Michael Rondot
Lightning Legend
Size: 27 x 20ins approx (700 x 500mm) Medium: Print Edition: 650 Framed: No         Price S/N* £59 Price AP* £75 Price RM* £130       * click here for details

No other jet fighter has been sorely missed since the Lightning retired from RAF service
and the Counter Aviation Authority (CAA) set about keeping surviving examples grounded.However, not all fighters die, and some Lightning's did not fade away either.

They lived on because there were people willing to spend time and fortunes lavishing
TLC on them until 1999, against all odds and officialdom, Lightnings are back in the sky. The return of the Lightning is celebrated in Michael Rondot's brilliant new portrayal of a Lightning T5 in the markings of 226 OCU/145 Squadron taking off in full re-heat for a maximum rotation climbout. This outrageous, extravagant display of scorching performance is just one of the heady delights of the gloriously overpowered Lightning. It is an aircraft of which legends are made. Stories abound this special aircraft and the Pilots who flew it but none were more deserving of legendary status than the test Pilots who first flew the Lighting. Collectors of aviation art will immediately recognise the significance of the three signatures on this limited edition print:

THE SIGNATORIES

Roland Beamont CBE DSO DFC FRAeS
(EE Chief Test Pilot).

'Bee' Beamont flew Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain and went on the command 609 Typhoon Sqn and the first Tempest wing, ending the war with 10 victories and accounting for 32 V-1 flying bombs.
After the war he became one of the best-known British Test Pilots, first flying the Lighting, Canberra and TSR 2 and was Panavia Tornado Director of Flight Ops
.
Jimmy Dell OBE
(EE Chief Test Pilot).

Jimmy Dell joined the RAF in 1942 and after the war flew F-86Es
and the first radar equipped F-86D with the USAF.
He was the first RAF Lightning Project Test Pilot and later became Chief Test Pilot
at English Electric/BAC test flying Lightning, TSR 2 and Jaguar.

Johnny Squier
(EE Chief Production Test Pilot).

Johnny Squire flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain and flew
many aircraft types before joining English Electric as a Test Pilot.
He was the second Pilot to fly the Canberra prototype
and became Lighting Chief Production Test Pilot.
Following a structural failure at Mach 1.7 over the Irish Sea, he ejected
from XL628, the prototype T4, famously surviving 28 hours at sea.