English Electric Lightning (9781906537036) aviation

English Electric Lightning (0781906537036)

English Electric Lightning: Britain's First and Last Supersonic Interceptor - Hardcover, 224 pages. October 15, 2009 Pre-owned in very good condition. Book dedicated to aviation artist Tiro Vorster on the inside cover page
by Tim Mclelland (Author)
The English Electric Lightning was a triumph of post-war aviation technology. Developed and manufactured during years of national austerity, the Lightning was Britain's answer to a growing threat from beyond the Iron Curtain where the Soviets were busy creating a sizeable force of supersonic bombers, all of which had the capacity to reach and destroy targets in the United Kingdom. Having emerged from the hard lessons of World War 2, the Royal Air Force was faced with a completely new threat and a drastically different era of capability and technology. The days of lumbering piston-engine bombers and fighters were over and the jet age had truly arrived. However, jet technology was in its infancy, as was the aerodynamic knowledge which was badly needed in order to take advantage of projected increases in power and speed, therefore it is all the more remarkable, that while the RAF was consolidating its defensive capability around the almost pedestrian types such as the Meteor and Vampire, attention was being shifted to a new jet interceptor which would be capable of achieving supersonic speeds in level flight. The result was an aircraft which could more than comfortably meet this aim and the RAF was ultimately blessed with what was undoubtedly one of the finest fighter aircraft ever built. Capable of staggering altitude performance and with a top speed in excess of twice the speed of sound, the Lightning was an outstanding aircraft.