English Electric Lightning

Template:Aircraft-jet-mil The English Electric Lightning (later the BAC Lightning) was a supersonic British fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, particularly remembered for its great speed, and its natural metal exterior that was used throughout much of its service life with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Saudi Air Force. The aircraft was a stunning performer at airshows, former holder of the world air-speed record and the first aircraft capable of supercruise. Lightning is one of the highest performance planes in formation aerobatics.

History

The prototype, known as the English Electric P.1, was built to satisfy the British Air Ministry's 1947 specification coded F23/49 and flew for the first time from RAF Boscombe Down on 4th August 1954. This specification followed the cancellation of the British Air Ministry's 1942 E.24/43 supersonic research aircraft specification which had resulted in the Miles M.52. The Lightning shared a number of innovations first planned for the Miles M.52 including the shock cone and all-flying tailplane, the latter described by Chuck Yeager as the single most significant contribution to the final success of supersonic flight.

The P.1's designer was W. E. W. Petter, formerly chief designer at Westland Aircraft.

The Lighting was specifically designed as a point defence interceptor - essentially a guided missile-armed, air superiority fighter optimised to defend mainland Britain against incoming bomber attacks. In order to reduce cross sectional area of the fuselage to improve performance the fuel capacity was highly restricted. It was armed with two 30mm ADEN cannons and two air-to-air missiles, at first the Fairey Firestreak and later the Hawker Siddeley Red Top.

A unique way of minimising the drag of the twin engine installation was put forward by Petter. This involved stacking the engines vertically (staggered to avoid too much weight aft, with the lower engine forward of the upper), effectively tucking them behind the cockpit, fed from the nose and achieving minimum frontal area. This effectively gave twice the thrust of its contemporaries for an increase in the frontal area of only 50%.

Limitations of fuel capacity dominated this aircraft's design, for unlike other fighters, its fuselage was nearly all engines and ducting, and thus could not hold much fuel. Hence all available room was adapted to the purpose of holding fuel. The flaps were even used as fuel tanks, and the landing gear had very narrow tyres that retracted outward so that there could be greater tankage inboard. This also meant that when the addition of drop tanks for greater range was considered, they could not be placed beneath the wing and so are mounted on top. When the aerodynamic principle of the area rule became standard practice, a ventral tank was added to the fuselage, so the plane could carry more fuel while being more aerodynamic.

The first operational aircraft, a Mark F.1, arrived at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk in December 1959. The fighter served initially with 74 Squadron. With time, as strategic awareness increased and a multitude of alternative fighter designs were developed by Warsaw Pact and NATO members, the Lightning's shortcomings in terms of range and firepower became increasingly apparent during the 1960s. The withdrawal of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms from Royal Navy service enabled these slower but much longer-range aircraft to be transferred to the RAF. Later the Tornado F3s also arrived to defend UK airspace. While slower and less agile than the Lightning, the Tornado carried a much larger armament load and had much more advanced avionics. Lightnings were therefore slowly phased out of service between 1974 and 1989.

In their final years of UK service all RAF Lightnings were based at RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire and many were camouflaged to make them less conspicuous when flying at low level. They tended to defend the Flamborough Head Sector of airspace above the North Sea. These later aircraft were the single seater F.3 and F.6 and the twin seat trainer variants T.4 and T.5, all constructed by British Aerospace and distinguished from earlier versions by their flat topped fins. The F.3 was first flown on 16th June 1962 and the longer-range F.6 on 16th June 1965. The versions sold to Saudi Arabia were essentially similar to the T.5 and F.6 models in UK service and this final production batch reverted to the classic natural metal external finish which lasted well in the drier Arabian climate.

Many Lightnings are conserved in museum collections where they delight visitors with their clean sleek lines, evocative of the high speeds that they once attained.

Comparison

The Lightning’s speed and climb performance was excellent not just by 1950s or 1960s standards but compared with modern operational fighters. Its initial rate of climb is 50,000 ft per minute (15 km/min). The Mirage IIIE climbed initially at 30,000 ft/min (9 km/min); the F-4 Phantom managed 32,000 ft/min (10 km/min); the MiG-21 could only manage 36,090 ft/min (11 km/min); the initial rate of the F-16A is 40,000 ft/min (12 km/min), and the Tornado F-3 43,000 ft/min (13 km/min).

Lightning XM215 at Farnborough Air Show, England, in 1964

The official ceiling was a secret amongst the general public and low security RAF documents simply stated 60,000+ ft (18,000 m), although it was well known within the RAF to be capable of much greater heights. Recently the actual operating ceiling has been made public by Brian Carroll, a former RAF Lightning pilot and ex-Lightning Chief Examiner, who reports taking an F-53 Lightning up to 87,300 feet (26,600 m) at which level "Earth curvature was visible and the sky was quite dark". In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted an American U-2 at a height which they had previously considered safe from interception. Records show that Hale climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his F3 Lightning. Hale also participated in time-to-height and acceleration trials against F-104 Starfighters from Aalborg. He reports that the Lightnings won all races easily, with the exception of the low level supersonic acceleration, which was a dead-heat.

Carroll reports in a side-by-side comparison that the F-15C Eagle is "almost as good, and climb speed was rapidly achieved. Take-off roll is between 2,000 & 3,000 feet [600 and 900 m], depending upon military or maximum afterburner-powered take-off. The Lightning was quicker off the ground, reaching 50 feet [15 m] height in a horizontal distance of 1,630 feet [500 m]".

In British Airways trials, Concorde was offered as a target to NATO fighters including F-15s, F-16s, F-14s, Mirages, F-104s - but only the Lightning managed to overtake Concorde on a stern intercept. During these trials Concorde was at 57,000 ft and travelling at Mach 2.2.

Variants

P.1A

Single-seat supersonic research aircraft.

P.1B

Single-seat operational prototypes.

F.1

Delivered in 1960
19 built
2 × Rolls-Royce Avon 200R engines
VHF Radio
2 × 30 mm ADEN cannons in nose
2 × Firestreak missiles

F.1.A

Delivered in 1961
Now the "BAC Lightning"
Avon 210R engines
Addition of in-flight refuelling probe
UHF Radio

F.2

Delivered in 1962
44 built, 2 converted before delivery.

F.3

Upgraded radar
Avon 301R engines
Clipped tailfin
Firestreak changed for Red Top missiles
ADEN cannon removed

F.3.A

Extended range, 800 miles
16 Built

F.6

Overwing fuel tanks
39 built
some F3.A's upgraded to F.6

F.2.A

31 F.2's upgraded to F.6
Avon 211R engines
Retained ADEN cannon, Firestreak weaponry of F.2
About 2 hours endurance

T.4

Two-seat side-by-side training version, built from the F.1.A.
2 prototyes and 20 production built

T.5

Two-seat side-by-side training version, built from the F.3.
22 production aircraft

Total production was 277 single-seat fighters and 52 two-seater trainers, including RAF and export aircraft.

Operators

Royal Air Force

Aerial display teams

The Tigers of No 74 Squadron. Lead RAF aerial display team from 1962 and first display team with Mach 2 aircraft.

The Firebirds of No 56 Squadron from 1963 in red and silver.

Squadrons

Bases

Saudi Arabia

Lightning F.52 : (5), Slightly modified ex-RAF F.2 single-seat fighters.
Lightining F.53 : (34), Its basically the single-seat F.6, but with pylons for bombs or unguided rocket pods (44 × 2 in (50 mm)).
Lightning T.54 : (2), Ex-RAF T.4 two-seat trainers supplied to Saudi Arabia.
Lightning T.55 : (6), Two-seat side-by-side training aircraft.

Kuwait

Lightning F.53K : (2), Single-seat fighter aircraft, almost the same as the Saudi F.53.
Lightning T.55K : (2), Two-seat side-by-side training aircraft, almost the same as the Saudi T.55.

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