Flying at Mach 2 Plus: English Electric Lightning Fighter Plane BAC 31 F441

A film made by the British Aircraft Corporation about flying at twice the speed of sound, and the English Electric Lightning Plane (this is late 1950s OR early 1960s).
This is my channel for showing old and mainly amateur cine footage of aircraft. I am not responsible for the condition or quality of the original film, so there is no point complaining about this. I sometimes withdraw films if they receive negatives without explanation. I have stopped giving details of planes because someone always knows I am wrong and delights in saying so.
I do not monetize my videos. These are images of planes that come with film I sort out for social history…they are not my main interest and it takes time edit them out and put them up here. I am just glad if these films can be seen by those interested.
Music by Bensounds.com

[@eddiehenrik4869]

A quote from a 'Lightning' pilot. "The only reason we have wings on the lightning, is to keep the nav lights apart."

[@rayrichards5375]

Thanks for posting this. Took me back to RAF Akrotiri in the late 1960's and 56 Sqn's 'Frightening's'. The greatest aircraft we ever produced in my humble opinion

[@paddy696]

The Harrier have you 4gotten it? 😅

[@rayrichards5375]

@@paddy696 How could anyone forget the Harrier? The words "in my humble opinion" in my comments should be the giveaway. Incidentally, I worked on the GR1's as well but Lightning's any day for me

[@paulharding1621]

Reminds me of my childhood in the 60’s watching these awesome machines going vertical at air shows.

[@petertoomey5857]

So cooooooool. Remember seeing one at an airshow as a kid in the 60s, ...love the air crew, no safety wear, too loud, just put your fingers in your ears

[@No.Handle31]

The lighting a chair strapped to two giant engines with afterburners.

[@mattwillis9173]

What a machine!! Seeing one take off and then go vertical is so bloody impressive.

[@derekpierkowski7641]

That thing lands HOT!

[@bugler75]

Superbe footage of the Lightning. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

[@Janner29]

My husband's favourites Lightning and Victor. He was on refuellers at Akrotiri.

[@cornellkirk8946]

Makes me so proud to be British ❤

[@MyTROLLEYBUS]

.... the aircraft was only purchased by one customer & not exactly the best UK achievement.

[@andyreiben]

What a fast silver metal dart !

[@carrisasteveinnes1596]

Magnificent. Faster than pretty much anything out there today.

[@andyreiben]

Very nice and powerful plane ! Tribute to the RAF !

[@cornellkirk8946]

And to British aviation!

[@anselmdanker9519]

Enjoyed the footage, thank you and compliments of the season and a happy new year .

[@penponds]

Thanks for producing this on KZbin. And I don’t have any issue whatsoever what watermark you put on something you’ve made available to a vastly larger audience than the original creators would presumably be interested in doing!

[@GettingToHeaven]

Great video! Thanks for making it.

[@debmanin]

Incredible 👍👏 Thanks 🙏

[@Houndini]

Every time I see or hear about a Lighting. I think of poor Taffy Holden. That is 1 ride I sure would not wanted to been on.

[@anthonymcdonnell5384]

the lightning even manged to intercept Concorde

[@michaelsimpson3548]

Unbelievable the groundcrew without ear protection…..

[@-Loki--]

According to a long service RAF engineer I talked to, the Lightning Hydraulic and Fuel architecture was plagued with leaks caused by vibration, sometimes resulting in loss of controls or fires. They were improved over time, but it was never perfect. None the less one hugely impressive very fast aircraft and one (only one?) that intercepted a U2. It's real performance figures were higher than declared. But it eventually became outdated, aircraft like the F16 are so much more capable. But it is loved by many, and rightly so.

[@paulm2467]

It had to be built with loose tolerances to accommodate expansion when operating at peak performance, apparently the SR-71 Blackbird is built the same way.

[@PeterGriffin-lh6wp]

Wonderful film of wonderful aircraft Music completely unnecessary !!

[@raywhitehead730]

Yes, in the sixties the UK and the Americans had very good airplane s as fast as what we have now! And they had good range! That's over fifty years ago.

[@davidsaunders1125]

The Lighting was doing M2 in the 50 s !

[@raywhitehead730]

David, I saw A flight if four British Lightning s fly at low level and high speed, in 1967 at Aviano, Italy and now I am an old retired US Navy Aviator... And it us Still one if the Most impressive sights I never seen and heard. When Brits Still made Great airplanes! David its time the Brits become great Again.

[@raywhitehead730]

I mean "ever" Not never.. My computer, spelling doesn't work just right.

[@likklej8]

Im sure I saw one painted black at Farnborough Airshow

[@grindupBaker]

Yebbut what about the one in the Daily Mirror that decided to land vertically nose down ? Pilot landed in a greenhouse and survived with some broken bones. Plane was scratched up a bit.

[@xfire7]

Posted to Binbrrok 1980 to be on the reformed 74 Tiger sqn. Not enough aircraft so 74 went to the Phantoms !

[@spanishpeaches2930]

A time when there was a free world..sort of...not so much now.

[@maxaircraft5974]

Yes, the value of freedom seems to have gone out of fashion...lets hope we get back on course before too long.

[@bertiewooster3326]

Yes all that and we were paid less than a London bus driver with overtime !

[@PeteCourtier]

My wife used to drive Route Masters in London! Never knew she was the defender of Blighty😂 Lightnings are way cooler though. My Father worked on the P1 at Boscombe Down during his national service. Before that he was on Javelins.

[@Radio478]

I worked for EE

[@pauldrinkwater2621]

Make a note america . This is how we lead in the aviation industry .

[@stephenpage-murray7226]

Don’t be silly.

[@jagdpanther2224]

The Lightning was equivalent to MiG19 but much faster and better armed!

[@davidsaunders1125]

Equipped with an Aden gun .Another Enfield project !

[@sichere]

The Lightning had no equivalent

[@derf9465]

Twice as fast as lightning two.

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Please English Electric VS Mig 25

[@haody3494]

That’s a unfair fight

[@rayjames6096]

The MiG is 700 mph faster and can carry more than two missiles.

[@Schlipperschlopper]

@@rayjames6096 Most of the Mig 25 never exceeded 2350 KM/H only some special versions made it to 2500 and more...the BE Lightning in its final stage could make it to 2400 KM/H

[@rayjames6096]

@@Schlipperschlopper MiG 25 top speed is over 2150 mph, the lightning a little over 1500mph. The single engined F-104 was also faster at over 1675 mph.

[@rayjames6096]

@@Schlipperschlopper The MiG 25 is still in service.

[@woooster71]

4:55 Landing speed of around 400mph 👍🏼

[@johnwood1948]

About half that, but, I promise you, fast enough! The ruddy nosewheel steering however!!

[@bluesky8872]

Just casually doing a low pass buzz of a taxying prop aircraft. H&S would sh*t their pants!

[@Radio478]

Uk top

[@Radio478]

They say 60,000 ft, lol, 88k plus

[@richardvernon317]

Three guys took it that high in Saudi Arabia, Cyprus and the Far East were the tropopause is much higher. Lightning couldn't do above 75.000 feet in the UK. 60000ft was the limit on the flying equipment of the aircrew as they didn't wear pressure suits.

[@toucheturtle3840]

@@richardvernon317One of my clients used to be in the RAF. He said on one op, the lightning pilot was to intercept 3 Vulcans flying at 60,000ft… he took off intercepted them & was back on the ground within 10 minutes, calling the tower that he wasn’t sure enough if he had enough fuel to taxi back to the hangar…😂

[@richardvernon317]

@@toucheturtle3840 I worked on the aircraft as an air cadet in the early 1980's on a ATC camp at Binbrook and got to hear all of the stories about the aircraft. I then did 30 years in the RAF, Worked with and for a number of people who Flew, Maintained and Controlled the aircraft during its operational service. The last time I saw a Lightning in a Museum I was with a former RAF pilot who basically said the aircraft was not that good as you could burn through the whole fuel load in 6 minutes!!! Said Pilot had flown in the Red Arrows and had been OC BBMF when I knew him in the service. The Vulcan's used to run rings around them as they could out turn the Lightning at any altitude and in the case of the F Mk 3, they couldn't get a Firestreak or Red Top lock on the Vulcan as the AEO on the Vulcan could detect the Lighting's radar and the Vulcan would turn nose onto the fighter. In the end, the only way the Lighting's could kill the Vulcan was to intercept with a Cannon armed aircraft (F Mk 6) and have the radar switched off.

[@olelarsen7688]

Not much mach 2 in this video

[@richardvernon317]

That is because the F Mk 1 of the Lightning could only do Mach 1.7!!!

[@shawns0762]

Holy horrible music score Batman

[@randenpederson4784]

I wonder what the "un-free world" called itself in its propaganda filims.

[@maxaircraft5974]

The Glorious Workers Paradise of the USSR...perhaps? No nation has a license on self deception when it comes to this sort of thing. But included among the many flaws of the nations which designed and flew this amazing machine WAS NOT the fear of being taken in the night, and disappearing, never to be seen again.

[@MENSA.lady2]

Sadly just propaganda. In squadron service ALL lightnings were red-lined at M1.8. In squadron service M1.0 was rarely exceeded due to the horrific fuel consumption.

[@richardvernon317]

The Mach 1.8 Speed Limit was caused by the In Flight Refuelling Probe. The Lightning F Mk 1 / 1A / 2 and T Mk 4 were red lined at Mach 1.7 due to the Radomes melting if they went faster. The F Mk 2A, 3, 6, T Mk 5 and export models were cleared to Mach 2 if the probe wasn't fitted. The 60,000 feet limit was due to the pilots not being issued with full pressure suits. 75,000 feet was where the Lightning maxed out in UK airspace (Done as part of the USAF / RAF U-2 Intercept trials done in October 1962 (The RAF Pilots were issued with experimental full pressure suits for that trial). The people who took the Lightning over 80,000 feet did so at Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and in the Far East where the tropopause is much higher. The guy in the Far East was doing an intercept trial on a RB-57F and had a partial pressure suit which would have most likely kept him alive long enough to get to lower altitude. The two guys who did in the 1980's would have died had anything gone wrong with the aircraft at that altitude. The accelerate to supersonic speed in a vertical climb and 50,000 feet a minute climb rate claims were also complete bullshit.

[@adrianpeters2413]

Yes , the entire world .... 1 true sentance , in this propaganda film ...oops that must have slipped through somehow .....

[@markthompson4478]

Performance to die for. Fuel consumption that killed it