English Electric Lightning

The English Electric Lightning is a British single-seat supersonic interceptor built around two engines mounted one above the other in a slim fuselage, entering Royal Air Force service in 1960 as the United Kingdom's primary home-defense fighter during the Cold War. Capable of exceptionally rapid climbs to intercept high-flying bombers and of sustained flight beyond Mach 2, it was designed and built almost entirely in Britain at a time when many allied air forces were adopting American designs, and it remained in RAF service into the late 1980s as one of the most distinctive interceptors of its generation.