Vincent Black Lightning Vincent Black Lightning The Vincent Black Lightning was a Vincent-HRD motorcycle first built in September 1948 at the Vincent works in Great North Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK, and produced from 1948 to 1952. The bike was a purpose-built factory modified Black Shadow that was then named and produced as the Black Lightning. At the time the Black Lightning was the fastest production motorcycle in the world. Vincent-HRD began motorcycle production in 1928 and were well established after World War II when they launched the Black Lightning. This was a production version of the Black Lightning which held the motorcycle land-speed
Black Prince (rocket) further development of the platform. The Black Prince itself has its origins in a proposed design was put forward by Desmond King-Hele and Doreen Gilmour of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) during 1957. As envisioned by this proposal, a expendable launch system could be developed using a mix of preexisting and in-development assets; the multi-stage launcher was to be formed of a Blue Streak first stage, a Black Knight (or Black Arrow) second stage, and a military solid rocket as a third stage. The proposal, which subsequently became widely known as the "Black Prince", quickly attracted the attention of a