SHORT AVIATION STORIES
United Kingdom
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Hawker Siddeley (Blackburn) Buccaneer S.2B
Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B (c/n B3-14-67, formerly XV865 of the Royal Navy), on display at Imperial War Museum Duxford, June 2014. In June of 1952, the British Admiralty issued specification of a new naval aircraft, […]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Percival Proctor Mk III
Percival Proctor Mk III (c/n H.536, formerly LZ766 of the Royal Air Force and then G-ALCK), on display with Imperial War Museum Duxford, June 2014. In November of 1935, Vega Gull four-seat touring aircraft performed […]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Hawker Nimrod II
Hawker Nimrod II (c/n 41H-59890, formerly K3661 of the Fleet Air Arm), exhibited at Hangar 2 of the Imperial War Museum Duxford, June 2014. In the middle of 1920s, the Air Ministry began to look […]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
De Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide (c/n 6853, D-IKFG, formerly ´NR777´ of the Royal Air Force and ´D-7´ of the Belgian Air Force), flying display at Medieval Mini Tiger Meet 2023, Neuburg a.d. Donau, July 2023. […]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Heinkel He 162 A-2 Volksjäger
Heinkel He 162 A-2 Volksjäger (c/n 120227, formerly VN679 of the RAF), exhibited at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, London, July 2018. By early 1944, the German aviation authorities slowly began realising that […]
AVIATION HISTORY FRIDAY
3 November 1915 – the first British take-off of an aircraft with conventional landing gear from a ship
On 3rd November 1915, Flt. Lt. H.F. Towler RNAS, took-off in a Bristol Scout C biplane from the deck of HMS Vindex. It was the first taking-off of a wheeled undercarriage aircraft from a ship […]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Saunders-Roe Skeeter AOP.12
Saunders-Roe Skeeter AOP.12 (c/n S2/7154, formerly XN348 of the Army Air Corps, UK), exhibited at Hubschraubermuseum Bückeburg (Bückeburg Helicopter Museum), June 2023. History of that small helicopter can be said to begin with Juan de […]
AVIATION HISTORY FRIDAY
2 June 1910 – Charles Rolls double crosses the English Channel in a non-stop flight
On 2nd June 1910, Charles Rolls made a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel with a Wright aeroplane. Charles Steward Rolls, the British aviation and motoring pioneer, was born on 27th August 1877 in […]
AVIATION HISTORY
26 May 1941 – Sink the Bismarck!
On 26th May 1941, Fairey Swordfish aircraft launched from HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier hit German battleship Bismarck with two torpedoes, damaging her stern and making the ship unmanoeuvrable. The story of pursuit of one […]