Forty simultaneous, submicrosecond time‐resolved measurements of triggered lightning returnstroke current (I), current derivative (dI/dt), and electric field derivative (dE/dt) were made in Florida and France in 1985 and 1986. Peak currents ranged from about 5 to 50 kA, peakdI/dtamplitudes from 60 to 260 kA/μs in 1985 and from 20 to 140 kA/μs in 1986. The mean peakdI/dtvalues, 111 kA/μs (1985) and 68 kA/μs (1986), are 2–3 times higher than data from instrumented towers, and peakIanddI/dtappear to be positively correlated. ThedE/dtanddI/dtwaveform pairs have similar shapes, and the peak amplitudes are linearly proportional. Return‐stroke velocity, computed from the ratio of peakdE/dtanddI/dtsignal amplitudes using an expression derived from the radiation field term of the transmission line model (TLM), averaged 2.9×108m/s and 3.0×108m/s in 1985 and 1986, respectively, which is about 2 times higher than most optical measurements. The TLM velocity may be erroneous because (1) thedE/dtmeasurement was made only 50 m from the lightning channel, where fields other than the radiation field component, that is near fields, may contribute to the totaldE/dtand (2) fine structure on the measuredEfields was not consistent with a single upwardly propagating return‐stroke current wave assumed by the TLM (two waves are mor