Top 10: British Fighter Aircraft

Great Britain has produced some of the most potent - and often beautiful - fighter aircraft ever flown.

The pivotal moment in the story of the British fighter aircraft was the Battle of Britain in 1940 when the Royal Air Force valiantly deterred the marauding Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany.

Narrowing this list down to down to 10 was hard, and given a further ten, I would have loved to have included the Gloster Gladiator (304 victories despite its obsolescence) and the most successful Fleet Air Arm fighter of the second world war, the Fairey Fulmar, a mediocre machine that achieved incredible things. Many more deserve a mention, like the S.E.5 from the first world war.  We're not including international joint-ventures like the Eurofighter Typhoon. Here are ten superb British fighter aircraft:

10: Hawker Hunter

Loved for its great beauty and almost idiot-proof handling, the Hawker Hunter proved immensely popular with pilots and the public alike. Designed by the great Sydney Camm, creator of the Hawker Hurricane, the Hunter was a transonic fighter-bomber that entered service in 1954.

A year before it entered service, it made headlines. On 7 September 1953, a bright red shiny Hunter piloted by Neville Duke snatched the world air speed from the Americans, reaching a cool 727mph (1,171km/h) over the English South coast. The record would stand for nineteen days.

The Hunter was an export success, with orders from twenty-one countries worldwide, from Abu Dhabi to Sweden and Zimbabwe. The type proved capable in combat, seeing service in several air forces but mostly notably in Indian Air Force hands during the Indo-Pakistan Wars, where it tangled with MiGs and Sabres.

A total of 1972 Hunters were made, and the type served for a long time, only retiring from the Swiss Air Force in 1994. Incredibly, in 2008, the Lebanese Armed Force reintroduced the aircraft to frontline duties, the ancient warrior finally being retired in 2014, sixty-three years after it had first flown in 1951.

9: English Electric Lightning

The English Electric Lightning was an ultra-high-performance interceptor fighter. Famous for its scorching climb rate, high top speed and good manoeuvrability, the Lightning was in many ways the best fighter in the world when it entered service in 1960.

The Lightning is unconventional in its use of stacked engines - usually, twin jet engines are side-by-side if mounted in the fuselage. The Lightning was the only operational aircraft to adopt this configuration, though the French did test fly a ‘stacked twin’, the Grognard ground attack aircraft of 1950.

Another novel feature was its sharply swept-back wings with ailerons on the wingtips. The Lightning was also famous for its thirst, and had very limited endurance if not air-refuelled. The Lightning could reach extremely high altitudes, and speeds comfortably in excess of Mach 2, if not for very long.

The Lightning is included in this list for both its astonishing performance at the top of service entry, but also its importance as a deterrent during the Cold War. The Lightning was retired from Royal Air Force service in 1988.

8: British Aerospace Sea Harrier

Britain’s Harrier was the first operational vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter-bomber, when it joined the Royal Air Force in 1969. This helicopter-like magic is achieved through the steering of the thrust of its Rolls-Royce (originally Bristol Siddeley) Pegasus engine through four swivelling nozzles.

Thanks to the Harrier’s VTOL abilities, when the UK opted out of large aircraft carriers, this did not rule out fast jets. The Harrier was given a radar, a raised cockpit and adapted for naval use, resulting in the Sea Harrier, which first flew on 20 August 1978.

When Argentina occupied the Falkland Islands in 1982, the United Kingdom responded with a naval task force with two light aircraft carriers equipped with Sea Harriers. The Sea Harriers, despite their relatively modest top speed, basic radar and limited armament load, proved formidable in air-to-air combat.

They racked up 20 air-to-air victories for no air-to-air losses in the war (though several were lost to both groundfire and accidents), becoming the most successful British fighter (in British hands) of the post-war period, a title it still holds today. Following the Falklands War, the Sea Harriers were upgraded to FA2 standard with the excellent Blue Vixen radar and potent AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided missiles.

7: Sopwith Camel

The magnificent Camel biplane was the greatest fighter of Britain and her allies in the First World War. Downing more aircraft than any other of the conflict - a total of 1294 - the Camel is undoubtedly worthy of inclusion. Startlingly, all of these were made in only slightly over a year and a half.

No other fighter type of the war comes close to the Camel’s score. The Camel had twice the firepower of the aircraft it replaced, and was exceptionally manoeuvrable. But it was far from viceless and had a ferocious reputation, perhaps worse than any peer, for killing student pilots.

The torque of the rotary engine, some 375 lb (170 kg) spinning at the same speed as the propeller, meant the Camel turned right at an unbelievable speed – it may well have been the most manoeuvrable fighter of all time, with the possible exception of the Bat Bantam; though how it would fare against a thrust vectoring MiG-29 is an interesting thought experiment…

Because of its formidable achievements and the difficulty of mastering it, the Camel, and its exceptionally skilled pilots, enjoyed a glamorous mystique. Pilots darkly joked that the Camel offered the choice of a ‘wooden cross, the Red Cross or a Victoria Cross’.

6: Hawker Sea Fury

To represent the pinnacle of piston-engined fighters we could consider the ultimate members of the Thunderbolt or Mustang family, we could also look at the final Spitfires, but the true answer is likely the British Sea Fury (with the US Bearcat a joint first).

Hawker’s long, painful journey to develop a heavy single-engined fighter saw a great deal of time, expense and human lives expended on the formidable but flawed Typhoon, problematic Tornado, and brilliant Tempest. What became the Sea Fury started as an attempt to make a smaller, lighter fighter based on the Tempest.

Further refining the Tempest created the masterly Fury and Sea Fury. Outrageously fast and powerful, with massive firepower, but with sweet, forgiving handling, here was a triumphant finale to Hawker’s piston fighters. A total of 864 Sea Furies were made.

The Sea Fury succeeded in downing at least one MiG-15 jet fighter in the Korean War. In the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cuban Sea Furies shot down two CIA-operated B-26s. The aircraft served with the air arms of several nations: Australia, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, West Germany, Iraq, Netherlands, and Pakistan.

5: Gloster Meteor

The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter, and the world’s second. It first flew on 5 March 1943, mere months after the German Me 262 had first flown with jet engines (18 July 1942). The first operational RAF squadron of Meteors was assembled in some secrecy.

On 12 July 1944, 616 Squadron became the first RAF squadron to receive the Gloster Meteor Mk.I. The first Meteor operational sortie was a mere two weeks later, attempting to intercept German V-1 cruise missiles. The first two V-1 kills were made on 4 August, and Meteors would go on to destroying 14 V-1s in total.

The Meteor arrived too early to benefit from the wealth of aerodynamical research seized from the yet-to-be-defeated Germans, most notably the swept wing. In 1947, the swept-wing F-86 arrived on the scene, and the Meteor was utterly outclassed. Illustrating just how quickly the rate of aircraft development was in this time, it should be noted that in the preceding year the Meteor had achieved absolute world speed records.

Between 1950 and 1955, at some of the most dangerous times of the Cold War, the Meteor F8 provided the backbone of Britain’s air defence capability. RAF Meteors served in every war that Britain took part in this time (apart from Korea) and saw a great deal of action in the 1950s.

4: Bristol Beaufighter

Few successful fighters are developed from bombers, but the Beaufighter (and another aircraft we will meet further up this list) is a notable exception. Based on the Type 152 Beaufort reconnaissance and torpedo bomber, the Beaufighter was a twin-engined fighter that emphasised firepower and flexibility over speed.

Featuring four 20mm cannons, soon supplemented with six Browning .303 (7.7mm) machine guns in the wings and a generous amount of ammunition, the Beaufighter proved itself an excellent machine. Importantly, it was able to carry the latest technology in the form of the Air Interception radar.

The Beaufighter was the best Allied night fighter until the advent of the Mosquito and operated at the time when the Luftwaffe was most active against the British Isles. It was also adapted as an anti-shipping aircraft, a role in which it excelled. It is likely that the Beaufighter scored more aerial victories than is commonly quoted, and a figure of 965 is credible, a remarkable contribution.

For a British aircraft, it was surprisingly easy to escape from in an emergency. Both crew had a large entry hatch in the fuselage floor. When opened it also served as a windbreak. The pilot simply lowered the rear of his seat and could then just drop out backwards, while the observer rotated his seat to the rear and could leap straight down and out.

3: de Havilland Mosquito

The Mosquito was conceived as a bomber that spurned defensive guns in favour of speed. By being as light and fast as possible it could outrun hostile fighters. Key to the Mosquito’s speed was its use of lightweight materials, slick aerodynamics and masses of power from its two Merlin engines.

The use of wood in the construction of the Mosquito made it extremely light, as well as lightening the nation’s burden to source strategically vital aluminium. Thanks to its clever design, the Mosquito also had a relatively small ‘wetted area’, the amount of its surface that meets the air, minimising its drag.

The Mosquito was extremely good at every role that was asked of it, but we shall try to confine ourselves to its fighter role here. As a night fighter, the Mosquito was most outstanding, with a formidable combination of speed, situational awareness (thanks to its radar) and firepower.

We initially believed the Mosquito had around 830 aerial victories (more than often quoted), but with the benefit of further information, we think now that even this was too low and it is likely that the Mosquito’s aerial victories exceed the Beaufighter’s, making it the third most deadly British aircraft ever made.

2: Hawker Hurricane

The first monoplane fighter operated by Britain’s Royal Air Force, and its first capable of 300mph (483km/h), the Hurricane was the RAF’s entry into the generation of aircraft that would soon decide the fate of nations. The Hurricane first flew in 1935 and was built on the experience gained on Hawker’s word-beating series of biplanes.

When Britain was threatened with invasion by Germany, Hurricane pilots, proved heroic and the type scored more air-to-air kills than the Spitfire. Across the war, RAF Hurricanes claimed 4540 victories. The Hurricane was used by other air forces, notably the Soviet Union, who preferred it to the Spitfire, which was found too fussy for Eastern Front conditions.

The Hurricane was easier to build and repair than the Spitfire, and some believe more survivable if hit by enemy fire (though this is a complex claim). The Hurricane proved versatile, and it took to the night fighter and ground attack role with some success, and it also proved formidable in the ‘tank-busting’ role. 

The Hurricane combined a sound airframe with the outstanding Merlin engine to create a solid fighter. Most importantly, it was there in numbers right when it was most needed. It was the most common fighter by some margin during the Battle of Britain and scored the bulk of aerial victories in this critical fight. 14,487 Hurricanes were built, making it second only to the Spitfire in the British list of numbers built.

1: Supermarine Spitfire

You knew what was coming in at the number one slot, and it certainly deserves its place. Beautiful, formidable and without question massively significant to the defeat of Germany, the Supermarine Spitfire deserves its fame. The Spitfire was the marriage of the world’s best engine to a superb airframe.

The rather petite Spitfire prototype K5054 of 1936, with its Merlin C 990 hp V12 engine, was far from the hulking monsters of 1945, with well over 2000 horsepower, which also held the family name. The Spitfire is the British (and non-US or Soviet) aircraft produced in the most significant number, with 22,685 airframes.