Gloster Gladiators biplanes were in front line combat in 1940 successfully defending Malta.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/british-bipla...

The Royal Navy also used biplanes, the Fairey Swordfish were used extensively through WW2, including sinking the Bismarck.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/the-fairey...

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000163

And we came out of the war with nuclear bombs and were on the verge of [sustained level] supersonic flight with projects such as the Miles M.52

https://museumofberkshireaviation.co.uk/html/exhibits/m52.ht...

Roy Chadwick was responsible for designing the Avro Aldershot (massive biplane, first flew 1924), Lancaster (1941) and the initial stages of the Vulcan (1952, he never saw it fly). Then in 1947, barely two months after Chadwick was killed in an accident, Chuck Yeager goes through the sound barrier. That's a hell of a rate of change!

Literally from sticks and canvas to jets in a few decades.