English Electric Lightning - Survivor ZU-BBD (ex XS452)
T.5 ZU-BBD - Privately owned, (for sale, stored), Cape Town International Airport, South Africa
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Lightning T.5 ZU-BBD at Thunder City, 31st October 2012; Francis Wallace
XS452 first flew on 30th June 1965 and begin her service career with the OCU at Coltishall in September of that year. She ended her career with the LTF at Binbrook, and on disposal in 1988 was bought by Arnold Glass as part of his plan to operate several Lightnings. Flown to Cranfield, she moldered away there while Arnold's plan came to nothing and ended up being sold to Tony Hulls of T5 Projects for restoration to taxiable condition.
Mike Beachyhead then made Tony an offer he couldn't refuse, transported her to Cape Town, and with Barry Pover's Classic Jets completed the restoration to full airworthy condition and in 2001 she flew again, gaining her new serial, ZU-BBD.
Sadly, in November 2009, a fatal accident claimed the life of pilot Dave Stock whilst flying one of Thunder City's other two-seat Lightning, ZU-BEX (ex XS451), at an airshow. The SA CAA's initial investigation found that the ejector seat and canopy separation mechanisms had both failed, and Thunder City had not serviced the seat when it was due in September 2009, instead of extending the service interval by 30 days and then another 45. This began a sequence of events whereby the SA CAA looked harder at the question of operation ex-military types on the civilian register and reportedly revoked Thunder City's Air Operating Certificate. In September 2010, Thunder City put out a press release saying that they were shutting down operations due to not meeting CAA approval. After much work and effort, they managed to get CAA approval to get a Buccaneer and a Hunter back in the air carrying out private flights. A couple of years later, they also got ZU-BBD back in the air again, but this didn't last too long as in 2016 Thunder City closed and the aircraft was put up for sale. The fleet was stored inside for a period of time, before being moved outside in 2020 while they await a new owner.
Hangar 51 Aviation, which operates some aircraft in South Africa at Port Elizabeth, purchased a handful of the ex-Thunder City airframes in late 2021, however, ZU-BBD remains unsold.
Mike Beachyhead then made Tony an offer he couldn't refuse, transported her to Cape Town, and with Barry Pover's Classic Jets completed the restoration to full airworthy condition and in 2001 she flew again, gaining her new serial, ZU-BBD.
Sadly, in November 2009, a fatal accident claimed the life of pilot Dave Stock whilst flying one of Thunder City's other two-seat Lightning, ZU-BEX (ex XS451), at an airshow. The SA CAA's initial investigation found that the ejector seat and canopy separation mechanisms had both failed, and Thunder City had not serviced the seat when it was due in September 2009, instead of extending the service interval by 30 days and then another 45. This began a sequence of events whereby the SA CAA looked harder at the question of operation ex-military types on the civilian register and reportedly revoked Thunder City's Air Operating Certificate. In September 2010, Thunder City put out a press release saying that they were shutting down operations due to not meeting CAA approval. After much work and effort, they managed to get CAA approval to get a Buccaneer and a Hunter back in the air carrying out private flights. A couple of years later, they also got ZU-BBD back in the air again, but this didn't last too long as in 2016 Thunder City closed and the aircraft was put up for sale. The fleet was stored inside for a period of time, before being moved outside in 2020 while they await a new owner.
Hangar 51 Aviation, which operates some aircraft in South Africa at Port Elizabeth, purchased a handful of the ex-Thunder City airframes in late 2021, however, ZU-BBD remains unsold.
Information on this page current as of 25/11/2022, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of ZU-BBD on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net