English Electric Lightningbolt jet biplane in 1/100 scale

[Brian da Basher]

As the Great War entered its fifth decade, the Royal Air Force found itself stretched to counter the threat of German jet-powered zeppelin bombers. While the R.A.F. had fielded jets for a while, none then in service were capable of combat at the altitudes the new zeppelin bombers could reach. Something had to be done and fortunately, the venerable English Electric Co. stepped into the breech with a radical new jet biplane called the Lightningbolt.









Powered by two Rolls-Royce Rave-On turbojet engines and armed with two 20 m.m. underwing Bofors cannon, two .303 machine guns over the nose and two Osprey air-to-air missiles, the Lightningbolt seemed the ideal platform to stop the Hun.









The R.A.F. ordered the new plane into production immediately as there was no time to lose if British cities were to be saved from the bombing zeppelins. Before too long, the biplane Lightningbolt became a common sight over English skies.





The Lightningbolt became famous for being flown by HRH Prince Ernest, commander of the 34th Sqn. and was used in recruiting posters which would become iconic.



With the Lightningbolt so proudly displayed and the famous quote by HRH Prince Ernest "I call on you for the situation is grave and I am in deadly earnest!" the posters caused a ten-fold increase in new R.A.F. pilots. But could the new aircraft save England?









While the Lightningbolts claimed their share of the enemy, they did not stop the air raids. Fortunately for the British, the jet zeppelins suffered from poor quality control. The ligher-than-air bombers' engines would shed their fan blades after only a few missions and fall from the sky. This was very lucky indeed as the Lightningbolt was plagued with gremlins, not the least of which was ingestion of smoke and rounds from the nose guns by the large engine intake.



The English Electric Co. was never able to really work out all the problems, and the Lightningbolt was soon retired from service and replaced with more capable aircraft.





All that remains of the Lightningbolt today is this 1/100 scale Dinky toy and reprints of those once-iconic R.A.F. recruiting posters.



Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

This all started with a couple of Tamiya 1/100 Lightnings I picked up on the cheap.



One was used to build the NASA Bell X-37 rocketplane and I was able to use the leftover wings from that project to turn this E.E. Lightning into a biplane. Besides that, the only other modifications were adding an underwing pitot tube, nose & wing guns and swapping out the kit missiles for smaller ones from the spares box.





The model was brush-painted by hand with acrylics and decals were a mix from the decal dungeon, most for an R.A.F. P-40, but the shark's mouth came from an Airfix F-86.





I hope you enjoyed my biplane Lightningbolt and reading a little forgotten, alternate history.

Brian da Basher

[apophenia]

Very next BdB  :)  And the Lightningbolt is much better looking, IMHO, than the Boltlightning triplane that eventually replaced it!

[jcf]

Very nice Brian.

Apo, sorry but I can't agree, the Boltlightning tripe, with its forward and aft swept wings and both
negative and positive stagger, was the very zenith of Empire aeroplane design in both aesthetics
and engineering.

  

[finsrin]

In spite of operational combat issues.  I understand it was a big hit at air shows with its incredible pilot mashing jet speed maneuverability made possible by virtue of biplane design.
Definitely gave pause to jet zeppelin crews to learn the Lightningbolt was operational.

Thatz one cool Lightningbolt 

[Tophe]

Very creative scenario, thanks! I had never considered the war started in 1914 could have lasted till 1968! Congratulations for pushing the limit of the subject crazily (I mean wonderfully) far...

And I love the model also, very much. So unusual!

[Buzzbomb]

Neato, very neat build with the nice biplane twist.
The concept of a 5th decade of the Great War is interesting as well.

[GTX_Admin]

Well, I never….

[raafif]

needs inter-plane struts ..... does the spatted undercarriage retract into that belly bulge (like a Mig-21) ??


Grrreat build, Brian :)

[MaxHeadroom]

WW I's 5th decade??
Jet-powered Zeppelins??
The altitude the new Zeppelin-bombers could reach??

Weired, crazy, nuts, insane, loco, mad, batty, lunatic... but GREAT!!!
Wilhelm II. died in 1941, so his son Friedrich Wilhelm would be his successor -died 1951- and the war continues until his grandson Wilhelm Friedrich (died in reality 1940 near Nivelles, France) would be the Emperor if he hadn't married Dorothea. So Louis Ferdinand would be the Kaiser in your szenario.

Cool!

Norbert

[Camthalion]

Very cool

[ericr]

bi-plane jet-plane : excellent!

I tried a variable-geometry biplane once, using two Mig23s ...

[John Howling Mouse]

Wow, only you, BdaB.  Haven't scanned all the threads yet but should I presume there is a triplane Hun equivalent?

[Brian da Basher]

Wow, only you, BdaB.  Haven't scanned all the threads yet but should I presume there is a triplane Hun equivalent?

Funny, I hadn't got to the Huns yet, but I do have plans for a Canadian equivalent.

Glad you like it. I had a lot of fun building it!

Brian da Basher

[Claymore]

Sweet with just the right degree of madness... I like it!  :)