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The Lightning was like no other aircraft! Britain's one and only supersonic fighter, this Mach Two interceptor was raw power personified. Its two Rolls Royce Avon jet engines mounted one on top of the other, gave this stunning aircraft a 50,000 feet-per-minute initial climb rate, out-performing the French Mirage, the American Phantom and F-16 Falcon, the Russian MiG-21, and even its successor, the BAC Tornado - all introduced well after the Lightning's introduction into front line service in 1960. Anyone who witnessed a Lightning take-off sequence will never forget the awesome sight and deafening sound of this veritable rocket-ship leaping off the end of the runway into a near vertical climb.
First flown by English Electric's chief test pilot "Bee" Beamont in August 1954, the revolutionary swept-wing P.l. Lightning immediately demonstrated its speed by going supersonic on only its third flight - managing to knife through the sound barrier without the use of reheat! Entering service first with 74 Squadron, and later 56 and Treble One Squadrons, the new supersonic fighter's task was to intercept the marauding long-range bombers of the Soviet Air Force during the height of the Cold War. Though the Lightning never fired its weapons in anger, its superb interception capability became a major deterrent against the communist insurgents.
The Lightning quickly became a star of the Air Show circuit, the pilots of 74, and later 56 Squadrons performing a nine ship aerobatic team called the Tigers, impressing the crowds all over Europe. Singleton display pilots flew with the constant concern of "accidentally" slipping through the sound barrier, such was the massive power and sheer brute force of this aggressive looking fighter.
Gerald Coulson's dramatic painting A Bolt for the Blue, published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Lightning, captures the very essence of this formidable fighter. Seen climbing out of RAF Wattisham, a Lightning F.3 of Treble One Squadron scambles to intercept an unidentified intruder plotted on the RAF's early warning radar. Almost certainly it will be Russian, probably he will be escorted out of harms way, but the interceptor is armed with a pair of air-to-air missiles just in case. A superb collector print for all who remember one of the greatest British fighters ever built.
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