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Before the storm
Back in 2017 when I first started making 1:1, detail-oriented replicas my first ever creation was the English Electric Lightning. I spent a disproportionate amount of time tweaking it’s funky flight characteristics, it’s weird fuselage shape and many minor details.
What came out of that attempt seemed like a great success to me - KSP never really seemed like a game which would lend itself well to creating high-fidelity replicas before. Building replicas in KSP is one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in any game - the constant fight with the limited part shapes pushes your creativity to the limit - and after the craft looks the part getting it to fly and perform on a satisfactory level is a whole different challenge.
After 2.5 years of developing replicas and new building techniques - by myself and by learning from the incredible community of KSP players I’ve decided to push myself further and put everything I’ve learned into a single craft. This decision came after a few-month hiatus so I wasn’t really sure if it would work out - especially considering the amount of features I wanted to pump into it.
Well, here it is: my most detailed and feature-packed replica to date - The English Electric Lightning F.6, take two.
Details
- Type: SPH
- Class: aircraft
- Part Count: 729
- Pure Stock
Features
- Custom flaps
- Custom airbrakes
- Fully detailed cockpit
- Moving flight stick
- Moving rudder pedals
- Moving throttle
- Ejection seat
- Moving canopy
- Engine failure simulation
Action Groups
AG1: Toggle reheat
AG2: Open/close canopy
AG3: Toggle flaps
AG4: Toggle airbrake
AG5: Toggle brake parachute
AG9: Simulate engine failure
AG0: Eject the pilot
Flight Manual
1. Flight characteristics overview
The Lightning is a very big, supersonic fighter so it shouldn’t be suprising that the handling below 700km/h is rather sluggish. With 60 degree wing sweep it only really comes into it’s own territory above 800km/h where it’s high AoA allows it to attain great turnrates in excess of 10G sustained.
It should probably be flown with a joystick since the natural instability of this plane will make it rather twitchy to control at high mach numbers where too much AoA may cause this plane to enter a deep stall and a hard to recover spin (especially at higher altitudes). The top speed measured on the clean version (without stores) was 770m/s. The missile armed version should attain similar performance due to proportionally increased engine power clearance for wartime flights.
2. Pre-flight
Before starting the engines make sure the throttle is in neutral position as the engine will spin up faster than a regular Panther. If you are planning to fly above 10km or above M1.0 (342m/s ASL) make sure to equip your pilot with a helmet as low pressure / aerodynamic heating will kill him otherwise.
On startup the engine will be in reheat by default, feel free to switch to dry mode (AG1). At very low speeds be careful not to increase the throttle too sharply as this may result in a compressor stall.
3. Takeoff
If needed apply takeoff flaps (AG3), make sure to close the canopy before flight (AG2) and retract the airbrakes (AG4). Optimal takeoff speed sits at around 400km/h, watch out for the nose-heavy behavior at low speeds and apply positive pitch trim if need be.
4. Flight
The Lightning can be pushed as hard as you want, but be aware that the speed will bleed very heavily in particularly high AoA turns due to the high wing area. Be gentle on the turns and keep your speed within the optimal envelope of 800km/h - 1200km/h for maneuvers and the Lightning will happily throw itself into hard turns with little input needed.
The most dangerous quirk of the Lightning is it’s high AoA instability - if you encounter rapid yaw oscillations when pitching down hard immediately let go of the controls and only apply roll to maintain wing-level attitude. When pitching up this may be harder to correct since after you pass ~35 degree AoA the plane may already be in a deep stall. If you enter a flat spin below 1800m of altitude eject immediately as the plane may not have enough altitude to stabilize itself and regain enough speed for recovery. If you have sufficient altitude let go of the controls and let the plane stabilize itself - apply 50% throttle or less (ideally the engine shouldn’t stall out) to make this process faster.
5. Landing
The Lightning is rather tricky to land due to it’s unexpectedly high landing speed and sluggish handling below 700km/h. Ideally you should touch down somewhere around 100m/s, but no less than 90m/s since at high fuel loads it may be hard to abort approach if you drop below it. Stall speed sits at around 75m/s depending on the fuel load. You can apply flaps and airbrake for the landing. Take great care not to clip your belly fuel tank on landing as your ground clearance is rather low at high fuel loads.
History
Within 10 years of the World War 2 ending in Europe the Cold War was in full swing. The looming danger of Soviet nuclear-capable strategic bombers could be felt all across Europe and it soon became clear that if a strike did come the time window to react would be short - far too short for the early 1st gen jets to react.
The British had a history of building world-class interceptors - the mighty Spitfire’s sole task was to take off and reach the altitude of incoming bombers within minutes of the first faint dot appearing on a radar. Had it not excelled in this task the British Isles may have fell under the German offensive, and with the Western Front conquered the outcome of the war may have been radically different.
In 1954 the first prototype of the Lightning - The P1.A took flight. It was unconventional to say the least. A massive frontal intake fed air into two Rolls Royce Avon jet engines in a unique vertically-stacked configuration. The second prototype - P1.B introduced the trademark elements of the Lightning as we know it - the conical front intake and a distinctive ventral fuel tank to extend it’s extremely short legs.
After extremely satisfactory performance during testing and breaking a few world records in time-to-climb categories it was cleared to enter production. Before the end of 1959 first Lightning F.1 airframes entered service with interceptor squadrons.
The Lightning F.6 is the final development version of the Lightning. Compared to earlier variants it featured an extended ventral fuel tank, a detachable probe under the right wing to allow mid-air refueling, a redesigned wing and vertical stabilizer as well as multiple avionics upgrades which allowed it to use the newly developed Red Top missile.
While the Lightning never saw usage outside of the UK it achieved a legendary status in the aviation history. It’s unbridled performance is impressive to this day, and while surface to air missiles quickly rendered it redundant in it’s designed role it stands as a monument to an age long gone - the golden age of jet development where the pilot was in complete control of his airplane and raw performance was the key to superiority.
This is a version with 2 Red Top missile models without the ferry tanks. I also have a clean version and a version with the overwing tanks which I will release alongside this one if you guys want.
