Roland Beamont was the test pilot of the Canberra and the ill-fated TSR2 but his name is most associated with the Lightning.

When the Lightning was phased out of RAF service in 1988, Roly ("Bee") Beamont gave a long interview to BBC journalist Mike Curtis.

He recalled the first time he ever flew - in an Avro 504, the Lightning`s maiden flight, the political doubts and technical challenges that dogged its development, its Farnborough debut, the excitement of the sound barrier and the exhilaration of delivering the jet to RAF pilots.

This half hour programme - first broadcast on BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 1988 - follows the story of one of the most famous military aircraft ever built, from its designer`s dream to a deserted RAF Binbrook - last home of what Roly Beamont called "the finest aeroplane he had ever flown".

Bee's last Lightning mission was a high speed taxy sortie at Bruntingthorpe in the LPG's Lightning F MK 6 XR 728 ("JS") in June 1990.

Roland Beamont CBE, DSO*, DFC*, DL, FRAeS   died on 19 Nov 2001.

The recording of this interview was generously donated by Mike Curtis in 2003 to the Lightning Preservation Group, Bruntingthorpe. All proceeds from sales will go towards the fund for the re-erection of the RAF Wattisham "QRA" sheds at Bruntingthorpe airfield. These QRA sheds will serve as a hangar and permanent museum for the 2 LPG owned F MK 6 Lightnings XR 728 & XS 904

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