| Only the RAF, of all the world's airforces, | | | | the Starfighter's limitations; in fact the |
| made the jump from subsonic to Mach Two | | | | Lightning was the world's only supersonic |
| fighter with no "Mach One plus" intermediary. | | | | pure fighter aircraft until the advent of the |
| They replaced the Hawker Hunter day fighter | | | | McDonnell Douglas F-15 and, by the time the |
| and the Gloster Javelin all-weather fighter | | | | latter flew as a prototype, the Lightning had |
| with the Mach 2 English Electric (later BAC) | | | | already been in RAF service for 12 years. |
| Lightning. The Lightning had its origin in a | | | | |
| Ministry of Supply Specification which was | | | | The Lightning had its fair share of problems |
| issued in 1947 and called for a manned | | | | - including an inadequate weapon system - but |
| supersonic research aircraft. | | | | its ability to get off the ground very |
| | | | quickly and climb to 30,000 ft in a little |
| English Electric's design, the P.1, submitted | | | | under 2 minutes were important assets in a |
| in 1949, was quickly seen to have an | | | | era when it was assumed that an east-west war |
| operational application and development of | | | | would begin with a nuclear attack on |
| the aircraft for research and military | | | | airfields, with minimum warning time. It was |
| purposes continued in parallel. The first | | | | therefore imperative to deploy an aircraft |
| P.1 prototype flew on 4 August 1954, powered | | | | with a rapid reaction time and in this |
| by two Bristol Siddeley Sapphires and three | | | | respect the (now) BAC Lightning was excellent |
| operational prototypes, designated P.1B, were | | | | |
| also built. The first of these flew on 4 | | | | With the aircraft off the ground, |
| April 1957, powered by two Rolls-Royce Avons | | | | interception was a fairly straightforward |
| and easily exceeded Mach 1.0 on its first | | | | matter, even though the main medium between |
| flight. On 25 November 1958, it became the | | | | pilot and controller was voice communication. |
| first British aircraft to reach Mach 2.0, | | | | It had always been intended that the |
| which it achieved in level flight. | | | | Lightning would be equipped with a datalink |
| | | | for the passage of data from a ground-based |
| By this time the P.1B had been given the name | | | | computer to the aircraft's auto-attack |
| Lightning and ordered into production for RAF | | | | system, but this was never fitted. In a rear |
| Fighter Command. The first production | | | | sector attack, with the Lightning's |
| Lightning F1 flew on 29 October 1959 and | | | | Firestreak missiles the target would have |
| fully combat equipped Lightnings began | | | | been well within visual range during the |
| entering RAF service in July 1960. Like the | | | | final stage, provided it was daytime, so |
| USAF's Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the | | | | there was little danger of engaging a |
| Lightning was developed as a supersonic | | | | friendly aircraft. |
| missile-armed interceptor, but it had none of | | | | |