Six turbofans, the world's longest and heaviest aircraft, the Antonov An 225 - take off from Manchester airport

The world's largest aircraft, capable of lifting some 250 tonnes of freight, the amazing six-engined Antonov An 225 Myria getting airborne last summer from Manchester airport on Simon Lowe's youtube channel.

F-35B Lightning II Demo @ 2014 MCAS Yuma Air Show

First ever F-35B Lightning II demo - could it be headed to Farnborough and RIAT ? 

 " WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department is poised to approve the first trans-Atlantic flight of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet in July, when the new warplane is expected to take part in two international air shows near London, according to multiple sources familiar with the issue.." U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is "very close" to a decision that would allow two or three F-35s to fly at the Royal International Air Tattoo, or RIAT, an annual military air show .."

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-set-approve-international-debut-f-35-191818091--sector.html

F-4 Phantom II

Introducing a run of F-4 Phantom II posts;

Below;  a U.S. Navy McDonnell F-4B-9-MC Phantom II (BuNo 149426) of Fighter Squadron VF-143 "Pukin' Dogs" aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). VF-143 was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14) aboard the USS Constellation (CVA-64). This aircraft landed either by mistake or due to an emergency aboard the small Essex-class carrier which did not operate the F-4. It was common to paint "visiting" aircraft with comments (see: "Down Bird"; "Train your troops"; "If you can't fly 'em park 'em"; "Captured by the Bonnie D!ck CVA 31").

Takashi Takeda photo

Takashi Takeda photos

Launch of 892 Sq FAA F-4 from Ark Royal displaying the 'final tour' crest on the radome. Via Gordon Lewis on the British Phantoms Facebook Group

"On the prowl..." Picture by and © Gokhan Topuzelli. Current header photo of the FB F-4 Group

Line-up of British Phantoms, Wattisham photo-call 1992 via Charlie Brown

Kostas Asimakopoulos photo

Greeks are the best low-level F-4 E operators!

Beautiful red-tailed 56 Sqd RAF F-4 Queen's Silver Jubilee Flypast aircraft awaiting takeoff at Wattisham. Much more on British Phantoms on this blog soon

last sorties of the RAF's Tristars 24 March 2014

posted by 'canberraman' on BM

" Monday March 24th will see the last operational sorties flown by the Lockheed Tristar in RAF service. Two of the remaining four in service will be flown on a final mission that will include some AAR work and then fly pasts at several airfields with which the type has been associated including Marshalls of Cambridge. The duo are due to take off at around 1030 local and should return in the early afternoon. The 4 that are left are then expected to be flown out of Brize on March 25th, presumably to Bruntingthorpe for scrapping.
Can't say I took that much notice of the type during most of its illustrious 30 year service bring an avowed VC10 fan, but its surprising how much more appealing certain aircraft become when you know they wont be around much longer! "

Screen captures from the video footage below of the final flights from Brize norton on 24 March 2014 of ZD 948 and ZD 950

I once photographed one - a gloomy Fairford during the post-Gulf War 1991 RIAT



Tristar KC 1 refuelling Typhoon FGR 4 over the North Sea on 24 March 2014, last operational sortie of the type..posted on the RAF's FB page

Iluyshin 20 M - Elint, recce version of Coot airliner

The Il-20 is a military version of the Il-18 passenger airliner, with electronic equipment and an array of external antennae. It is still used by the Russian Air Force as flying command post. This version is sometimes unofficially referred to as Il-20 or Coot-A in NATO code. A maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, the Il-38, was also developed from the Il-18.

" MOSCOW, October 24 2013 (RIA Novosti) – Two Turkish fighter jets have been recently scrambled to intercept a Russian military plane in international airspace over the Black Sea in a rare air incident between the two countries, the Turkish military said. The General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement on Wednesday that two F-16 jets were scrambled on Tuesday afternoon to prevent a potential violation of Turkish airspace after a Russian Ilyushin II-20 plane was detected flying in parallel to Turkish coast. The Turkish aircraft monitored the Russian plane until it left the area heading to the Bulgarian border, the statement added. It is not clear why the Russian plane approached the Turkish airspace as the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the incident. The Ilyushin Il-20 (NATO designation Coot-A) is a Soviet-era reconnaissance aircraft designed to carry out a variety of electronic and communications intelligence missions. Around 20 Il-20’s were reportedly built between 1969 and 1976, but their remaining number in service with the Russian Air Force is unknown. Japan and Sweden reported in the past similar interceptions of Il-20 planes flying close to their airspace..."

Arado 232 - Ebay photo find # 25

 Rare images of the Arado Ar 232 Tausendfüßler (or "Millipede") on offer here and here at the time of posting. Only a handful of these Transportflugzeuge were constructed. While the original specification called for the aircraft to be powered by two BMW 801 engines these were no longer available by 1941 and four of the less powerful Bramo 323 were selected instead for the 'B' variant. The main feature of the type was the distinctive tricycle undercarriage arrangement; this comprised 'kneeling' main oleos which placed the fuselage closer to the ground, serving to minimise the loading ramp angle via the rear fuselage clamshell doors and a row of small wheels under the fuselage for taxiing on soft or rough fields. During June 1944 test pilot Paul Bader (sic!) had demonstrated the aircraft to Milch and other high ranking Luftwaffe personalities, landing the aircraft on a 'test track' comprising ditches at least 1.5 metres in width and 'embankments' of sand and rubble at least 80 cms high. Note the 'flying dumbo' emblem of 7./Erg TG on the fuselage side just behind the cockpit in the image below..

first generation Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jets, circa 1971-73

.. an Air Britain image in my collection of XV 755 a GR. 1 of No. 1 Squadron and, below, a similarly-marked 'XV 749' from the recent new-tool Airfix 1/72nd scale kit. Aircraft and model are depicted in No. 1 Squadron's initial paint scheme consisting of full colour national insignia - which lasted no more than one week - circa 1971. Airfix don't however provide the unit badge seen atop the fin flash on the real machine..

No. 1 (F) Squadron was of course the world's first operational V/STOL combat aircraft unit when it formed at RAF Wittering on 01 October 1969. Aircraft from the unit flew trials off HMS Ark Royal during 1971. Note the FAA F-4M in the left background of the image below. The F-4 was supposed to be the last fixed-wing type to fly off British carriers, hence the omega symbol painted on the red tail fin, just visible here ..photo also appears in Peter R. March's "The Harrier Story" (The History Press)

More early Harrier photos via Air Britain - in my collection.
Below;  GR. 1 XV 744 seen presumably somewhere on the flight line at RAF Wittering in the early 1970s.

Harrier GR. 1  XW 921 of 3 Squadron

XZ 964 a GR. 3 displaying the badge of the OCU on its nose..

Below; two images courtesy of publisher Robert Forsyth from Tim McLelland's superlative " Harrier " (Classic/Ian Allan), at 334 full-colour pages the best single-volume treatment of the type....these two views depict No. 1 Squadron machines early in their careers seen at Wittering circa 1970-71, photographs by Steve Bond. It has to be said though that these first service machines were barely out of the prototype or experimental phase - they were 'product ionised' in the jargon and never designed to withstand the daily grind of operational flying. Or at least in the opinion of the ground crews; Steve Bond was Wittering ground crew and recorded;

"..the early Harrier was a pain for the engineers to work on. Engine life between overhauls was extremely short with only limited time allowed for operations in the hover. Replacing the engine meant taking the wing off completely ..and some of the key connections were actually underneath the engine so access was not easy..."

"....we 'lineys' were perpetually semi-grubby because the back-end of the aircraft was so sooty from the engine exhaust.... "   

a few close-ups of the Muckleburgh Collection's GR. 3 depicting the Harrier's jet nozzles and fuselage deflector plate....

Heinkel He 111 Zwilling - Ebay photo find # 24

http://www.ebay.de/itm/FOTO-FLUGZEUG-HEINKEL-He111-Z-ZWILLING-mit-Racketen-Antrieb-RARITAT-/191048272161

French Spitfire pilots in the RAF - GC II/2 'Berry' 345 Squadron - Pierre Decroo, Jean-Marie Accart

" Silence, on vole " is a rare book of French fighter pilot accounts from the GC II/ 2 'Berry', the RAF's 345 Squadron, part of the 2nd TAF, established during January 1944 and operational from 28 April 1944. The Squadron - although not technically 'Free French' given the date of the unit's establishment - was a disparate grouping of French pilots in the RAF, some of whom were so-called 'évadés d'Espagne', Frenchmen who had escaped France by crossing the Pyrenees on foot to reach England and join De Gaulle's FAFL and French pilots from north Africa such as Joubert des Ouches. The Squadron was based for a time at Deanland in Sussex during August 1944 as the Normandy campaign was reaching its conclusion, prior to moving to Biggin Hill and then Wevelgem in Belgium later that year. CO was Cmdt Jean-Marie Accart - alias "Bernard", a nom de guerre to protect his family back in France. Accart had achieved some 12 victories during the German invasion of France in 1940 flying P-36 Hawks with GC I/5. (Accart's own book of the French campaign was "Chasseurs du Ciel", lit. 'Fighters in the sky' which is very good and really should have been translated by now). Flying elderly Spitfire Vs 'Berry' flew patrols over the Normandy beachheads as part of No. 141 Wing (2nd TAF) encountering very few German aircraft in the air and it was not until September 1944 that they received their first Spitfire IXs.  Subsequently attached to No. 145 Wing, the unit primarily flew ground-attack and escort missions. Among the pilot roster were men like Pierre Decroo- who like many Frenchmen had crossed the Pyrenees on foot to reach England and join De Gaulle's FAFL. Postwar, Decroo became a test pilot at the CEV (Centre d'essais en vol) at Brétigny, losing his life in the crash of the Arsenal VG 90, swept-wing jet interceptor in 1950..

Above; the pilots of GC II/2 'Berry' in front of a Spitfire IX at Shoreham. Cmdt Accart is standing, fourth from the left and Sgt Pierre Decroo is third from left seated. To the right of Accart is his successor as CO 345 Squadron, Cne Guizard..

Below; "Une photo de mon frère Louis, prise en 1944 en Grande Bretagne à l'époque ou il commandait un escadron du groupe de chasse Berry à la croix de Lorraine sur Spitfire-(sous
l'hélice, premier rang, centre)." - a photo of my brother Louis, taken in 1944 in England when he was CO of the French fighter squadron 'Berry' , below the prop front row, centre...

    Capitaine Louis Lemaire (front row centre, below the prop) CO of 'A' flight, 345 Sq ...photo taken at Fairwood Common, March 1944. Lemaire was injured in a forced landing in early 1945. Other pilots identified on this image include, Perseval and Tixador (upper right), Fontaayn (fourth from the left) Bataille, (lower left). All of the named pilots here survived the war and were still alive in 2007.

Below; Squadron CO and Accart's successor Cmt Guizard (October 1944 -May 1945). The squadron specialised in ground-attack (Ramrods), armed recce and flak suppression missions.

Below; another image from "Silence, on vole..."  depicting 'Berry' pilots sergent Dromatokis and capitaine Kerourio somewhere in Belgium examining the aftermath of the blast from a V1 rocket on these Spitfire IXs ..coded 'NL' (Alsace). 345 Sq Spitfires were of course coded '2Y'.

Source for this piece
http://www.livresdeguerre.net/forum/contribution.php?index=29601 

Below; Spitfire HF Mk.IXe, PT766/2Y-A, flown by Jean-Marie Accart, CO of 345 Squadron, based RAF Deanland, September 1944. Note the Sky spinner, fuselage band and code letters; invasion stripes on lower fuselage and wings; overpainted RAF roundels replaced by French roundels in six positions.

Pictures via "Avions" magazine. Editor Michel Ledet is a good friend of this blog (see three-part article on Accart by Christophe Cony in issues 121, 122, 123...)