English Electric Lightning F3, 111 Squadron.
29x23inches (73x58cm), Pencil on cartridge paper.
Private collection.
Sporting what has to be one of the most attractive Lightning colour schemes, this particular aircraft (XR713) now resides in static condition at the Lightning Preservation Group (LPG) in Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire. An interesting aside is that this aircraft was flown by the then 111 Squadron commander George Black in the mid-1960s and amazingly, some twenty years later, also by his son Ian Black during its time with the Lightning Training Flight (LTF) as Ian was in the process of becoming the last RAF pilot to graduate through the Lightning training course. With this in mind I was lucky enough to get both pilots to sign a limited edition print of this illustration which can now be bought from the LPG.
The original illustration was exhibited and sold at the 2004 Guild of Aviation Artists’ Annual Summer Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.