XS420 History and Images

XS420's fuselage and wings were constructed at Salmesbury, with the cockpit section fabricated by Bristol Aircraft Ltd, Filton. The aircraft was flown for the first flight on 23 January 1965 in the hands of D.M.Knight.

Don Knight - Credit: BAe Systems Heritage Centre Warton

The aircraft then went onto to serve with the following squadrons and units.

No. 226 OCU - 29 April 1965
Binbrook Aircraft Storage & Support Flight then to Lightning Training Flight (V) - 18 September 1976
Loan to No. 5 Squadron LTF (DV) - 17 December 1980
To Lightning Engineering Support Flight - 26 May 1983
Total hours flown - 2296.55
January 1987 - present within LESF Hanger No. 1, Binbrook with DV LTF markings
Moved in LTF Hangar for spares recovery and stripping by 29th May 1987 minus all markings and serial and back to LESF Hangar 1 on 24 September 1987 for storage and had left by 12 October 1987, when it moved to the decoy line, where it was still present at the end of 1987 (with thanks to Rick Sleight for the information)
Sold to Tadorna Holdings and moved by road to Wellesley Aviation Narborough , 26 July 1988, joining T.5 XS459 and the cockpit section of F.6 XS933
Acquired by Murray Flint and moved to the Fenland Aircraft Preservation Society, West Walton Highway, April 1994 (later renamed Fenland and West Norfolk Aviation Museum)
A further move to Walpole St Andrew came in July 1998, where Murray continued with restoration
Chosen by the RAF to take part in the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) 2003 for static display commemorating 100 years of powered flight
The aircraft was restored and repainted for the RAF by Serco at Cranwell for its RIAT appearance
Moved by road to Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) - 3 September 2003
Ownership taken by 'Lakes Lightnings' Neil Airey and Heather Graham - 23 August 2006
Acquired from Lakes Lightnings by Richard Hall and Mike Potten - June 2012
In June 2013, Mike sold out his share of XS420 to Richard, and the story continues.

XS420 Images

Below are images of XS420 in her days of service and when in preservation. New material is coming to light quite frequently so keep a look out as more photographs will be added over time.

My thanks go to - Hugh Trevor, 'Lakes Lightnings' Neil Airey and Heather Graham, Terry Senior, Allan Barley,
Peter O'callaghan, Chris Perkins, Paul Newman, Colin Collis, John Sheehan, Andrew Bates, Chris Allan, Frank Croom, Rick Sleight, Shaun Westall, C. Hölscher, sg-etuo .de and BAe Systems Heritage Centre, Warton for allowing the use of their photographs.

Thanks also to Ian Waudby - for e-mailing Terry Senior's photographs to me.

There are photographs within this gallery for which I do not know the name of the photographer. If you see a photograph that you have taken and there is no credit please let me know via the contact page and I will apply your name.

I'm indebted to Martin Fenner for allowing the use of the two images below of XS420, taken at Crash Gate 3 by an unknown photographer. The first was taken in August 1981, and the second on 9 December 1976 (note the lack of tail markings and painted intake disk).

I've been looking for a photo of XS420 at an airshow for a while now. With thanks to Frank Croom who has sent me the image below of the T.5 at the Battle of Britain Airshow Coltishall in 1968.

A superb photo sent to me by Wieland Stolze of XS420 at RAF Gütersloh in December 1982. At this point the aircraft had just over five months left in service.

XS420 on approach to RAF Leconfield, presumably for deep servicing to be undertaken - Photo Fred Martin via Colin Collis.

XS420 in the early morning one day in August 1981 at RAF Binbrook. With thanks to Terry Senior for the photo.

A shot of XS420 in her days with No. 226 OCU RAF Coltishall - with thanks to Shaun Westall for the photo.

XS420 at Binbrook circa 1983, just before her flying days ended. Once again I'm indebted to Terry Senior for the photo.

XS420 looking forlorn at RAF Binbrook 4 October 1987 yet with thankfully a future ahead. Thanks to Terry Senior for the photo.

Lightning T.5 XS420 during her time at Narborough - photographed May 1993 - thanks to Andrew Bates for the image.

With thanks to John Sheehan for the following four images.

XS420 in her time with No. 2T Squadron RAF Coltishall - with thanks to Colin Collis for the image.

The two photos below show XS420 at Coltishall - with thanks to Chris Smith

A wonderful image of XS420 sent to me by Ian Black

XS420 going into storage at RAF Binbrook circa 1984/85 - with thanks to Terry Senior for allowing the use of his photos.

I have stood outside Binbrook's QRA shed many times, little did I know years before 420 had been there too. The day before 420 came up for sale I had stood outside the sheds and again little did I know that in a very short period of time, my involvement with the T.5 would start and continue to this day.