Last Month

Building on the incredible success of the RAF’s British Aerospace Hawk trainer, the 100 series was a significant development of the original design, which resulted in a much more aggressive looking aeroplane. With a lengthened nose and permanent wing-tip mountings for air to air missiles, the Hawk 100 series would provide several nations with an extremely cost effective, agile and capable multi-ro…

On graduating from basic flying training in the BAC Jet Provost, students streamed for fast jet training during the mid 1960s would probably find themselves in the front seat of a Folland Gnat and a very different flying experience. Something of a ‘hot ship’ the Gnat was fast, responsive and highly manoeuvrable, with excellent visibility from his position. In the relatively cramped cockpit of this…

Early on the morning of June 6th 1944 the combined forces of the Allied armies landed on the Normandy beaches in Northern France in the most ambitious and important operation of the Second World War. With airborne troops already on the ground and fighting, the sea-borne element of the force began landing. This phase of the operation was codenamed Neptune and consisted of five invasion beaches, thr…

Armed with cannons, bombs and unguided missiles, the little A4 Skyhawks would skim across the rice paddies and hug the densely forested mountains of Vietnam in the early days of the Vietnam war of the 1960s. Against them ranged small arms fire, artillery, guided surface to air missiles and MiG’s of the North Vietnamese Air Force. Alongside the supersonic MiG-21 was the older subsonic MiG-17F. This…

During the 1960s and 70s, the sheer variety of aircraft in service with the Royal Air Force must have made this an incredible time to be either a pilot or an aviation enthusiast. Providing the RAF with a capable air engineer, navigation and weapons system operations trainer, the distinguished looking Hawker Siddeley Dominie T.1 started life as one of the world’s first practical executive business…

One of the most distinctive aircraft of the Second World War, the P-61 Black Widow was the first US aircraft designed specifically for combat at night and the first developed with radar as its primary method of target detection. Powered by two mighty Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engines, this was a very big aeroplane for a fighter, but if it managed to detect an enemy aircraft, its impressive array…

The D11 Class locomotive, or 11F Class as it was known, was initially used on the GCR for passenger work including express trains from Sheffield Victoria to London Marylebone. These locomotives were built between 1919 to 1924 and with a total number of 35 being built they were withdrawn from service in 1960 by BR. FEATURES DCC Fitted Installed Sound Module Detailed Exterior Interior Detail Sprung…

The GWR 8750 0-6-0T Pannier Tank was designed by CB Collett for GWR and built in 1929 for shunting and freight duties. Detailed OO Gauge 1/76 Scale Locomotive FEATURES Next18 DCC decoder socket Collett style cab Separate Handrails Fully detailed and decorated cab interior Sprung buffers Accessory bag supplied Pre-fitted speaker Most suited to the 1875-1922 period SPECIFICATIONS CLASS 87xx LIVERY G…

Detailed OO Gauge Locomotive The GWR 57xx 0-6-0T Pannier Tank was designed by CB Collett for GWR and built in 1929 for shunting and passenger duties. FEATURES 8 Pin DCC Decoder Socket Churchward Style Cab Heavy Diecast Chassis Sprung Buffers Fully Detailed and Decorated Cab Interior Contains Accessory Bag Suitable for 1957-1966 Period SPECIFICATIONS CLASS 57xx LIVERY BR WHEEL CONFIGURATION 0-6-0 P…

Detailed OO Gauge 1/76 Scale Locomotive The GWR 57xx 0-6-0T Pannier Tank was designed by CB Collett for GWR and built in 1929 for shunting and passenger duties. FEATURES 8 Pin DCC Decoder Socket Churchward Style Cab Heavy Diecast Chassis Sprung Buffers Fully Detailed and Decorated Cab Interior Contains Accessory Bag Suitable for 1957-1966 Period SPECIFICATIONS CLASS 57xx LIVERY London Transport WH…

Detailed OO Gauge Locomotive The Class 40 was constructed by English Electric and was built between 1958 and 1962 for mixed traffic duties. FEATURES DCC Fitted Sound Module Installed Prototypical body detail variations Etched radiator frost grilles Detailed cab interior Sprung buffers Extensive buffer beam pipework Driver figure fitted Accessory bag included Directional lighting Interior lighting…

Detailed OO Gauge 1/76 Scale Locomotive Class 117 DMUs initially ran on suburban services out of London Paddington and in Cornwall in the early 60s. they were refurbished between 1974 and 1984 with many being moved outside of the Western Region, some as far afield as Scotland. They survived on to the 1990s, working on passenger services for Network SouthEast before they were retired by the end of…

Class 117 DMUs initially ran on suburban services out of London Paddington and in Cornwall in the early 60s. they were refurbished between 1974 and 1984 with many being moved outside of the Western Region, some as far afield as Scotland. They survived on to the 1990s, working on passenger services for Network SouthEast before they were retired by the end of the decade. FEATURES 21 Pin DCC socket S…

Fondly nicknamed 'Bubble Cars' by enthusiasts and railwaymen alike, the Class 121 is Britain's longest serving DMU, with some examples still running to this day, 55 years after their introduction in 1960. By 1994 they had been refurbished, and after the privatisation of the railways the majority came under the control of Railtrack. Chiltern Railways still run two Class 121s on passenger services.…

Fondly nicknamed 'Bubble Cars' by enthusiasts and railwaymen alike, the Class 121 is Britain's longest serving DMU, with some examples still running to this day, 55 years after their introduction in 1960. By 1994 they had been refurbished, and after the privatisation of the railways the majority came under the control of Railtrack. Chiltern Railways still run two Class 121s on passenger services.…

Few aeroplanes have had such a dramatic impact on the history of aerial warfare as the Fokker Eindecker series of monoplanes, aircraft which are regarded as the first true fighter aircraft in the history of aviation. It was not that these single-wing aircraft were such advanced aeronautical designs, as many of the world’s successful early aircraft were monoplanes (such as the Bleriot XI which cros…

As arguably the best loved historic aircraft in Britain today, Avro Lancaster B.I PA474 is one of only two airworthy Lancasters in the world and the only one flying in Europe. Operated by the Coningsby based Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the aircraft serves as a flying memorial to almost 64,000 men of RAF Bomber Command who were either killed or injured during the Second World War and is a hi…

At the beginning of a year which would mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a tragic wartime event which occurred at a public park in Sheffield on 22nd February 1944, would receive significant national media coverage and commemorate the sacrifice of the men of the US Eighth Air Force. The crew of B-17G Flying Fortress 'Mi Amigo' had just taken part in a bombing raid against the Luftwaf…

As the four man crew of KG26 Heinkel 1H+JA boarded their aircraft at Westerland airfield on the Island of Sylt on the morning of 20th October 1939, they knew that a long and dangerous sortie lay ahead of them. Their task was to perform a long range armed reconnaissance flight over the Glasgow area and on to photograph gun emplacements and naval vessels in the Firth of Forth, a heavily defended are…

As Britain's aviation enthusiasts finally came to terms with the fact that the Panavia Tornado GR4 had been withdrawn from RAF service during March 2019, many will have been pleased to note that one of the final Tornado squadrons was to immediately re-equip with the Eurofighter Typhoon. As one of the two final RAF Tornado squadrons, No.IX(B) Squadron is one of the oldest units in the Royal Air For…

The French and volunteer American pilots who patrolled the Reims sector of the Western Front during the Great War were only too familiar with the various German fighter squadrons which would enter their airspace, usually in support of the latest land offensive. Often referred to by the markings they carried, their aerial adversaries were simply known as 'The Reds, the Checkerboards or the Greens',…

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1a N3200 was constructed at the Vickers Armstrong works at Eastleigh, near Southampton during 1939 and delivered to RAF No.19 Squadron at Duxford in April the following year. Wearing the codes QV and the distinctive black and white underside recognition markings synonymous with RAF fighters of the day, the aircraft embarked on its first operational sortie from Duxford on 27…

The tradition of the annual Jolly Boys Outing fell under Del Boy's organisation for nearly two decades, before the now legendary events of the 1989 excursion to Margate. A particularly incident packed affair, the members of the trip boarded this coach run by Percy's Luxury Tours of Peckham, with onboard entertainment provided by one of Del's slightly dodgy (as in 'flammable') radio systems. Prepar…