Vincent Black Shadow Vincent Black Shadow Motorcycles produced by Vincent H·R·D at their factory in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England were renowned for their design innovation, engineering excellence and high performance. Already advertising their existing 110 mph Rapide machine as ‘The world’s fastest production motorcycle’, in February 1948 the distinctive Vincent Black Shadow was announced with a top speed of 125 mph. Built in three different Series over the course of its life, the line continued until 1955, after which the company stopped all motorcycle production. The Black Shadow uses a version of the air-cooled four-stroke 50° V-twin engine that powers the Vincent Rapide. Bore
Black Prince (rocket) to be inefficient and difficult because of the large differences in the diameters of the 3 metre (10 ft) wide Blue Streak and the metre-wide (3 ft) Black Knight. Fitting satellites into a three-foot payload fairing could also have been a challenge. Nevertheless, these difficulties were also encountered with successful American rockets including the Thor and Atlas. Black Prince (rocket) Black Prince was a proposed British-led satellite expendable launch system. It would have made heavy use of the preceding Blue Streak missile and the Black Knight test rocket development programmes, as well as some new elements, to produce a British-built