Model of English Electric Lightning

A 1960s chrome plated cast brass model of a Lightning jet on original painted aluminium stand. This type of model was given to some of the first Lightning pilots upon their first completed flight in the aircraft.

Dimensions: 18.5 cm/7¼ inches (length) x 14.5 cm/5¾ inches (max. height) x 12.75 cm/5 inches (wing span).

The Lightning was the RAF's first supersonic aircraft, and is the only British designed and built plane capable of flying at speeds in excess of Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound). The aircraft was not initially used as a fighter, but was designed and built as an interceptor, before the days of intercontinental missiles, so its job was to gain height as rapidly as it could and destroy any incoming enemy aircraft armed with a nuclear bomb. It was a small, lightweight aircraft with an unprecedented power to weight ratio of nearly 1 to 1, achieved by stacking two Rolls-Royce Avon turbo jet engines one on top of the other.

The Lightning is one of the most famous planes of the Cold War period and astonishingly, was able to go supersonic vertically! This exceptional rate of climb, meant that it was capable of covering an astounding 50,000 feet per minute, being one of the only fixed wing aircraft ever built to be able to accelerate in the vertical. Pilots particularly enjoyed putting this into practice by rapidly rotating from takeoff to climb almost vertically straight off the runway.

Being initially designed as an interceptor, its high consumption and low fuel capacity was not seen to be an issue, as the expected flight time was to be measured in minutes rather than hours. If a Lightning were to have flown continuously with full afterburner, it would have been able to only stay in the air less than 10 minutes. A typical sortie was only 45 minutes long!

The Lightning F1 entered service with RAF 74 Squadron in 1960. The aircraft’s acceleration coupled with its phenomenal rate of climb contributed greatly to its effectiveness as an all weather interceptor fighter and its air defence role. The Lightning continued to be developed and went on to serve with the RAF for 28 years in a number of geographical areas officially leaving front line service on 30 April 1988.