To review the history of the Lightning, one must completely forget present day aviation tactics and requirements and go back to the thinking of the early and mid fifties. As Britain began its reconstruction period after the Second World Wan it was only natural that lessons learnt from that conflict would be on the agenda for future defence svstems that had to be created. The de Havilland Vampire's adaptability for further development was seriously curtailed by the nature of its own design. Faring slightly better was the Gloster Meteor, but it had to be the advent of the Hawker Hunter that provided the RAF with a quantum leap forward, Jet propulsion was progressing at a fast pace, and a race for speed and more speed, began. The fighter concept had always been written around the ability of an aircraft to hit fast and run, and contemporary aircraft designers agreed that a fighter depended solely on its speed and agility for survival Political thinking, however, was going down a different path, to the extent of playing down the need for manned high-speed flight. Too much faith was being put on unmanned missile systems, and some hasty decisions taken at that time resulted in near-tragic consequences for the British aviation industry.
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