English Electric Lightning - Survivor ZF586 (ex 53-688)
F.53 ZF586 - Flugausstellung P. Junior Museum, Hermeskeil, Germany
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Lightning F.53 ZF586 at Hermeskeil, 8th August 2025; Jake Wallace
53-688 was first flown on 12th July 1968 and delivered to Jeddah on 17th April 1969.
She served with 6 Squadron, the LCU, and 2 Squadron and was one of several ex-Saudi aircraft bought back by BAe and flown back to Warton (as ZF586) in January 1986. The aircraft was stored on the airfield for some years, when it became clear there were no real buyers on the horizon, they sold them off for nominal fees, and this one, along with several others, was purchased by Wensley Haydon-Baillie. With his bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, the collection ended up at Marine Salvage near Portsmouth.
ZF586 was one of five F.53 cockpits selected to star in the 1999 movie Wing Commander, where the cockpit was cut in half horizontally and was reportedly moved to Pinewood Studios in Iver, although some of the cockpits were also reportedly moved to Luxembourg for filming - not all that far from Hermeskeil!
ZF586 seems to have recently appeared at the Flugausstellung P. Junior Museum in Hermeskeil, where it has been restored and placed on display inside one of their buildings. Its sister ship, ZF585, is also at Hermeskeil, although in a much worse state and not on public display.
She served with 6 Squadron, the LCU, and 2 Squadron and was one of several ex-Saudi aircraft bought back by BAe and flown back to Warton (as ZF586) in January 1986. The aircraft was stored on the airfield for some years, when it became clear there were no real buyers on the horizon, they sold them off for nominal fees, and this one, along with several others, was purchased by Wensley Haydon-Baillie. With his bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, the collection ended up at Marine Salvage near Portsmouth.
ZF586 was one of five F.53 cockpits selected to star in the 1999 movie Wing Commander, where the cockpit was cut in half horizontally and was reportedly moved to Pinewood Studios in Iver, although some of the cockpits were also reportedly moved to Luxembourg for filming - not all that far from Hermeskeil!
ZF586 seems to have recently appeared at the Flugausstellung P. Junior Museum in Hermeskeil, where it has been restored and placed on display inside one of their buildings. Its sister ship, ZF585, is also at Hermeskeil, although in a much worse state and not on public display.
Information on this page current as of 19/08/2025, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of ZF586 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net