The Poseidon Force welcomes its sixth aircraft, ‘Guernsey’s Reply’, to a growing Maritime Patrol fleet that is enhancing security in the North Atlantic together with @RoyalNavy and the UK’s allies. #NextGenRAFhttps://t.co/OluP0z4Psf
Nimrod XV 229 was the last RAF Nimrod MR.2 to fly. The airframe was retired to Manston, Kent during late May 2010 and used for smoke evacuation training at RAF Manston Defence Fire Training and Development Centre which closed last year (2020). The local RAF Manston history Museum managed to save the front 37 feet otherwise it would have been another rare aircraft lost to the scrap yard. The cockpit section was open to the public at the 'Open Cockpit' Day held yesterday, 19/09/21. Famously developed from the DH comet airliner the Nimrod was powered by four RR Speys. The control yokes of XV 229 were/are notable for the large red 'N' button on both sticks - 'N' for 'nuclear' apparently - this aircraft type could launch/drop nuclear depth charges.
Royal Air Force Jaguar XX 732 ( a/c and pilot lost after crashing near Hawick, 27 November 1986 ) and Lightnings on runway at RAF Leuchars, early 1978..
A superb Matt Silvaire shot from last weekend's BoB display at Headcorn to open another post from my weekend at the Aero Legends Battle of Britain air display at Headcorn, Kent last weekend. Yes, a real air show! Something we might have taken for granted up until 15 months ago now seems rather exotic. Shame about the weather on the Friday; especially as it forced the Red Arrows to 'curtail' their display - it was very grey and drizzled intermittently throughout the day. Saturday was much better, with warm and sunny conditions. There were still plenty of highlights - five Spits and a Buchon in formation, nine Spitfires and a Hurricane on the flight line, the two Aero Legends C-47s airborne alongside a B-17, the aerobatics of a Bucker Jungmann and the magnificent finale as 10 Spitfires (yes, 10!!) were scrambled one after the other to chase a marauding Bf 109 attacking the aerodrome. (Buchon). On the Saturday Sqn Leader Mike 'disco' Discombe at the controls of the BBMF Spitfire XVI (TE 311) absolutely stole the show with a magnificent exhibition of display flying. Photos courtesy of myself and friends - Sonja Bailey, Ashley Paine, Martin Davenport..(Below; Alison Jane Miles photo..)
Jay Geer images of the Buchon caught by the Spit and Mike Discombe in the BBMF Mk XV (taken on the Saturday of the show..)
Two more from Jay Geer!
Ashley Paine G-IRTY and Harvard
here's 39 minutes of video footage by 'Bannistator' - a little shaky but didn't detract from my enjoyment! Otherwise click forward to minute 35 and the massed Spitfire finale!
U.S. Prototype bombers of the late forties , Dougles XB-43 jetmaster, Convair XB-46, Martin XB-48 and the remarkable Martin XB-51 . pic.twitter.com/7mjTiNHvzh
May 1939 and an early Hawker Hurricane is watched taxying across the grass at RAF Northolt, whilst a group of journalists get a closer look at the prototype Boulton Paul Defiant. The Defiant has recently been fitted with its four machine guns and is still undergoing trials. pic.twitter.com/EYTvDEoU7a
— Trev Clark's Daily Aviation History Feed. 🚁 (@clark_aviation) May 6, 2021
Then there's the turret. Boulton Paul did the work on the SAMM turret concept for the Defiant specifically. But this turret design's variants was then fitted to a remarkable range of types from the Halifax, Hudson, Short C.30(!) to Lincoln and so on. So, without which... pic.twitter.com/0173tmktEG