Saudi or Kuwaiti English Electric Lightning F.53 - Multi-Role Ground Attacker

[Borotovas 4,500]

 

Electric Lightning F.53

Introduction

The English Electric Lightning F.53 was the export version of the British English Electric Lightning. The only two countries (apart from the UK) to ever buy the English Electric Lightning were Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The UK never had much success selling the English Electric Lightning to other countries. Since both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia used the F.53, I created a poll where people can choose if they would want a Saudi or Kuwaiti F.53. Originally, the Lightning was intended to be an interceptor, but the export version was modified to be a multi-role aircraft, which could perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions. The F.53 did see combat with Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni Civil War in the late 1960s and 1970s.

 

 

Why The F.53?

The English Electric Lightning F.53 has many advantages over the regular English Electric Lightning F.6 that we currently have in the game. The main advantages would have to be far superior armament options. The F.53 can carry a range of different SNEB rocket pods and also bombs. Thus, this aircraft is the "ground attack" version of the Lightning F.6, yet it can also carry the same missiles as the F.6.

 

 

Saudi Arabia or Kuwait?

Historically, Saudi Arabia used the Lightning F.53 for more years than Kuwait did. Saudi Arabia also used this aircraft in combat. Kuwait did not have the technical experience to maintain this aircraft, and thus the many Kuwaiti F.53s quickly came into disrepair. Kuwait wanted to sell their F.53s to Egypt, but Egypt eventually refused to buy the aircraft, and the Kuwaiti F.53s were stored at Kuwait International Airport until Iraq invaded Kuwait. During the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, most Kuwaiti F.53s were destroyed on the ground and did not fly a single mission.

 

Saudi Arabia operated the F.53 from 1967 until 1986.

 

Kuwait operated the F.53 from 1968 until 1977.

 

Kuwaiti Roundel And Flag:

 

 

Saudi Roundel And Flag (period correct):

 

 

(Above) Kuwaiti paint scheme.

 

 

Premium Or Tech Tree?

Since the F.53 is an export aircraft, and it was not used by the UK itself, I believe that this aircraft would be a perfect contender to being a premium aircraft. The main benefits of this aircraft would be the additional rocket and bomb options, which differentiate it from the regular Lightning F.6 in the British tech tree.

 

 

Specifications (Lightning F.53)

Spoiler

 

First Flight - 1 Nov 1966

Crew - 1

Engine - 2x Rolls-Royce Avon 302C

Max Speed - Varies slightly with Mark and load; approx. 1,500 mph (Mach 2.27 at 40,000 ft)

Service Ceiling - 60,000 ft plus

Range - 800 m without overwing tanks

Empty Weight - Similar to F.6

Max. take off weight - Similar to F.6

Wing Span - 34 ft 10 in

Wing Area - As F.3A

Length - 55 ft 3 in

Height - 19 ft 7 in

Number Build - 47 (1 F.3 conversion)

Armament - As F.6 plus bombs, SNEB pods and other stored on above- and below wing pylons. See "F.53 Aircraft Armaments" section for more information.

 

 

 

F.53 Aircraft Armaments:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Images

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

Spoiler

 

https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/history.php

 

http://www.caa.co.za/Accidents and Incidents Reports/8706.pdf

 

http://www.55fst-ramc.org.uk/FRONT PAGES FST/FP_DOCUMENTS/DOCUMENTS_DATA/Air Defence/NEW pdf/English_Electric_Lightning.pdf

 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/22/1546716/-Speed-of-Lightning

 

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/b/602/126/0

 

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/b/602/25/0#3

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Saudi_Air_Force

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwait_Air_Force

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Kuwait

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia

 

 

[ItssLuBu 1,801]

Approved and open for discussion. 

[Flame2512 3,385]

I think this could work great as a Squadron vehicle in the British tree.

[eleks12 1,079]

+1 Maybe for the Arab Tree?

Edited June 13, 2021 by eleks12

[Milocat 4,854]

5 hours ago, Flame2512 said:

I think this could work great as a Squadron vehicle in the British tree.

 

^   

[AVROVULCANXH558 349]

+1 from me, I think one should be added into a folder with the Lightning F.6, the other should be added as a squadron vehicle for Britain.

[Borotovas 4,500]

Thanks for the support!

[Thunayyan_503_@psn 5]

+1

[Z3r0_ 4,128]

I support adding this to the British tree, maybe as a squadron vehicle.  I actually voted "no" on the last question because, frankly, I don't see it as a good thing when a new player buys a high-tier premium right out of the gate.  Somebody a little more experienced though?  Sure.

[Borotovas 4,500]

On 04/12/2021 at 06:30, Z3r0_ said:

I support adding this to the British tree, maybe as a squadron vehicle.  I actually voted "no" on the last question because, frankly, I don't see it as a good thing when a new player buys a high-tier premium right out of the gate.  Somebody a little more experienced though?  Sure.

 

I think that since there will be an Israeli tech tree, there can be an Arab League aviation tech tree. This plane could be able to fit into it.

[Z3r0_ 4,128]

On 12/12/2021 at 23:36, Borotovas said:

 

I think that since there will be an Israeli tech tree, there can be an Arab League aviation tech tree. This plane could be able to fit into it.

 

Perhaps, but in the interim I voted for the British tree.

[Borotovas 4,500]

1 hour ago, Z3r0_ said:

Perhaps, but in the interim I voted for the British tree.

 

Yes, that's possible. I think that if there ever will be an Arab tech tree, the premium planes will be moved.

 

We already have a Su-7BMK for Egypt and an Su-22M3 for Syria in the USSR tech tree. If an Arab tech tree is created, Gaijin will just move them into it, the same way they did with the Israeli vehicles. 

[Z3r0_ 4,128]

21 minutes ago, Borotovas said:

 

Yes, that's possible. I think that if there ever will be an Arab tech tree, the premium planes will be moved.

 

We already have a Su-7BMK for Egypt and an Su-22M3 for Syria in the USSR tech tree. If an Arab tech tree is created, Gaijin will just move them into it, the same way they did with the Israeli vehicles. 

 

That works.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Z3r0_

[Borotovas 4,500]

20 hours ago, Z3r0_ said:

That works.

 

I think so.

 

I am also speculating that the premium Arab vehicles could be a teaser to an Arab tech tree. The same way we got a lot of Israeli premiums before there was an Arab tech tree.

[Fawaz91s 24]

+1

[Headnaught 503]

I've got an issue of Flight International off eBay that will hopefully be here in good time that describes the F.53's planned armaments, which appears to include flare pods! (Unsure if that was ever actually made, I'll hopefully get more information in due time.) While I wait for that, here's a good resource I found for a cockpit panorama:

https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/lightning/files/

 

And here's an online scan of one of the pages of the issue in question showing possible armaments:

Quote

Unfortunately the page that seems to go into more detail about the flare pods is inaccessible to me until I get the actual magazine in my hands. At the end of the day, I believe this to just be a proposal, although the Kuwaiti Lightnings did end up with the twin Matra mountings, so maybe it was actually implemented into those aircraft. In any case it could be worth considering to set the F.53 further apart from the F.6. I recall reading that the missile packs were not to be used with underwing pylons but I can't remember where, so take that with a grain of salt.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Headnaught

[ZVO_12_INCH 492]

11 hours ago, Headnaught said:

I've got an issue of Flight International off eBay that will hopefully be here in good time that describes the F.53's planned armaments, which appears to include flare pods! (Unsure if that was ever actually made, I'll hopefully get more information in due time.) While I wait for that, here's a good resource I found for a cockpit panorama:

https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/lightning/files/

 

And here's an online scan of one of the pages of the issue in question showing possible armaments:

Unfortunately the page that seems to go into more detail about the flare pods is inaccessible to me until I get the actual magazine in my hands. At the end of the day, I believe this to just be a proposal, although the Kuwaiti Lightnings did end up with the twin Matra mountings, so maybe it was actually implemented into those aircraft. In any case it could be worth considering to set the F.53 further apart from the F.6. I recall reading that the missile packs were not to be used with underwing pylons but I can't remember where, so take that with a grain of salt.

Flight International << < 1968 № 3104 > >> | magzDB

[Headnaught 503]

9 hours ago, PLESETZK said:

Flight International << < 1968 № 3104 > >> | magzDB

Hahaha, thanks pal, guess I'm just going to have it for collection's sake. What I thought to be a picture of flare pods was actually a twin Matra mounting, however the article does have this to say:

 

"Alternative packs for night use (with underwing flares) and line-scan equipment combined with cameras are also available."

This suggests to me that these aren't countermeasures but illumination flares. Unfortunately there's not much to go on here, and I don't know too much about the dynamics of illumination flares vs decoy flares. Thanks again for the help.

 

The flight characteristics of the aircraft are also described as superb:

Quote

The pylons were positioned to give optimum delivery of weapons at subsonic speeds, but flight trials have shown that they are entirely satisfactory throughout the full speed range, both with and without stores. Thus the Lightning girded up for ground attack can in fact be used for supersonic interception. BAC were prepared to encounter some handling problems when carrying pylon-mounted 1,000lb bombs: first, they looked for buffeting which, it was thought, might affect flaps and tailplane; none was found. From this aspect, it is impossible for the pilot to tell whether or not bombs are being carried. The firm also looked for undesirable inertia-coupling effects on manoeuvrability when carrying outboard stores: again, they did not find any. Rolling inertia was, of course, increased, but the highly effective ailerons remained so and manoeuvrability is more than adequate; and external stores give a bonus in rough air—the higher mass and inertia makes for a more comfortable ride. Thirdly, BAC expected there might toe a fairly drastic trim change when carrying a bomb on one side of the aircraft only—and they were pleasantly surprised. Unexpectedly, aeroelastic effects arising from bomb carriage influenced the rolling behaviour of the aircraft so as to offset the bomb's inertia; in other words, the pilot is barely aware that he as flying an asymmetrically loaded aircraft.

 

After completion of handling trials over Warton, bomb release trials were made over the Irish sea, escorted by a photographic reconnaissance aircraft; there were no problems. Bomb-aiming trials were then done, with MoD co-operation, at the Armament Trials Base at West Freugh, and the accuracy achieved in these trials was rather better than the
design target; a test pilot untrained in ground attack was able to deliver his first four bombs within the target area. This high degree of accuracy results from the "depressed sightline" technique of bomb aiming provided by the Ferranti system incorporated in the export Lightnings. Having cleared all aspects of bomb carriage, BAC did not expect, nor did they experience, any troubles with the Matra SNEB-rocket launchers, which are about the same size as the bombs but weigh less. Handling and armament trials were completed in a very short time—and here, as with the bombs, pilots unfamiliar with these weapons were able to hit the target area on every pass. The rather odd wing-top mounting arrangement was adopted to allow clearance during undercarriage retraction.

The drag is of course increased due to these weapon mountings but BAC claimed that you could use any combination of weapons stores: for example, pilots could carry underwing bombs with overwing Matra pods and would not encounter any issues. (Or overwing bombs and underwing Matras - if that floats your boat.) Based on all this, I think the Lightning F.53 could reasonably implement a large amount of secondary loadout options befitting of a top tier aircraft.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Headnaught

[KilianL 865]

One of these could be a Squadron vehicle.it would be great  

[yoyolast 1,710]

+1 in general, looks like an interesting variant.

[THE__PWN3R 6]

I’d like to see both in all honesty, one could be after the regular lightning, paving the way for the introduction of the Tornado after that and the other could be a premium as I feel this would be somewhat more inline with the other nations supersonic premiums. The Lightning is also one of those iconic (imo) supersonic jets

[leroyonly 4,311]

As the Saudi Lightning F.53 has been implemented with update 2.17 Danger Zone,

 

Moved to Implemented Suggestions.