Appeal for Lightning stories

As part of its Tribute to the Lightning event Newark Air Museum is looking to record the history of its Lightning T5 exhibit.

The museum’s Lightning flew 2,600 operational hours from 1962 to 1988.

It was at several RAF bases, including Binbrook, Coltishall, Leuchars, Coningsby and Wattisham, before arriving at the museum in 1988.

It flew with 226 OCU, 23 Squadron, 56 Squadron, the Lightning Training Flight (LTF) and 11 Squadron.

The museum is trying to contact people associated with Lightning XS417 so it can document its service history.

The information being sought would be in the logbooks of those who flew the plane and includes dates of sorties; names and ranks of crew; sortie roles and durations.

A museum spokesman said they would also like anecdotes about individual sorties and from ground crew who worked on the plane. Pictures would also be welcome.

Information can be sent to Lightning History Project, Newark Air Museum, Drove Lane, Winthorpe, Newark, NG24 2NY or via email to enquire@newarkairmuseum.org