Welcome to the AALO supporters club

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AALO was founded in 1997 by Andrew Brodie, Jon Roth, Phil Wallis, and Max Waldron. Their aim was to return an English Electric Lightning T5 XS422 back to flight in America.  

In September 2023, AALO acquired XS452 (formerly c/r ZU - BBD) along with the entire Lightning spares inventory at Cape Town from Hangar 51 PTY Ltd. At the same time, AALO decided to exit the USA and is no longer involved in the restoration project of XS422.

This website is for our supporters to keep up to date with the restoration of XS452.

Between October to December 2023, a team of UK and US based AALO engineers deployed to Cape Town International Airport to dismantle XS452 and place her in to shipping containers to be exported to her final destination. Meanwhile, we currently have a full time team of employees in South Africa inventorying 9x 40ft containers of Lightning spares, still in their original OEM packaging. Our massive inventory of Lightning spares will enable AALO to undertake a complete overhaul of the aircraft. We have also acquired 8x Rolls Royce Avon 301 engines to complement AALO's existing stock held in the UK.

The engineering knowledge and experience of the AALO team (all ex-RAF) will ensure the restoration is meticulously undertaken and carried out according to the original design specifications. AALO also owns the original English Electric Lightning blue print designs for the T5 aircraft.

XS452 was last flown on 6th March 2015 at Thunder City. We believe the airframe and spares package will now meet our goals of return a Lightning back to flight by 2026.