SHORT AVIATION STORIES
John Trollope
John Lightfoot Trollope, a British air ace of the Great War, was born on 30 May 1897 in Wallington, Surrey. Trollope was attending college when the war broke out, but he managed to enlist at […]
United Kingdom
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Hawker Hurricane Mk II
Hawker Hurricane Mk II (c/n 41H/469290, LF363, the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight), static display at 21st Aviatická pouť (Aviation Fair) air show, Pardubice, May 2011. The Hawker Hurricane was the first, […]
MILITARY AVIATION
Royal Navy UAV helicopter tracking smugglers and drug traffickers in the Middle East
Peregrine is a Royal Navy (RN) variant of the three-metres-long (10 ft) civilian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) rotorcraft S-100 Camcopter, made by Schiebel company from Austria. The RN-specific variant is equipped with the tailored UK […]
SHORT AVIATION STORIES
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire, one of the most iconic aircraft in aviation history, made its first flight on 5 March 1936. Origins of that legendary fighter date back to 1931, when the Air Ministry issued a […]
AVIATION HISTORY
21 February 1951 – the first non-stop, non-refuelled transatlantic flight by a jet aircraft
On 21st February 1951, an English Electric Canberra B.2 bomber aircraft performed the flight from Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Gander, Newfoundland. It was the first non-stop, non-refuelled transatlantic flight by a jet aircraft, as […]
AVIATION HISTORY
27 December 1773 – George Cayley is born
On 27th December 1773, Sir George Cayley, the 6th holder of the Cayley Baronetcy and ´the father of aviation´, was born in Scarborough, England. From his early years, Cayley was fascinated by engineering, including the […]
SHORT AVIATION STORIES
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was a heavy bomber with twin vertical stabilisers, developed in response to Specification P.13/36 issued by the British Air Ministry in 1936. This document outlined the need for a medium-sized, high-performance […]
AVIATION HISTORY
8 November 1942 – the first operational use of g-suit
On 8th November 1942, with the beginning of Operation Torch in Africa, the anti-gravity suit developed by a Canadian scientist W.R. Franks, was for the first time used in combat. Wilbur Rounding Franks was born […]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Sopwith Triplane
Sopwith Triplane (c/n N5486), exhibited at the Central Air Force Museum (Центральный музей Военно-воздушных сил РФ) in Monino, July 2017. In the middle of the Great War, the Sopwith aviation company developed a single-seat biplane […]
AVIATION HISTORY
11 October 1956 – Operation Buffalo, the first RAF airdrop of an atomic bomb
On 11th October 1956, a Valiant B.1 bomber of No. 49 Squadron of the Royal Air Force became the first British aircraft to drop a live atomic bomb, within the Kite test, being a part […]