ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING The ultimate version of the F.6 RAF’s stop-gap jet would become its longest-serving fighter aircraft
Based on a late 1940s requirement for an experimental supersonic testbed, the Lightning was first ordered for the RAF in 1956 as a stop-gap measure until a much more advanced aircraft could be developed. However the infamous Sandys Defence White Paper of 1957 stopped almost all new aircraft development, and greater investment was instead focused on the Lightning. In 1960 the F.1 entered service, followed rapidly by the F.2 (1962), F.3 (1964) and finally the ultimate version, the F.6, in 1965. The F.6 fixed many of the problems of the earlier versions, particularly regarding armament and
