Aeroplane Archive
The Key.Aero team have delved for treasure in the archive of Aeroplane Magazine dating back to 1911. Aviation history brought to life by the editors of the period.
Hollywood icon with a lifelong passion for flight
James ‘Jimmy’ Stewart is well-known for his acting career and also for flying bomber missions over Europe in World War Two. ‘Aeroplane Monthly’ accompanied him on a visit to his former wartime base and looked back over his lifelong love of aviation in its October 1979 issue
Trident at 60: The first airliner with autoland
Sixty years ago today the Trident took to the air for the first time. Unfortunately, it failed to garner the large number of orders achieved by Boeing’s competitor trijet – the 727. Dene Bebbington and Bruce Hales-Dutton look back and detail the development of the Trident and its three main variants
Mystère 20 – First of a Family of Bizjets
The Mystère 20 (later referred to as the Falcon 20) first flew on May 4, 1963 and was the first in a line of business jets which continues to be developed by Dassault. John Fricker got to fly the new jet and reported his findings in the January 30, 1964 issue of ‘The Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News’
Qantas – when the future looked supersonic
A fascinating snapshot in time from ‘The Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News, June 25, 1964’ issue when supersonic travel was on the horizon. This article details how Qantas, like many airlines at the time, was planning to add supersonic airliners to its fleet
Swissair’s speed machines
Swissair and SAS took the bold step of buying the Coronado and the March 18, 1965 edition of ‘The Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News’ detailed how the airliner fared
A historic UK visitor – CSA Ilyushin Il-12
The CSA Ilyushin Il-12 which touched down at Northolt on September 12, 1949 was the first post-war Soviet-built aircraft to visit England. The visit was covered by ‘The Aeroplane’ in its September 23 issue
Lufthansa’s Boeing 727 debut
The Boeing 727 proved to be a very successful design, with it being operated by many carriers around the world. The first in Europe to do so was Lufthansa, as detailed in the April 23, 1964 issue of ‘The Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News’
Cross Channel Car Ferries of the Air
For a few decades it was possible to cross the English Channel by booking onto an aircraft which could carry a car and its occupants. The development of this service was covered in the history of British United Air Ferries, which was featured in a supplement on Air Holdings (that owned a number of carriers) in the January 21, 1965 issue of ‘The Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News’
Low-cost long-haul 1950s style
Read about a new type of service Pan Am was offering with its DC-6Bs, as described in the May 9, 1952 issue of ‘The Aeroplane’
BEA Elizabethan ‘Silver Wing’ Luxury Service
‘The Aeroplane’ was invited to sample ‘Silver Wing’, a new BEA luxury service to Paris, and in its May 9, 1952 issue gave its impressions as well as that of the Elizabethan aircraft utilised