The aircraft flew for 21 minutes

The aircraft took off from a site in Lancashire and was in the skies for just over 20 minutes.

The Eurofighter Typhoon was designed and built in a joint project between the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.

More than 600 are being made for the four European partner nations - creating around 14,000 jobs in the UK - more than 2,000 of which are based in the North West.

The aircraft are being assembled at sites in Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire.

Development crash

Typhoon Managing Director, Chris Boardman, said: "The first flight is a significant step towards our major goal this year - getting the aircraft into service with the Royal Air Force, where it belongs.

"It was rewarding for us all to see the aircraft fly, and to know that another 10 are advancing along the line at BAE Systems to join it."

The first one is due to be handed over to the RAF in the summer, after it has completed another series of tests.

The project suffered a setback last year, when a development craft crashed in Spain.