The Royal Air Force Day by Day

The Royal Air Force was formed on 1 April 1918 when the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps were combined to form the world's first independent Air Force. Although this landmark date marks the beginning of the recording of events and activities in The Royal Air Force Day by Day, it would be entirely inappropriate to ignore the key milestones that led to this momentous event and, therefore, they have been included for completeness. Many of the major events that feature in this book will be well known to the reader. However, the rich tapestry of the history of the Royal Air Force is made up of countless other less publicised aspects that also contribute to the traditions and ethos of the Service. These have been included where it has been possible to attribute a specific date. All serve to highlight that the Royal Air Force is never 'off duty'.

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The Messerschmitt BF 110 in Color Profile 1939-1945

The Messerschmitt 110 has always appeared to be an enigma in the armoury of the Luftwaffe. At various times in its history it vacillated between being the hunter and the hunted. In the early months of the war it fulfilled all that was asked of it, albeit even then at the cost of many losses. Its young crews entered the Battle of Britain with a certain amount of optimism, but found the RAF fighters more than a match at taking them on in combat, and Zerstorer units suffered heavily. However, out of that there emerged a concept at which the Bf 110 proved very adept: that of the fighter-bomber, as evidenced by the relatively successful unit, Erprobungsgruppe 210. At the same lime, the nascent night fighter force was progressing, and in this role the aircraft would prove to be ideally suited to the 'stealth in the night' role required lo hunt down enemy bombers. Success in the ground attack role on Ihe Russian front by the "Wespengeschwader' could not turn the tide on that front in the later war years. The operations in the Mediterranean area proved that despite the bravery of the crews employed there, the ultimate dominance of the Allied air forces in that theatre proved decisive. The final bloodletting of the daytime Bf 110 crews occurred in Defence of the Reich duties, as heavy losses were suffered when intercepted by the RAF and USAAF escorting fighters. The only hope of success was to get to the bombers, and return to base without interception. The 1944 Bf 110 loss tables tell a sorry tale. The final episode in the aircraft's history was the 'Hunter' Bf 110 night fighter becoming the 'Hunted', with the introduction of the Mosquito night fighter into the bomber streams of the RAF.

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SAAB Aircraft since 1937

Not surprisingly the history of the Swedish aircraft industry in general, and that of Saab in particular, is closely linked to that of Sweden's military aviation. Although in 1987 Saab celebrated its 50th anniversary as an aircraft manufacturer, it is necessary to go back at least another 20 years to form a proper perspective of Swedish aircraft industrial development and, not least, into government decisionmaking . Aircraft manufacturing on an industrial scale - although modest - began in Sweden in 1914 at AB Sodertelge Werk-staders Aviatikavdelning (SW) south of Stockholm. But two competitors, Sven-ska Aeroplanfabriken (SAF) in Stockholm and Aeroplanvarvet Skane (AVIS) were not far behind. While SW mainly manufactured French Farman biplanes under licence and later the German Albatros trainer for the Army and Navy, and SAF manufactured the Albatros as well, AVIS had acquired a licence to produced the French Bleriot monoplane (known as the Thulin A).

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Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

THE Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was one of the most significant fighters of World War 2. It served throughout the world in many air forces on the Allied side and was developed into a hard-hitting fighter-bomber, particularly in the European theatre, both in Italy and over France, the Low Countries and Germany. In the Far East, it was significant in being one of the best aircraft developed for longer range work and-ground attack when in use by the Royal Air Force in Burma. In United States Army Air Force eyes it ranked equal to the P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning. The Thunderbolt's rugged construction made it one of the heaviest fighters in terms of all-up-weight when contrasted with even the P-38 Lightning and its powerful turbo-supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine enabled it to carry prodigious under wing loads of rockets or bombs which allowed its development so successfully into the ground attack role.

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Red Flag - Air Combat for the 21st Century

Red Flag. Two words that can make or break an air force fighter pilot. Red Flag is a real-world scenario designed to test pilots' skills under pressure and introduce them to their first ten combat missions. Utilizing aircraft from allied forces around the world with the Las Vegas skyline in the background, Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) plays host to Red Flag exercises many times each year. Nellis annually provides a temporary home to an estimated 750 aircraft from 250 units located around the world. Some twelve thousand sorties and twenty-one thousand flight hours are flown with the support of eleven thousand crewmembers. Today's Red Flag exercises are among the largest and most comprehensive training programs in the world. But before going into a simulated air war, a review of Nellis Air Force Base's history can offer insights into the importance of this desert facility.

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RAF Handbook 1939-1945

The military had taken an interest in air power as early as the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, in which a captive or tethered balloon was used for artillery spotting just eleven years after the first balloon ascents. During the following 100 years, balloons were used during the American Civil War, while in the United Kingdom the Royal Engineers started to experiment with balloons at Woolwich Arsenal in 1878, and these were used in expeditions to Bechuanaland in 1884 and to the Sudan in 1885. A balloon section was established within the Royal Engineers in 1890. It was an officer in the British Army, Col John Capper, who accorded the Wright brothers their first official recognition. This was the pattern established in all countries with an early interest in aviation. The lead was always taken by the armies, simply because the first and most obvious use of the balloon lay in artillery spotting. When the airship and the aeroplane came, reconnaissance remained one of the most important elements in their role. The limitations of the balloon and its support needs meant that navies were slow to take an interest in the air until the advent of the aeroplane, with the Royal Navy starting flying in 1909.

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Messerschmitt Bf 110 Vol.III

In the spring of 1943 the Allies commenced the around-the-clock bombing campaign of the western parts of the III Reich. After sundown streams of RAF bombers invaded the enemy airspace. In broad daylight they were replaced by tightly packed defensive boxes of American Flying Fortresses and Liberators. Germans scrambled every airworthy fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe's inventory in this part of Europe to challenge those raids. The most demanding task in the Defence of the Reich system fell upon the night fighter pilots, pressed into combat equally at night and at day. One of them was the young Lt. Dieter Schmidt-Bar-bo, who in September 1941 - at the age of 22 - was posted to 8./NJG 1, which at that time was stationed at Twente in the Netherlands. Like many other young and enthusiastic night fighter pilots, upon his arrival at the unit he eagerly started the hazardous frontline service. Soon he realized that the Himmelbett ("four-poster bed") system, in use at that time with the Luftwaffe, favoured the most experienced crews, which were assigned "more profitable" patrol zones. The Himmelbett system based on zones or 'boxes', marked on maps. Each zone was patrolled by a single fighter, waiting in the dark for his prey. Obviously, RAF bombers followed the same approach routes to their targets, across a limited number of the Himmelbett zones. Those 'hunting grounds' were manned by the most experienced night lighter crews, whose scores continued to mount.

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Messerschmitt Bf 110 Vol.I

During WWI the German military used a number of frontline "multi-purpose" war-planes, the most notable of which was probably the Hannover CL II. They were two-seaters designed for escort and reconnaissance roles in the Schutzstaffeln (air cover/escort) squadrons. It became obvious during combat missions that the planes also performed well in an attack role and in March 1918 all thirty-eight Schutzstoffeln squadrons were converted to Schlachtstaffeln (attack) squadrons. These aircraft had the lowest loss rates of all two-seat planes used in Germany. Impetus for re-newed development of this type of warplane (Kampfflugzeug) came in the early thirties during the planning for the new Luftwaffe. The Rustungsflugzeug II (tactical bomber) was to be a single engine, two seat multipurpose aircraft which could be used in the fighter, reconnaissance or light bomber roles. After Adolf Hitler came to power on 30 January 1933, the planning to create a new German air force forged ahead. On 27 April 1933 the Reich-sluftfahrtministerium (RLM, or Reich Aviation Ministry) was created and WWI flying ace Hermann Goring appointed as Oberbefehlshaber or supreme commander.

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Messerschmitt Bf 109 G,K Vol.II

The long polar summer was almost over. The sun, which for several months could be seen high above the horizon, now barely crested the hills. The sky was frequently shrouded with heavy, banked clouds. 18th August 1943 was such a day. That afternoon, the Kommandeur of III./JG 5 'Eismeer' arrived at Petsamo to greet his former unit, 6./JG 5. Under his leadership it had become the famed 'Expertenstaffel', a nickname earned when half of its pilots had been credited with dozens of individual scores within a short time. Not surprisingly, Ehrler still liked to fly in their company, although such opportunities were becoming scarce. Several of its pilots had been wounded or killed in action - others had been promoted and had their own Staffeln to look after. The Kommandeur therefore decided that this was to be his last venture with his old comrades from 6./JG 5.

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Messerschmitt Bf 109 F Vol.I

Ponieważ wprowadzenie do seryjnej produkcji Silnika DB G01E opóźniało się, konstruktorzy zakładów Messerschmitt zmuszeni zostali do przejściowego zastosowania ogólnie dostępnych silników DB 601A o mocy maksymalnej 1100 KM. Praktyczne testy nowych rozwiązali plarowca rozpoczęły się od 26 stycznia 1939 roku. lego dnia pierwszy lot wykonał samolot Messerschmitt Bf 109 V22. (WNr. 1800. rejestracja D-IRPQ). za którego sterami zasiadł inżynier dyplomowany Heinrich Heaiwais. Maszyna wy posażona była w nowy wlot powietrza do sprężarki oraz rozwiązania konstrukcji kadłuba typowe dla Bf 109 E Jako jednostkę napędowa wykorzystano silnik DB 601A. Drugi oblatany został prototyp Bf 109 V23 (WNr. 1801. D-ISHN), który w trakcie prób wyposażony został w jeden z eksperymentalnych egzemplarzy silnika DB 601E. Dopiero samoloty Bt 109 V24, WNr. 1929 i WNr. 1930, D-IVKC posiadały wszystkie zewnętrzne cechy charakterystyczne dla płatowca BI 109 F. zmodylikowany kadłub oraz nowe skrzydła o zaokrąglonych końcówkach.

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Bell Aircraft since 1935

Bell is a unique manufacturer in United States aviation history. Born as a tiny company with a handful of employees and virtually no design contracts, it became a significant aircraft manufacturer within a few years through a full series of innovative fixed-wing aircraft. Now when we look at these designs, from the twin-engined XFM-1 Airacuda to the ducted-fan X-22 VTOL research aircraft, we must admit that none of them was conventional. And all this was done thanks to the tireless work of two outstanding personalities, both animated by the strongest will to succeed, Lawrence D. Bell and Robert J. Woods. This innovative path was reinforced a few years later when a third man joined the team. His name was Arthur Young and with him Bell began to explore a nearly unknown territory, that of vertical flight. Even this exploration was hard and full of traps but it proved successful to such an extent that today Bell has become one of the world's major helicopter manufacturers. One helicopter out of two flying in the western world is a Bell. This fact is so true that in the minds of most people the name of Bell has simply become synonymous with the helicopter.

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Air Pictorial 1956 09

THE British aircraft industry is the only one to hold its own exclusive annual trade show. The S.B.A.C. Display is actually the only aeronautical event in the world to attract, every year, several thousand of the leading technicians and executives of aviation companies and aircraft operators, both civil and military. In the years immediately after the war, Farnborough (and before that, Radlett) was visited each September mainly in search of technical novelty. In some minds— notably the representatives of the popular press—this outlook persists, but in general it is now realised that today the Display and Exhibition has evolved into something more important. As a concourse of the leading figures in the aeronautical world, it has become a centre for the exchange of ideas, as well as being the "shop window" for Britain's aircraft, aero-engine, accessory and material manufacturers. Since this is a year in which most of the aeroplanes and helicopters in the Flying Display will have been seen before, it is a good opportunity to try and take stock of the British products—to examine and assess what is on the shelves rather than what is in the window.

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Tupolev Aircraft since 1922

Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was born on 10 November (old calendar 29 October) 1888, at Pustomazov, near Kalinin. He picked the right father, because Nikolai Ivanovich Tupolev was a lawyer who was arrested for revolutionary activities. Such an attitude inevitably carried across to his son, and after the October (1917) Revolution this furnished him with the right credentials. In 1909, at the age of 20, A N Tupolev gained admission to the Moscow Higher Technical School (MVTU). This was one of the best such establishments in the world. It even had a 1.5m by 0.3m (59in by 12in) wind tunnel, erected in 1902. Here he fell under the spell of the great Professor Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovskii, who was primarily an aerodynamicist. Tupolev quickly realised that aircraft design was to be his lifetime's work. In 1910 he made many flights with a biplane hang-glider, towed by runners at Lefortovskii Park. He was also made the Supervisor of the MVTU tunnel, but in 1911 the Tsar's police interrupted his studies when Andrei Nikolayevich was arrested for inciting student unrest.

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The Men of the Mighty Eighth - The US Eighth Airforce 1942-45

It was early June 1942 and a group of Royal Air Force officers and local dignitaries had gathered at Wycombe Abbey, a girls' school in High Wycombe, north of London, to join Brigadier General Ira Eaker in formally opening the school as the headquarters of the newly arrived Eighth Air Force. After some opening remarks, General Eaker, the Eighth's commander, stepped to the front of the crowd. A man of few words, Eaker announced, 'We won't do much talking until we've done more fighting. We hope that when we leave you'll be glad we came. Thank you.' It was just six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Unprepared for the requirements of a global war, America was now involved in a crash program designed to build up its armed forces. All across the United States, factories and training centers were working around the clock. One of the principal areas of the country's mobilization efforts was in aircraft construction. In 1939 the Army Air Corps was just a tiny branch of the army, consisting of fewer than 23,000 personnel and little more than a dozen strategic bombers. Alarmed by the success of Axis bombers at the start of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt demanded that the country rebuild its neglected aerial assets. As a result, the Army Air Forces (as the Army Air Corps was renamed in 1941) underwent an unprecedented increase in size and potency.

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The History of the XV-15 Tilt Rotor Research Aircraft

For as long as can be remembered, humans have always wanted to fly... to be able to soar into the sky and alight wherever their fancy takes them. One such individual was Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who was the first person to approach heavier-than-air-flight in a somewhat scientific manner. Da Vinci is credited with the design of the first helicopter, basically a helical air screw (figure 1), which was conceived to lift off the ground vertically—no ground roll required, no runway needed. However, nearly four centuries later, when technology advancements allowed sustained, powered manned flight, the practical solution demonstrated by the Wright brothers used a fixed-surface to provide the lift. This required the aircraft to accelerate along the ground until a sufficient speed was reached so that the necessary force could be generated for the vehicle to become airborne. The da Vinci dream of vertical liftoff was finally achieved with the development of the successful helicopter more than 30 years after the first fixed-wing flight. While, in the second half of this century, this remarkable machine has become an essential vehicle for numerous civil and military applications, because of its vertical lift capabilities, it remains extremely limited in the speed and range that it can attain.

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Seaplanes over th Black Sea - German-Romanian operation 1941-44

In late 1940 Italian troops invaded Greece, but by early 1941 had been driven back into Albania. At that time, the British RAF, allied to the Greeks, had set up some airbases on the island of Crete and operated Wellington bombers from there over Italy's Albanian ports. The Germans feared the creation of nearer airfields on the Greek mainland from where such RAF long range bombers could attack the Romanian refineries around the town of Ploiesti (the English and German "Ploesti"). Ploiesti was the only significant source of German oil imports and was vital to the Wehrmacht's highly mechanised Blitzkrieg campaigns, of which the greatest, the invasion of USSR, was under planning from 18th December 1940 (Kriegs-weisung Nr 21).
This obliged the Germans to intervene in the Balkan theatre, where they had no previous military presence. On 6th April 1941, they launched Operation "Marita" against Yugoslavia and Greece.

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Mach 3+ - NASA-USAF YF-12 Flight Research 1969-79

With the assistance of the CIA, the Air Force entered an agreement with Lockheed to build three prototypes, now designated YF-12A, for testing. On 7 August 1963, Lockheed lest pilot James D. Eastham piloted the maiden flight of the YF-12A (USAF serial number 60-6934). Two other YF-12A aircraft were built: 60-6935 and 60-6936. Early testing of the YF-12A occurred in secret throughout 1963 and early 1964. The public first became aware of the aircraft on 29 February 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson announced its existence. By agreement with Kelly Johnson, the President intentionally misidentified the aircraft as an "A-11 ." Now public knowledge, the YF-12A flight-test program moved to Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert. The Air Force soon began testing the aircraft's weapons system and worked on solving troublesome problems with transonic acceleration and various subsystems. On 1 May 1965, the aircraft set several official speed and altitude records, including a closed course speed of 2,070.101 mph and a sustained altitude of 80,257.65 feet.

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Hypersonics Before the Shuttle - A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane

It is a beginning. Over forty-five years have elapsed since the X-15 was conceived; 40 since it first flew. And 31 since the program ended. Although it is usually heralded as the most productive flight research program ever undertaken, no serious history has been assembled to capture its design, development, operations, and lessons. This monograph is the first step towards that history. Not that a great deal has not previously been written about the X-15, because it has. But most of it has been limited to specific aspects of the program; pilot's stories, experiments, lessons-learned, etc. But with the exception of Robert S. Houston's history published by the Wright Air Development Center in 1958, and later included in the Air Force History Office's Hypersonic Revolution, no one has attempted to tell the entire story. And the WADC history is taken entirely from the Air Force perspective, with small mention of the other contributors.

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French Aeroplanes Before the Great War

These marvelous aeroplanes have never shared a hangar before, and it has been a delight for me to become acquainted with them and to bring them together here. The period before World War I was an exciting one for aviation pioneers: anything seemed possible, and while in some cases the understanding of aerodynamics and structural engineering was minimal and its absence filled in with enthusiasm, in others it was surprisingly full. Today when so many aircraft designs are similar to the point of real confusion, it is wonderful to look back to a time when even the numbers of wings and tails varied, not to speak of their placement - to a time so unlike our own when many of these early machines failed to fly at all. The energy in France, especially, was remarkable, and this book offers the work of more than 700 builders. For some there was but one aircraft designed, and perhaps not even finished; for a few others there were many designed, and hundreds built. My interest was primarily in getting these early machines, especially the lesser-known ones, out into the light of day. I chose to include gliders, ornithoplers, helicopters, as well as more standard powered machines; I chose to omit the aviettes, the little bicycle-based flying things, partly because they seemed less like aircraft and partly because there were so many, undocumented: they might make an interesting study of their own some day.

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Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor

Nad południowo-zachodnią Francją wschodziło sionce. Do stojących nu skraju pasa startowego lotniska Hordę-aux-Merignac potężnych, cztero silnikowych samolotów Focke-Wull Fw 200C-3 zbliżały się ich lalogi. Lotnicy ubrani byli w jednoczęściowe kombinezony, zwane Kanalanzug {strój nad Kanał). Wszyscy założyli już leż żółte kamizelki ratunkowe, napełniane sprężonym powietrzem. Hełmofony, spadochrony i jednoosobowe pontony nieśli pod pachami. Obserwatorzy dodatkowo obciążeni byli swoimi skórzanymi aktówkami zawierającymi mapy i instrumenty nawigacyjne. Kieszenie i specjalne uchwyty, których pełno było naszytych no Kanalanzlige wypełnione zostały racjami żywności, pociskami świetlnymi do rakietnicy, scyzorykami i flarami świetlnymi. Całe to wyposażenie ważyło dobrych kilkanaście kilogramów. Obli. Buchholz zbliży! się do wyprężonego na baczno w; pierwszego mechanika jego samolotu: I cóż tam nowego, Zacke? Wszystko w porządku. Silniki pracują jak w zegarku. Właśnie je sprawdziliśmy. Załoga zniknęła w przepastnym wnętrzu kadłuba. Chwilę później odpalono silniki. Buchholz zwiększał po kolei obroty każdego z nich uważnie obserwując wskazania przyrządów. Oberwerkmeister Zacke miał rację, wszystko działało bez zarzutu.

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Air Pictorial 1956 01

DURING the past year a new concept has filtered through the veil of security, the Mach 2 aeroplane—or more specifically the Mach 2 fighter. It was, perhaps, obvious that this would be the next step in man's ambition, but more than one eminent authority has expressed the view that it is somewhat premature. After all, however glibly the term may be used by scientists and politicians, Mach 2 is twice the speed of our present fighters. It is entering the zone of thermal troubles when the Mach I vehicle is still far from having reached the complete solution of its own problems. One only has to look at the variety of designs offered as transonic and low supersonic fighters to realise that designers are still groping, if not in the dark, at least in the shadows. If further evidence is needed that we are still only on the threshold of supersonic knowledge, one can look at the extensive modifications made to almost every high-speed aeroplane. The Americans are well ahead with low supersonic production aeroplanes, so perhaps one may take an example without being considered invidious.

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Air Force Colors vol.1 1926-1942

This book begins a study of US Military aircraft color schemes from 1926 to the 1980s. The early years, from the post-WWI formation of the Army Air Corps to the establishment of a separate U.S. Air Force, were marked by phenomenal growth and development in all areas of aviation — all of which was reflected in changing markings and colors. A great deal has been written about this period elsewhere, but a brief overview may help the reader place details in their historical perspective. In 1926, the Army Air Service was less than eight years out of World War I. Strength was about 9,700 officers and men (about one-twentieth of the wartime total) in thirty-two combat squadrons. The tactical force in the continental United States was organized under the 1st Pursuit Group, 2nd Bombardment Group, 3rd Attack Group, and 9th Observation Group, with an independent observation squadron assigned to each Army corps. Overseas squadrons were formed into composite groups, of which there were three (the 4th Composite Group in the Philippines, the 5th in Hawaii, and the 6th in Panama). Curtiss P-1's, Boeing PW-9's and Douglas 0-2's were beginning their service careers, but the majority of aircraft in inventory were older designs, such as the Curtiss Jennies and American-built DH-4's.

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13th Fighter Command in WWII

America was forced into World War II with a grave defeat at Pearl Harbor, but six months later at the Battle of Midway the U.S. Navy sunk four Japanese aircraft carriers. Midway has been called the decisive battle of the Pacific war, but it was the first savage American battle at Guadalcanal and then the equally bloody battles up the Solomon chain, New Georgia, and Bougainville that paved the way not only for the Pacific victory, but for those in Africa, Italy, and then continental Europe. A defeat in the South Pacific would have been a serious setback to U.S. global strategic plans, and the Japanese realized that they had to win not only the battle, but also the war there. They committed thousands of troops on the Tokyo Express to reinforce Guadalcanal, sent battleships, cruisers, and destroyers down the Slot, and flew hundreds of aircraft from Rabaul and the Northern Solomons to drive out the Americans. In the air the Marines rightfully garnered the lion's share of the credit, but the Army Air Force played an important but largely unacknowledged role. Over Rabaul, MacArthur's Army Air Force under Gen. George Kenney received the major credit for the defeat of the Japanese air forces there while the 13th Fighter Command soldiered on. The units of the 13th Fighter Command were called the Jungle Air Force and the Cactus Air Force, but they were and are the Unknown Air Force.

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