Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Crown - Elizabeth II English Electric Lightning
| Issuer | Gibraltar |
|---|---|
| Year | 2008 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 28.28 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Two detailed relief depictions of the English Electric Lightning supersonic interceptor aircraft occupy the central field: a plan view showing the aircraft in level flight in the upper portion, and a dynamic three-quarter perspective view of the aircraft in a steep climbing attitude in the lower portion. The aircraft name ENGLISH-ELECTRIC LIGHTNING is inscribed in two lines within the inner circle between the two renderings. The outer legend HISTORY OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE arcs along the upper periphery, with ONE CROWN along the lower periphery, separated by two small circular ornaments at either side. A raised inner border ring separates the central device from the outer legend. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | HISTORY OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE ENGLISH-ELECTRIC LIGHTNING ONE CROWN |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Gibraltar has issued commemorative crowns prolifically since the 1970s, targeting the collector market with a breadth of subjects that has little to do with the territory's own history. The English Electric Lightning falls squarely into that category — an aircraft that never operated from Gibraltar but was the RAF's primary interceptor from the late 1950s through the 1980s, the only British-designed aircraft capable of exceeding Mach 2 in level flight.
The Lightning's unusual stacked-engine configuration, with one Rolls-Royce Avon mounted directly above the other, was a direct consequence of early aerodynamic research conducted at Warton under W.E.W. Petter.