Tony Clay describes the Lightning F.3 and its time with the RAF’s famous ‘Tigers’, 74 Squadron
Sqn Ldr Bill Maish rotating in his F.3 XP753 at Leuchars.
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Three silver jets streaked at high speed down the centreline of the runway before each broke high into the circuit, lowered their undercarriages and prepared to land at Mehrabad Airport, Tehran. The commander of 74 ‘Tiger’ Squadron, Sqn Ldr Bill Maish, had just led a flight of three of the RAF’s newest version of its Lightning interceptor, the F.3, in a display in front of the Shah on his 46th birthday – October 17, 1965.
