The Lightning was a high performance supersonic interceptor designed to defend Britain against nuclear armed bombers. In addition to the interceptors, the Lightning T.5 was the second 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.5 was the second of three training versions of the Lightning and was based on the Lightning F.3.

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.

They remained in service until the mid 1980s when Lightnings were withdrawn from service.

This model represents Lightning T.5, XS452 of the Akrotiri Station Flight at Cyprus in 1975.

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