All this prompted me to go back and look at old notes (not contemporary may I add) at the origins of the Lightning's unique shape.
Both the P.1 (F.23/49) and the Fairey FD.2 (ER.103) emerged from the 1948 Advanced Fighter Project Group at Farnborough, which was headed by Morien Morgan but influenced by the advanced aerodynamic technology found in Germany after WW2. As someone noted above, the goal was to achieve a near-certain kill against a Soviet V-bomber equivalent.
The loss of the second DH.108 had put tailless designs in bad odor, and the swept wing with separate tail, clear of the wing-wake, appeared lower-risk. However, at some point in the deliberations, it seems that the advantages of having unswept ailerons (like a delta) were appreciated.
The staggered engines (high fineness ratio, which resulted in the Lightning being easily supersonic in advance of the formulation of the Area Rule) were also apparently an RAE innovation.
The drawing on p.119 of the document linked below and the associated discussion is fascinating, because it links the P.1 to the sweetheart of all Luft1946 fans, the Focke-Wulf Ta183. The photo on p.122 of a 1951 wind-tunnel model is equally important. I am not aware of any contemporary design anywhere else in the world that was so close to a practical Mach 2+ aircraft that would also cope well with high altitudes and (with 1950s engine technology) even supercruise.
The document also suggests that the principal value of the Shorts SB.5 was to settle the RAE v.s EE catfight over the T-tail, indubitably in the right (EE) direction.
The author calls the Vulcan a similar "fusion of German theoretical work with British pragmatic technique". That observation truly makes the Typhoon the Lightning's heir.
http://www.artefactsconsortium.org/P...ank5,6WEBF.pdf