English Electric Lightning - Survivor XM178
F.1A XM178 - Association des Amis du Musee du Chateau, Savigny-Les-Beaune, France
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Lightning F.1A XM178 at Association des Amis du Musee du Chateau, 1st July 2017; Chris Globe
XM178 made its first flight on the 30th of December 1960 and was delivered to the RAF two months later.
After nearly 15 years of service, she retired to RAF Leuchars on the 28th of May 1974 where she was used as a decoy, and given the maintenance serial 8418M. Sadly, this is mainly where XM178 received its tatty look due to being kept outside with no TLC.
By October 1989, XM178 was sold and transported to the Association des Amis du Musee du Chateau for external display. Since its arrival, the airframe has sadly not received much care as the image above shows, hopefully, she will be treated to a repaint and show skin treatment someday in the near future!
After nearly 15 years of service, she retired to RAF Leuchars on the 28th of May 1974 where she was used as a decoy, and given the maintenance serial 8418M. Sadly, this is mainly where XM178 received its tatty look due to being kept outside with no TLC.
By October 1989, XM178 was sold and transported to the Association des Amis du Musee du Chateau for external display. Since its arrival, the airframe has sadly not received much care as the image above shows, hopefully, she will be treated to a repaint and show skin treatment someday in the near future!
Information on this page current as of 08/06/2026, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XM178 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net