royal air force

As any deeply invested Spitfire fan knows, the intended major developments never eventuated and the history of the Spitfire was one of interim variants that did very well. The dead ends are as follows: SPITFIRE III: Merlin 20 development with four cannon and major airframe revisions; abandoned...

Hi everyone, I tend to be quite interested in discussing the details of a scenario where the Entente holds the front near the Franco-Belgian border in 1940 (mostly in other forums). I was now wondering what the impacts would be for the RAF. Obviously we may see fewer American aircrafts in...

Ho, for this competition,the main tenders were; SARO P.104,P,162,Blackburn B-78,Supermarine 524 and Shorts PD.2,has anyone a drawings to Blackburn and Shorts proposals ?.

Part of the one documentary threads on this channel. States it’s considered one of the worst aircraft to fly with the RAF. View: https://youtu.be/OO_t3HFGrhw?si=BJGkVc9QwQeiINZa

The voice of Parker has passed on. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj463gx8gyo

Many years ago I found drawings in a book about unbuilt airliners of the HS140. At the time I had a small model of the plane made in the same RAF colours as the Beagle Basset.. I will try and find it. I was wondering whether anyone knows more about the HS140 and whether it was ever looked at by...

Due to the jet age, various super props never go to production despite their high performance. Among those, it can be said that XP-72 and Spiteful F.16 were the most high capable design. So let say if these prototype got to production stage, which would be the ultimate piston fighter? XP-72...

Morning all. A video interview with a founding member of the RAF Display team "the Red Arrows" discussing how back in the day low level really was low. Here's a picture to illustrate: View: https://youtu.be/ylK-1P2R2ew

The USN acquired 142 Lockheed EC121s in the early 50s to mount long-range early warning barrier patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific. The main strength was 5 sqns for each ocean with various cats and dogs supporting units. The barrier patrol lasted until 1965 and afterwards the USN transferred 30...

Recently I've gone down the rabbit hole of the few Scottish built Military aircraft, and recently the Scottish Aviation Pioneer has caught my eye, despite initially being designed as a STOL transport aircraft they appear to have seen a fair amount of Field modifications in Malaya and Aden that...

The RAF Historical Society is holding a seminar on Air Power and Normandy/Overlord at RAF Museum Midlands (Cosford to you and me) on 18th September 2024. Tickers and details are available here: https://royalairforcemuseum.digitickets.co.uk/event-tickets/58576?branches.branchID=2048 Chris

View: https://x.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1818080247754948968

The possibility of the UK avoiding the 1965 aircraft cancellations has been discussed ad nauseam. I don't propose to get into it here - assume a collective delusion of the UK government, the discovery of a massive gold deposit, or intervention from extra-terrestrial intelligences, as you see...

I should have posted this yesterday (the birthday was actually the day before but I only saw it on Thursday). Group Captain John 'Paddy' Hemingway DFC: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0717/1460456-raf-hemingway-birthday/...

Nothing in military history has given the RAF such a hold on the public imagination as the gallant Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of the Battle of Britain. Sadly in the postwar nuclear world their successors have only been tasked with wartime defence of key military infrastructure in the UK. It...

Dear Boys and Girls, here is a picture with a caption in French of what I believe to be the Sikorsky S-61N full-size mock-up brought to the 1959 Paris Salon; it shows an aerodynamic saucer-shaped fairing covering the main rotor hub. The accompanying article describes the Sikorsky S-61N as being...

I have the Lost British Projects 1/72 scale resin model of the Bristol 204 which includes two small underwing pods which are shown in the drawings to be found on this esteemed site - but what are they?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQZgi1O1Vb4 Some background on decoy airfields: https://www.aviationmuseum.net/AirfieldDecoys.htm

Hi I don't know if anyone will be able to help me, but I live in hope. For Specification F.29/27, the Westland COW Gun Fighter and the Vickers Type 161 are well documented in both text and pictorial form. However the third entrant to the specification, the Bristol Type 112 seems to be bereft of...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/25/spitfire-crashes-battle-of-britain-event/ RIP :(