Hall, Richard Lighning

From Inception to Preservation

The English Electric/BAC Lightning, a product of the once-thriving British aviation industry, is arguably the most legendary single-seat interceptor ever built. Those who remember its arrow-shaped design as it shot into the sky are happy to tell anyone who will listen stories about its incredible performance, its deafening afterburners and its almost vertical climbs. The Lightning was advanced for its time and required significant investment and research to bring it from the drawing board into active service as an effective fighting machine. Significant progress was made in the early years after the contract was awarded but all of that would have been for naught when the 1957 Defence White Paper declared that manned aircraft had had their day. The design was saved only by its advanced stage of development; as is so often the case in aviation, turbulence is to be expected. But despite all the obstacles, the Lightning prevailed and became one of Britain's most admired and respected high-speed aircraft. Lightning: From Inception to Preservation guides the reader through the political events that threatened its development, its groundbreaking design, its service career and many other aspects of its extraordinary history, and is a comprehensive study of Britain's first and only truly indigenous supersonic jet-powered interceptor.