English Electric Lightning, Britain's Last supersonic interceptor

DH-040 is a 140 page book on the English Electric Lightning, the last British-built supersonic interceptor. A jet flown by only the 1% best fighter pilots at its time, the Lightning is an icon. It was the only aircraft that was able to intercept Concorde during a test flight in April of 1985. Considering that the passenger jet flew at a speed of Mach 2.2 and an altitude of 57,000 feet, it was quite an accomplishment. Even more so when you know that many other jets tried the same and failed: legendary aircraft such as the F-104 Starfighter, F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, Mirage III and F-16 Fighting Falcon.

This book is filled with action ànd detail, from fuselage, cockpit, landing gear, wings and tail section. An extensive maintenance section is included, of course.

In this book the last British supersonic interceptor is shown in action and in detail. As usual we show the aircraft from all sides, including the cockpit, and an extensive chapter on maintenance, but we also bring a lot of action photos from when the aircraft was still operational. Lightnings that are still kept in almost perfect condition today and new restoration projects are also discussed.