BAC Lightning
| Lightning | |
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| Lightning F.3 on approach | |
| Role | Interceptor |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer |
English Electric British Aircraft Corporation |
| First flight | 4 August 1954 (P.1A) 4 April 1957 |
| Introduction | December 1959 |
| Retired | 1988 (RAF) |
| Primary users |
Royal Air Force Kuwait Air Force Royal Saudi Air Force |
| Number built | 337 (including prototypes) |
 Cockpit of a Lightning F.53
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Typical ejection seat of a Lightning T.4/5
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Display of weapon load-out of a Lightning
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Multiple Lightnings lined up on the ground
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The English Electric Lightning is a supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War era. It was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was subsequently absorbed by the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation. It was then marketed as the BAC Lightning. The Lightning was the only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft. The Lightning was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). Although it was the RAF's primary interceptor for more than two decades it was never required to attack another aircraft.
The Lightning is powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines in a unique staggered stacked installation in the fuselage. The Lightning was initially designed and developed as an interceptor to defend the V bomber airfields from attack by anticipated future nuclear-armed supersonic Soviet bombers such as what emerged as the Tupolev Tu-22, but it was subsequently also required to intercept other bomber aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-16, Tupolev Tu-95, and thus the Lightning has exceptional rate of climb, ceiling, and speed; pilots have described flying it as "being saddled to a skyrocket". This performance and the initially limited fuel supply made the Lightning a "fuel-critical" aircraft, meaning that its missions are dictated to a high degree by its limited range. Later developments provided greater range and speed along with aerial reconnaissance and ground-attack capability.
Following retirement in the late 1980s, many of the remaining aircraft became museum exhibits and, until 2009, three Lightnings were kept flying at "Thunder City" in Cape Town, South Africa. In September 2008, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers conferred on the Lightning its "Engineering Heritage Award" at a ceremony at BAE Systems' site at Warton Aerodrome.
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Wikipedia