BAC Lightning

W. E. W. Petter, of the English Electric Company, who had been responsible for design of the Canberra bomber, was to achieve another milestone for the RAF in designing its first single-seat fighter able to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. So advanced was the design - and so complex the aerodynamic problems which this design posed - that Britain's first transonic wind tunnel was built to facilitate testing. Short Brothers at Belfast were instructed by the Ministry of Supply (MoS) to build a research aircraft able to investigate aspects of Petter's design which the MoS considered more revolutionary than functional. Thus Short's S.B.5 had a wing which could investigate sweepback at 50°, 60° and 69°, landing gear which could be adjusted to cater for the CG changes in these different configurations and, at a later stage, a low-set tailplane. When both wind tunnel testing and S.B.5 confirmed that Petter's design had been right from the outset, the MoS let English Electric get on with construction of two prototypes and a static test airframe.

The first P.1A prototype flew on 4 August 1954, showing very clearly that the company had a significant aeroplane on their hands, but one which needed some further development. The three resulting P.1B prototypes had more powerful engines mounted one above the other in the rear fuselage, with the lower engine well forward of the upper; a changed nose air intake to the engines, with a centrally mounted shock cone; modified airbrakes; plain trailing-edge flaps; and an improved cockpit canopy. The first of these flew on 4 April 1957 and the production F.1 Lightning began to enter service with the Central Fighter Establishment at RAF Coltishall in December 1959.

By the spring of 1966 the fully developed F.6 was beginning to enter RAF service, proving that the RAF had indeed acquired an important aircraft. Speed was in excess of Mach 2 in level flight and the aircraft's operational ceiling was 18,290m. As far as the RAF was concerned this represented a quantum jump in performance, but it was not only the performance which was revolutionary. It was also the first RAF fighter designed as an integrated weapons system, which meant that detection of the target and positioning of the Lightning for an interception were carried out by electronic systems. Once the Ferranti fire-control radar had locked on to a target, an airborne computer ensured that steering and interception data were fed to an automatic control system which positioned the Lightning so that its missiles were locked on to the target before instructing the pilot to fire them.

F.3 (which entered RAF service in January 1964) were the major production variant. A total of 338 Lightnings were built by English Electric and the British Aircraft Corporation. These included T.4 and T.5 two-seat trainers, equivalent to the F.1A and F.3 respectively and retaining full operational capability. In addition to those which have seen RAF service, Lightnings have also been supplied to the air forces of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

3-View

A three-view drawing (1660 x 1190)