Thunder & Lightnings - What's new?

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What's New?

WHAT'S NEW? (image from Your Spectrum) 24th May 2009 Added over the course of the last couple of weeks have been a selection of Hunter profiles. Has anybody got any clear photos of 3 Squadron Hunters? The Cranfield viewing guide has been revamped (others to follow). You may also have noticed the contents page has been advertising some some events of interest to this site's visitors - no excuses now for missing an appearance of your favourite classic jet at some UK event!

17th April 2009 Added over the course of the last few days have been a selection of Buccaneer profiles.

6th April 2009 The Buccaneer section has been upgraded to the new format, with lots of survivors updates, mostly thanks to Nigel Goodall at the Blackburn Buccaneer Society.

5th April 2009 Scimitar history expanded and lots of new profile pictures added along with a brief rundown of available model kits.

29th March 2009 The Gannet section has now been switched over to the new format, and has had a mass of updates made to the survivors listing, lots of new walkaround photos, colour profiles and links. Contributions welcome - particularly photos of survivors, in-service examples or walkaround shots not already covered.

Survivor updates:

6th Jul: Updated Lightning survivor XR770 (location, picture, notes)
25th Jun: Updated Gannet survivor XT752 (notes)
24th Jun: Updated Gannet survivor XA434 (picture, notes)
24th Jun: Updated Buccaneer survivor XN967 (notes)
24th Jun: Updated Buccaneer survivor XX900 (picture, notes)
24th Jun: Updated Buccaneer survivor XX894 (location, picture, notes)

(click here for full list of updates)

I'm researching the TSR.2 in some depth at the moment and would appreciate hearing from anybody who worked on the project - please contact me if you did.

Previous Updates

20th February 2009 As many of you will know already, my good friend Les Bywaters passed away in January, and I have taken over running his EE Canberra tribute website. I have no immediate plans to merge the site into Thunder & Lightnings and intend to keep it going as a separate entity for as long as I can. I will never be able to match the level of knowledge Les had about the Canberra, so assistance is - as ever - always welcome. He will be greatly missed. RIP mate.

Updates here at Thunder & Lightnings include a load of profile artwork added to the Sea Vixen pictures section (along with some new walkaround shots), some new walkaround shots for the TSR.2, various survivors updates and we also have a competition to win a signed copy of Phoenix Squadron, the new book from Rowland White (of Vulcan 607 fame).

The Vulcan To The Sky Trust are looking at shutting their doors and grounding XH558 forever if they do not raise around another half a million quid by March 6th - so if you feel you can help, pledge any amount you can towards keeping the world's only flyable Avro Vulcan going. More at their website.
20th October 2008 The Lightning section has now been switched over to the new format, and has had a mass of updates made to the survivors listing. I'm sure I haven't got it all entirely up to date so contributions welcome - particularly photos of entries currently lacking any, or larger up to date photos to replace those entries that still have small and old photos on them.
4th October 2008 The Victor section has now been switched over to the new format.
3rd October 2008 The Swift section has now been switched over to the new format.
2nd October 2008 The Javelin and Scimitar sections have been switched over to the new format. Several new gallery photos in the Javelin section now plus of course all the new survivor photos as with the other revamped types.
30th September 2008 The Valiant section has been switched over to the new format, though as with the Hunter the Walkaround page is a temporary one.
28th September 2008 The Hunter section has begun its switch over to the new format. As by far the largest section in terms of surviving aircraft details, it is taking some time - up to date location info and photos of surviving aircraft is always welcome! Since the last entry on this page Vulcan XH558 has had a busy airshow season - a few dates missed due to unserviceability and poor weather but par for the course for any large and complex aircraft in her first season really. They still need funding to keep her going through the winter and into next year so do get involved! Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed I've been keeping the Vulcan to the sky page on this site updated as often as I can, so if you're interested in XH558's progress keep an eye on that page!
29th June 2008 Sea Vixen XP924/G-CVIX returned to the air on 26th June, after over a year on the ground. To celebrate its return to the airshow scene, the Sea Vixen section has switched over to the new format, with a full survivors listing update and over 70 new photos in the walkaround section. The other good news on the classic jet front is that Vulcan XH558 has completed her flight test programme and is now just awaiting the pieces of paper from the CAA to enable her to appear at airshows. Fingers very much crossed!
25th April 2008 The Swift survivors section has switched over to the new format, and the Links section has had a revamp too. Out in the real world the Vulcan has flown a couple more times with another test flight expected very soon; noted test pilot Jimmy Dell (of Lightning, TSR2, Jaguar and Tornado fame) sadly passed away on March 25th. RIP Jimmy - there is an obituary well worth a read on The Times site.
27th October 2007 Thunder & Lightnings is beginning a change over to a new format (and a new look in some areas) which will enable me to maintain it with less manual work. The TSR.2 section is the first section to switch over to the new format; the others will follow as I get the time to do so.
20th October 2007 Well, the 18th of October was a pretty damn fine day here in the UK. Under blazing blue skies, the world's only airworthy Avro Vulcan bomber taxied out at Bruntingthorpe, backtracked down the active runway... and took off! Yes, test flight 1 for XH558, back in the air for the first time in over 14 years. Well done to all at TVOC!
30th August 2007. So much for my plan to update the survivor tables... unfortunately a bit of a database meltdown put that plan on hold. However I now have the database working again and am able to once more carry out updates. These will happen as and when I get the time! To start with the Buccaneer and Lightning survivors listings have been updated to reflect a few movements and changes in condition of various aircraft - as always, updates are welcome and I'm working through the other types slowly but surely!
20th February 2007. Well it's been quite a while since any notable updates have been made to the site, hasn't it! Some of the airfield viewing guides have had minor changes made to them; the Coningsby one has had a more substantial revamp which is the start of a rolling programme to revamp the others. However all relies on my free time, which is limited these days. The survivor tables are all a little out of date and I'm hoping to go through these over the next few weeks to bring them up to date. In the mean time, we have a competition to win a copy of Rowland White's superb book on the Black Buck Vulcan missions - Vulcan 607. Just answer two simple questions and you could win a signed copy - good luck!
17th July 2006. Sadly another loss to report - Bob Guilford, owner of Hunter F.58 J-4061, was killed when the aircraft crashed on departing the Hillsboro Air Show in the USA. Bob and I had corresponded a few times by email regarding his Hunter, which I know he loved dearly. Bob co-founded WarBirds of America, one of the USA's leading vintage military aircraft organisations (now part of the EAA), and owned a selection of vintage types including a Spitfire, Mustang and of course his Hunter. A tribute in more detail can be found on the front page of his law firm's website.
12th January 2006. Vulcan XL391 was scrapped at Blackpool today, after 23 years of neglect - an ending that will surprise nobody who had visited this airframe and seen the state she was in. Still, sad to see the number of survivors go down by one.
6th January 2006. Happy New Year to all my visitors! Some survivors and other minor updates have been made recently. I'm researching the TSR.2 in some depth at the moment and would appreciate hearing from anybody who worked on the project - please contact me if you did.

History before 2006 removed to save space.

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	24th May 2009 Added over the course of the last couple of weeks have been a selection of Hunter profiles. Has anybody got any clear photos of 3 Squadron Hunters? The Cranfield viewing guide has been revamped (others to follow). You may also have noticed the contents page has been advertising some some events of interest to this site's visitors - no excuses now for missing an appearance of your favourite classic jet at some UK event! 17th April 2009 Added over the course of the last few days have been a selection of Buccaneer profiles. 6th April 2009 The Buccaneer section has been upgraded to the new format, with lots of survivors updates, mostly thanks to Nigel Goodall at the Blackburn Buccaneer Society. 5th April 2009 Scimitar history expanded and lots of new profile pictures added along with a brief rundown of available model kits. 29th March 2009 The Gannet section has now been switched over to the new format, and has had a mass of updates made to the survivors listing, lots of new walkaround photos, colour profiles and links. Contributions welcome - particularly photos of survivors, in-service examples or walkaround shots not already covered.	Survivor updates: 6th Jul: Updated Lightning survivor XR770 (location, picture, notes) 25th Jun: Updated Gannet survivor XT752 (notes) 24th Jun: Updated Gannet survivor XA434 (picture, notes) 24th Jun: Updated Buccaneer survivor XN967 (notes) 24th Jun: Updated Buccaneer survivor XX900 (picture, notes) 24th Jun: Updated Buccaneer survivor XX894 (location, picture, notes) (click here for full list of updates)
I'm researching the TSR.2 in some depth at the moment and would appreciate hearing from anybody who worked on the project - please contact me if you did.