CALORIE TRACKING WATCH

English Electric Lightning is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, noted for its great speed and unpainted natural metal exterior finish. It is the only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft. The aircraft was renowned for its capabilities as an interceptor; RAF pilots described it as "being saddled to a skyrocket". English Electric was later incorporated into the British Aircraft Corporation, later marks being developed and produced as the BAC Lightning.
The Lightning was used throughout much of its service life by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Saudi Air Force. The aircraft was a regular performer at airshows and was the first aircraft capable of supercruise. The Lightning was also one of the highest performance planes ever used in formation aerobatics. The Lightning aircraft is now largely retired to museums, but three examples still fly at "Thunder City" in Cape Town, South Africa.The first operational aircraft, a pre-production P 1B (XG336), arrived at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk in December 1959. From 1960 the production F.1 served initially with 74 Squadron. An improved variant the F.2 first flew on 11 July 1961 and entered service with 19 Squadron at the end of 1962. The F.3 was first flown on 16 June 1962 and the longer-range F.6 on 16 June 1965. The versions sold to Saudi Arabia were essentially similar to the T 5 and F.6 models in UK service and this final production batch reverted to the classic natural metal external finish which lasted well in the drier Arabian climate.
During the 1960s, as strategic awareness increased and a multitude of alternative fighter designs were developed by Warsaw Pact and NATO members, the Lightning's range and firepower shortcomings became increasingly apparent. The withdrawal of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms from Royal Navy service enabled these slower but much longer-ranged aircraft to be added to the RAF's interceptor force alongside those withdrawn from Germany which were being replaced by SEPECAT Jaguars in the ground attack role. Later the Tornado F3s also arrived to defend UK airspace. While slower and less agile than the Lightning, the Tornado carries a much larger armament load and much more advanced avionics. Lightnings were slowly phased out of service between 1974 and 1988, although much testing and modification was needed to keep them in air-worthy condition due to the high number of flight hours accumulated.The English Electric Lightning is credited with a single kill, ironically a British aircraft – a Harrier pilot ejected and the pilot-less aircraft continued to fly. The order was given to shoot down the aircraft and the Lightning did.
In their final years of UK service all RAF Lightnings were based at RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire and many were camouflaged to make them less conspicuous when flying at low level. They tended to defend the Flamborough Head Sector of airspace above the North Sea. These later aircraft were the single-seater F.3 and F.6 and the twin seat trainer variant T 5, all constructed by British Aircraft Corporation and distinguished from earlier versions by their flat topped fins. In their last year of service their pilots regularly pushed the aircraft to their limits as they used up their remaining fatigue life.
Many Lightnings are conserved in museum collections where their clean sleek lines are evocative of the high speeds that they once attained. The Short SB5 and a P 1A are at the RAF Museum, Cosford. The Civil Aviation Authority refused a licence for the surviving airworthy examples to perform at air shows in the UK but there are three flying in South Africa.In December 1965, due to its involvement in the North Yemen Civil War and resulting conflict with Egypt, Saudi Arabia ordered 35 Lighting F.53s and six T.55s as part of the "Magic Carpet" programme. As an interim measure, five Lightning F.52s (ex-RAF Lightning F.2s) plus two Lightning T.54s (ex-RAF Lightning T.4s) were delivered to Saudi Arabia in July 1966, as well as a pre-production Lightning F.1 for ground instructional use. From 1967 the Lighting F.53s operated from the Khamis base, served by radars based at Usram. The last Lightning was delivered in 1972, during Magic Carpet phase IV. Only one plane was lost to enemy fire; it was shot down by ground fire over Yemen on 3 May 1970, just before peace was declared.
Kuwait also ordered 14 Lightnings in December 1966, comprising 12 F.53Ks and two T.55Ks. The Kuwaitis somewhat overestimated their ability to maintain such a complex aircraft, and the Lightings were phased out of service very quickly; the last ones were replaced by Dassault Mirage F1s in 1977. Thanks to this mistake, Kuwait is one of the countries richest in Lightnings on static display; according to Intelligence sources, the Al Jaber air base has three Lightings on display.

Left: English Electric Lightning F6 XR771, which arrived at Midland Air Museum in 1988 from RAF Binbrook.

Right: English Electric Lightning T-55 55-713, designed as a coversion trainer and shown in the colour scheme of its purchaser, the Royal Saudi Air Force. This aircraft was returned to the UK from Saudi Arabia in 1986 and was stored by British Aerospace at Warton. It was acquired by the Midland Air Museum in 1989.

The HDR consists of three handheld exposures at EV -2.0, 0.0 and +2.0; the software used was Dynamic-Photo HDR.