End in sight for French nuclear Boeings
With all the C-135FRs now replaced with Airbus A330 MRTTs, the final three French Boeing KC-135RGs of the 4/31 Sologne Refueling Squadron are all that is left of the mighty Boeing fleet. Frédéric Lert details how their retirement is now planned for 2025
REVEALED: Electronic Intelligence gathering Chipmunks over Berlin
Cold War Berlin, and the RAF Gatow Station Flight’s Chipmunks are a familiar sight over the city, carrying out photographic ‘spy’ sorties that brought back imagery of the highest value. But sometimes they undertook another, even more clandestine task, one that’s not been publicly documented until now: the gathering of electronic intelligenc
The Qatari Amiri Flight
Babak Taghvaee recounts the history and recent activities of the VIP fleet of the Qatar Amiri Flight
SR-71 Blackbirds in Britain
Bob Archer celebrates the 50th anniversary of the mysterious black SR-71 arriving in the UK
Japan's NAMC YS-11 - A robust and long-lasting design
The NAMC YS-11 was Japan’s first step into post-war airliner production. David Ransted reveals that despite its disappointing sales, the turboprop was a robust and long-lasting design
A final top-up with 57 Squadron
Malcolm English was privileged to join 57 Squadron for an air-to-air refuelling sortie just before the unit retired its long-serving Handley Page Victor K.2s
Playing the Enemy
Davide Daverio goes behind the scenes with VFC-204 ‘River Rattlers’ in New Orleans to discover how the ‘aggressor’ unit operates
Operation Shetland
Saluting the bravest of the brave, Catalina pilot Jeff Boyling and crew took Duxford-based Miss Pick Up on a pilgrimage to honour Coastal Command’s two Victoria Cross winners
Fly, Assist, Inspect
FAI rent-a-jet has three pillars to its business – VIP charters, air ambulance operations and maintenance. Ian Harbison reports from Nuremberg
Leading Edge
Seldom has there been greater optimism about British aviation as when the DH106 Comet jet airliner first took to the air 75 years ago, and stole a march on the world. As we now know, a run of tragedies meant the lead wouldn’t last. But how had de Havilland achieved such a coup? In an article written specially for The Aeroplane in May 1952, just as the Comet 1 was entering service, the company’s chief designer R. E. Bishop described the thinking behind this commercial pioneer