Under temporary care of the NEAM, having been rescued from the famous Failsworth scrapyard near Manchester in 1981. This aircraft is now on display, partially restored, at Brooklands.

Once holder of the world speed record, set 26 September 1953. Still showing traces of its non standard light blue paint scheme. On the left of the pic is the starboard wing of Brigand RH746, in the foreground the fuselage of Provost T1 XF553 and a meteor engine intake near the nose. At the time of the photo the Unimetal scrap yard had been abandoned for many years, after the yard was cleared it became a housing estate.

This first flew on 27th May 1953 as an F.1 to F.4 conversion. On 5th July 1953 it made a record breaking flight from London to Paris in 19mins 5seconds. Shortly afterwards it broke the world absolute speed record at 737.7mph in Libya. Little is known of its service career but it displayed at Farnborough and was used by Vickers for trials. Retired on 1st January 1957 it ended up in a scrapyard near Manchester and it was by pure chance that it was found there. (Info from Thunder and Lightnings website)