This Lightning was delivered in 1963 to the Air Fighting Development Squadron (AFDS) at RAF Birnbrook. Some 3 yrs later, after having flown only 277 hours, she was returned to Warton for upgrade to F.2A standard, after which she was delivered to 19 Squadron at RAF Guttersloh. After the Lightnings in West Germany were replaced by F-4s, XN726 was trucked to Shoreburyness for use as a target in armament testing. Fortunately the nose was saved prior to the remains of the airframe being scrapped.