English Electric Lightning - Survivor XS456

XS456 could be found for many years on display at the Elms Golf Centre at Wainfleet in Lincolnshire. She sat in the car park with a rope barrier separating her from the cars. The paint job is quite thick in an effort to protect her against the local sea air and markings such as the serial are applied with tape rather than paint. On my first visit in 1999 she looked well looked after from the car park side, however the other side of the aircraft was gathering moss and mould - happily on my return visit I found she had been almost completely repainted, with only the tip of the fin on the port side and the underside of the wings and fuselage left to do. Much less moss and mould to be found that time! In May 2010, however, she was put up for tender and was dismantled by Hawker Hunter Aviation and transported to her current location at Skegness Airfield, which is housed within Skegness Water Leisure Park in Lincolnshire. Restoration work began on her in mid-2015 and is an on going effort. The aim of the restoration team is to restore as much as possible both externally and internally. Access to the airframe is possible but only by prior arrangement due to her location.

Information on this page current as of 29/12/2020, last updated by Damien

Find other photos of XS456 on the following sites:

Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net