Specialty Press
English Electric Lightning: Britains First and Last Supersonic Interceptor
by  Tim McLelland
Reviewed By  Ryan Harden, IPMS #37968

[book cover image]

MSRP: $56.95
ISBN: 13: 978-1-906537-03-6
Website: www.specialtypress.com

If you're like me and the technology was possible to convert my knowledge of the EE Lighting into liquid, it would hardly fill a coffee cup. Suffice it to say, if you armed yourself with this new release from Specialty Press, your cup of English Electric knowledge would surely "runneth over "!

The 224-page 9 x 12 hardcover book greets you like a firm handshake; the publication is well bound and would surely break a window if thrown at it. The text is presented on high-quality, heavy-stock paper and a glossy jacket cover is present to protect it from errant splashes of modeling paint! That‘s if it ever gets close to the workbench. The presentation is so nice your spouse may even let you leave it on the coffee table.

[review image] [review image] Your trip though the Lightning's complex history is guided by aviation historian Tim McLelland. Tim, a modeler himself, has balanced the writing to please the aviation enthusiast and scale modeler builder alike. The entire operational history of the Lightning is recorded from the "horse-collared" intake of the early prototype, to the two-seat Lightning trainers that are still flying today (for those who can afford it!) in Cape Town South Africa.

Plenty of photos and color profiles populate the book from front to back; in fact, there are 250 color and black and white shots to please most modelers. The appendix section in the back of the book really zeros in on the scale Lightning builder with plenty of walk-around style photos, plus technical schematics and sketches are provided; the latter looking like they are right from English Electric's own factory blueprints!

Chapter and Appendix are presented as follows:

    1) "Lightning Design"
    2) "Lightning Development"
    3) "Lightning Lineage"
    4) "Lightning Flying"
    5) "Lightning Life"
    6) "Lightning Mishaps"
    7) "Lightning Twilight"
    8) (Appendix 1) "RAF Lightning Units"
    9) (Appendix 2) "Lightning Production"
    10) (Appendix 3) "Technical Data"
In conclusion, this is a clearly written history on a complex subject, and while no publication can claim the be a final or only authority on one aircraft type, this book certainly hits close to that bulls eye. In our age of instant, sterile walk-around photos available on some websites, this work still proves that nothing beats a well-written reference book on the subject.

My thanks to Specialty Press for the review sample, highly recommended.


[review image]