The cockpit in that photo is missing the hood over the radar screen, but does clearly show the strip machmeter which I believe was unique to the Lightning and is the biggest clue. Pilots had to put their head down into the hood to view the radar screen, which being of early 1950s vintage was very poor and took a lot of brain power to interpret, whilst still flying a mach 2 fighter! Needless to say, only the very very best got to fly the Lightning. For those who like raw power, the Lightning could outclimb the F15 going vertically up off the runway, and in the 1950s and 60s it could supercruise long before the F22 was invented. It had to, the spec for Lightning's supersonic performance was laid down before reheat was invented! The addition of reheat by the time the design was well advanced prior to production just upped its performance a whole new notch. Sadly the Lightning was hampered by very poor range which was dictated by our post WW2 Labour pro-Soviet government, hence later versions had ever bigger belly tanks giving the Lightning a pregnant look.

But if there were ever two aircraft in your life you had to see and hear in flight, it was the Lightning and the Vulcan. In the 1960s at air displays to see the sharp arrow shape of the Lightning come off the runway and disappear vertically atop its twin columns of fire was something else.


H