A view of the F53 Lightening at Dumfries & Galloway Aviation museum. This view shows the unusual arrangement of its twin engines, one on top of the other. The lightening's primary roles was as an interceptor, it had an astonishing climb rate of 20,000ft per minute and was capable of level flight speed of Mach 2. It was the RAF's first supersonic fighter. It was designed to meet incoming Soviet bombers at altitudes of up to 60,000ft. It has been claimed by some pilots to have reached over 80,000ft.
