English Electric
2 types ยท 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
Narrative coming soon.
Aircraft Types
English Electric Canberra
Britain's first jet bomber, designed by English Electric to a 1944 requirement for a Mosquito successor and first flown on 13 May 1949. The unarmed Canberra relied on speed and altitude for protection, set world records in the 1950s, and was built in Britain (901 aircraft), assembled under licence in Australia (48), and produced in the United States, much modified, as the Martin B-57. Exported to more than fifteen countries, it flew in wars from Suez to the Falklands, and the RAF's last reconnaissance Canberras retired only in 2006.
English Electric Lightning
English Electric's Mach 2 interceptor, developed from the P.1 research aircraft: the interim P.1A flew in August 1954 and the P.1B fighter prototype on 4 April 1957, with production later taken over by the British Aircraft Corporation. Its two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets were stacked one above the other in a slim fuselage, and its radar, missiles and cannon were developed as one weapon system. The Lightning equipped nine RAF frontline squadrons from 1960 to 1988, was exported to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and 337 were built including prototypes.