Honestly, with a Lightning anything could have happened. I assume he's just taken off. Those things would drop like a brick if anything with the engines went wrong, so you're probably right in assuming it's something to do with the engines.
The only thing I do know, it's a F.1 Lightning. You can tell by the tail.
It's a must that I show him that picture. He might even know about that incident, but I'm doubtful because he joined 11 Sqn. in 1971 when they only had F.6 and F.3 Lightnings in operational units. That picture would be around 1963-5, if it's a F.1 ....which it is..it might be even earlier...but, anyway, knowing my dad he'll get really serious and go "Well...it looks to me like that Lightning is.....fuck-ed"