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Originally posted by waynos
Then again, it says the RAF's first Lightning was the EE Lightning of 1960, the BBC being apparently unaware that the RAF christened the Lockheed P-38 as the Lightning, a name that stuck on both sides of the Atlantic, during WW2, so hopefully they have that wrong too.
Originally posted by waynos
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
Yes I know, but that's not what the linked article said and those three aircraft were actually delivered to and taken on by the RAF.
Maybe I was over critical of the article as a plane buff that first saw the Lockheed Lightning in Putnams 'Aircaft of the Royal Air Force Since 1918' almost 40 years ago.
But they were still wrong
.
Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
I don't know what you mean by "taken on" - that they had serial numbers is not important - all a/c in service have to have a serial number.
And, I repeat, they were not put into service - which is a specific operational state that they never achieved - indeed at least one of them for example had no armament.
No - I think you are wrong because you do not understand what the difference between operating and being "in service" is.
the P-38 Lightning was never "in service" with the RAF, therefore the EEC Lightning was the first aircraft in service with the RAF with the Lightning name.