English Electric Lightning, The British Cold War supersonic interceptor and jet fighter capable of unrivaled performance and capability.
A unique feature of the design was its vertically staggered engine configuration of two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets, housed within the fuselage. The aircraft was initially conceived as an interceptor, designed to defend airfields housing Britain's V Force of bombers, comprised of the Avro Vulcan, Handley Page Victor, and the Vickers Valiant. It was thought that during the Cold War of the 1960's these could be vulnerable to attack from the air in any future nuclear conflict.
Petter’s initial design was for an aircraft capable of Mach 1.5 and he determined that as a consequence a conventional 40° swept wing would be required. A proposal was submitted in November 1948, and after the project was provisionally accepted by English Electric, it was given the designation P.1 in January 1949.
On 29th March 1949, the Ministry of Supply granted their approval for work to begin on a more detailed design, as well as the creation of wind tunnel models and a full-size mock-up. The design developed at quite a pace and in the latter part of 1949, the target speed was broadened to Mach 2. This meant that in Petter's opinion, the required wing sweep needed to be increased to 60° with the ailerons moved to the wingtips. Low-speed wind tunnel tests showed vortex issues would be generated by the wing, creating a large downwash on the tailplane. This was quickly resolved by lowering the height of the tailplane.
The project suffered a major blow, however, when Petter suddenly resigned in December 1949 after his demands for greater autonomy for his Lightning Design Team were not met. Freddie Page took over as Design Team Leader for the English Electric P.1, for which the Ministry of Supply had issued Specification F23/49 and subsequently expanded the scope of ER103, to include fighter-level maneuvering.
On 1st April 1950, English Electric then received an official contract for two flying and one static airframe.
The aerodynamicists at the government-led Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) were deeply skeptical of swept wing concepts and so Short Brothers in Belfast were contracted to produce the Short SB.5. Built between 1950 - 52, the Short SB.5 was to prove the design of both the wing and the tailplane and to fully assess overall flight handling. It was effectively a low-speed highly unorthodox, adjustable wing research aircraft, designed so that different wing sweep angles could be tested by a single aircraft. After testing a range of wing and tail configurations, on 2nd December 1952, it was agreed that Petter's 60-degree wing sweep specification was indeed the most effective.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 55 ft 3 in (16.84 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)
Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m2)
Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel
Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two Red Top missiles, cannon, ammunition, and internal fue
Max takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines, 12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)
Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)
Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius
Ferry range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) internal fuel; 1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external tanks
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)
Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)
Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m) Zoom climb 50,000 ft/min
Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m2) F.6 with Red Top missiles and 1/2 fuel
Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)
Armament
Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon
Hardpoints: 2 × forward fuselage, 2 × overwing pylon stations, with provisions to carry combinations of:
Missiles: 2× de Havilland Firestreak or 2 × Red Top (missile) on the fuselage
Other: 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 L) ferry tanks on wings
#lightning #Aircraft #interceptor