The Men Who Flew the English Electric Lightning

The early 1950s were a boom time for British aviation. The lessons of six years of war had been learned and much of the research into jet engines, radar and aerodynamics had begun to reach fruition. In Britain, jet engine technology led the world, while wartime developments into swept wing design in Germany and their transonic research programme were used to give western design teams a quantum leap in aircraft technology. At English Electric, Teddy Petter's design team were keen to capitalise on the success of their Canberra jet bomber and rose to the challenge of providing a high speed interceptor for the RAF. Martin Bowman describes the career of the Lightning in detail using first-hand accounts of what it was like to fly and service. Illustrated with photographs, appendices listing Lightning squadrons, production totals and individual aircraft histories, alongside an in-depth analysis into why a third of all Lightnings were lost, this book is a record of the last truly great all-British fighter.