English Electric/BAE Lightning

Bryan Philpot has completed a masterly account of the Lightning, an aircraft that, as conceived, designed and built, represented the peak of British importance as an independent producer of combat interceptors. With its outstanding performance and the roar of its afterburners, the 'Frightening', as it was nicknamed, has thrilled thousands at air shows all over the world and demonstrated qualities that, completely unrivalled during the early days of its operational career over a quarter of a century ago, remain largely unsurpassed by more recent fighters. Despite its great size, the Lightning handled beautifully and won the affection and respect of a generation of RAF fighter pilots.
The author traces in great detail the development of this aircraft and shows how, but for the short-sightedness of successive governments obsessed with the idea of missile air defence and wasteful experimental aircraft projects, the Lightning could have been a world-beater; with more resources devoted to its refinement, it could have provided a real challenge to the F-104 and perhaps the Phantom, and become the mainstay of European air defence in the 1960s


by Bryan Philpott
Published by PSL 1984 1st edition. 184pp profusely illustrated with b&w photos and drawings, index, appendix. 18x25 mint, d/j fine.






Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

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