Released today, here's a quick look at Just Flight's shiny new English Electric Lightning F6. Us Limeys will be pleased to see this making an appearance in FSX, as this is one of the iconic Cold War interceptors of the RAF and probably the best interceptor of its era.

 

Designed as a point defence interceptor specifically to combat the Tu-95 nuclear bombers of the Warsaw Pact, the Lightning was absolutely insanely fast. Famous for its airshow party trick of going ballistically vertical immediately after take off, then whizzing up to 36,000 feet in less than a minute, the Lightning was the first Mach 2 aircraft capable of supercruising at such high speeds.

 

I was looking forward to this one so much that I pre-ordered it, and it hasn't disappointed me. Just Flight's incarnation does the real aircraft proud, being both hard yet fun to fly. Most of the systems on the real aircraft are simulated, including the quirky alchohol starting system, the VC being almost entirely 'clickable'.

 

One of the prototypes of this aircraft is in the Manchester Air and Space Museum just up the road from me, so I see that thing fairly often, and you really have to stand up close to a Lightning to get an idea of how massive the things are, thus it is great fun to finally be able to fling this big, mad, exciting aeroplane about in FSX, as it seems like welcoming an old friend back. If you feel the need for speed, this one is really going to float your boat.

 

Some piccies below.

 

Al

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neat aircraft. Loud aircraft. How would you personally describe the sound suite?

 

Thanks for the words, as always! Definitely one of the neatest interceptors ever, in my opinion.

It is great all round, I think they've done a fabulous job on this one, well worth the price of entry at 20 quid. Bloody tricky to land it in IFR though, ironically I was testing it in real world weather at Woodford just before posting those pics, and guess what, there was lightning flashing all over the place, since it has been lagging it down with rain here for most of the day - I know, because I was outside getting soaked whilst working on another 1960s icon - my Morris Minor! Must be my day for Brit classics and classic Brit weather.

 

Al

Have been flying this for the last hour or so. It's very good, far better than I expected. I really like the lag when the engines spool up or down. Must read the manual now.

 

I can tell already that I'll be spending a lot of time in this!

 

 

Mike

Thanks for the quick first impressions Al. I had this pre-ordered too, downloaded this morning but haven't had the chance to install it yet.

 

I've been waiting for a proper FSX Lightning for years now. I'm a huge fan of the aircraft, collecting books, magazines etc. I've even got no less than 10 Lightning model kits in my collection waiting to be built!

 

Now if anyone from Just Flight is reading this can we please please PLEASE get a VC10?

Awesome!

 

Have never been the slightest bit interested in buying any of the FSX fighter jets on offer - but I will make an exception for this beauty.

 

Takes me back to reading Jan Mark's "Thunder and Lightenings", buying my first airfix and generally going through a Lightning "phase" when I was just a wee slip of a lad.

 

Remember seeing them fly over a few times - what a wonderful racket.

I also have bought this aircraft for FSX and I am really looking forward to the delivery of my boxed version. I have lots of memories of the Lightning aircraft as I was stationed at RAF Support Unit Tengah in 1970/71 and on the base were 74 squadron Lightnings. I was there the day they flew out of Tengah for the last time and one aircraft flew along the line of the road and then just stood on his tail and disappeared in a matter of seconds. The Lightning was a fantastic aircraft - I suppose the nearest we have to this today is the Typhoon.

The fact that I was able to do this, without afterburners, at this frame rate, with FRAPS running, is one of the reasons why this Lightning is cool:

 

 

Al

^^^^

 

Exhilarating stuff Chock!

 

Any chance we could see that routine over KSEA?

 

:LMAO:

 

 

I am about to click "buy" on this one now for sure.

My 3 most memorable memories of the lightning are of seeing the demise of XP753, seeing a FireStreak get accidently launched, and of being 'buzzed' by a pair of lightnings about 30'-60' overhead while stood on a cliff top (close enough to feel the exhaust).

 

Good times.

 

I don't know if I'll end up buying this, I'm not really one for military planes in FSX, I have a few but they're all freeware or give-aways (like JT's BoB hurricane). But the lightning holds a special place for me, alongside the vulcans, as aircraft that I grew up surrounded by - not from a military family, just that the lightnings and vulcans spent a lot of time training (mostly against RAF Staxton Wold) in the vale of pickering, and I suspect that some of the non-training lightnings were heading out for Tu95s.

 

If I was a fan of military aircraft in FSX though, this would most certainly be a must buy.

A few thoughts from me:

 

I really like the VC, it's really good to see JF have taken on board the comments about their recent releases and have roughed up the VC textures to make it feel more lived in and less factory fresh.

 

I like the sounds!

 

The ADI textures become quite stretched and distorted when going through the vertical, enough to make the ADI pretty much useless as a reference.

 

I've noticed at times the Mach strip on the combined airspeed/Mach meter extends out of the left hand side of the intrument.

 

The aircraft is overpowered at low altitude. I can quite easily reach 1,400 KIAS down on the deck, which is quite impossible! I understand it's incredibly hard to recreate a flight model within MSFS for an aircraft with such a wide performance envelope as the Lightning.

 

Below 300 knots the aircraft is very sensitive and unstable in the roll axis. Funnily enough exactly the same was true in the Lightnings Thirdwire created for the Strike Fighters 2 series. I don't ever remember reading this was a characteristic of the real aircraft.

 

VERY frame rate friendly :)

 

Good effort all round, it's great to have my all time favourite aircraft in FSX at last! Now when are we getting a VC10?

Yup, I'd agree with what you list there, although more important for me than it nailing things exactly (like I'd know anyway, never having flown one, and never likely to either), is that it does a cracking job of catching the spirit of the thing, and as you say, the FPS is very good indeed as evidenced by that vid I posted. I think JF have done a really good job with this one myself.

 

Now, back to denting up the textures on their DC-6 for me LOL, nearly finished that incidentally if anyone was interested:

 

 

Al

 

 

Now, back to denting up the textures on their DC-6 for me LOL, nearly finished that incidentally if anyone was interested:

 

 

 

Al

 

Looking good Chock!

 

...don't suppose you would be turning your eye to the VC afterwards as well? That is in serious need of a bit of scuffing up too IMHO...

 

:)

Yeah, I was a dit disappointed with the super-clean look of the JF DC-6's cockpit, although pleasantly surprised with the depth of functionality it has. I could live with the JF Connie, Comet and Viscount looking like new, since they are pure trips down memory lane and not in service anywhere, but stuff like the DC-6 still flew with backwater operators until very recently, so it kind of suits it to look a bit battered if we are to have repaints of that nature, or at least give us a neat VC and a battered one.

 

This is in fact touches on my own personal main gripe with Captain Sim actually, in that they bash up their classic Boeing cockpits to look like something salvaged from a boneyard, but then release the aircraft with airline paint jobs from when the thing was new for the most part, which always seems rather incongruous to me; I suspect a BOAC 707 cockpit would not likely look in the condition the CS 707 VC is.

 

Anyway, I might have a look at the JF DC-6 VC and see what is involved in adding some wear and tear, but one has to consider whether that particular game will be worth the candle when PMDG have a DC-6 variant on the way too, since a VC transplant would likely be possible.

 

Al

Hello

 

Looking on Amazon it says the DVD they are selling uses Platform Windows 7 and Vista . Is this DVD flyable with XP

 

TIA