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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
On 20th September 2024, the first Boeing E-7 Wedgetail intended for the Royal Air Force (RAF) performed its maiden flight from Birmingham Airport, the United Kingdom. Still unpainted, the aeroplane is one of three Boeing […]
On 27th September 1909, the Short Biplane No.2 experimental aircraft performed its first flight at Shellbeach, the Isle of Sheppey. At the dawn of aviation, the British daily newspaper Daily Mail supported the pioneer aviators […]
On 24th September 1940, Vichy France carried out its first air raid on Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Approximately sixty bombers of the Vichy French Air […]
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