During the summer of 1963, the air over Lincolnshire witnessed a contest no one would have predicted. Climbing into the sky was the English Electric Lightning, the RAF’s newest interceptor, capable of outpacing almost anything that flew. Facing it was a veteran from another world entirely—the Supermarine Spitfire, a design first sketched out in the 1930s and celebrated for its role in the Battle of Britain.
At first glance the match-up seemed almost laughable: a supersonic jet lining up against a propeller-driven veteran. But the RAF wasn’t indulging in nostalgia. The Cold War often threw together mismatched opponents, and in Southeast Asia the skies were still patrolled by aircraft that had first seen combat two decades earlier.
Richard Clements explains.
The Lightning F3 "XP702" of 11 Squadron Royal Air Force. Here landing at RAF Finningley, Yorkshire in September 1980. Source: MilborneOne, available here.
A Forgotten Conflict
The trials were born of the Indonesian Confrontation (1963–66), a low-level conflict that rarely makes it into Western history books. After the creation of Malaysia from Britain’s former colonies, President Sukarno of Indonesia launched a campaign of armed opposition. His forces probed borders, infiltrated guerrillas, and threatened regional stability.
Indonesia’s air arm in the early ’60s was a patchwork of old and new. Alongside Soviet-supplied jets were American surplus fighters, including the rugged P-51 Mustang. Outdated perhaps, but still a dangerous machine when flown well. British commanders in Singapore could not ignore the possibility that their sleek Lightnings might one day find themselves tangling at close quarters with Mustangs left over from World War II.
That prospect raised a difficult question. Could Britain’s most advanced jet actually fight a propeller-driven fighter if forced into a dogfight?
Why Use a Spitfire?
The RAF had no Mustangs available for testing. Instead, it turned to another thoroughbred—the Spitfire PR Mk XIX. This late-war variant, designed for photo reconnaissance, could reach nearly 450 miles per hour at altitude. It was among the fastest piston-engine aircraft ever built and, in many respects, a fair substitute for the Mustang.
The chosen machine was PS853, a sleek, Griffon-powered Spitfire that had served quietly in postwar duties. It was still flying operationally and would later become a prized aircraft in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. In 1963, though, it found itself pressed into a very different role: standing in as a sparring partner for the RAF’s cutting-edge interceptor.
Binbrook, 1963: A Strange Matchup
The tests were flown out of RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire, home to Lightning squadrons. The Lightning F.3 was a striking sight: twin engines stacked vertically, razor-thin swept wings, and a performance envelope unlike anything else Britain had built. Its mission was to streak toward intruders, launch its Firestreak infrared missiles, and return to base before fuel ran out.
Facing it was the Spitfire, flown by Wing Commander John Nicholls, a veteran with combat experience in Malaya. The contest was not meant as a mock dogfight for sport. It was a serious tactical trial to determine how Lightnings could handle piston fighters if war in Southeast Asia escalated.
Picture the scene: the Lightning roaring into a vertical climb, leaving a thunderous trail, while the Spitfire, engine humming, arced gracefully through tighter turns. The contrast was almost poetic—the future of airpower meeting the hero of Britain’s wartime past.
Lessons in the Sky
The results were not what most people would expect.
Overshooting: The Lightning was simply too fast. When it attempted to line up behind the Spitfire, it blasted past before the pilot could get off a shot. Trying to throttle back and stay behind a slow target was far harder than engineers or tacticians had imagined.
Turning Circle: The Spitfire could carve inside the Lightning’s turns with ease. The jet’s enormous speed and wide turning radius meant the piston fighter could cut across its path, bringing the Lightning into its own imaginary gunsight. It was a humbling demonstration: the older plane could, in theory, outmaneuver its futuristic rival.
Missile Failure: The Lightning’s prized Firestreak missiles turned out to be useless against the Spitfire. The weapon’s infrared seeker relied on heat from jet exhausts, and the Griffon piston engine produced too little for it to detect. Worse still, the Spitfire flew too slowly to generate enough friction heat for a lock. In a real combat scenario, the Lightning would have been forced to close to gun range.
Back to Cannons: The Lightning carried two 30mm Aden cannons—potent weapons but difficult to use effectively at such high speeds. To score a hit on a maneuvering Spitfire or Mustang, Lightning pilots would have needed perfect positioning and steady nerves.
The Human Factor
The Lightning had been built to rush head-on at high-flying bombers, not to chase a twisting, darting propeller plane. For John Nicholls, at the controls of the Spitfire, the outcome was hardly a surprise. His earlier combat tours had already taught him that raw speed was not the only currency in the air—sometimes the ability to turn tighter than your opponent decided who lived and who didn’t.
The Spitfire, by then nearly two decades old, was never designed for repeated high-stress maneuvering against a jet. After several sorties, PS853 began to suffer mechanical issues, including engine problems that forced an early landing. The Lightning pilots, too, found the experience frustrating. Their interceptor, brilliant at its intended role, felt clumsy when pitted against a slow-moving fighter weaving through the sky.
Broader Reflections
The early 1960s were often described as the age of the missile, with pundits insisting the dogfight was finished. The Binbrook trials told a different story. When radar and heat seekers failed, victory still came down to a pilot steadying his sights and firing a cannon. Technology could only go so far—the rest was down to human judgment and the instincts honed in the cockpit.
These obscure tests also showed that so-called “obsolete” aircraft could still pose a threat under certain conditions. A Mustang or Spitfire flown by a skilled pilot could exploit a modern jet’s weaknesses at close range.
Conclusion: Old Meets New
Watching a Spitfire and a Lightning circle one another in mock combat was more than a curiosity for the record books. It was a rare moment when two very different generations of British airpower met face to face. The Lightning came away with its weaknesses exposed; the Spitfire, long past its prime, proved it still had a few lessons to teach.
History is full of such collisions between old and new, but few are as striking as that day in 1963 when past and future shared the same patch of English sky.
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References
· Mason, Francis K. The English Electric Lightning. London: Macdonald, 1986.
· Price, Alfred. The Spitfire Story. London: Arms & Armour Press, 1982.
· Wynn, Humphrey. RAF Nuclear Deterrent Forces. London: HMSO, 1994.
· Caygill, Peter. Lightning from the Cockpit: Flying Britain’s Fastest Jet. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007.
· “Lightning vs Spitfire: Why the Iconic Mach 2 Interceptor Struggled.” The Aviation Geek Club.
· “Operation Firedog and the RAF in Malaya.” War History Online.
