https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning
The English Electric Lightning is a supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War
era. It was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was
subsequently absorbed by the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation. It was
then marketed as the BAC Lightning. The Lightning was the only all-British Mach
2 fighter aircraft. The Lightning was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the
Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). Although it was the RAF's primary interceptor for
more than two decades it was never required to attack another aircraft.
The Lightning is powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines in a unique
staggered stacked installation in the fuselage. The Lightning was developed to
intercept increasingly capable bomber aircraft (Tupolev Tu-16, Tupolev Tu-22,
Tupolev Tu-95), and thus has exceptional rate of climb, ceiling, and speed;
pilots have described flying it as "being saddled to a skyrocket". This
performance made the Lightning a "fuel-critical" aircraft, meaning that its
missions are dictated to a high degree by its limited range. Later developments
provided greater range and speed along with aerial reconnaissance and
ground-attack capability.
Following retirement in the late 1980s, many of the remaining aircraft became
museum exhibits and, until 2010, three Lightnings were kept flying at "Thunder
City" in Cape Town, South Africa. In September 2008, the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers conferred on the Lightning its "Engineering Heritage Award"
at a ceremony at BAE Systems' site at Warton Aerodrome.
The Lightning had several distinctive design features, the principal of these
being the twin engine arrangement, notched delta wing, and low-mounted
tailplane. The vertically stacked and longitudinally staggered engines were the
solution devised by Petter to meet the conflicting requirements of minimizing
frontal area, providing undisturbed engine airflow across a wide speed range,
and packaging two engines to provide sufficient thrust to meet performance
goals. The unusual over/under configuration allowed for the thrust of two
engines, with the drag equivalent to only 1.5 engines mounted side-by-side, a
reduction in drag of 25% over more conventional twin engine installations. The
engines were fed by a single nose inlet (with inlet cone), with the flow split
vertically aft of the cockpit, and the nozzles tightly stacked, effectively
tucking one engine behind the cockpit. The result was a low frontal area, an
efficient inlet, and excellent single-engine handling with no problems of
asymmetrical thrust. However, because the engines were close together, an
uncontained failure of one engine was likely to damage the other engine. If
desired, an engine could be shut down in flight and the remaining engine run at
a more efficient power setting which increased range or endurance; although this
was rarely done operationally because there would be no hydraulic power if the
remaining engine failed.
"Lightning, was designed...as an intercepter fighter. As such, it has probably
March 1968.
The Lightning possessed a remarkable climb rate. It was famous for its ability
to rapidly rotate from takeoff to climb almost vertically from the runway,
though this did not yield the best time-to-altitude. The Lightning's trademark
tail-stand manoeuvre exchanged airspeed for altitude; it could slow to
profile required the use of afterburners during takeoff. Immediately after
takeoff, the nose would be lowered for rapid acceleration to 430 knots (800
km/h) IAS before initiating a climb, stabilising at 450 knots (830 km/h). This
would yield a constant climb rate of approximately 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s).
Around 13,000 ft (4,000 m) the Lightning would reach Mach 0.87 (1,009 km/h) and
maintain this speed until reaching the tropopause, 36,000 ft (11,000 m) on a
standard day. If climbing further, pilots would accelerate to supersonic speed
at the tropopause before resuming the climb. A Lightning flying at optimum climb
profile would reach 36,000 ft (11,000 m) in under three minutes.
Role
Interceptor
National origin
United Kingdom
Manufacturer
English Electric
British Aircraft Corporation
First flight
4 August 1954 (P.1A)
4 April 1957
Introduction
December 1959
Retired
1988 (RAF)
Primary users
Royal Air Force
Kuwait Air Force
Royal Saudi Air Force
Number built
337 (including prototypes)
The first aircraft to enter service with the RAF, three pre-production P.1Bs,
arrived at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk on 23 December 1959, joining the Air
Fighting Development Squadron (AFDS) of the Central Fighter Establishment, where
they were used to clear the Lightning for entry into service. The production
Lightning F.1 entered service with the AFDS in May 1960, allowing the unit to
take part in the air defence exercise "Yeoman" later that month. The Lightning
F.1 entered frontline squadron service with 74 Squadron under the command of
Squadron Leader John "Johnny" Howe at Coltishall from 11 July 1960. The
aircraft's radar and missiles proved to be effective and pilots reported that
the Lightning was easy to fly. However, in the first few months of operation the
aircraft's serviceability was extremely poor. This was due to the complexity of
the aircraft systems and shortages of spares and ground support equipment. Even
when the Lightning was not grounded by technical faults, the RAF initially
struggled to get more than 20 flying hours per aircraft per month compared with
the 40 flying hours that English Electric believed could be achieved with proper
support. In spite of these concerns, within six months of the Lightning entering
service, 74 Squadron was able to achieve 100 flying hours per aircraft.
During the 1960s, as strategic awareness increased and a multitude of
alternative fighter designs were developed by Warsaw Pact and NATO members, the
Lightning's range and firepower shortcomings became increasingly apparent. The
transfer of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs from Royal Navy service enabled
these much longer-ranged aircraft to be added to the RAF's interceptor force
alongside those withdrawn from Germany as they were replaced by SEPECAT Jaguars
in the ground attack role. The Lightning's direct replacement was the Tornado
F3s, an interceptor variant of the Panavia Tornado. The Tornado featured several
advantages over the Lightning, including a far larger weapons load and
considerably more advanced avionics. Lightnings were slowly phased out of
service between 1974 and 1988. In their final years the airframes required
considerable maintenance to keep them airworthy due to the sheer number of
accumulated flight hours.
Specifications (Lightning F.6)
General characteristics
Crew: one
Length: 55 ft 3 in (16.8 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.6 m)
Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)
lbf (55.74 kN) each
Thrust with afterburner: 16,000 lbf (71.17 kN) each
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 2.0 (1,300 mph, 2,100 km/h) at 36,000 ft. 700 KIAS at lower
altitude
Range: 850 mi (1,370 km) Supersonic intercept radius: 155 mi (250 km)
Ferry range: 920 mi (800 NM, 1,660 km) 1,270 mi (1,100 NM, 2,040 km) with ferry
tanks
Service ceiling: 54,000 ft (16,000 m) zoom ceiling >70,000 ft
Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s)
Thrust/weight: 0.78
Armament
pylon stations for 260 gal ferry tanks and provisions to carry combinations of:
*
|
|