English Electric Lightning
Air-to-air cannon target practice in the English Electric Lightning
Ian Black explains why the Lightning was fitted with cannon and what it was like pressing the firing button
The story behind 56 Squadron's ‘Firebirds’
Equipped with nine ground-shaking English Electric Lightnings, ‘The Firebirds’ of 56 Squadron were one of the RAF’s most revered aerobatic teams of all time. Hugh Trevor recalls their halcyon days
The Last Lightning Show
RAF Binbrook’s final public salute to the service’s most dramatic jet fighter proved a virtual wash-out, but who cared?
Stormbringer: The English Electric Lightning
Blessed with power in abundance, the English Electric Lightning was the only all-British Mach 2 fighter. The revered and famously noisy jet served the UK well for almost 30 years, as Bertie Simmonds reveals
FlyPast Podcast Episode 15
This week on the FlyPast podcast, assistant editor Tara chats to three of the men who make up the team restoring English Electric Lightnings over at the Lightning Association...
Why flight testing the English Electric Lightning was such a challenge
Getting Britain’s first afterburning Mach 2 interceptor from the drawing board and into RAF service was no mean feat. Hugh Trevor describes the challenges faced by those tasked with flight testing the English Electric Lightning.
THE LIGHTNING’S LAST LAIR
When the air defence Tornado hit trouble, British Aerospace rather ironically called on a famed predecessor to help. BAe’s Warton factory airfield in Lancashire thus became the final home of flying English Electric Lightnings in the UK