Manufacturer: British Aircraft Corp. (English Electric)

Model: P.26

Name: VG Lightning

Type: Swing-wing jet fighter

Date: 1964

Status: Operational

Country: UK, Germany

Service: RAF, Luftwaffe

Designation: Lightning F.12, Lightning

The Lightning VG was done in response to a request by trekaddict for a "variable geometry BAe Lightning in German markings."

Needless to say, there has never been a VG (swing wing) variant of that aircraft, but apparently this must have been considered at some point since he provided the small black and white image (above left) as a starting point.

I picked a flying picture of a Lightning whose angle seemed right for my work; one particular aspect in favor of that picture was that it featured few visible markings to remove and offered a cool angle to display the swing-wing feature.

The really tough part here was not in applying the various Luftwaffe markings, it was actually in recreating swing wings for the aircraft in an angle that would be believable. I realize now that I didn't quite follow the example since I shaped the wing tips somewhat differently from trekaddict's initial image, but I think the image is effective nonetheless.

• Excellent work on the VG Lightning! (Weaver)
• That Frightning is stunning (nev)
• High quality! (dy031101)
• Weird (lanath)
• *Shamelessly steals picture* Yes, very much what I had in mind. Mind if I repost that somewhere else? (trekaddict)

Of course I don't! Just leave the copyright on it and make a link to this gallery if you can...

The project of a VG Lightning seems to have existed in real life, so I guess it is a perfectly believable project. Looking at the image in retrospect, I have a feeling that I didn't give it enough wing area, though, but again it might just be an optical effect.