1960's, from the P.15 photo-recon Lightning proposal, the PR7 was actually an enormous  step beyond that design, incorporating as it did both radar and optical recon systems, full ECM systems, as well as RAM coating first trialled on an A&AEE Canberra.  A high altitude modified, reheated Spey turbofan, backed up by a 24,500 lb thrust Armstrong Siddely Stentor rocket engine, gave the PR7 truly incredible speed and altitude capabilities.

They generally operated in the company of a specially modified Victor SR2(K) Tanker, which supplemented the PR7's vastly increased internal/external fuel capacity, and also acted as a mobile comms relay station, allowing faraway targets to be observed in near real time.  
  The PR7's operated throughout their career from RAF Binbrook, under the cover of the 'Lightning Augmentation Flight', an outfit which laid claim to a large amount of resources, but never seemed to do many missions....

Throughout the next few decades, the sound of Spey's could be heard around Binbrook, until the bases closure in 1988, and it seemed the story of the PR7 ended there.
  Or did it?  Ancedotal evidence from the 1990 Gulf War makes reference to both UK Tornado crews, and US F-117 pilots arriving over their targets, and finding their targets already illuminated for them, although no ground forces, or other allied aircraft were near.  Some reports even mentioned, that through gaps between the clouds, crews could faintly make out an arrow shaped aircraft, briefly flitting across the moonlight.

Was it, as some say, the TR-3A - an alleged top secret counterpart to the F-117, or was it the Last of the Lightnings, enjoying its swansong with a Middle Eastern holiday?

[McColm]

Great work

[GTX]

 

[Hobbes]

Good job!

Any chance of some better pics? These are rather dark.

[PR19_Kit]

Oh yes! OH YES!!! 

I just LOVE it, well done indeed, both thoughts, build and back story. Is Grishenko STILL in Siberia? 

[JayBee]

Oh yes! OH YES!!! 

I just LOVE it, well done indeed, both thoughts, build and back story. Is Grishenko STILL in Siberia? 

I wish to be associated with the honourable gentleman's comments.

[PR19_Kit]

I wish to be associated with the honourable gentleman's comments.

Laughing fit to bust here JayBee! Mrs PR19 is giving me VERY odd looks across the room.... 

[deathjester]

Oh yes! OH YES!!!  

I just LOVE it, well done indeed, both thoughts, build and back story. Is Grishenko STILL in Siberia?  

Maybe...unless they found somewhere worse.....

In any case, it's pretty much all down to PR19Kit and a conversation we had via IM.  So, poor old Grishenko is all you fault, mate...!!

[NARSES2]

Brilliant stuff 

[Rheged]

  It's not uncommon in the U S  for folks to eavesdrop on air traffic control chat. The number of light aircraft requesting confirmation of altitude and speed over ground is quite remarkable.   They usually go like this:-

"Las Vegas ATC, this is Warrior Prince, requesting height and speed check"

"Warrior Prince, you are confirmed at flight level 120 and mean speed over ground 160 knots"

Until one day, the following was  heard amongst the  Pipers and Cessnas...



"Vegas  ATC, Binbrook Sparrow, height and speed check please"

All went  very quiet for a loooooong while.........

" Binbrook Sparrow ,  flight level 1200 and 1600knots...........Binbrook Sparrow  What are you?...........sir...........please"

I assume that someone was off to play at Groom Lake.

[deathjester]

  I like it - I hope they don't get too jealous over there!