great britain

The British B.A.E. Kingston P1214-3 Xwing Fighter Interceptor is the only aircraftdesign that was really an X-Wing version. It was designed by Hawker Design Team at Kingston in the late 70's for RAF as Advanced-Short-Tak-Off / Vertical Landing Fighter.. The aircraft had 3 adjustable thrusters...

Sad to hear Cdr N D 'Sharkey' Ward DSC, AFC has done one last transition. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/659317-cdr-n-d-sharkey-ward-dsc-afc-rip.html Only met him once during a close session briefing in approx. 84. He owned the audience, we were just in awe, the energy in the room...

Why did the Royal Navy choose to convert the HMS Ark Royal to carry Phantoms instead of the HMS Eagle? I read in Hobbs's book that the Ark Royal was in worse condition than the Eagle, so why not convert the better Eagle?

I found these two pictures at this link：https://vk.com/photo-166534011_457246378. According to the description, this is another STT project, and I think it is also one of Ed Francis' discoveries. However, I found no information about this elsewhere on the internet. I would have liked to wait and...

View: https://youtu.be/2LKS2kR4LJY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R38-class_airship

Tony Buttler has informed me that Chris Farara, former Hawker Aircraft employee, compiler of the Hawker Association newsletter, occasional writer, and diligent archivist of the Brooklands Hawker archive, has passed away. I can only speak from my own experience - Chris was a really nice man, who...

I have a question to the experts. What is the device mounted above the gun sight of the F.6A #XF382 seen on the image below? Is this an additional gun sight camera or an AIM-9 launching device added during the 1976 overhaul by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton? What was the nomenclature of the...

What it says on the tin...

Is it because the A-4Q has a shorter combat radius and the British aircraft carrier has not yet entered the strike range? Or is it because there has been no wind on the sea since the afternoon of May 1st? Or is it because the time is in the afternoon and close to evening, so it is difficult to...

Thanks to my wallet - from a binder scans that I have tried to clean up and condense the image to get more detail into the 1200 pixel limit. Section 1 Subsonic VTOL aircraft with single B.S. Pegasus engine Fig 1.1 Original P.1127 layout. The straight through hot end is a feature which is...

HOTOL: Britain’s Spaceplane by Dan Sharp Now available for pre-order here: HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane Tempest Books ISBN: 9781911704294 Format: Hardback Pages: 424 The start of Space Shuttle operations in 1981 marked a new era in spaceflight – with the five orbiters launching numerous...

When browsing Vickers Tyne & Wear Archive I noticed a really intersting and obscure design proposal. Not only by the strangely long barrel, sci-fi look turret (this is a 1946 drawing), but also the insane stats and unique operating mechanism. I also cannot find any information of this proposal...

Have I missed something? Have I overlooked something? See Chris Gibson's (new?) Avatar ...

As we have had some interesting 50s and 60s what-ifs I thought it would be fun to go for a big one. Put yourself in the chair of Sandys, McNamara or any other key Defence Minister of your choice. Now put together a better balance of options than they did.

In a perfect world for the British armed forces how would you modernise HMS Vanguard and the King George V class to serve in the 1980s? (Before anyone asks Yes CVA-01 through 04 are built in this timeline, so no yapping about building carriers instead, this is a perfect world for the RN, so the...

There have been several discussions about the British aircraft of the 60s since I started here a few weeks ago, apparently it's a never ending topic. They appear to start out technically and end financially and politically in a viscous circle of failure. In the process some interesting and...

A detailed description of the Torpedo Protection System for this ship is held by the University of Tokyo and has been digitised. I have downloaded, and uploaded here, the description and the diagram of this system. It goes without saying that the presence of this document in Japan is a very...

Good evening people! Once again, I am flummoxed as to how secret our projects can or can't be !?! I have just became the proud owner of Aerocraft Models (I must add for the sake of conformity, that other Model Brands are available), Fairey Tactical Strike Aircraft GOR.339 Project 75. Now...

https://www.mortonsbooks.co.uk/product/view/productCode/15817/westland-aircraft-rotorcraft-secret-projects-cutting-edge-technology

Thirty-plus years in the making, this is a must-have for anyone researching postwar British aircraft. It's from Air-Britain, so you know it will be good. Pricey, even for members, but this time next year you'll wish you'd bagged one...