A day at Bruntingthorpe Airfield & the Lightning Twilight Run & Nightshoot - 16/11/19
A full day spent at Bruntingthorpe Airfield in Leicestershire with, in the morning, a few hours spent with English Electric Canberra B(I)8/B.6 MOD WT333 as it was due to undergo some regular maintenance, it was, alas, not able to carry out its planned anti-det run due to a couple of minor engine issues.
I was lucky enough to sit inside the aircraft & was able to start both engines minus the cartridges of course.
The early afternoon saw De Havilland Comet 4C XS235 (G-CPDA) 'Canopus' taxy to the runway, but the planned fast-taxy had to be scrubbed, again due to engine issues. It taxied back to it's parking spot a short while later.
A little later in the day the Lightning Preservation Group held another of their annual twilight runs with their two live English Electric Lightning F.6's, XS904/BQ & XR728/JS. These runs, both static & fast, were followed by a Nightshoot, held in and around the former RAF Wattisham Q-shed. This also included the dual-identity English Electric Lightning F.3 XR713/XR718.
XS904 was unfortunately unable to be photographed outside the Q-shed as she had suffered a double tyre blowout during the fast run and the blown tyres had to be replaced so the aircraft could be returned to the Q-shed.
The twilight run was carried out from the top end of Bruntingthorpes' runway. This was again due to the sheer number of cars that are currently on the airfield. Visitors to the event were bused to the far end of the runway & bused back again to the Q-Shed when the runs were over. I think this was probably the most popular Lightning twilight run & nightshoot I've attended thus far with around 400 attendees. Below are 93 images taken during the day :
All images remain copyright İRoger Whitcomb 2019 - www.milairpix.com
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