The Lightning was a high performance supersonic interceptor designed to defend Britain against nuclear armed bombers. In addition to the interceptors, the Lightning T.4 was the first side-by-side trainer version to be manufactured.

The trainer versions of the Lightning had wider forward fuselages to accommodate two pilots but, despite this arrangement, their performance was not significantly lower than the single seat versions.

The Lightning T.4 was the first of three training versions of the Lightning and was based on the Lightning F.1A but with the nose mounted cannon removed.

Twenty were manufactured. They were used by training and operational conversion units and one or two were usually stationed at Lightning bases for training and familiarization purposes.

This model represents Lightning T.4, XM971 of 145 Squadron (226 OCU), RAF, at Coltishall in June 1963.

Sword 1/72 kit with Trumpeter, Modeldecal and kit decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in June 2015.