Only the RAF, of all the world's airforces, made the jump from subsonic to Mach Two fighter with no "Mach One plus" intermediary. They replaced the Hawker Hunter day fighter and the Gloster Javelin all-weather fighter with the Mach 2 English Electric (later BAC) Lightning. The Lightning had its origin in a Ministry of Supply Specification which was issued in 1947 and called for a manned supersonic research aircraft.

English Electric's design, the P.1, submitted in 1949, was quickly seen to have an operational application and development of the aircraft for research and military purposes continued in parallel. The first P.1 prototype flew on 4 August 1954, powered by two Bristol Siddeley Sapphires and three operational prototypes, designated P.1B, were also built. The first of these flew on 4 April 1957, powered by two Rolls-Royce Avons and easily exceeded Mach 1.0 on its first flight. On 25 November 1958, it became the first British aircraft to reach Mach 2.0, which it achieved in level flight.

By this time the P.1B had been given the name Lightning and ordered into production for RAF Fighter Command. The first production Lightning F1 flew on 29 October 1959 and fully combat equipped Lightnings began entering RAF service in July 1960. Like the USAF's Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the Lightning was developed as a supersonic missile-armed interceptor, but it had none of the Starfighter's limitations; in fact the Lightning was the world's only supersonic pure fighter aircraft until the advent of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 and, by the time the latter flew as a prototype, the Lightning had already been in RAF service for 12 years.

The Lightning had its fair share of problems - including an inadequate weapon system - but its ability to get off the ground very quickly and climb to 30,000 ft in a little under 2 minutes were important assets in a era when it was assumed that an east-west war would begin with a nuclear attack on airfields, with minimum warning time. It was therefore imperative to deploy an aircraft with a rapid reaction time and in this respect the (now) BAC Lightning was excellent

With the aircraft off the ground, interception was a fairly straightforward matter, even though the main medium between pilot and controller was voice communication. It had always been intended that the Lightning would be equipped with a datalink for the passage of data from a ground-based computer to the aircraft's auto-attack system, but this was never fitted. In a rear sector attack, with the Lightning's Firestreak missiles the target would have been well within visual range during the final stage, provided it was daytime, so there was little danger of engaging a friendly aircraft.

The Lightning was constantly improved during its career, culminating in the F6 version. This had a revised wing leading edge designed to reduce subsonic drag and improve range and was fitted with a large ventral fuel pack with more than double the capacity of earlier packs. The first Lightning F6 entered service in 1965. It was the last jet fighter of purely British design and it was to serve the RAF well in the front line of NATO's air defenses until it eventually was retired in 1976.

The BAC Lightning F6 was a single-seat fighter with a powerplant of two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets. Its maximum speed was Mach 2.3 (1500 mph.) Empty it weighed 28,000 lbs but its maximum takeoff weight was 50,000 lbs. The wingspan was 34ft 10in, the length was 55ft 3in and the height was 19ft 7in. Its armament consisted of two Firestreak or Red Top AAMs and two 30mm Aden guns in a ventral pack.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Aviation Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell