Recent photographs of historic aircraft in the UK
The images shown on this page were all taken by myself at museums, airfields and other aviation-related locations across the UK in recent years. The plan is to add new photos in as and when I've got new ones to add.
The current selection is a mixture of military (RAF, USAF etc) and civilian types, from the 1930s through the war years and into the 1940s/1950s when the jet came of age. The most recent aircraft will be familiar to aviation enthusiasts from the 1960s and 1970s, although I'm keen to expand on the postwar images. If you have any photos, perhaps from museums outside of the UK, and you'd be willing to have them feature on Classic Aircraft, please drop me a line, thanks.
A number of the photos were taken on a slightly gloomy day at RAF Cosford. This museum has an interesting collection of aircraft, not least a healthy choice of civilian types which is unusual in British museums, most if not all in either British Airways or BOAC colour schemes. In the 1980s I'd often see BAC 1-11s and Tridents flying in and out of Manchester Airport on the BA Shuttle service. British Airtours also operated 707s at this time. Therefore I always like to see the Trident and 1-11 on view at Cosford, near to a 707 in Airtours colours. The Standard VC10 on show pre-dates my planespotting days slightly, as does the BOAC Comet, so its nice to see examples here.
I was lucky a little while ago when I made an impromptu visit to Bruntingthorpe, as there were engine runs taking place with the F6 Lightning, the roar of the afterburner and the aircraft rocking around on its brakes, was definitely memorable. So was the chance to have a look inside the stripped-out Boeing 747 that was there at the time - I'm not sure if this one still survives? when I was there the plan was to convert it to a conference facility.
Quite a few photos of Vickers aircraft feature on Classic Aircraft. These were taken during an pleasant afternoon at the Brooklands Museum, a site known both for motor racing prior to WW2, and construction of aircraft in the 1940s and after the war.
The Goodwood Revival, a 3 day event centred around historic motorsport, has also offered good opportunities to photograph interesting aircraft in action, and up close on the airfield. Prior to being a racing circuit, Goodwood was in fact an RAF fighter station, and aviation is always well represented at this fantastic show each September.
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