From the 'Ukrainian News' FB page
Aviation history posts by a published aviation author, ex-airline dispatcher and aeroplane enthusiast!
One million page views since 2009!
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Ukrainian Zlin crop-duster carrying air-to-air missiles
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
ВКС России получили четвёртую в 2025 году партию истребителей Су-35С - Russian Air Force accepts another 'batch' of Su-35S
The Russian Air Force has just received the fourth batch of Su-35S fighters this year. PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec State Corporation) announced on August 21, 2025 that it has handed over the next batch of new Su-35S multi-role fighters to the Russian Air Force. The 4++ generation aircraft passed a full cycle of factory tests, were accepted by the technical staff and tested in various operating modes by pilots of the Russian Ministry of Defense. One of a batch of new Su-35S fighters built by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Gagarin Aviation Plant (KnAAZ) of the United Aircraft Corporation, which were handed over to the Russian Air Force in August 2025. The onboard number is obscured (c) United Aircraft Corporation PJSC
Monday, 1 September 2025
A review of RIAT 2025 - not a classic!
RIAT 2025 was not a classic! That is the general sentiment, reiterated in the report published in the current issue of Air Forces Monthly. While RIAT may still be the leading airshow in Europe in terms of aircraft participants, fast jet displays and international support, RIAT 2025 faced challenges like unexpected aircraft cancellations, including after the aircraft had actually arrived at Fairford - like the B-1. The missing Czech Gripen and Spanish Harrier were big disappointments. This also left static displays sparser than usual - full of holes in fact. Then there was the controversial £15 parking charge, which contributed to some attendees feeling the event was not its best. Despite these issues, the show also featured significant moments like the British airshow debut of the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, along with the Egyptian and Pakistani participation. There were strong flying displays from various teams and nations, including the Polish F-16. Just weeks after RIAT the Polish Air Force F-16 crashed during a rehearsal for the Radom Air Show, killing Major Maciej “Slab” Krakowian, a 36-year-old NATO veteran and award-winning airshow performer and one of the country's top fighter pilots. Back to RIAT, the U2 in flight was a first and the Atlantique display was worth watching. I liked the comments of 'capercaillie';
"...to me RIAT is about fast jets and to only have Typhoons, F-18, Gripen and F-16 in the flying programme this seemed well short on the norm. There just needed a couple more 'star' items. I know that the Harrier cancelled but it still needed more. Another Gripen wouldn't have made up the difference. Too many helicopter displays? Which unless you're at crowd centre you cannot appreciate at all. Maybe it's my age but the 'wow' factor just seemed to be missing this year. The flying seemed to stop earlier than previous years and it just sort of petered out rather than finishing on a high like most years..."
Saturday, 30 August 2025
RAF Beechcraft Shadow R.1 surveillance flights over Gaza
According to published sources RAF Shadow R.1 aircraft are still flying surveillance flights from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus over Gaza, primarily to assist in locating hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack. These flights have been ongoing since December 2023, have totaled hundreds of missions, and have continued through the summer of 2025 as recently reported on 'The Aviationist' blog.
A written'Parliamentary answer' published on 24 March 2025 confirmed that the UK has been flying unarmed surveillance flights over the Eastern Mediterranean, including Gaza, with a mandate strictly focused on hostage recovery (UK Parliament). Various independent defence reporting (UK Defence Journal blog) noted that Shadow R.1 aircraft continue operations from RAF Akrotiri toward Gaza, with the same limited mandate to “secure the release of hostages”. According to Wiki and other analyses, there have been:
Over 250 flights from December 2023 to June 2024;
And by March 2025, more than 500 flights had taken place.
A Times report in early August 2025 revealed the UK Ministry of Defence outsourced some flights to Sierra Nevada Corporation (US contractor). The move followed maintenance or deployment issues affecting the UK’s Shadow fleet; none of the eight RAF Shadow R.1s were stationed at Akrotiri at that time.
Permission at http://www.defenceimagery.mod.uk for reuse under the OGL (Open Government License).
Screen captures from Ryan Kirkpatrick Waddington Spotter video (April 2025) of Shadow R.1 coded ZZ 507.
Friday, 29 August 2025
Breguet 1050 Alizé - Alizé Marine not at Duxford next weekend
Also due at Duxford next weekend was another French owned and registered 'warbird' the only flying Breguet Alizé. But as the IWM just posted on FB;
Saturday, 23 August 2025
Mistral Warbirds F-86 Sabre in the UK, summer 2025
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
RIAT arrivals, Wednesday 16 July - Pakistan Air Force JF-17 C Thunder and Egyptian Air Force Antonov 74 at Fairford for RIAT 2025
..screen grab from the Planes TV live stream of the arrivals of the Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder at Fairford, another 'first' for RIAT. This is not the elderly 'A' variant from 2007 but a new 'C' version of Chinese design.
The JF-17C, the latest variant of Pakistan's JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, is capable of launching advanced air-to-air missiles, primarily the Chinese-made PL-10 and PL-15. The PL-10 is a short-range, infra-red guided missile, while the PL-15 is a long-range missile with active radar guidance, providing the JF-17C with beyond-visual-range (BVR) capabilities. Bottom photo; arrival of the PAF Il 78 MP Midas support aircraft.. The 59th nation to have participated in the show at Fairford is the Egyptian Air Force - an Egyptian Air Force Antonov 74 flies into Fairford for the first time. The EAF operates 3 of these tactical transports, an updated version of the An 72 fitted with glass cockpit, better radar and having longer range. High-mounted engines to avoid FOD. They are based at Cairo International with the 533rd Wing. First flew in 1983.34th Bomb Squadron B-1 arrived at Fairford yesterday - RIAT 2025
A single Rockwell B-1 Lancer of the 34th Bomb Squadron, part of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota (tail Code 'EL') arrived at RAF Fairford for the 2025 RIAT yesterday, Tuesday 15 July.
The 34th Bomb Squadron is one of the oldest active squadrons in the United States Air Force, formed on 10 May 1917, less than a month after the United States' entry into World War I. It was the 34th that carried out the famed 'Doolittle' raid on Japan - note the tail fin B-25 anniversary artwork.
Video of the arrival run and break by 'Ted Coningsby'. A single click on the red button to watch here
Tuesday, 15 July 2025
B787 Air India 171 VT-ANB crash in Ahmedabad 12 June 2025-preliminary report
The last six months or so have seen some dreadful aviation accidents/crashes and the Air India Dreamliner/787 crash on 12 June 2025 just after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India has to be one of the most notorious/awful. There has been much discussion/speculation on various online forums and among the plethora of youtube pilot 'experts'. There are the usual calls for all discussion/speculation to be clamped down on - once the self-appointed 'experts' have had their 'say' of course. In this instance the 'conclusions' are not pleasant reading for the airliner crew/pilot fraternity as once again we find ourselves facing a situation where the responsibility for the deaths of 240 or so hapless passengers may have to be placed firmly at their door. Even despite the reluctance of the official interim report to call a spade a spade. This crash is among the worst of the last ten years or so - and yet we still have to wait another 12 months or so for the 'official' verdict. Those poor families..
..The Air India B787 interim accident report focuses on the operation - apparently shortly after takeoff - of the (mechanical) fuel cut off switches. That they were operated - mechanically and not as the result of some glitch or accidental movement caused by vibration - is apparently confirmed by the CVR (voice recorder) and the time stamp details. But there must have been more said after the 'why did you operate the cut off' and the response 'I did not do so' - in fact why even say it out loud? Put them back on to 'Run' immediately rather than wait ten seconds. (no it wasn't just a 'couple of seconds' as some have said). Nor does the report state what the engines were doing prior to these switches being flipped off and on - was the non-flying pilot attempting to restart the engines after a loss ofpower?
Below; extract from the incident report showing the fuel cut off switches and the throttle control module recovered from the crashed airliner.
As former B777 captain Dan Gryder shows in his 'Probable Cause' video (below) it is the action of just 4 seconds to switch both fuel cut off switches back into the run position. Of course, still climbing out, the aircraft was too low to recover, as probably the (culpable?) pilot intended. There is no further comment published in the interim report. A former air investigator commented on the BBC;
" ..it is very disappointing to read a report which provides a few salient details but leaves more questions unanswered.."
The pilot flying the take off (both hands on yoke) is not likely to have operated the switches but would he have noticed the other pilot (aircraft captain, hand perhaps covering the throttles as is normal practise) doing this manual action twice in quick succession? Would he not have exclaimed ' what are you doing?!' He may have been too stunned/numb to immediately react. There's no clue from the abridged (?) transcript from the CVR of the tone and inflection of the crew's words. In the shock of the moment did the crew use their native tongue, and was at least some of what they said lost in translation? Likewise the response, "I didn't do so." Was this indignant? Defensive? Accusatory?
As the BBC commentator put it, " the very worst reports are those designed to be read 'between the lines'... " - intimating that this is what we have here.
While Dan Gryder speculates his theory (see video below) it has been reported by Indian media that the investigation is NOT focussing on a human action causing the fuel switches to appear in the CUTOFF position, but on a system failure. Service Bulletins by Boeing issued in year 2018 recommending to upgrade the fuel switches to locked versions to prevent inadvertent flip of the switches, as well as the FAA/GE issued Service Bulletin FAA-2021-0273-0013 Attachment 2 relating to loss of control issue (also see above) were NOT implemented by Air India. The stated MN4 computer with faulty soldering, that might weaken and lose contact due to the thermal stress after a number of cycles, interprets data and commands fuel metering valves - with the lost contact attaching the MN4 processor to the EEC intermittent electrical contact, loss of signal processing and engine control faults can occur. The SB writes under conditions for the SB: "An LOTC (Loss Of Thrust Control) event has occurred due to an EEC MN4 microprocessor solder ball failure." According to discussions in the industry it may be possible with the number of cycles VT-ANB had already completed, the solder balls were weakened sufficiently to detach the MN4 from the EEC momentarily due to loads during the takeoff rotation leading to the loss of control of thrust and shut down of the engines.
Maybe there will be more in the official accident report to be published in around 12 months time. In the mean time all we can do is 'speculate' as the authorities leave an information 'vacuum'. Incidentally 'Mentour Pilot' has recently highlighted a Chinese air crash caused by a murder/suicide pilot where the official report will not/has not been published for reasons of 'social cohesion'.
In the short 8-minute video below Dan Gryder offers his analysis. Just a single click on the red button enables you to watch this short video here.
Sunday, 13 July 2025
"Quick Climb Friday" RAF Lakenheath, 11 July 2025 - Langley Eustis Raptors in the UK
A good friend to this blog is Leigh Smith. Leigh is a tremendous photographer and has kindly shared these images of a recent excursion to RAF Lakenheath;
The 1st Fighter Wing, stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, operates and maintains nearly half of the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor fleet. The wing's primary mission is to provide air superiority through the F-22, including maintaining readiness, deploying globally, and training F-22 pilots. The 1st FW is composed of the 1st Operations Group, the 1st Maintenance Group, and other supporting units.
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Baykar Bayraktar Akinci in Paris
Monday, 7 July 2025
55th Paris Air Show, Le Bourget 20-22 June 2025 - Beta Team technologies electric plane
Just back from three weeks in Paris. And, yes, we went to the 55th Paris air show, the first since 2019 I think, due of course to Covid. It was packed with visitors and Paris itself was sweltering in a 36 C heatwave over the public weekend. As to the show, the 'best' day was the Friday when I got there early and was able to get through the gate without too much hassle while on Saturday the scenes of carnage to get in at the two gates 'L' and 'O' were incredible. I had the bright idea of trying to get into the show via the museum entrance - until some officious person with a scanner barred my way. No digital tickets at the museum entrance. Undeterred I went into the town and found a phone shop willing and able to print my 18 euro digital ticket out on paper from my phone! Friday was great but the crowds on Saturday made the whole experience rather unpleasant. And on Sunday I took the advice of a friend and stayed outside the perimeter fencing, heading instead to the car parks at the end of runway where I hooked up with a few other knowledgeable enthusiasts. There was a police presence here of course but standing slightly back from the fence we were not bothered by officialdom. Everything in the show took off and landed directly over our heads - providing a view of the flying display that was second to none and far better than being in the show, which was great!
And thanks to 'Tanguy' for putting up with my chat all afternoon!
Inside the airfield itself, there were lots of weird and wonderful contraptions on display ..and I don't mean the F-35. Some of them even flew, but the idea that we'll get 'real' electric planes worthy of the name is just pie in the sky in my humble opinion. I mean there were some electric craft flying - including the American Beta team which has decent range and endurance and everything else but still looks a long long way from being a 'useful' machine. Besides, the last person to design a machine that looked like a bird was Leonardo da Vinci! The Beta Technologies machine did recently become the first electric machine to fly into an airport in the New York/ New Jersey region. The company have also raised millions of $$$ in funding since 2017.
A few more pics coming soon..
Beta Technolgies lands passenger-carrying electric aircraft at New york airport
Sunday, 15 June 2025
latest on Iranian F-14s by Tom Cooper - Iran-Israel war 2025
Day 2 of the Iran-Israel war 2025 and Tom Cooper has written a neat blog post on Iranian F-14s. Of the 79 Tomcats originally delivered, there were still some 60-odd in service during the 1980s and this figure had gradually declined to around barely one dozen still flying operationally in 2025. Two machines were last seen 'in action' during a US drone incursion during March 2025 and now, following Israeli strikes, there are 'rumours' that more F-14s have been destroyed...Tom's 'substack' blog is here
Also on this blog;
Fazlollah Javidnia IRIAF F-14A Tomcat ace with AIM-54
Thursday, 5 June 2025
Operation Spider's Web - Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian airfields
Breaking: Ukrainian drones are attacking two Russian strategic bomber bases thousands of kilometers from Ukraine.
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 1, 2025
There are reports on damage to aircraft and infrastructure.
Photo/video #1-2 show Olenya airbase in Murmansk Oblast about 2,000 km from Ukraine,
#3-4 Belaya in… pic.twitter.com/jWoR0Cd9uk
The more you read about this operation the more incredible it appears - 117 drones transported -by duped Russian drivers in special containers - to within close proximity to four widely dispersed Russian long-range aviation bases and then commanded - via the Soviet's own telecoms networks - to go and seek out some of the Russian strategic bomber force, potentially wiping out up a third of it. A master-stroke of asymmetric warfare. According to Ukraine's SBU security service the 01 June 25 drone attacks on four of Russia's long-range aviation hit :
34% of strategic carriers of cruise missiles at the main airfields of the Russian Federation .
34% hit claim by Ukraine= ~44–48 aircraft damaged or destroyed.
Tu-95MS: ~50–60 total (22–27 active; some reports mention 45 older variants).
Tu-160: Fewer than 20 operational.
Tu-22M3: ~60 in service (40 recently observed at Olenya airbase).
Russian Bomber Losses from Ukrainian Strikes
Tu-95MS Strategic Bombers
Dec 2022 (Engels-2): At least 1 damaged
Apr 2024 (Engels-2): 3 bombers hit
Jun 2025 (Operation “Spider’s Web”): Included among 40+ aircraft hit (exact number unspecified)
Minimum confirmed: 5 x Tu-95M
Tu-22M3 Strategic Bombers
Dec 2022 (Dyagilevo): At least 1 damaged
Aug 2023 (Soltsy): 1 destroyed
Jun 2025 (Operation “Spider’s Web”): Included among 40+ aircraft hit (exact number unspecified)
Minimum confirmed: 2 x Tu-22M3
- 8 Tu-95MS, nearly all FMC-examples (or 'fully mission capable'). Including RF-94132/Voronezh, RF-94127/Vorkuta, RF-94257/Chelyabinsk (one of last two Tu-95MS' manufactured)... (two 'probables' are RF-94117/Izborsk, and RF-94120/Kozelsk). At least three loaded with Kh-101s (AFAIK, the Russians run out of Kh-555s).
- 13 Tu-22M-3: I would say: 2-3 haven't been flown in some time, but the rest is 'legitimate'.
- both of the A-50s which are old, stored airframes. This was a waste of effort.
Still, now it can be said that this is nearly '100% of FMC-part' of the Tu-95MS-fleet, and something like 50% of all the Tu-22M-3s 'still operational as of the last two years' (i.e. well beyond the '30% of the Russian bomber fleet', originally claimed by the SBU).
...and the destruction of (at least) some 6-12 Kh-101s is also 'great news', because the Russians have major problems just with trying to make these. So, this attack blew up 'quite a stock': something like 'half a month of air strikes on Ukraine'.
A few additional observations regarding the recent strike on Russia’s strategic aviation assets may help clarify its scale and implications.
— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) June 3, 2025
Our team currently assesses the operational strength of the Russian strategic bomber fleet to be approximately 70 to 90 aircraft. A… pic.twitter.com/wF6UPGCdTZ
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This page was last updated on 11 November 2021 and currently features 104 images, the majority of which are in my own collection. You can...
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Phantom FGR.2 of 228 OCU, XV428 CC, seen at Leuchars during the first half of 1988. This special livery was applied for the airshow circu...