Lightning F.6 - Revision history

U38088265: Reverted edits by U171321283 (talk) to last revision by U42858531

2024-11-16T10:17:19Z

Reverted edits by U171321283 (talk) to last revision by U42858531

U171321283: /* General info */

2024-11-08T20:33:28Z

‎General info

U42858531: /* See also */ added Lightning Family on see also

2024-04-14T04:31:42Z

‎See also: added Lightning Family on see also

U42858531: /* External links */

2024-04-14T04:27:38Z

‎External links

U42858531: /* External links */ add podcast about aircraft of RAF museum

2024-04-14T04:26:50Z

‎External links: add podcast about aircraft of RAF museum

U8128791: /* Description */ Spelling corected

2024-02-17T11:30:43Z

‎Description: Spelling corected

U49074766: technicality

2024-01-29T22:28:10Z

technicality

U38088265: /* Description */

2023-05-28T17:23:03Z

‎Description

U44629479: Edits

2023-05-04T20:59:42Z

Edits

U132382093: /* Pros and cons */ added a con which i've heard frequently

2023-05-04T12:34:30Z

‎Pros and cons: added a con which i've heard frequently

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 ! Upgraded
-| 2,353 || 2,300
+| 2,353 || 2,290 || 24.4 || 26.0 || 177.8 || 150.0
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 ! Upgraded
-| 2,353 || 2,290 || 24.4 || 26.0 || 177.8 || 150.0
+| 2,353 || 2,300
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 * ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.'' -->
 * [[Phantom FG. Mk1|Phantom FG.1]]
 * [[Phantom FGR.2]]

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 * [[wt:en/news/6615-development-lightning-f-6-saddled-to-a-skyrocket-en|[Devblog] Lightning F.6: Saddled to a Skyrocket!]]
 * [https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/479190-lightning-f6/ [Forums<nowiki>]</nowiki> Aircraft Data Sheets: Lightning F.6]
-* [https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/about-us/media-vault/podcasts/cold-war-lectures-english-electric-lightning-evo/ Cold War Lectures: English Electric Lightning: Evolution of the Concept of the All-Weather Fighter]
+* [https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/about-us/media-vault/podcasts/cold-war-lectures-english-electric-lightning-evo/ Cold War Lectures RAF museum podcast: English Electric Lightning: Evolution of the Concept of the All-Weather Fighter]
 ===References===

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 * [[wt:en/news/6615-development-lightning-f-6-saddled-to-a-skyrocket-en|[Devblog] Lightning F.6: Saddled to a Skyrocket!]]
 * [https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/479190-lightning-f6/ [Forums<nowiki>]</nowiki> Aircraft Data Sheets: Lightning F.6]
 ===References===

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 Development of the English Electric Lightning began in the late 1940s, following the cancellation of the Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft program. It was designed as a high performance interceptor aircraft, to defend against Soviet bombers, with its unique stacked dual engine design. The Lightning F.6, entering service in December 1965, was the final production variant, and featured an enlarged ventral fuel tank, a new wing design, and reintroduction of the 30 mm ADEN cannons. The Lightning served as the RAF's primary interceptor throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, and was gradually phased out of service in the late 1980s, being replaced by the McDonnell Douglas [[Phantom FGR.2]].
-Introduced in [[Update 1.97 "Viking Fury"]], the Lightning is a very distinctive aircraft, with its unique stacked engine design, highly swept wings, and large ventral fuel tank. It has decent acceleration, climb rate, and top speed; and can carry two Firestreak or Red Top missiles. While its missiles are not the best in the game they are still powerful weapons, although the limited quantity does require you to chose your shots carefully.
+Introduced in [[Update 1.97 "Viking Fury"]], the Lightning is a very distinctive aircraft, with its unique stacked engine design, highly swept wings, and large ventral fuel tank. It has decent acceleration, climb rate, and top speed; and can carry two Firestreak or Red Top missiles. While its missiles are not the best in the game they are still powerful weapons, although the limited quantity does require you to choose your shots carefully.
 == General info ==

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 <!-- ''Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.'' -->
-The Lightning F.6 possesses good acceleration and climb performance, although arguably not as good as late model MiG-21s, and some [[F-4 Phantom II (Family)|Phantoms]]. The Lightning's two powerful Avon 302 engines do however give it the unique capability of being able to supercruise (fly supersonic without afterburner) at all altitudes, something no other aircraft in the game can do. At sea level the Lightning can supercruise at Mach 1.03, with this generally increasing with altitude (for example at 5,000 m it can supercruise at Mach 1.07). The Lightning has a lower listed wing rip speed than other top tier jets such as MiG-21s and [[F-4 Phantom II (Family)|F-4 Phantoms]], however it due to its powerful engines it is capable of reaching (and exceeding) this speed in level flight, even with a full missile armament. This means that the Lightning is actually faster than many of its competitors in a low altitude chase situation, being able to reach Mach 1.08 safely at sea level and Mach 1.10 if you want to push it (structural failure tends to occur at this speed so be careful); Mach 1.14 can be safely reached at 1,000 m. Enemy aircraft can still catch you if they are coming out of a dive, but a surprising number will not be able to keep up in a prolonged chase with a Lightning. Supercruise can be used to give the Lightning longer endurance than other top tier jets, without having to sacrifice speed.
+The Lightning F.6 possesses good acceleration and climb performance, although arguably not as good as late model MiG-21s, and some [[F-4 Phantom II (Family)|Phantoms]]. The Lightning's two powerful Avon 302 engines do however give it the unique capability of being able to supercruise (fly supersonic without afterburner) at all altitudes, something very few other aircraft in the game can do. At sea level the Lightning can supercruise at Mach 1.03, with this generally increasing with altitude (for example at 5,000 m it can supercruise at Mach 1.07). The Lightning has a lower listed wing rip speed than other top tier jets such as MiG-21s and [[F-4 Phantom II (Family)|F-4 Phantoms]], however it due to its powerful engines it is capable of reaching (and exceeding) this speed in level flight, even with a full missile armament. This means that the Lightning is actually faster than many of its competitors in a low altitude chase situation, being able to reach Mach 1.08 safely at sea level and Mach 1.10 if you want to push it (structural failure tends to occur at this speed so be careful); Mach 1.14 can be safely reached at 1,000 m. Enemy aircraft can still catch you if they are coming out of a dive, but a surprising number will not be able to keep up in a prolonged chase with a Lightning. Supercruise can be used to give the Lightning longer endurance than other top tier jets, without having to sacrifice speed.
 In real life the Lightning's optimal climb profile was to accelerate to 450 knots (833 km/h) and then enter a climb, adjusting the climb angle to maintaining 450 kts / Mach 0.87 (whichever is lower)<ref name="LightningF6ODM" />, and this method works well in game however a simpler approach can just be to accelerate to a reasonably high speed (around 1,000 km/h and enter a 30 degree climb). The Lightning is not a particularly manoeuvrable aircraft, however it can turn fairly well when at high subsonic speed and lower altitude, turning off the afterburner can also improve turning performance in some situations. The roll rate varies with speed and altitude, but is generally nothing special (bar a few speed / altitude combinations, where it rolls surprisingly well).

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 == Description ==
 <!-- ''In the description, the first part should be about the history of and the creation and combat usage of the aircraft, as well as its key features. In the second part, tell the reader about the aircraft in the game. Insert a screenshot of the vehicle, so that if the novice player does not remember the vehicle by name, he will immediately understand what kind of vehicle the article is talking about.'' -->
-The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} British jet fighter {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update 1.97 "Viking Fury"]].
+Development of the English Electric Lightning began in the late 1940s, following the cancellation of the Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft program. It was designed as a high performance interceptor aircraft, to defend against Soviet bombers, with its unique stacked dual engine design. The Lightning F.6, entering service in December 1965, was the final production variant, and featured an enlarged ventral fuel tank, a new wing design, and reintroduction of the 30 mm ADEN cannons. The Lightning served as the RAF's primary interceptor throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, and was gradually phased out of service in the late 1980s, being replaced by the McDonnell Douglas [[Phantom FGR.2]].
-The Lightning is a very distinctive aircraft, with its unique stacked engine design, highly swept wings, and large ventral fuel tank. It was designed as a high performance interceptor aircraft, to defend against Soviet bombers, sacrificing range and flexibility for raw performance. With most of the fuselage taken up by the two powerful Rolls-Royce Avon engines, fuel had to be put wherever it could fit inside the wings (including inside the flaps), and in a large ventral fuel tank fitted to the underside of the aircraft. Another factor adding to the Lightning's unique appearance is the fitment of two air-to-air missiles to the sides of the forward fuselage.
+Introduced in [[Update 1.97 "Viking Fury"]], the Lightning is a very distinctive aircraft, with its unique stacked engine design, highly swept wings, and large ventral fuel tank. It has decent acceleration, climb rate, and top speed; and can carry two Firestreak or Red Top missiles. While its missiles are not the best in the game they are still powerful weapons, although the limited quantity does require you to chose your shots carefully.
 == General info ==

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 In combined battles, pilots of the {{PAGENAME}} may find themselves unable to deal much damage against ground vehicles, especially without the use of rockets, anti-tank missiles, or bombs. As such, this fighter is better suited to dealing with enemy air targets such as helicopters, which are plentiful at the Lightning's battle rating.
-Although it faces challenges there, air realistic battles are where the Lightning truly belongs.  The F.6 is able to use its Red Top missiles to dispatch enemies from a distance.  Best practice with the missiles is to fire when there is about a 1.5 km gap between the F.6 and the enemy aircraft.  This gap gives the missile time to lock on its target and track the enemy.  One downside to the Red Tops is that they are not particularly fast compared to other missiles at its tier and may have trouble manoeuvring to catch an enemy aircraft travelling at top speed.
+Although it faces challenges there, air realistic battles are where the Lightning truly belongs. The F.6 is able to use its Red Top missiles to dispatch enemies from a distance. Best practice with the missiles is to fire when there is about a 1.5 km gap between the F.6 and the enemy aircraft. This gap gives the missile time to lock on its target and track the enemy. One downside to the Red Tops is that they are not particularly fast compared to other missiles at its tier and may have trouble manoeuvring to catch an enemy aircraft travelling at top speed.
-The {{PAGENAME}} handles well at subsonic speeds, although dogfights at those speeds are not common at this battle rating.  Flying slowly leaves the pilot vulnerable to nearby enemies.  Among those enemies may be the [[MiG-21 F-13]], which the Lightning can often out-dogfight and the [[F-4 Phantom II (Family)|F-4C]], which the Lightning has an extremely difficult time trying to out-dogfight.  The Lightning just doesn't have the energy retention that the Phantom does.
+The {{PAGENAME}} handles well at subsonic speeds, although dogfights at those speeds are not common at this battle rating. Flying slowly leaves the pilot vulnerable to nearby enemies. Among those enemies may be the [[MiG-21 F-13]], which the Lightning can often out-dogfight and the [[F-4 Phantom II (Family)|F-4C]], which the Lightning has an extremely difficult time trying to out-dogfight. The Lightning just doesn't have the energy retention that the Phantom does.
-Keeping this in mind, it is advised that pilots use this plane as part of a team, rather than as an attempted solo carry.  It is recommended that they climb to higher altitude early on in the match and by gaining as much energy as possible before dumping it in dogfight manoeuvres.
+Keeping this in mind, it is advised that pilots use this plane as part of a team, rather than as an attempted solo carry. It is recommended that they climb to higher altitude early on in the match and by gaining as much energy as possible before dumping it in dogfight manoeuvres.
 Enemy planes that the Lightning F.6 is well-suited to take on in a fight are the [[Mitsubishi T-2]], the [[F-100D]], and the [[MiG-19 (Family)|Mig-19s]] of all variants.
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 * Vulnerable to itself
-** Can rip wings and avionics easily at 1360 km/h IAS
+** Can rip wings and avionics easily at 1,360 km/h IAS
 ** Very high fuel consumption when using afterburner
 * Awkward cannon handling
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 * Lack of versatility
 ** No strike ordnance
-*Incredibly vulnerable to infrared guided missiles as a result of having two very hot engines
+* Engines run very hot and are therefore incredibly vulnerable to infrared-guided missiles
 == History ==