Lightning F.6

Lightning F.6

Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9

Tornado F.3

Lightning F.6

Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9

Tornado F.3

Britain

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
9.3	9.3	9.7

Class:

Fighter

Jet fighter

Research:160 000

Purchase:450 000

Description

The Lightning F.6 is a rank VI British jet fighter with a battle rating of 9.3 (AB/RB) and 9.7 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 12,192 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	2,215	2,200	16000	27.9	28.2	150.7	141.4	850
Upgraded	2,386	2,290		24.4	26.0	195.3	172.0

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear	Drogue chute
X	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
1361	463	N/A	720	463	~10	~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 850	< 700	< 700	N/A

Engine performance

Engine			Aircraft mass
Engine name		Number	Basic Mass (no fuel)	Wing loading (full fuel)
Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.302		2	14,092 kg	437 kg/m2
Engine characteristics			Mass with fuel (no external load)		Max Takeoff Weight
Weight (each)	Type		5m fuel	18m fuel
1,310 kg	Afterburning axial-flow turbojet		15,353 kg	18,632 kg	19,000 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB / SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)
Condition	100%	WEP	5m fuel	18m fuel	MTOW
Stationary	5,620 kgf	7,390 kgf	0.96	0.79	0.78
Maximum	5,700 kgf	7,400 kgf	0.96	0.79	0.78

Survivability and armour

In line with its role as a high-performance interceptor aircraft the Lightning F.6 has no armoured plating or bulletproof glass, such additions would have increased the weight of the aircraft, while offering no real benefit for it's intended role.

Most of the inside of the wings (including the flaps) consists of fuel tanks, fuel is also stored in the ventral tank. The top engine is mounted above and to the rear of the bottom engine, this leaves it exposed to enemy fire; on the flip side the bottom engine is shielded from enemy fire by the top engine and wing fuel tanks, this makes is surprisingly resilient to damage, it is not uncommon for it to even continue functioning after the aircraft has been hit by a missile (although the rest of the aircraft will be well and truly broken afterwards).

The large belly tank and high wings of the Lightning mean it is able to survive belly landings very well.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Lightning F.6 is armed with:

• 2 x 30 mm ADEN cannon, mounted in bell tank (120 RPG = 240 total)

Suspended armament

The Lightning F.6 can be outfitted with the following ordenance:

• Without load
• 2 x Firestreak missiles
• 2 x Red Top missiles

Usage in battles

In combined battles, pilots of the Lightning F.6 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.

The Lightning F.6 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-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.

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-19s of all variants.

Modules

The Lightning is a difficult aircraft to use when stock. If you particularly dislike the stock ADEN cannons then you may wish to priorities the cannon upgrades, however generally it is advisable to focus on flight performance and missile upgrades. Once you gain the ability to unlock tier 2 modifications you should probably priorities the Firestreaks, they are far from the best missiles in the game, but they can be useful; after that the new boosters modification is worth getting to improve the general handling of the aircraft. For tier 3 modifications you should get the wing repair and engine upgrades (unless you really want the ADEN upgrades). For tier 4 you will probably want the Red Top missiles for all round better performance than the Firestreaks. After this you can research the rest of the upgrades according to personal preference.

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair			Offensive 30 mm
II	New boosters	Compressor	Airframe		Firestreak
III	Wings repair	Engine		New 30 mm cannons
IV	G-Suit		Cover		Red Top

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Surprisingly good turn rate between 800 - 1,000 km/h indicated airspeed (IAS)
• Red Top missiles have good seeker gimballing, high-G overload, and an all-aspect capability with radar lock-on (slaving)
• Armed with a pair of powerful ADEN cannons
• Good climb rate and acceleration

Cons:

• A large target for enemy aircraft to target
• Pulls a high angle of attack and loses speed in turns
• Below average roll rate
• Limited armament selection, shoehorned more into an air-to-air combat role
• Below-average climb rate
• Relatively low top speed (1,280 km/h IAS at sea level)

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

The Shooting Range #191 - Pages of History section at 04:56 discusses the Lightning F.6.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Lightning F.6: Saddled to a Skyrocket!
• [Forums] Aircraft Data Sheets: Lightning F.6

The English Electric Company Limited
Jet Fighters	Lightning F.6 · Lightning F.53
Jet Bombers	Canberra B Mk 2 · Canberra B (I) Mk 6
Tanks	Excelsior
	The English Electric Company allowed the Glenn L. Martin Company to license-build Canberra bombers for the United States Air Force.