SPECIAT BUTNPER ISSUE!

Vol 41, No 3$7. Z5uS $7.25CAN

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Airorafilllluslsaledis 40!This month marks the 40th

anniversary of A ircraft lllustrated,

the UK's longest-running

monthly aviation magazine.

We've put together a bumper

birthday section ofthis issue,

including Peter R. March's

memories of 40 years of Al

reporting, reflections on 40 years

in military and civil aviation,preservation and airshows, and

40 of the biggest moments

in aviation over the last fourdecades as covered byA/.The

celebrations start on page 51 .

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Typhoon airborne . Newmissile test-fired from QF-4. and all the internationalmilitary aviation headlines

22 PresenotionFunding b.:':.: ': - ' :-= :3-29.Yak-30flies - :Starlineric :€'::1. - -l10.andother majc'. ':=-: : -::::vation

8 BA lqunrhes I0penskies '"'

British Airways steps

into the brave newworld of the Open Skies

arrangements with a brave

new trans-Atlantic carrier

l0 Civil8A777 crash at Heathrow.Record year of orders for Airbus

and Boeing . Delta in merger

talks . Orders, airports, routes

and aircraft

PLUS! A special report on theroll-out of the ARJ 21, theChinese airliner with highhopes of major success

l6 lhilitoryUSAF returns some F-15s

to flight . First Tranche 2

4 Contribufors

6 4oyears oi AIStarting the magazine in style

- this month with 40

Ai rc raft I I I u strated covers

from 40 years

Have your favourite magnzinedelivered direct to you!

!_lircffi

28 Dreonliner deloyed8EN DUNNELL

Boeing's bosses have had to deliver more bad news

about the 787 programme. What's the way forward forthe troubled Dreamliner?

32 Eyes of JopunRICHARD COOPER

The Japanese Air Self Defence Force's RF-4E Phantom

lls and their unique range of recce roles -PLUS! Air-to-air photography by Katsuhiko Tokunaga

40 New Yorlg NewurkGEOFF JONES

An airport so good they (almost) named it twice. We

report from Continental's hub in New Jersey

44 Steolth su((essionLAWRENCE SPINETTA

The USAF prepares to make the transition from one

stealth aircraft to another, as the F-1 17 gives way to theF-22 - PLUS! Air-to-air photography by AndyWolfe

FREE 9UPPLEII'IENT!

I ,BLACKJACK'IS BACKThe somewhat chequered story oftheTu-160

r JERSEY AIRPORIThe resurgence ofthe Channel lslands gateway

r AIR CANADAOne of North America's best airlinesContenE subject to change

ANNIVERSARY SPEA bumper section to mark the 40th anniversary of Aircraft lllustrated,

with special features and archive material

52 40 yeors of... ReportingPETER R. MARCH

Our longest-serving contributor, the only person to have had

something published in every issue, looks back at four decades ofreporting for this magazine

tlCIAL

Ihe oges of ConrordeExclusive artwork centrespread

60 40 yeors of... CivilBRUCE HALES-DUTTON

'Heated debates about airportexpansion, the appearance of theworld's largest airliner and calls formore fuel-efficient engines. Yes, it's

1968..;

54 40 yeors of... lUlilituryJON LAKE

'The four decades since 1 968 have

been a time of small, unspectacularincremental progress, ratherthan of dramatic step changes inperformance or capability'

f,1,13,I""rs of ... Preservolion

'ln 2008, it is perhaps difficult to appreciate the extent to which the aircraft

preservation scen€ was still in its relative infancy 40 years ago'

72 40 yeqrs of... AitshowsJOHN DUNNELL

'Whilst nostalgia is a wonderful thing, todayt shows are more than capable of

matching the standards set by their predecessors'

77 40 yedrs of... Aviqlion40 moments from 40 years of aviation history, as covered by

Aircraft lllustrated

98 40 Greolest AirrrsftA look back at part of A/'s countdown of the greatest aircraft of all time

99 And finolly...The lighter side of A/'s 40 years

AlruaftMarch 2008

Managing Editor: Allan Burney(allan.burney6ianallanpublishing.co.uk)

Commissioning Editor: Richard Cooper(richard.cooper@ianallanpublishing.co.uk)

Features Editor: Ben Dunnell(ben.d unnell@ia na llan publishing.co.uk)

Administration: Amy Bridges(a my.bridges@ia n a lla n pu b lis h ing.co.u k)

Art Editor: Robert Wilcockson

Designer: Carmel Rogers

Vol4l No3

Contributing editors

News: Jamie Hunter

Preservation: Peter R. March

Computers: Howard Curtis

Product Reviews: Denis J. Calverl

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Life ot...Welcome to this very special issue of Aircraft lllustratedand thank you for joining us as we celebrate our 40thanniversary. It is with great pride that we reach thismilestone, an achievement that confirms our position as theUK's longest-running monthly aviation magazine, a proudaccolade that all our readers, new and old, have helped makepossible. As is vibrantly illustrated in this month's specialanniversary features (and by the'every cover tells a story'spread alongside), four decades represents an eternity inaviation and we hope you find our trip down memory laneas fasclnating and enjoyable as we found compiling it. Somuch of the industry is unrecognisable from the day whenAircraftlllustratedfirst hit the shelves back in 1968... but so

much of it is also stillfamiliar. I am privileged to have workedon the magazine for 30 of those 40 years, and when I firstjoined, we were still scribbling out our articles with the Mk1Biro, liberally assisted with volcanic amounts of Tipp-Ex. Thefreedom and flexibility that desk-top publishing offers todaywas then an unthinkable nirvana and while we may look backat some of the past issues with affectionate amusement, wehave to remember that they were magazines of their times.The future is shaped by the past and magazine publishing is

no exception. Editors have come and gone (and here lwouldlike to add a personal note of gratitude to Martin Horseman,who somehow recognised that a skinny long-haired youthhad a future in publishing), but one name that has beenconstant from the very beginning is that of Peter R. March.Quite simply, Peter's contribution as a writer/photographer/advisor to Aircraft lllustrated has been immense... and over40 years he has never missed a single deadline! With thisissue, Peter has decided to hang up his keyboard and bowout of his monthly'Airview'column, but fear not - he willstill be writing regularly for us. Another editoriai namewho is moving on, but of whom we most certainly have notheard the last, is Richard Cooper. Over the Iast 1 0 years,Aircraft lllustroted (and more recently Combat Aircraft) hasbenefited hugely from Richard's boundless enthusiasm,drive, knowledge, humour and photography. Many thanks

to both - it has been a realadventure and an honour towork with such dedicatedprofessionals. That leads us onto one more announcementthat is appropriate to makein this anniversary issue, andthat is the appointment of BenDunnell as Editor. A long-timecontributor, over the last fouryears, Ben has brought hisconsiderable knowledge to bearon Aircraft lllustrated and wewould like to congratulate himon his new role. Exciting times,l'm sure you will all agree. Now,please sit back and enjoy thisspecial anniversary edition. Wecan't wait for the journey toconti n ue!

Allan BurneyManaging Editor

begins

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SPECIAT REPORT

words: Bruce Hqles'Dufton

hat a difference a year makes. lnMarch 2007, British Airways wasone of the sharpest critics ofthe Open Skies deal negotiated

by the EU and US. Yet, within 12 months,BA was preparing to take full advantageof the accord's provisions by launchinga new airline to fly between the US andcontinental Europe.

The new subsidiary, called OpenSkies, willfly under its own Air Operator's Certificate and,subject to regulatory approval, is scheduledto start operations in June. But at the time ofits announcement in early January, the detailswere fairly sketchy. BA was unable to say whatfares will be charged, which New York airportwill be served and whether it will start theplanned daily flights from Paris or Brussels.

A BA spokeswoman explained thatuncertainty about the New York slot situationmade it impossible to sort out timings anddecide which of the two European cities shouldbe the operation's launch point. Earlier, RobertBoyle, BAs commercial director, said slots hadbeen secured at Newark but admitted JFK waspreferred. New York's main airport, however,faces problems with congestion, rising delaysand creaking infrastructure leading to a reviewof the slot position by the airport operator.

FIRST OFF THE MARKBA is still the first major European carrierto launch an operation aimed at exploitingthe Open Skies accord, which from Marchgives EU and US airlines access to cities inEurope or the US. Before BA's announcement,most of the attention had been focussed onHeathrow, access to which was seen as the bigprize secured by US negotiators. Airlines likeContinental and Delta have revealed plans tomove into what is already one of the world'smost congested airports. so far, though, theonly European carrier to do likewise has been

Air France-KLM, which intends to fly betweenHeathrow and Los Angeles. BA was first to seekregulatory approval for its plans.

How will its rivals respond? Analyst ChrisAvery pointed out that American Airlines is a

BA partner in the oneworld alliance.'l wonderwhat American thinks of its European routesbeing trampled on by its partneri he mused.But BA seems to have stirred up trouble closerto home. lts 3,000 pilots are concerned thatOpenSkies, which is recruiting externally butis also expected to use some mainline pilots,will put the BA brand at risk by employingless experienced crews. They also fear its payscales could even drag down those on the BA

mainline.Because BA's announcement pre-empted

talks with the British Airline Pilots'Association(BALPA), the pilots' representatives wereapparently taken by surprise. This has donelittle to ease their suspicions, but BALPAgeneral secretary Jim McAulan said:'The newsubsidiary can only fly successfully with thefull support of BA's pilot force. We have issueswith BA on how the new services should bestructuredi A BA spokeswoman told Aircraftlllustroted in mid-January that talks withBALPA were'ongoing.'

Some observers thought it ironic that BA

should now be preparing to take advantageof the (albeit limited) liberalisation resultingfrom Open Skies, but the BA spokeswomandisclosed that BA had been contemplatingthe move for about a year and that planninghad actually started before the accord hadbeen finalised. She said:'lt presented us withan opportunity we'd not had before: to flybetween points in the US and EU. We have a

strong brand presence in both.'Until the announcement, BA's new

initiative had been known internally as ProjectLauren.That, explained the new operation'smanaging director, Dale Moss, was because

8la

'Lauren happens to be the name of my firstgranddaughter'. Previously BA's director ofworldwide sales, Moss added:'This airline is

very much family to me.'

OPENSKIES AIRCRAFTOpenSkies will operate initially with oneBoeing 757 transferred from its parent's fleet.A second will be added later in the year toenable the subsidiary to operate from bothParis Charles de Gaulle and Brussels. Other EU

cities under consideration include Frankfurt,Amsterdam, Milan and Madrid. Possibleadditional US destinations include Boston andWash ington.

BA has earmarked two 757-236s fromits mainline fleet for the operation. They areG-BPEJ and G-BPEK, construction numbers25807 / 61 0 and 25808/665 respectively.According to Dale Moss:'Our plan is to operatesix aircraft by the end of 2009, originating inthe New York area and flying to a range ofdestinations throughout Europe.The'planeswill be efficient and proven 757s with a

redesigned travel ler-friendly cabin configuredin three classes: business, premium economyand economy.'

The business class cabin will have 24 seatsthat convert into six flat beds.And when we sayflati Moss emphasised,'we mean completelyhorizontali He claimed this will make OpenSkiesone of the only airlines in the market to offerthis feature. The 28 premium economy seats willboast a 52in pitch which the airline insisted'isalso unique, redefining the premium economyclassl Added to the 30 economy seats on board,this means that no more than 82 passengers willbe accommodated.'lt's all part of our vision for a

more personal flying experiencel Moss insisted,adding:'l d like to say that OpenSkies is dedicatedto elevated customer carei BA, however, declinedto say what load factors are expected.

The new carrier's 757s will displayOpenSkies titles in dove grey lettering onthe forward fuselage, but its affiliation to BAwill be clearly evident from the wavy red,white and blue tail stripes. The aircraft willalso feature retrofitted winglets intended toimprove fuel efficiency, cut CO2 emissions andincrease operating range.

HOW WIIL IT PERFORM?BA chief executive Willie Walsh hailed thelaunch of OpenSkies as 'an exciting newventurei and said he was'confident it will bea great success as we build on the strengthof BA's brand in the US and Europe'. lndustry

observers agreed that this would make it a

more formidable competitor to rival Europeanoperators on their home turf than they mightbe to BA if and when they start flying fromBritain to the US.

At the time, BA's carping about the accordlterms was seen as nothing more than an attemptto defend its grip on Heathrow. But, to somedegree, its objection was based on a beliefthatthe deal was rather one-sided and that the US hadgained more from Open Skies than it had beenprepared to give (see boxed item).

Perhaps, then, there's a touch of irony in themoniker BA has chosen for its new subsidiary.'By naming the airline OpenSkiesi said Walsh,'we're celebrating the first major step in 60 years

towards a liberalised US/EU aviation marketwhich means we can fly between any US andEU destination. lt also signals our determinationto lobby for further liberalisation in this marketwhen talks between the EU and US take placelater this yearJ

Well, perhaps. Only last year Walsh wasspeculating that thls year! US Presidentialelection, coupled with a change in the EuropeanCommission in 2009, could stall progress on thesecond stage ofthe Open Skies accord, the firstof which runs until 2010.

Meanwhile, opinions are divided on whetheror not now is a good time to be launching a

new airiine. Despite fears of a credit crunch inthe wake of the collapse of the US sub-primemortgage market and a decline in businesstravel, BA seems confident. ButVirgin Atlantic,which last year was talking about startingtrans-Atlantic operations from European cities,seems to be having second thoughts. An airlinespokesman told ABTN, the online travel industrynewsletter, that Virgin was putting plans for apremium-only airline bn ice'because, as thesituation stands, it would have to'be wound up'in a year and a half.

One analyst who asked not to be namedtold Aircraft lllustrated he thought OpenSkieswill'struggle'. Although its aircraft will comefrom BA's own fleet, he considered the757to be inefficient equipment for the type ofoperation proposed'with fuel the price it isiObservers also fret about the close correlationbetween stock-market movements and thebusiness travel market.'BA is one ofthe firstto start worrying when business travel startsto drop offi said one.

Most, however, seem agreed that it may bea year or two before OpenSkies can be hailed a

success or branded a failure in the new worldof Open Skies.

al9

il-ilrr{clvtt Jomie Hunter

BA 777 crcrsh-ldnds

Air transport safety concerns came a little tooclose to home on 17 January when a BritishAirways Boeing 777 -236 (G-YMMM) dramaticallycrash-landed at London Heathrow. The aircraftwas operating flight 8A038 from Beijing, China,and appears to have suffered engine power loss inthe final moments of the flight, causing it to touchdown on the grass short of runway 271, coming torest on the runway threshold.

AII 1 36 passengers were evacuated onemergency slides and only three suffered minorinjuries - it appears to have been a textbookoperation by the BA cabin crew.The airline wasquick to praise all 16 staff members aboardthe aircraft, and their actions helped preventthis incident escalating into a major disaster.However, many passengers were surprised thatthe flight deck crew didn't make even a briefannouncement to brace, or make them awarethat an emergency had dramatically developedin the final moments of the flight.

The aircraft was on final approach to 271 underthe control of senior first officer John Coward when,according to the initial Air Accident lnvestigationBranch (AAIB) report,'the auto-throttle demandedmore thrust from the (two Rolls-Royce Trent 895)engines, and they failed to respondiThis causedairspeed to bleed offand the aircraft progressivelyadopted an unusually nose-high attitude as it clawedfor lift to make it to the airfield.The report added thatthat despite further demands for increased thrustfrom the auto-throttle, and the flight crew movingthe throttle levers, the engines did not respond.Theslowing aircraft limped over the perimeter fence,couldn't reach the runway, and touched down onthe grass on the extended centreline of 271. Theaircraft only skidded a short distance (about 350m)

following touchdown on the grass, suggesting that itwas probably close to stalling speed.

Capt Peter Burkill paid his tribute to his crewat a news conference:'Flying is about teamworkand we had an outstanding team on board. Ascaptain of the aircraft I am glad to say that everymember of my team played their part expertly.No one more so than my senior first officer, JohnCoward, the handling pilot on the final approach.He did the most remarkable jobl

The main landing gear dug into the softground as it touched down, ripping off the rightmain wheels and forcing the left main gear upthrough the wing root. lnspection ofthe enginessuggested that they were stationary or at very lowpower settings upon impact with the ground.

The incident is remarkable in nature.The flightcrew clearly ran into the trouble very late into theapproach and had little time to react, only declaringan emergency late on finals. lf the power loss hadoccurred earlier then the incident could have beencatastrophic. British Airways operates 43 Boeing777s,and around 667 are in operation around theworld.The aircraft has an excellent safety record,without a single hull loss to date. Experts are stilltrying to assess the reason for the power loss, andfuel contamination is understood to be one optionbeing evaluated. Weather or a multiple bird strikeare not understood to be factors being considered.

British Airways has praised its staff and indeedthe pilots who seem to have done an excellentjobin the dire circumstances. Some eyebrows havenonetheless been raised that the Boeing 777 fleet has

not been grounded or restricted in operations, giventhat the accident is probably being attributed to atechnical failure. However, we will not truly know thefacts until the full investigation has been completed.

€lockwise from top left:

The damaged British Airways Boeing777-236,G-YMMM, on the grass short of runway 27L atHeathrow. PA Photos

Firefighters douse the sfticken 777, with the escapethutes visible. PA Photos

The short distan(e in which the 777 came to a haltindicates that its airspeed must have been very lowwhen the crash-landing was accomplished. lan Black

The removal operation proceeding at night. PA Photos

Virgin scrops oll-premium plonsVirgin Atlantic has abandoned immediate plans to launch anall-premium trans-Atlantic operation from mainland Europe, claimingthat the lack offollow-on Open Skies progress has rendered theventure too risky. Last summerVirgin, outlined its intention to launchall-premium services between contlnental Europe and the USA during2008, but CEO Steve Ridgway said that aircraft and product challengesmade it uncertain whether the carrier would go ahead with the move.

The carrier has now confirmed that it has abandoned theplan, with an airline spokeswoman saying:'Virgin Atlantic canconfirm that it has put on hold its plans for a business-only carrieroperating between key European cities and New York. With noprogress being made on the crucial next stage of the Open Skiestalks, it would be too risky to start this new venture with thelikelihood that the first stage of Open Skies could be reversed in2010. Our plans will remain on ice until there is clearer progress.Virgin Atlantic would like to see European carriers being allowed tofly onwards within the USA as soon as possible, as US carriers willbe allowed to fly onwards within Europe from March 2008.'

Euro flight surgeThe Eurocontrol organisation has revealed that the number offlights in Europesurged to approximately 10 million in 2007, an all-time high and an increase of5.3 per cent on 2006. Average daily traffic wa s pul al27 ,676 flights compared to26,286in 2006.Traffic growth has been strongest in eastern Europe, with severalstates seeing growth near 20 per cent, while Finland, Sweden, Azores and the Canarylslands posted results lower than the European average.

The reason for the increase is placed at the door ofthe low-cost carriers (up 25 percent) and business aviation (1 0 per cent), which together accounted for nearly all the newflights. Delays are also on the rise, affecting 1 1 per cent offlights, up from just under 1 0 percent in 2006. Most of these delays are attributed to the airlines, with l6 per cent comingfrom airports, 1 2 per cent from en route factors and only 9 per cent from weather. Airtraffic flow management delays caused by ATC capacity, staffing, weather and aerodromecapacity increased from an average of 1.9 minutes perflight in 2006 to 2.1 minutes in 2007.Eurocontrol Director General David McMillan warned that air trafflc control is operating atcapacity in some places with a real risk of significant delays this summer.

The number of flights in 2008 is expected to rise 4.2 per cent, with majorgrowth in the Adriatic coast region and in Poland and the Baltics and low costairlines accounting for 20 per cent of all flights.

10tE

Big yecrr for Airbuscrnd BoeingMoior monufocturers onnounce record 2007

Airbus and Boeing have both announced significant sales successes in 2007.Airbus recorded another blockbuster year with deliveries of 453 aircraft, 19 morethan in 2006 and 1 2 more than Boeing. The European manufacturer racked up a

record 1 ,341 net orders worth 51 57.1 billion, slig htly less than Boeing s 1,41 3 netorders.They both now have the sobering challenge ofdelivering these on time.

Airbus made a stunning recovery from its troubles in 2007, with its 4380entering service flawlessly with Singapore Airlines and the A350XWB winningthe prized Emirates order. During the year it delivered 367 A320familyaircraft, six 4300 freighters, T9 4330/A340s and one 4380.The firm net orderscomprised 9'13 4320 family aircraft,405 4330s/A340s/A350s and 23 4380s.TheA350XWB has really come good and is provlng popular with 292 firm orders.

The end of 2007 saw Airbus reaching a backlog of 3,421 aircraft,representing six years of production and the highest backlog ever in aviationindustry. The company expects to deliver more than 470 aircraft this year, withorders'above' that figure.

Boeing smashed its previous commercial aircraft sales record in 2007,with 80 customers placing orders for 1,413 aircraft. The manufacturertopped the 1,000-0rder mark for the third consecutive year after posting1,005 orders in 2005 and 1,044in 2006. lt set sales records forthe Boeing787 and 737, while rhe747,777 and767 programmes also passed ordermilestones. The 2007 orders take Boeing's backlog close to Airbus ataround 3,400.

fhe737 had a bumper year, setting a third consecutive annual recordwith net orders for 846, breaking the previous tallies of 729 net orders in 2006and 569 in 2005. The type (originally launched in 1 965) passed the 7,000 totalorder mark last year, underscoring the longevity ofthe design.The 787 alsoenjoyed a record-setting year despite the delays that have been announced,clocking up 369 orders in 2007. Boeing freighters also enjoyed a thirdconsecutive record sales year, with 83 gross orders for cargo aircraft in 2007 ,

up from 81 in 2006 and 74in2005.

Embrqer sets delivery recordEmbraer's 61 fourth-quarter 2007 deliveries boosted its year total to 1 69 aircraft, up30 per cent on 2006 and a company record. The Brazilian manufacturer delivered some45 commercial aircraft in the last quarter of 2007, taking the 2007 tally to I30 commercialaircraftcomprisingsevenEMB-145s, 11E-170s,34E-175s,68E-l90sand10E-195s. ltsfirmbacklogasof3l Decemberwasawhopping518.8billion,with51.1 billionofthishavingbeen announced at the Dubai Air Show in November. ln 2008, the company expects todeliver about 195 to 200 aircraft in total and about the same number in 2009.

UK ROUND.UPRyonoir bose of BournemouthRyanair has chosen Bournemouth Airport as its newest base, withthe airport having won in competition against other airports in

Europe to become the carrier's 24th European base. From April,Ryanair will base a Boeing 737-800 there to operate to Malaga,

Murcia, Nantes, Palma and Wroclaw as it increases capacity to flyone million passengers per year from Bournemouth.

However, Ryanair's proposalto establish operations atMilan Malpensa have been rejected by airports operator SEA,

which is 84.5 per cent controlled by the municipality of Milan.The carrier unveiled plans in September to set up a base atMalpensa with up to 12 aircraft operating on 50 European and'10 domestic routes in response to Alitalia's plan to reduce itspresence at the airport as part of a reorganisation effort.

Flybe fronchise deol with LogonoirFlybe has announced a franchise agreement with Scottishairline Loganair that will see the latter take to the skies inFlybe colours from 26 October. Airline chiefs have said thatthe deal will deliver more UK and European flight connectionsto passengers in Scotland. Loganair provides services

throughoutthe Highlands and lslands with a fleet of Saab

340s, lslanders and Twin Otters, while Flybe flies from fourScottish airports.

The new franchise will not affect the 40 per cent corefares discount given to passengers from Orkney, Shetland, theWestern lsles, lslay, Jura, Caithness and North-West Sutherland.But, Flybe CEO Jim French said:'This landmark agreement, thefirst time a low-cost carrier has entered into such a franchisearrangement, is an exciting development in the evolutionof the low-cost model and one which Flybe sees as a validstrategic option for the future. lt is also a win-win for bothairlines. For Flybe, we will see our presence in the key Scottishmarket greatly enhanced and will benefit from increasedpassenger traffic into our existing network. For Loganair, thealliance is a major opportunity to bring the recognised brand ofEurope's Iargest regional airline and the benefits of the low-costmodel to hundreds ofthousands of passengersl

Flybe has now announced the launch ofa newthreetimes daily service from Aberdeen to Gatwick, the airlinehaving been in talks with Aberdeen Airport since BA

announced it was axing the service last year. lt will beginoperating the service from 30 March with an Embraer 195.

all 1

AROUND THE WORTDDelto in merger tolksDelta Air Lines is holding talks with both Northwest Airlines and United Airlines abouta possible merger after the board of directors gave CEO Richard Anderson direction toexplore options with both carriers. Northwest is shaping up as the most likely optionas Mr Anderson came to Delta from Northwest and knows both companies very well.The two airlines'route maps are considered to be complimentary and Northwest wouldenhance Delta with its extensive Asian network.The fleet issue is a difficult one - Delta'smainly Boeing inventory would clash with Northwest's mostly Airbus fleet. lf they wereto merge, Delta would probably be the surviving name as Northwest is considered tooregional.

Both carriers have a relationship with the Air France-KLM group, which and mayhave the last word on any merger and might already be involved in the negotiations. ltis possible that AF-KLM would want a portion of the new merged airline and anti-trustconsiderations will be considered along with the possible loss of service to small cities.Any announcement will probably ignite other large mergers as carriers attempt toreduce costs through consolidation.

Singopore Airlines lotestThe second production Airbus 4380 (c/n 005) was handed over to 5ingapore Airlines on1 1 January in line with the latest delivery schedule. By the end of 2007, the first SIA 4380 hadaccumulated over 1 30 flights and around 950 flight hours.The ajrline had to cancel 4380fliqhtSQ22lasaprecautiononl0January,puttingpassengersonaback-upBoeing747-400,after the a problem with the tow bar on the tug that was pushing the 4380 back off its stand.The 4380 was disconnected and rolled into the grass and mud. When the aircraft came to astop, four wheels ended up offthe pavement, but the aircraft was not damaged.

Clickoir slows progressClickair may have carried 4.5 million passengers in 2007, in line with its business plan,but full-year revenue came in lower than forecast according to CEO Alex Cruz. Speakingrc Aircraft lllustrated, Cruz also confirmed the airline would scale down its planned fleetexpansion this year. Two new A320s are scheduled to be delivered in February and March,but deliveries beyond that are being put on hold. The carrier ended 2007 with 23 aircraftand had planned to increase that to 30 bythe end ofthis year.

Cruz says he favours a cautious approach in this difficult environment.'Our contractsallow us flexibility, which also means we can add more capacity later in the year if the marketconditions improvei he said. However, he remains extremely pleased with the operationalside of the airline's first full calendar year, adding:'We ended the year with the lowest CASK(cost per seat kilometre) ever achieved by a European low-cost carrier operating to mainairports: Clickair, which is 20 per cent controlled by lberia, will add some 1O routes this year,

including Barcelona to Asturias, Alicante, Brussels and Dubrovnik during February alone.

Australian airline Skytraders has been awarded route authority from Australia's Civil

Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to fly between Australia and Antarctica. The company can

now fly passengers from Hobart to the ice runway located at the Wilkins Aerodrome nearthe Australian Antarctic Division's Casey Station. lt will carry scientists and other personnelgoing to the station.

The flight is about four hours each way for the Airbus 43 1 9-1 1 5LR (VH-VHD, cln 1999,formerly F-GYAS). The company had to demonstrate the ability to handle the unique flightsand often severe operating conditions. The aircraft must have sufficient fuel capacity tosafely make a return trip (there is no fuel in Antarctica) or be able to turn around in flightshould the weather turn bad. lt must also be able to complete the trip if it loses an engine.

The first historic trip took place on 1 1 January between Hobart and the blue ice runwayat Wilkins. The flight, with 20 passengers, took four-and-a-half hours one-way. TheA546-million ice runway took two years to build and actually drifts about 36 feet a year dueto glacial movement! Flights will not be open to regular passengers.

Londing on ice

Passengers waiting to board Airbus A3t9-l 15LRof Skytraders on the Antarctica ice. PA Photos

il-flrlClvlt

Virgin biofuel testVirgin Atlantic is planning to fly one of its Boeing 747-4OOs

on a biofuel during a demonstration flight in February. lt willbe the first time that a commercial aircraft has operated withbiofuel in-flight and is part of a major initiative among someairlines and Boeing to discover sources of sustainable aircraftfuel for the future.

TheVirgin Atlantic Boeing 747 willflyfrom HeathrowtoAmsterdam on a demonstration flight, with no passengerson board, using a sustainable type of biofuel that doesn'tcompete with food and fresh water resources. The flight, inconjunction with Boeing and engine maker GE Aviation, is

part of Virgin's drive to reduce its environmental impact.

SPECIAT REPORT

w;A"ti

'.1

ARJ2I rolled outChino's AVIC I unveils new oirliner

he Shanghai Aviation lndustrialGroup's Dachang facility was the focusof attention for the world airlinermarket on 21 December when

AVIC I officially rolled out its all-new ARJ 21-700 commercial aircraft,

China is looking to tackle the airline industryhead-on. In an effort to streamline production,it is reportedly now seeking to re-merge itsAviation lndustries of China (AVIC) | and ll plantsin order to better position itself to become amajor player in the sector.

Shanghai-based AVIC l's new ARJ 21-700 is

the go-seat first variant of the type, with a Iarger1 05-seater -900 series planned to follow. TheARJ 21 (ARJ standing for Advanced Regional.let)

dates back to State Council approval in 2002. Theaircraft draws heavily upon Western suppliers,with a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21-based cockpitavionics suite, a Sagem flight deck control systemto interface with the fly-by-wire system and itstwin General Electric CF34-1 0A engines.

The design ofthe ARJ 21 has been specificallydeveloped to meet performance parametersrequired for the diverse and demandingconditions in China, including the'hot-and-high'airports at altitude in the west of the cou nty. TheARJ 21 is intended to offer powerful take-off andclimb performance to best suit it for use at'basicairports with short runwaysi

The first flight of the ARJ 2l is scheduledto happen in the next few months (probably in

March) and an intensive flight test programmeis planned in order to achieve Civil AviationAdministration of China certification in 2009. Thiswill meet its first delivery commitment to launchcustomer Shandong Airlines in September 2009.So far, the ARJ 21 has notched up firm orders for35 aircraft, for as well as Shandong the aircrafthas been chosen by Shanghai Airlines andShenzhen Leasing.

AVIC I has teamed up with Canadianmanufacturer Bombardier to develop the newARJ 21-900 version, as well as to establish long-term strategic co-operation for the developmenlof 90-149-seat commercial aircraft.This latterversion could be ready for service entry by 201 l,and a further series of developments is likely toinclude an extended range version as well as a

freighter variant.The ARJ 21 marks the start of what are

huge plans for Chinese commercial aviationmanufacturing. The industry has taken a bigstep forward with the ARJ 21, but larger aircraftare very much part of the future picture as

the industry looks to challenge Airbus andBoeing directly on the world market. Next onthe horlzon could be a I so-seat airliner, and aformal announcement on thls latest project is

expected soon. Add to this the involvement ofChinese firms in joint ventures with Westernmanufacturers, and it is clear that China intendsto become a major'powerhouse'in this sector.

Top: The first ARJ 21 -700 was rolled out on 21

December with all the ceremony you'd expect for suchan occasion in China, PA Photos

Left: The design of the ARJ 21 has been optimisedfor the Chinese market, but Western influenres arevery strong. So too is Western involvement in theprogramme. PA Photos

at13

.\\ CIVIt

ln briefAir lronte-Kllll agreed in December to buy VLM Airlines,the Belgian regional carrier and the biggest operatorat London City Airport. The takeover move, which is

subject to approval, defeated rival interest from BritishAirways and was announced on Christmas Eve. Thismakes Air France-KLM the dominant carrier at LondonCity, controlling almost half of all operations there. ltalso makes the French carrier the world's biggest airlinemeasured by turnover.

Ihe lroubled ATG (Aviation Technology Group) Javelinlight jet programme seems doomed. Most of thecompany's employees have been made redundant andfunds appear to have dried up.

Aer Aronn has announced a franchise agreement withNex Aviation that will add jets to its fleet and four newroutes its network. The airline will wet-lease twoBAe 1 46-200s from Nex Aviation to launch new routesto the continent, operating alongside Aer Arann'scurrent fleet of 1 4 ATR turboprops. New destinations ofAmsterdam, Bordeaux, Malaga, and Faro are all plannedfrom Galway and Waterford Airports from May.

Midwest Airlines announced that Skyway Airlines,which provides regional services as Midwest Connect, willcease flying before the end of March as operations aretransferred to SkyWest Airlines under the terms of a five-year agreement that took effect last April.The latter willuse 5o-seat CRJ-200s as opposed to the 32-seatDornier 328Jets used by Skyway.

Howoiiqn Airlines may be forced to cancel its Airbusorder for six 305-seat A330-200s and six 322-seatA350-800XWBS.The airline is facing an Airbus andRolls-Royce deadline to finalise the order but pilotshave not agreed to fly the new aircraft. The ALPA-represented pilots are asking for a new contract thataddresses their concerns involving sick leave, restfacilities on long-haul flights and other issues. Contractnegotiations have dragged on for over a year. Thecompany will not be able to move ahead with the newaircraft without a new contract with the pilots.

Anslerdom Airlines is a new carrier being proposed byformer VLM owner Rosen Jacobson. The prospective low-cost carrier is planning to lease Airbus A320s, although nostart-up date has been disclosed.

Yeli Airlines has teamed up with Air Arabia to fly low-cost international flights from Nepal. Since 20 January, theairline has operated to Sharjah using a Boeing 737-800.It plans to add Doha, Kuala Lumpur and various cities inlndia later. lt has received permission to operate to 14destinations in Asia. This is the second joint venture forfast-growing Air Arabia which will be a major shareholderwith more than 25 per cent of the stock.

SunExpress, the joint venture between Lufthansaand Turkish Airlines, will open a third base in Turkey atlstanbul Sabiha Gokcen this summer. lt will base twoaircraft there starting with the new summer schedule,operating flights to eastern Anatolia and westernEuropean destinations.

Iollowing lhe withdrawal of Polish airline WhiteEagle from Dundee airport on 7 December, thejoint venture with Fly Whoosh ground to a halt,stranding its passengers. Services to Birmingham andBelfast ceased after the Polish carrier pulled out on'commercial groundsl

I

Orders! Orders!

I Air Pacific has ordered three additionalBoeing787-9s, making a total of eight. lt isalso taking three purchase rights.I AWAS, the Dublin-based lessor, gaveAirbus a strong start to the year with anorder for 75 A320s plus 25 options. Thefirm aircraft will bring its Airbus portfolio to1 45 units, the manufacturer said. The dealis valued at 56.9 billion at list prices. AWAScurrently owns and manages more than320 aircraft and said it is one of the worldtthree largest aircraft lessors.I China Airlines has signed up for 14A350-900s from Airbus and taken anothersix on option. China Airlines intends to startusing the A350XWB from 2015.I LOT Polish Airlines has signed a

contract for 12 Embraer 175s plus twooptions and 10 purchase rights. LOT will

become the largest E-Jet operator inEurope once the jets are delivered.I Niki has converted 1 0 options for theAirbus 4320 family into firm orders.Theaircraft will be delivered starting in 2010.I PrivatAir has converted a Boeing787-8 purchase right into a firm order.The company now has two 787s on firmorder plus one remaining purchase right.According to PrivatAir CEO Greg Thomas,'The ever-increasing demand from chartercustomers for long-range, large-cabinaircraft shows no sign of abating.'I Brazilian carrier TAM Linhas A6reas hasfirmed up its order for 22 43SOXWBs andfor four additional 4330-200s. The airline,based in 56o Paulo, has furthermoreadded another 20 A320 family aircraft tothe initial order.

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Ecrgles bcrckin the crirUSAF returns mony F-l5s to flight

After over a month of grounding, the USAF returned a portion of its F-l 54 to DEagle force to the air on 8.lanuary following a directive from Air Combat Command(ACC). The'limited return to flight'followed the completion of engineering risk

assessments and data received from fleet-wide inspections, but only about60 per cent ofthe total Eagle force was cleared to return to flight operations.

ACC chiefGen John Corley received a briefing on the findings ofthe accidentinvestigation of the 2 November loss of a Missouri ANG F- l 5C that led to thegrounding, and also received feedback from Boeing and USAF structural experts.ln his announcement, he commented:Aircraft inspection results and counselfrom both military and industry experts have made me confident in the safety ofa portion ofthe fleet. As a result, I have cleared those F-'l 5s to return to flyj

The aircraft that remain grounded do so because they are considerednot to meet'blueprint specificationsi according to ACC. One USAF insiderwent as far as to say'many of these aircraft may never fly again: However it isbelieved that most ofthe F-1 5 force will be returned to operations over thecoming month. Structural experts from Warner Robins AFB have said thatcracks have been found in both the right and left upper cockpit longerons ofnine aircraft. A thinning ofthe longeron at a key stress point, possibly due toa manufacturing defect, may be the root cause ofthe trouble. Replacementlongerons can be manufactured at Robins and retrofitted as required, but thishas a significant lead time.

A pilot climbs out of an F- l 5A Eagle from the Hawaii ANG's 1 99th Fighter Squadronat Hickam AFB on 9 January after flying a training mission for currency. Thisfollowed the return to flight of some F-l 5A to D aircraft. USAF

USAF leaders have clearly used the F-1 5 grounding to their advantagein pushing for more F-22A Raptors. One senior USAF officer likened the F-15grounding to the USAF'having a heart attacki

IThe bad news for the F-1 5 hasn't stopped Boeing securing supportfor the type. The Republic of Singapore has now announced a follow-onorder for 24 mo(e F-15S examples, the company emphasising that age ls

the key factor in the USAF troubles and that newer F-1 5Es and derivativesare not affected.

lqtest RAF upgrodesBAE Systems has announced two key Royal Air Force combat aircraft supportdeals over the last month. First up is an f84-million contract for the developmentof Hanier GR9 Capability E. This comes as an addition to the costly f 500-millionGR9 baseline upgrade and builds on Capabilities A to D that are already beingimplemented across the RAF fleet.

Capability E involves the design, development, integration and clearance of a

number of systems including software functionality for secure communications,a replacement video recording system, modified Auxiliary CommunicationsNavigation ldentification Panel (ACNIP), the establishment of a second securecommunications channel and the introduction of Tactical lnformation ExchangeCapability (TIEC). As with the previous phases, Capability E will be introducedto the Harrier force as part of the Harrier Joint Upgrade and MaintenanceProgramme (JUMP) at RAF Cottesmore. Capability C, which includes Paveway ll+and the Sniper advanced targeting pod, is currently being introduced across theGR9 fleet, with Capability D bringing in the MBDA Brimstone anti-armour weaponand Joint Reconnaissance Pod (JRP) by 2009. All remaining Harrier GRTs and T1 0

trainers should have been cycled through the basellne GR9/f12line byJune 2009.TheTornado GR4/4Ais also in line for new BAE Systems upgrades under

the f200-million CU5(P), this standing for Capability Upgrade Strategy (Pilot).

CUS(P) will involve the design, development and integration of upgraded securecommunications and the introduction of a Tactical Datalink Capability as well as

the integration of Paveway lV. Capability A will provide the new communicationsand Paveway lV followed by Capability B's datalink.

Seo King blqde upgrqdecompletedQinetiQ and ATEC (the AircraftTest & EvaluationCentre) at Boscombe Down have completed thet5.25-million Carson blade upgrade programmeon the Royal Navy Sea King HC4 fleet.Theretrofit of the new Carson main rotor bladeswas completed under an Urgent OperationalRequirement (UOR) for the HC4s of 846 NASdeploying to Afghanistan.The new systemgenerates an increase of up to 2,0001b in maximumhover mass at high altitude plus a significantincrease in the maximum forward speed.

16lA

FR supports King Airs BAE receives JSFcontrqctBAE Systems has received f 25 millionworth of funding for its participation inthe build of the first F-35 Low-Rate lnitialProduction (LRIP) aircraft. The contractwill see the manufacturer delivering theaft fuselage and empennage (vertical andhorizontal tails) for two F-35A ConventionalTake-off and Landing (CTOL) variants of theLightning ll. JSF production is limited toannual LRIP'lots' initially as manufacturingincreases towards full-rate production.

Hawker Beechcraft has announced that FR

Aviation at Bournemouth lnternational Airportis a new Authorised Service Centre for theBeechcraft family of aircraft. This is likely todirectly relate to a new batch of King Air 350sthat the UK MoD has recently purchased forUrgent Operational Requirements (UOR). NigelGuz, the company's business developmentexecutive for Special Mission Aircraft,commented:'FR Aviation is a key providerof special-mission services and we see manyopportunities for closer co-operation.'

lYphoonsweeps intofrclnche 2First flight of lotest stondord Typhoonmode ot Monching

Eurofighter has notched up the first flight of a Tranche 2 Typhoon, themilestone occurring at Manching in Germany on 16 January. Single-seataircraft IPAT (lPA standing for lnstrumented Production Aircraft) fromEADS Military Air Systems was flown by Chris Worning. lt represents thefirst fullTranche 2 build standard aircraft and it will be used to gain TypeAcceptance for the latest Block 8 standard Typhoon, planned for April.BAE Systems is operating lPA6 at Warton as a Block 8 aircraft, but this is

a Tranche 1 aircraft that has been upgraded with the Tranche 2 missioncomputer suite and avionics features.

The EurofighterTranche 2 production contract was signed backin December 2004, and includes 251 aircraft - 93 for the RAF, 75 forGermany,48 for ltaly and 35 for Spain.The total includes 15

Tranche 1 aircraft that are planned to be diverted to Austria, with thefigure being added toTranche 2 to make up overall partner nationnumbers. Tranche 2 deliveries will run through to 2013, and 32aircraft are already in final assembly.

Eurofighter Typhoon lPAT (serial 98+07), the first Tranche 2 aircraft, making itsinitial flight at Manching on 16 January. Reinhard Bayer

I Meanwhile, Eurofighter has ended its participation in the fighterprocurement programmes in Denmark and Norway to replace currentF-1 6 MLUs. The decision leaves the Lockheed Martin F-35 and SaabJAS39C Gripen as the only candidates remaining. Eurofighter is

understood to consider the Norwegian competition as being biasedtowards the acquisition of J5F, and believes its time is better spentconcentrating on its competitions in Greece, lndia, Japan, Switzerlandand Turkey. Norway is planning to retire its F-16AM/BM force by 2015and has now issued a formal request for information (RFl). lt expects todecide formally on 48 new aircraft by 2009.

I Luftwaffe wing JG 74 at Neuburg in Bavaria (see last month) startedthe transition to an EF2000-equipped QRA commitment on8 January, with a launch of two aircraft.The unit's F-4Fs will continueto carry out QRA missions alongside the Eurofighters untilthe middleof the year.

REST OF THE WORTD

Morocco looks ot VipersLockheed Martin looks to be close to securing a dealto supply F-1 6s to Morocco. The US Congress has beennotified of the possible sale of 24 Block 50/52 F-1 6ClDsas well as 24 T-68 trainers in a deal that could be worthup to 52.6 billion. Morocco had previously rejected a bidby Dassault for the Rafale bid in favour of the'Viperi lfthe sale goes through, it is expected that the F-1 6s willbe latest standard examples complete with JHMCs, thenewest radar and conformal tanks.

Conodo buys C-130JOn 1 8 January, Lockheed Martin confirmed that Canadahad signed a $ 1.4-billion contract for 1 7 new C-1 30Js. TheCanadian Forces C-1 30Js will be the stretched C- 1 30J-30versions (CC-l 30Js) and will be delivered from 2010. JimGrant, Lockheed Martin vice president for Air Mobility andSpecial Operations Forces, said:'This contract begins theprocess for working with Canadian industry to establish a 20-year In-Service Support (lSS) programme for the new fleeti

Canada currently operates 32 CC-1 30E/Hs. TheC-1 30J was selected over the Airbus A400M in 2006. TheCanadian AF has already started retiring some olderCC-1 30Es, and the Js will see this process beingaccelerated. All 17 CC-130-Js will be delivered by 2012.

Soudi Arqbiq choosesA33O MRTTThe Royal Saudi AF has announced plans to buy EADS

4330 Multi-Role Tanker/Transport (MRTT) aircraft. TheSaudi aircraft are planned to feature both the centrelineAir Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) and underwing hoseand drogue pods. The news came as another blow to the4330 MRTT's Boeing KC-767 competitor in the region, as

it also lost out to EADS in the UAE at the end of 2007.

lndio looks of moreHowksThe lndian AF is gaining support overplans to increase its BAE SystemsHawk Mkl 32 buy. The IAF is alreadyon contract for 66 Hawk advanced jettrainers (AJTs) and another 57 couldbe added, comprising 40 for the IAF

and 1 7 for the lndian Navy.The existing deal for 66 aircraft

did involve options for follow-onsales and a protracted negotiationperiod for additional orders is notexpected, unlike the decision for theinitial batch which was years in theoffing. The first two Hawk Mki 32sfor the IAF left Warton in November2007 bound for Bidar.

Pqkistqn to getmore F- l6sLockheed Martin has finalised a

5498.2-million contract to supply18 new Block 52F-16s to Pakistan,which could receive up to 36 newand refurbished examples. Pakistanordered a total of 1 1 1 Block 15

F-16A/Bs in the 1980s; ofthese, Tlwere embargoed by the US dueto the Pakistan nuclear weaponsprogramme.23 were actually builtand stored for many years at Davis-Monthan before being distributedevenly between the USAF testcommunity and the US Navyadversary force. The USAF has alreadyrelinquished these airframes, whichare finally being prepared to berefurbished and delivered to Pakistanas part of the latest deal. The US Navyexamples at Fallon are likely to follow

dl17

Tf{TIIf N'IILTTARY

Hot HAR.IUI?QF-4G lounches new missile

ln a surprising media release from the USAF, it has beenrevealed that the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron has beencalled upon to perform test work with an unidentified newsuppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) missile. A QF-4Gfrom the squadron's Det 1 at Holloman AFB, New Mexico,launched the missile (as seen here) during a trial over theWhite Sands test range on 9.lanuary, marking the first timean air-to-ground missile had been fired from a full-scaleaerial target (FSAT) drone QF-4. The QF-4G, sporting fainttiger stripes that it has worn for some time, was operatedunmanned in remote control mode from a ground station.

Maj John Markle, the detachment's operations officer,commented:'This test is an important part of our missionbecause it increases survivability of our airmen going against(surface-to-air missile) threats. Furthermore, it's the first timethe drone has been able to shoot backl

As well as being remarkable due to the unusual useof the QF-4 as a launch platform for a missile, the actualmissile that was fired has turned out to be a bit of a

A USAF QF-4Gcarrying and firingwhat appears to bea ramjet-poweredversion oftheAGM-88 HARM.USAF

mystery. From inspection of the poor quality images thataccompany the release, the missile appears to be a ramjet-powered version of the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-RadiationGuided Missile (AARGM). Maj Markle's comments offera little more indication:'This is a new high-speed, anti-radiation missile the Navy designed to defeat SAM threatsiLt Col Joel Rush, Det 1 commander, further commented:'With this successful test, we have pioneered a new venueto test forward-firing ordnance without risk to valuable alrassets or crew members.'

This airborne live firing trial seems to have revealed a

hitherto unseen AGM-88 derivative, possibly developed insecrecy under the US Navy's Higher Speed Anti-radiationMissile Demonstration (HSAD) programme that has beenrunning for several years. lt had been thought that theNavy was placing emphasis on the AGM-88E AARGM as itsnext SEAD missile to replace the HARM. Whether it is purecoincidence that it is a QF-4G (formerly a'Wild Weasel') thatwas performing the test is still open to question.

BriefingroomGullslreom ir leadingthe programme toenhance self-protectionfor the USAF s five C-37As

through installation ofthe Northrop GrummanAN/AAQ-24(V) NemesisDIRCM system.

fhe Gernon ministryofdefence has orderedfour Bombardier Global5000 business jets andtwo Airbus A319s forVlPtransport and medicalevacuation duties.Theaircraft are scheduled fordelivery in 201 1 and willreplace the current C1601

Challenger fleet.The newBombardier aircraft will beable to carry an intensivecare patient transportunit, and Lufthansajoint venture GermanOperating Aircraft Leasing

is acting as subcontractorfor the acquisition of theGlobal 5000s.

Thoi Avinlion lndustrieshas awarded RockwellCollins the secondphase of a contractto upgrade the Royal

Thai AF! fleet ofC-l 30Hercules with integratedCommunications,Navigation, Surveillance/AirTraffic Management(CNS/ATM). The fi rst phase

called for completingthe avionics upgrade onsix C-1 30s and Phase 2

will include the avionicssystem upgradeforthefinal six aircraft.

EUROPE

upgrade (HUG). The 33Swiss Hornets are nowmoving into'Upgrade 25'thanks to a new 5535-million deal with Boeingthat builds on the original'Upgrade 21' project. ltincludes the procurementof 20 AN/ASQ-228A(V)Advanced Tactical ForwardLooking lnfra-red (ATFLIR)

pods for a precision strikecapability, as well asAN/ALR-67(V)3 ElectronicWarfare CountermeasuresReceiving systems anda new Joint MissionPlanning System.

French Alpho Jets

upgrodedThe French AF has securedfunding for a long-standingrequirement to upgrade itsAlpha Jets to better suit therole as lead-in fighter trainers.A 533.4-million deal withThales and Sabca of Belgiumincludes a modest cockpitavionics upgrade for 20 AlphaJets, which will serve as directlead-in trainers for pilotsprogressing to the Rafaleforce.The upgrade includesa new head-up display, GPS

navigation, and air-to-air andair-to-ground fi re controlsimulation. Prototype testingis planned to start in 2009.Subsequent serial productionupgrades will be supplied inkit form.

Swiss fighrer updoteThe Swiss Governmentissued a request forproposals on 7 )anuaryfora new fighter to replaceits remaining F-5ElF Tigerlls. The competition willbe between the BoeingF / A-13E/F Super Hornet,Dassault Rafale, EurofighterTyphoon and Saab JAS39Gripen. Flight evaluationsare expected this year as

the aggressive procurementworks towards the F-5tretirement by 2012 at latest.

Meanwhile, the SwissAF is moving ahead withits F/A-l8C/D Hornet

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EAGLE IN CRISISCombat Aircra{t reports on the recent grounding due tostructural problems of the USAF's aging F- I 5 force

KOREA -THETHREATHighly detailed satellite images by DigitalGlobe illustrate the North Korean

air bases whose assets pose a threat to the US presence in South Korea

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at19

STATESIDE

\\ YV TNITTTARYI

'Bones' heqd for upgrodeThe USAF has started introduclng the Sniper advanced targetingpod across its B-1 B Lancer force. Testing and integration of Sniper

for the B-1 has been under way for several years, and now the 65-

strong active fleet is being cycled through Davis-Monthan AFB,

Arizona, for the upgrade. Boeing is leading the programme undera 53-million initiative that involves uncovering sealed attachmentpoints originally used for carrying long-range air-launchednuclear cruise missiles. They will now be used for the Sniper pod.

C-5 self-defenceThe USAF is expanding its C-5 Galaxy self-protection systemprogramme. Northrop Grumman's Large Aircraft Infra-RedCountermeasures (LAIRCM) system is being fitted to fiveC-5s this year, followed by another three in 2009, to increaseprotection against heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles. TheUSAF has already added LAIRCM to C-17s followingnon-catastrophic 2004 attacks near Baghdad that saw a C-1 7

and C-5 being hit by missiles.

New NVGsAir test and evaluation squadron VX-31 from NAWS China Lake

has been instrumental in delivering a new NVG capability tofront-line US Marine Corps and Navy units. Deployed in lraq,

VMFA(AW)-225 has become the first unit to receive the newNightVision Cueing and Display (NVCD) system, providingJoint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) functionalityintegrated into night vision goggles (NVGs) and giving pilots

dramatically improved situational awareness.The QuadEye system is a follow-on to the JHMCS helmet

and incorporates the same symbology - including airspeed

and altitude, heading, and indications of where the aircraftsensors are looking - as JHMC5 into a four-tube night visiongoggle. The two outer tubes can also be removed to createa two-tube version, known as Mini-QuadEye.The US Navy

F/A-18 Program Office (PMA-265) has arranged an interimflight clearance for VMFA(AW)-225 to fly with Mini-QuadEyepending full clearance ofthe four-tube set-up.

The first two VH-71 helicopters have entered the flight test phaseat Patuxent River. This is TV-5 flying from the Agustawestlandplant at Yeovil before leaving for the USA, US Navy

VH-71 tesfing moves qheqdThe first two Lockheed Martin/AgustawestlandVH-71 presidential helicopters for the US MarineCorps have entered flight testing at NAS PatuxentRiver, MD. Test helicopters TV-2 and TV-5 arrivedat'Pax'in November and December fromAgustaWestland's facility at Yeovil and will be usedinitially for structural and propulsion testing.

TV-2 and TV-5 are the first of four test aircraftbuilt for the initial phase of the VH-71 programme,known as lncrement One. Two more lncrementOne aircraft, TV-3 and TV-4, will undergo additionalassembly and mission fitting at Lockheed MartinSystems lntegration, Owego, New York, prior to beingtransferred to Patuxent River for testing. TV-1, anindustry-provided test asset, has been in flight testsince shortly after the contract award.

P-3 novigotionupgroded

The US Navy P-3C Orionforce has started receivingthe latest CommunicationNavigation Surveillance/AirTraffic Managementupgrades. Federal AviationAdministration andlnternational Civil AviationOrganisation navigationrequirements have leadto these avionics updatesbeing introduced acrossa numberof aircraftfleets, and the P-3Cs arereceiving certification forMode Select and RequiredNavigation PerformanceArea Navigation, usingGPS as a primary meansofnavigation.The Navyhas already completedCNS/ATM installations onfour P-3Cs, and all aircraft(including EP-3Es) areexpected to be upgradedby 201 3.

Cqsuo ltiesIwo US Novy SuperHornets collided in mid-air and crashed in theNorthern Arabian Gulfon 7 January.The VFA-

1 05 F/A-1 8E and VFA-1 1

F/A-1 8F were operatingfrom the USS Harry S.

Truman. All three crewmembers were rescued.

A Polish AI C'29s(serial 01 9) crashed onapproach to Miroslawiecon 23 January, killing all

20 on board, includingsenior officers. Theaircraft was returningpersonnel to theirbases after an air safetyconference in Warsaw.

More next month.

0n l6 lonuary,aUS Navy MH-53E Sea

Dragon of HM-15crashed and explodedin a field to the south ofCorpus Christi duringa night mission.Threeofthe four personnelaboard were killed.

lroq oir strikes increqseThe US military stepped up air strikes across lraq inJanuary as it launched Operation'Phantom Phoenix'on8 January, designed to flush out insurgents in their safe

havens. ln one day, the Arab Jabour district south-eastof Baghdad was targeted and USAF B-1 Bs and F-1 6Cs

dropped 40,0001b of explosives in 10 minutes, one of thelargest strikes since the 2003 conflict.

According to a senior US military official, the objectof the strikes was to'shape the battlefield'and take out'known threats before our ground troops move in. Our aimwas to neutralise any advantage the enemy could claimwith the use of lEDs and other weaponsi The latest strategyseems to be to employ air strikes supporting coalitiontroops as they clear hostile areas before holding and thenrebuilding them as they home in on insurgent strongholds.

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The long-awaited rebuild of four'custom-built'R-3350 engines forthe Commemorative Air Force's B-29 Superfortress Flfl, grounded forsome years, came a step closer in January with the announcementof a co-operative agreement between the CAF and the CavanaughFIight Museum (CFM), whose main backer Jim Cavanaugh has pledgedsponsorship worth 51.2 million towards the project.'This sponsorship,together with additional donations from CAF members, should 9o a

long way towards completing the project of putting Flfl back in theair againi said Stephan Brown, President and CEO of the CAF. 5o far,

52 million pledged byTexas inventor and industrialist Joe Jamieson inOctober 2006 has not been forthcoming.

ln addition, the staffofthe CAF'sB-29/B-24 Squadron votedunanimously to move its two aircraft, Flfi and recently-refurbishedB-24A Liberator Ol'927, from Midland to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum.Lyn Fite, the leader of the Squadron, said: 'We will reside in Addison,Texas, at the CFM, for six months while we perform annual maintenanceand we will tour on behalf of the CAF, with our crews, for the other sixmonths.'

This news followed confirmation that the CAF had sold HispanoHA1 1 12-M1 L Buchon'Yellow 14'N109ME last December via CourtesyAircraft Sales. A CAF spokesperson told A/that it was'part ofthe salethat we do not disclose the buyeri when we asked about speculationthat the Buch6n has been acquired by an as yet undisclosed UK

customer.The sale price is believed to have been about 5650,000, a

further boost to the B-29 re-engining programme.Built by Hispano in 1950 for the Spanish AF as C.4K-31, the Merlin-

powered Messerschmitt Bf109 was obtained in 1966, with a number ofothers, by Hamish Mahaddie to take part in the Battleof Britain movie.Operated by Spitfire Productions at Duxford for filming in 1968 andregistered G-AWHE, the Buchon was sold to Connie Edwards at Big

Spring,Texas in February 1969. Now registered N109ME, it emergedfrom storage two years later and joined the then Confederate Air Forceat Harlingen, Texas. Over the next 35 years, it had a number of landingaccidents and rebuilds. After the most recent restoration, it was flownto the CAF'S HQ at Midland in September 2004, but has been groundedthereafter due to the lack of suitably type-experienced pilots.

Top:The long-running saga ofthe funding required to re-engine the CommemorativeAir For(et B-29 Superfortress Fifi, seen here at Midland in Sept€mber, has received amajor boost from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. David Halford

Above: The CAF has sold its HAI 1 1 2-M l L Buch6n (Bfl 09J) N1 09ME, which has notflown at Midland since arriving in September 2004. Peter R. March

Big chernges for CAFB-29 engine rebuild funded by Covonqugh flight Museum deol ond Buch6n sole

Stqrliner to fly in 20 I OSince last month's issue, in which A/ was the first magazine to report thepurchase of Maurice Roundy's three Lockheed L1 6494 Starliners by theDeutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung (DLBS), the foundation's parent airlineLufthansa has released further information about the project.

DLBS has asked Lufthansa Technik AG to restore one of the aircraft toairworthy condition. A Lockheed 116494 became the first long-haul airlineroperated by Lufthansa capable of crossing the Atlantic without refuellingin 1958. When it flies again in 2010, the restored Starliner will take its place

alongside Ju52l3m D-CDLH in the DLBS fleet.An initial technical assessment ofthe aircraft by Lufthansa Technik

confirmed that one of them, N7316C, can be restored to airworthycondition. Engines and components of the two other Starliners will be used

for the restoration process. ln addition to the three airliners, numerousspare parts, as well as extensive documentation comprising repair andoverhaul manuals, were obtained at the auction.

Lufthansa Technik plans to have the restoration work carriedout mainly in the USA. Engineers and overhaulspecialists from thecompany's Hamburg facility, including former employees who workedon Starliners in Lufthansa service, will lead the team.The overhaul andrestoration work is to commence immediately, and it was reported inmid-January that plans have already been made to move N974R, whichsaw Lufthansa service as D-ALAN, by road from its current home at theFantasy of Flight museum at Polk City to Auburn, Maine, where N7316Cand N8083H are located.

Above left: Two of the L1 649A Starliners that Lufthansa has purchased are stillsitting at former owner Maurice Roundy's premises in Auburn, Maine. ln theforeground here is N731 6C, which Lufthansa has earmarked for restoration toairworthiness. Bill Blanchard/AirTeamlmages.com

Left: lt is reported that plans are being made to move Starliner N974R fromFantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida, to join its two stablemates in Maine.Peter R. March

22lA

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Yqk-3O flies in R.ussiclHistoric iet troiner offered for sole

Yakovlev Yak-30 jet trainer Bort 80 yellow made its maidenpost-restoration flight from Zhukovsky near Moscow in lateDecember.The 1 961-vintage aircraft had been acquiredby a private owner after Yakovlev sold off the contents ofits museum following a takeover by the lrkut corporation.Now, it is being offered for sale by Aeroconcept Tradingin fully airworthy condition after an airframe and engineoverhaul, along with the example of the single-seatYak-32 derivative that was also bought from the Yakovlevmuseum, and which is also being made airworthy.Aeroconcept also has various other Yaks for sale, includingexamples of the Yak-23UTl, Yak-25 and Yak-28P, all of whichit says could be brought up to airworthy condition.

The swept-wing Yak-30, given the NATO reportingname'Magnum', first flew in 1960. Despite its excellentperformance, though, the USSR decided to buy the Czech-built Aero L-29 Delfin as the jet trainer for all Warsaw Pactair forces.

Spitfi re RR2 32 proqressesDevon businessman MartinPhillips has already spentabout seven years workingon the restoration ofSpitfire lX RR232 in a shedat his home at Langfordnear Exeter. Talking abouthis f 1 million-plus project,he said recently:'We aremaking steady progress,but there are lots ofengineering problems toovercome, we are lookingat another one or twoyears before it is finishediHe has four Merlin engines,a L70,000 four-bladedpropeller, engine parts,

wing cannons, flyinginstruments, original seatsand various components.

Built in 1943, SpitfireHFIXc RR232 was deliveredto the RAF at Kinloss. ltwas twice damaged andrepaired before goingto the South African AFas5632 in May 1949. lnJanuary I954, it was soldto the South African Metal& Machinery Co in CapeTown and two decadeslater the hulk went toPeter 5ledge in Sydney,Australia. Work started onits restoration for static

display at Bankstownwhere it was rolled outin October 1984.RR232spent a period at NowraNaval Air Station beforebeing purchased by Britishcollector Charles Church,arriving at Micheldever,Hampshire, on 13 .lanuary1 987. Following Church'sdeath, the Spitfire wasacquired by Jim Pearceand was registered as

G-BRSF to Sussex SprayingServices at Shoreham. ltwas at Worthing for thenext 12 years, duringwhich time a number of

components were stolen.Martin Phillips purchasedRR232 in 1 999 and setabout its restoration thefollowing year.

A recent shot of MartinPhillips' Spitfire lX RR232under restoration near Exeter.Keith Saunders

Vulcon lqfestln mid-January, Dr RobertPleming, Chief Executive oftheVulcan to the SkyTrust,gave the latest news onprogress towards VulcanXH558 taking part in UK airdisplays this summer.

'The next phase in itsnew life takes the aircraftfrom today up to its firstpublic displayi he said.'ln funding terms, weestimate that it will costabout t575,000 to meet ourtarget of returning her topublic display on 1 June, anamount which is consistentwith our estimated grossannual running costs ofabout f 1.6 million.

'Following on from theenormous financial goodwillshown by many companies,and by Marshall Aerospacein particular, in enabling usto achieve the first test flight

on l8 October, we havechosen to avoid the risk offuture fiscal embarrassmentby electing to pay for anymajor work before it starts.

'Whilst the largestproportion of the f575,000pays for the monthlyf70,000 baseline costs ofsalaries and other vitalitems, the steepest part ofthe new challenge is theup-front outlay of f85,000required now to restart thetest flight programme. Thecosts of the display work-up flights and aviationinsurance are the othermajor elements making upthe total.

'This leads me toour revenue-generatingactivities. Donations arecontinuing, with somesignificant donationscoming from well-known

companies, some of whichfund the repayment of ourextremely patient credltorsfollowing first flight. Wecontinue to seek majordonations not only of cashbut of support-in-kind,from many different typesof companies, groupsand individuals, linked toproject milestones, throughfor example fund-raisingdinners and events atBruntingthorpe. However,we cannot be confident thatthis is a source of revenueon which we can rely in thelonger term.

'Gaining commercialsponsorship remains ourprimary objective for themajority of the longer-termfunding of our operation.As we had hoped, the firstflight has proved pervasivein establishing our credibilitywith potential sponsors...However, the currenteconomic conditions are

extremely unhelpful: manycompanies are tighteningtheir belts. True to ourphilosophy of never givingup, we have decided to gowhere the cash is: the MiddleEast. We already have onepotential line of significantinterest, but,.. it may welltake some time to carefullybring these opportunities tofruition.

'With our migrationfrom a major capital projectto an ongoing flow ofcommitments, we have beenlooking for ways to matchour funding streams to theprofile of our costs.

'lt's clear that theVulcan to the Sky Club,which has almost doubledin membership over thepast year, is home to ourstrongest, most loyaland active supporters.I have agreed with theClub's Committee that a

significant growth in the

Club's membership is notonly achievable, but wouldreflect the sentimentof supporters and alsoprovide a proportion ofthe ongoing revenues nowneeded by the Trust. TheClub, with the supportof the Trust, is thereforeembarking on a significantmembership drive.

'We are undertakinga detailed review of ourfuture requirements for ouroperating base. Our primaryneeds are clearly operationaland maintenance feasibility,and affordability (includinggrants), however we alsoneed to take into accountthe location as regardsvisitor access and catchmentarea, timescales and noticeperiods. Because of thesensitivity of some ofthe discussions, I can't atthis stage tell you more,but will do so as soon as

appropriatel

dt23

IT TIE|PRESERVATION

Museum of Flight prolectsSteady progress is beingmade in the restorationworkshop at the Museumof Flight at Paine Field,Washington on severalsignificant aircraft. Thecockpit of the prototypevought XFSU-1 (BuNo1 38899) is nearly finished,and when the work iscomplete it will be fullyrepresentative of theCrusader at the time of itsfirst flight in 1955.

The prototypeLockheed JetStar (N329J),

which is being restoredto airworthiness, is nowunder cover. Work hascommenced to restore itto Kelly Johnson's'skunkWorks' colour scheme witha polished metal bottomhalf, white top, dayglo andblack five-inch strip alongthe centre line, and a smallskunk emblem on top ofthe tail.

A great deal of effortis going into the long-termrebuild of 1942-vintage FM-2Wildcat BuNo 4512. Afterpainstaking work over a longperiod, a new windscreenand canopy have been builtfrom scratch and a newstarboard elevator looksbetter than the original.There is still a long way togo before a completion datecan be predicted, however.JIM GOODALL

Above left: The Museumof Flight's VoughtXFgU-1 CrusaderBuNo l38899 is nearingcompletion. Jim Goodall

Above: LockheedJetStar prototypeN329J, the only twin-engined Jetstar everbuilt, will be a veryrare airworthy exampleindeed when it fliesagain. Jim Goodall

F-22 becomesmuseum orece

I

The National Museum ofthe US AirForce at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio,unveiled its latest exhibit, a LockheedMartin F-22A Raptor, on 1 7 January.The museum's aircraft, 91 -4003, wasone of nine built for engineering,manufacture and developmenttesting in 1 999, and became the firstRaptor to launch an AIM-120 air-to-air missile at supersonic speeds.After completing its test programme,the aircraft came to the museumand was prepared for display by therestoration team. lt is painted torepresent an F-22A flown by the 1stFighter Wing at Langley AFB, Virginia.

The 478th Aeronautical SystemsWing at Wright-Patterson, whichprovides acquisition support tothe F-22 programme by managing

contracts and ensuring on-timedeliveries, led the effort to preparethe aircraft to be transferred to themuseum last year.

Up rlose with'big props'The Coventry-basedAir Atlantique ClassicFlight has announcedits programme ofweekend Open Days for2008, giving visitors an

opportunity to see someof its piston-enginedfleet at close quarters.With an admissionfee of f1 0, the OpenDays (from 10.00hrs to16.30hrs) will take placeon 7-8 June, 9-1 0 August,1 8-1 9 October and 1 3-14 December. Flights(pre-booked at t65 aseat) will be available inthe DC-3, Prentice andDragon Rapide, and onsome dates the TwinPioneer. Another of thehighlights of each OpenDay will be engine runsby the DC-68 G-APSA

and Shackleton WR963

at 13.00hrs. ln the winter,there will be a secondengine run at 16.00hrs

under arc lights. The5hackleton also doesengine runs everyThursday at 1 3.00hrs.For further information,contact Richard Parr on02476 882651.

GVIWE bockDespite the predictionsthat last year's GreatVintage Flying Weekend(GVFWE) could be thelast of these popularevents, organiser TerryBooker has announcedthat GVFWE'is flyingon for another seasoniThe venue is onceagain the near-perfectsetting of HullavingtonAirfield, Wiltshire, on16-1 8 May.'There is so

much goodwill andenthusiasm surroundingGVFWE that I couldn'tlet it just fade away; says

Terry.'Many interestedorganisations andindividuals from withinthe vintage aircraftcommunity are workinghard to secure this, theUK's biggest event of itskind, a long-term futureiThe successfulformularemains unchanged, andmany pilots have alreadybooked in their aircraftwith Mike Andrews(telephone 01962703143; e-mail mf-andrews@tiscali.co.uk).

F-22A Raptor 91 -4003 on display in the National Museum of the USAF's ModernFlight Gallery. USAF

24lA

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THE aviolion tour speciolist--- for THE oviotionATOL:

lan Allan Travel, Terminal House, Station Approach, Shepperton TW17 8A$1i11. IATA

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2OO8 PROVISIONAL AVIATIONTOUR PROGRAMME

4 - 1:t ADr USA: EAA Sun n FunArlshow, tlndall AFB Airshow NASA &MUSEUMS19 Mav-3 Jun COLUIVBIA, PERU,FCIJADbR. BOUVIA & DUTCHANI'llIES: Propliner tour!5 - 10 Mav ISRAEL: "lndependenceDay lnt l Aiishow & Air Force BasesODen Davzb Mav'- 2 Jun I\4ALAYSIA,'THAIIAND& INDONESIA: 5oth Ann of RoYal

l!4alaysian Air Force & all majormuseums, sightseeing(rncl Rrver Kwai) & ftee dals29 Mav - 5 Jun GERMANY &POLAND: Berlin (lLA Arrshow &museums), Wa6aw & l{rakowmuseums. Free time in Berlin, WaFaw& Knkow12 - 17 JunGERMANY AUSIRIA,SLOVENIA & CROAnA: Slovenianairbases & airshow; German, Austian& Croatlan museums22 - 27 Jun ISMEL: 6fth Anniv lsraeliAir Force Alrshow & IAF lvluseum25 - 30 Jun NR^/ TOUR: NATO TIGER

IVEEI 2008. FMNCE: Landivisiau.Photo/€nthusiasts Day (Fri) Plusairshow (Sun).Jun (tbc) SLoVAKIA: lntemationalAirshow & museums(date & venue tbc)2 - 1O Jul SIBERIA: Airlines & Airportswith Russian aMatlon exPeft Ste\e

Krnder! Domodedovo, Ekaterinburg*,Novosibilsk*, fi/otchishe, Berdsk,Yakulsk', K"asnoyarsk- by An24, An-28, An-32, Yak42, Iut54 & lL-62(*2 airports)24 - i8 Jul IVOSCOW: Airports - withSteve Kinder! Vnukovo (+VRZ400Rework), Bykovo, Chakalo\,skia,Domodedo\o & otheE.Extensivdextended access27 Jul - 4 Aug USA: Oshkosh: 6 fulldays at wodd'tlargest aMation e\,€nt &ail€how27 Jul - 11 Aug USA & CANADA:Oshkosh: lhunder Oler lVichiganAirshow; Canadian Waplane Heritagelvlus; Niagara Falls; opt ffts inLancaste[ B-17 & B-251:t - 17 Aug HUNGAR/: TOth Anniv ofAir Force Int'l Airshow & maiormuseums15 - 24 AuE ITALY & SWIZERLAND:B.rlense ln-fl Airshow. Luceme. Zurich& Rome incl ltalian National Aviation &Swiss museums. Scenic "WilliamTell" train thru the AIPS & cruise onveteran steamer on Lake Constance!3 - 8 Seo CZECH REPUBUC: Dechlnf I Air Fest Ailshow Bmo & Praguemuseums13 - 30 SeD WESIERN CANADA &ALASM: Problner tour incl Winnipeg.Red Lahe, Saskatoon, l(/elowna, SproatLake, Yello\4hife, Fairbanks,Anchorase etc8 - 23 *p [JSA: Grand Tour of Texas

& CAF Ai6how

18 - 23 Sep USA: CAF Airshol25 - 29 Sep NIALTA: lnt'l Airsh,owmuseums & leisure time. Beach hotel2? Sep-Uf Oct CHINA, TAIWAN &SOUTH I(OREA: Hong Kongcuangfiou, Xan, EelJing, Seoul,l€ngshan, Seoul. Major museums,si$rtseeing (Great \,lbll, TenacottaArmy, DMZtunnelVGlorious Gloste€,etc)i fee days3 - 19 octlNDlA: lndia Aviation 2008lnflAirshow; IAF Museum; rail

ioumeys, sightseeing slghbeeinglncluding 2-day llger Safuri by 4x4and/or elephanb!7 - 21 l,lov USA: Grand Tour US NaWBlue Angels Airshow (Fensacola); 5Aircraft Canie6: Hornet (S'Fnsco),

Midway (S'Diego), Lenngbn fm,Yoddcwn (S' Carolina) & lnuepid (Nq^/

Yoft); US Na\al AMation (FU, US[,4arine Cops (VA), Nat'l Air & Space &Ud\ar Hazv Museums (Vl/ash DC)

Nov (tbc)bREECE: Hellenic Air Force'lArchangel" Air Show (tbc)

15 - 20 Nor/ DUBAI BIZ JEIS &AIRUNERS: MiddIC EASI BUS|NCSS

Aviatjon (N/EBA) Expo, Dubai Aiport(+ shalah if Photo l%sses re-started)200923 - 29 Dec New todr: Chnstrnas inSt Martens, Dutch Antilles (Caribean).

famous for low approaches overbeachl Airport resort hotel: photos,

spotting relaxing; great for familyholiday!

All orices include UK Airline Passenger Duty Taxweekend toti* to European Airshows will be aAded when dq@ rg$lmgd

261a

Sycomore swqpThe Helicopter Museum (THM) at Weston-super-Mare has received Bristol SycamoreHRl 4 X1829, the last of the type to beretired from RAF service in December1971. From 1978 until it closed in October2006,XL829 was on display at the Bristollndustrial Museum. Having decided notto include the helicopter in the new'Museum of Bristol', the City Councilpassed it to The Helicopter Museum.

The Sycamore was built at Weston-super-Mare by Bristol Helicopters, whichsubsequently became part of the WestlandGroup, and is therefore'returning homelIt will replace Sycamore HR14 XG547 (onloan toTHM) which is shortly due to go toBelgium in exchange for an Alouette ll. Sycamore HRt4 XL829 after its move to The Helicopter Museum. Peter R. March

Concordes to go insideManchester Airport has

announced that work is tostart early in the spring ona new f 1-million hangarand visitor centre toaccommodate ConcordeG-BOAC.The 68m-by-38mglass, steel and high-techPVC structure is due to becompleted and open to thepublic this summer. Concordeis the main attraction forthe 250,000 visitors to theAviation Viewing Park atManchester Airport.The new

development will also includea corporate hospitality suite,an education centre, anaviation exhibition and a

visitor restaurant with views ofManchester Airport's runways.

The plan to build a newstate-of-the-art museumto house Concorde G-BOAFat Filton has taken a stepforward with the publicationof a draft concept statement.South GloucestershireCouncil is supporting movesby the Bristol Aero Collection

and Airbus UK to get theaircraft under cover. Landon which the f 12-millionproject will be built has beenleft by the late Jack Baylis,the millionaire developer ofThe Mall shopping centre atCribbs Causeway adjacent toFilton airfield.

The Concorde has

been sitting unprotectedsince it flew in to Filton on26 November 2003 and isalready showing signs ofdeterioration, despite the bestefforts of BAC and Airbus.Thechairman of the ConcordeTrust, Mike Littleton, said

on the fourth anniversaryof G-BOAF landing at Filton:'We should hear about theoutline planning permissionin January and, if it is granted,we are committed to openingthe new museum by 26November 20i 1.To dothat we need to raisef 12 millionl ln the meantime,the centenary of Sir GeorgeWhite establishing the Britishand ColonialAeroplaneCompany, later the BristolAeroplane Company, willbe celebrated in 201 O.Thefirst Bristol Boxkite made itsmaiden flight on 30 July 1 910.

No more WoburnThe de Havilland MothClub has confirmed thatthe lnternational MothRally is moving awayfromWoburn, its picturesquevenue for many years. ltwill now be held at RAF

Halton on the weekendof 1 4-1 5 June. Duringthe same weekend it willbe combined with theannual Charity FIying Day.

Entry to the aerodromewill be free of charge.

During the weekendof 1 5-1 7 August whenthe Woburn Rally

normally takes place, a

Vintage AirTour is beingarranged. Earlier in theyear celebrations are

being held in Scotlandto mark the 75thanniversary of CaptE. E. Fresson's pioneeringairline activities aroundthe Highlands andlslands. All vintage Mothsand Dragon/DragonRapide variants are

encouraged tojoin in theeventsfrom 3-1 1 May.

Good news for RNHFAn answer to the recurringproblems with the Centaurusengine of the RN HistoricFlight's Sea Fury FB11 VR930has hopefully been foundin the USA.The RNHFs chiefengineer Howard Read wentto Vintage V1 2 at Tehachapi,

California where Mike Nixonidentified the problem andsaid that V1 2 could overhauland repair the damagedunit.This will include themanufacture of pistonsand rings. Once permissionhas been obtained to send

the Centaurus to Vl 2,attention can then turn tothe fitting of data-gatheringequipment to the Sea

Fury. This will detect anytemperature trends in all1 8 cylinders on the engine,giving early advice of anyfuture problems of thisnature as well as monitoringthe airframe and systems.

There was encouragingprogress with Swordfish15326 on 7 January whenthe lower set of wingsarrived atYeovilton bylorry from BAE Systemsat Brough. ln rebuildingthe wings, new spars weremade for the first time for65 years and they havebeen re-covered with linen

by Hornet Aviation usingtraditional methods. TheSwordfish is now standingon its undercarriage, andwhen the wings have beenpainted the final stages ofthe rebuild will get underway. All being well, 15326will be airborne in time tofly with the RNHF in the2008 season.

Museum of ArmyFlying exponsionThe Museum of Army Flying atMiddle Wallop has taken thefirst step in its major expansionprogramme to provide anongoing and comprehensiverecord ofthe achievements ofthe'Soldiers in the Airi

The extension will addconsiderably to the Museum! spaceboth for new exhibits and a 783-square metre venue for private andcorporate activities. The museumstill urgently needs f50,000 to meetthe anticipated cost of f650,000.Apart from some money that has

been donated from the RegimentalFund, most ofthe extension has

been paid for by private individuals.Due to open in April, the extensionwill initially house a new artexhibition on the theme of 'Flight:

Texos museum plonsAs efforts mount to try to launch an aviation museumin Fort Worth, Texas, the OV-1 0 Bronco Association,which operates Fort Worth Veterans Memorial AirPark, has signed agreements to take possession offive aircraft with North Texas links. These include a

Fort Worth-built F- l 1 1. The Association only startedacquiring aircraft in 2004 and later this year, if allgoes as planned, 14 will be on display at the air parkadjacent to Meacham Airport. ln early January, theCity Council approved appointments to a city-widecommittee to attempt establishing a major museum.'l have high hopes for iti said Clyde Picht, president ofthe 8-36 Peacemaker Museum.'This is the first timethat we've had all parties on board, pushing for thesame goal, and it's the first time we've had any kindof city backing to do thisl

ln addition to the F-1 1 1, the collection includesan RF-8G Crusader built by Chance-Vought in GrandPrairie and flown out of Naval Air Station Dallas, anda US Navy A-7 Corsair.The group has also signed anagreement to take an ex-USAF TF-1 02 Delta Dagger,produced by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft in Fort Worth.See www.ov-1 0bronco.net for more information.

The losr'Airvie\rv'...As you will read elsewhere in this 40th anniversaryissue, this month sees Peter R. March's 444thand last Airview'column forAircraft lllustrated.The first, shown here,was featured in 1971,and from then untilnow it has included(we estimate) over 1.5

million words and 2,000photographs. lts contenthas changed over theyears, but the hard workput in by Peter, without evermissing a deadline, has not.

Nexl month...From the April issue of Al,ourPreservation News pages willbe taken over by Ben Dunnell.AII contributions on preservationtopics should be addressed tohim at the e-mail address givenon page 4.

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How Boeing"bosses mustturn the 787progromme

words: Ben Dunnell

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he schedule from roll-out tofirst flight and service entryof the Boeing 787 was alwaysimpressively ambitious.When the manufacturerofficially launched theaircraft with an order from

All Nippon Airlines (ANA) back in 2004, theDreamliner was expected to get air underits wings in the late summer of 2007, and toenter service in 2008. This was still the claimwhen the first 787-8 was rolled out in frontof an enthusiastic 1 5,000-strong crowd atthe Everett plant on 8 July last year. Since

then, Boeing's timings have been blowncomprehensively out of the water -especially with confirmation on 15 Januaryof the latest delays.

These will see the long-awaited initialflight ofthe 787-8 slipping from the end ofthefirst quarter of 2008 to some time around theend of the second quarter, with the resultanthold-up to airline deliveries meaning that no

Dreamliner will reach ANA until the beginning

of 2009. The fact that the 787-8 around whichthousands swarmed at Seattle in.luly was

not then assembled to a flyable standard was

known by many, but failed to take the gloss

off those celebrations. Had the extent of theunderlying problems been known, thingsmight have been different.

Now, as its Commercial Airplanes president

and CEO Scott Carson and general manager forthe7B7 programme Pat Shanahan explained tothe international media on 15 January, Boeing

says itl going all out to make this delay the last'

THE BACKGROUNDThe production of no other Boeing airliner has

ever been as dependent on external suppliers

as the 787. Most of the largely compositeairframe is built by industrial partners around

the world and ends up at the Everett plant forintegration and final assembly.

However, certain partners tasked withbuilding large structures and delivering themcomplete to Boeing for final assembly of thefirst aircraft (c/n ZA00'l) basically fell down

Left: At the end of 2007, the Boeing 787 productionline at Everett was headed by the first flight testaircraft, which is being €ompleted structurally andhaving systems installed, Behind it are the static testairframe, soon to receive landing gear, engines andany required interior installations, and the fatiguetest air(raft. Boeing

Right: The 787-83 roll-out in July last year was a

triumphant event, but major programme delays werejust around the corner, as the aircraft was far frombeing ready to fly, Andreas Spaeth

delqyed

on the job. Not only did completion of thesesections have to be handed over to Boeing,for which so-called'travelled work'the teamat Everett was not expecting to have to beprepared, but it turned out that the extentof the work done by some of these partnercompanies had not been fully documented.Shanahan says:'The process to reconcilepartner engineering with our productionrecords and our production process is veryonerous and time-consuming. That hasproven to be the pacing item in completingour structural work in the critical fuselagearea where we will install the systems and thewiring to put power on in the airplane.

'We underestimated how long it wouldtake to complete someone else! work. Thetools, the processes, the flow of material,the skills of the personnel are all tailored toperform last-stage high-level integration,check-out and test. We thought we couldmodify that production system andaccommodate the travelled work from oursuppliers. We were wrongl

Adding to this, large parts ofthe 787-8which was rolled out in July (especially thewings) were fitted with temporary fasteners.At the time, A/ reported Tom Cogan, 787 chiefproject engineer, as stating:'We need somespecialised fasteners for lhe 787 and there iscurrently a worldwide shortage. Big fastenercompanies such as Alcoa are under stress. lt is a

sheer supply issue and has nothing to do withour heavy usage of compositesi The extentof this, says Scott Carson, was that fastenershortages totalled around 10,000,'but we'renow down to hundredsi

WHAT's BOEING DOING?Addressing journalists on 1 5 January, ScottCarson summed up the situation thus:'Wehave seen progress in completing assemblyof the first airplane. Fasteners are no longerpacing airplane number l, and we continueto work closely with our fastener suppliersto work these issues through the productionramp-up. We're making good progress withparts shortages on airplane number 1, and

we're getting the installation work back insequence. However, as evidenced through ourannouncement today, we have found throughour experience with travelled work and otherlessons learned that it's going to take us

longer than we had expected to complete ourmilestones to first flight. We simply have notburned through jobs at the rate required tokeep our previous schedule.

'We have a very clear assessment of thework that remains to be done and how we willdo it. From that assessment, we have set thisrevised schedule for first flight. Building on ourcommitment to first flight, we are also workingwith our suppliers to assess our schedule onthe airplanes following number 1, to makesure they meet the required condition ofassembly and reduce the amount of travelledwork coming into Everett. This assessment,

which will also include discussions with ourcustomers, will determine the details of ourflight test and delivery schedules. We expectto complete this assessment by the end of thefirst quarterJ

dt29

The worry must be that this process willlead to further delays. As recently as thevery end of 2007, Boeing was findingthat its efforts to complete the first787-8 were coming up against barriers whichate through what had been a two-monthcushion in the programme. According to Pat

Shanahan,'We thought that in the month ofDecember, over the holiday break, that we

would turn the corner of the completion ofcritical structural work - this was travelledwork from our partners - in the fuselage, so

we could start installing the systems racks

and the wiring. We have not been able tofinish that assembly work.'

Asked what makes him more confidentabout meeting the revised timescale set

out in January than previous schedules,

Shanahan replied:'lt's a question l've been

asked many times by my superiors. October'splan was based more on analysis. The case

is that we have not done our partners'

work in our facility before... l'm confidentwe'll execute this plan because we have

demonstrated performance in the last threemonths. We have more experience and

knowledge of the work statement, and wehave more of the right skills and resources.

I can see a path forward based on howmuch work we have completed. We've madesignificant progress in completing primary

structures. When I look at the condition ofthe aircraft, the wings are in good shape, and

in a few weeks we'll be routing wires in thecritical fuselage areas to the airplane.'

One end result is that, Scott Carson

stated categorically,'We're not going to have

1 09 deliveries in 2009i He and Shanahan

were unable to go into much more detail on

this in mid-January, having not yet finishedthe assessment with customers and suppliers.Reaction from the airlines that have signedup for the 787 was fairly muted, possibly

reflecting the lack of concrete information.Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon has said

that the carrier (which has 'l 15 Dreamlinerson order) will finalise its contingency plans

to mitigate against the delay once the newdelivery schedule is received from Boeing,

this involving'a range of options includingrevised retirement dates for some of ouraircraft, re-allocating existing capacity and

potential schedule adjustments'. He also

referred to the possibility of compensation

30lE

from the manufacturer, saying:'We will be

discussing the issue of liquidated damageswith Boeing in the coming weeks.'

The last few months have seen considerable

changes to the 787 leadership team, formerprogramme manager Mike Bair being replaced

in October 2007 by Pat Shanahan. ln outliningwhat Shanahan has done since assuming

control, Scott Carson made what amountedto an admission of previous failings.'We have

added strength to the team where neededi

he said,'including experienced executives,

business managers and planning specialists

from around the company. We are basing themat our supplier partners, as well as our own final

assembly facility in Everett, to make sure we get

this job doneJ

Once assembly of the first 7B7 is complete,it will be possible to achieve'power oni thenext milestone. All of the system componentsnecessary to actuate the aircraft were ready atthe time of going to press, following extensive

verification testing. Above that, another 20

system components were required for taxi

trials. Both ofthese stages have been delayed

by the supply chain debacle.'Power on'is nowexpected to occur at the beginning ofthesecond quarter of 2008.

There have been suggestions that themaiden flight could be made on cln 2A002,the second of the six 7B7s that will perform

the type's flight test schedule, such is theextent of the work remaining to be doneon the first airframe. However, these were

denied by Pat Shanahan. Major sections and

components ofthe second aircraft have nowarrived in Everett, and it is believed that therewill be less work for Boeing to do on these

than on the first 787.

lmportantly, though, Boeing has decidedto concentrate its current efforts on gettingthe 787s required for flight-testing ready,

rather than moving on to those further downthe line. Scott Carson put it thus:'We have

resisted the temptation this time to make a

broad and sweeping generalisation aboutwhere we are on all the rest of the aircraftuntil we have completed our assessment

of the condition of assembly of airplanes 2through 6, the ones that are critical to ourflight test programme, and worked throughan assessment with our supplier partners and

our customers on the ramp-up. We think itis prudent and the right thing to do for the

business, the programme and our customersto take the time to base this on hard, assessed

facts, rather than, as Pat described, theshallower analysis that perhaps we did beforei

Boeing has always been confident thatcertification of the 787 will be eased by theamount of work done towards this goal prior

to the first flight. No obstacles are currentlyforeseen, and Pat Shanahan reports thatBoeing is bn track'in providing the FAA with all

the necessary documentation at this stage. The

delays in other areas, while unwelcome, have

allowed more time for this, and Rolls-Royce

may also not be unhappy to have a longerperiod in which to refine the Trent 1000 engine,

notably through improving its fuel efficiency.

WHAT NOW FOR THE 787?One irony of the 787's problems is that theycome at a time when Airbus is consideringoutsourcing elements of aircraft productionto US companies in an effort to lessen the

,, :.Uitiiiljtoilrairfpqrti,: ririaJor Drdarnliiier. ,ciinrponenti.The

lorward sedlon ismanufaitured by

Spirit Aerosystemsof Wi€hita, Kansas,

and the two aftsections by VoughtAircraft lndustries

in Charleston, SouthCarolina. Boeing

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impact the strength of the euro against thedollar is having on its costs - and to try and

help it win the USAF's KC-X tanker contract.ln November, Boeing announced that it was

moving work on KC-767 tanker conversionsfor ltaly and Japan from Aeronavali in ltalyback to the USA, citing the need to lessen

delays to those programmes. Outsourcingdoes not seem to have worked especiallywell for Boeing of late, especially given therising costs associated with manufacturingin the eurozone.

The ex-787 programme manager Mike

Bair, still in a senior role with Boeing as a

vice-president for business strategy, has notremained silent about outsourcing since

changing jobs. ln November, the SeattleTimesquoted him as telling a gathering of business

leaders and politicians in Snohomish County,

Boeing's doorstep:'The right way to do thiswould be to have all those big parts across thestreet so you could just roll them in... We'll see

on the next airplane programmes whether we

can accomplish something like thati One ofBair's reported comments about certain 787

programme suppliers was no less forthright:'Some of these guys we won't use again.'

The indications from what Scott Carson

and Pat Shanahan had to say on 1 5 Januaryare that Boeing has learned some importantlessons from the difficulties suffered by the 787

programme. Some semblance of order seems

to have returned, in contrast to the situatlonprior to roll-out when the need to unveil theaircraft on a set date took precedence, andproblems with suppliers went unchecked.Boeing now has a firmer grasp on the whole ofthe build process.

Of course, now is the time to resolve

these things, for Boeing and its customerairlines cannot afford recurring supply chain

failings during series production. ln workingmore towards getting things right on the firstaircraft and getting it into the air, followed by

the other five test machines, than ramping-up 787 production, it hopes to minimise theeffects of any changes that have to be made

as a result of flight test experience. As long

as some of the industrial partners raise theirgame in tandem with Boeing's own efforts, thestrategy ought to work. Whether the companygoes down this production route again must

be considered doubtful.What's more difficult to predict is

the reaction of the airline market. Soon,existing 787 customers will finally get theinformation on production and deliverydates for which they have been waiting.It remains to be seen as to what thisinformation will hold, and how they willtake it. While cancellations seem unlikely,at a time when the competing Airbus A350programme is proceeding well, Boeingwill not want to concede an inch unless itabsolutely has to.

The company's Commercial Airplanespresident and CEO Scott Carson says he knowsthat Boeing's credibility is being tested bylhe787. At the same time, he stresses that all

the testing done so far'is telling us that thisairplane will indeed deliver breakthroughs forour customers and the flying publici Givenall the delays and bad publicity, this is now

more important than ever. Can Boeing and its

partners deliver? A negative answer to thatquestion simply isn't an option. n

Pol Shonohon,Boeing 787 programme

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Recce Phontoms ofthe JASDF

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words & photogrophy:

Richord Cooper

oir-to-oi r photogrophy:

Kqtsuhi ko Toku nqgq/DACT

RF-4E (foreground) and RF-4EJ Kai Phantomlls from 501 Hikotai of the Japanese Air Self

Defense Forc€ at Hyakuri AB,

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Eyes of Jopon

s I passed over thenorth of our capital at1 5,000ft, I could seeTokyo Bay and MountFuji quite clearlyduring the hour-longflight. lt was a great

addition to my 1,200 Phantom hours - thevisibility was awesome, I could see for over100 miles to my left and right and the MilkyWayabove me,'

Such was the recent experience of one

RF-4E Phantom ll pilot from 501 Hikotai at

Hyakuri AB in Japan's lbaraki Prefecturejust 80km

north ofthe capital Tokyo, a recce'Rhino'unit

like few others that have ever existed. Almost

every military air arm in the world has a form ofaerial reconnaissance within its ranks, most, ifnot all, of which are employed to gain an insight

into enemy territory - to gain intelligence, toseek out targets, to plan (and prevent) attacks.

Platforms flying high in the atmosphere are there

to pinpoint movement and co-ordinate targets

whilst humming UAVS enter unafraid into the

most dangerous of Troops ln Contact situations

to call in ground attack assets (or even take outthe threat themselves). At any time, fighters may

streak in over the battle lines at qazy heights and

speeds to obtain Battle Damage Assessment after

a deadly strlke.The recce mission is the battlefield

commandert biggest ally, and the lengthy service

life of the F-4 Phantom ll, that most illustrious of

post-war fighters whose maiden flight took place

50 years ago this year, has long included thetactical recce tasking.

501 Hikotai is different, however.This is a

fast jet reconnaissance force that may never

be sent over a foreign land to collect the firstpictures of enemy targets to strike, and one

whose principal mission is the recording ofnatural disasters to aid the people of its country.

This is no fighting force, though should ballistic

missiles, enemy fighters, an unfriendly naval

flotilla or an all-out ground invasion ever

actually take place, then the SDF commanders

are going to need information - quickly.Thatswhere 501 Hikotai would come in.

The squadron boasts the JASDF s sole

tactical recce capability (and is the only unitto report directly to Air Defense Command),equipped with RF-4E and upgraded RF-4EJ Kai

Phantom lls. Mean shades of brown and green

mottle together on the slab-sided fuselages ofthese charismatic jets, clashing with the vibrantsplashes of colour bursting from a selection ofshark-mouths that now adorn both the typicallypointed RF-4E variant's Iines as well as the EJ Kai

versions with their more traditional radomes.

Then there's the charismatic squadron badge,

a well-known cartoon woodpecker, sittingsquarely in the middle of that classic tailplane.

The recce Phantoms tend to operate alone,

their pilots flying single-ship sorties to hone theirflight profiles for whatever mission they may be

JAPAN'S AIR ARMS'Public relations has a vital role to play in getting people to see the Japanese Self Defense

Force in the proper light. The SDF can't exercise power if the people aren't behind itiThese

words spoken by the Japan Air Self Defense Force Chief of Staff, Toshio Tamogami, in

November 2007 represent a whole lot more than PR-speak.

The key to that public support is to continue to operate within its imposed'self defence'

structure, and yet at the same time be seen to be supporting international goals. That is a tall

order. Maintaining a non-combative force and doctrine, whilst successfully contributing (airlift)

assets to lraq in the US-led campaign, all the while underthe steely glare of North Korea, China

and Russia who are looking towards Japan across a body of water that, at times, is no wider

than the English Channel, puts these forces in a unique position.

ln this first part of an exclusive series of articles on the Maritime, Ground and Air Self

Defense Forces of Japan, one of the most intriguing missions of the JASDF is detailed - aerial

reconnaissance.

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tasked towards. However, when the unit's slottime comes up, it's not uncommon for six, seven

or eight of these bent-wing wonders to wind theirway along Hyakuri's famously kinked taxiway all

at once (with one or two more following minuteslater), line up at the last chance check area, andblast out into crisp, clear skies. After bangingdown and dropping their thutes, the jets willrepeat this pattern in the afternoon, and again just

after sunset if night flying is on the roster,

RECCE ROLELt Col Oka is the Tactical Reconnaissance

Group's Chief of Staff. He told Aircraft lllustratedthat the group's primary mission is to'performaerial reconnaissance and collect informationover disaster areas, whilst our secondarymission is to train new crews in the art ofreconnaissancel The camera-carrying brutesundertake their duties over two trainingranges, land and sea, designed to reflectthe type of terrain that they could be tasked

to cover. The land-based training areas are

located close to Hyakuri and encompass muchmountainous terrain, whilst the over-sea areas

are found to the south-east ofthe base, overthe Pacific Ocean.

'Today's flight saw me flying over a damwithin our training ranges and taking pictures ofthree briefed pointsi explained one pilot after his

sortie during A/'s visit.'Each sortie has differentpre-briefed targets, but today we encounteredpoor visibility so we could not complete all ofour tasking. We cannot take pictures throughclouds, of which there can be many throughoutJapan's mountainous terrain! Our Phantom was

configured with the LOROP system and it took us

30 minutes to reach our first target. We passed

over it once at 15,000f1 in a hi-hi-lo profile, whichwas difficult to achieve due to the low cloud thatwas present during our 1.2-hour sortie.'

Three active recce profiles are employedby Hyakuri s Phantom variants: TA (Terrain

Avoidance), TF (Terrain Following) and TAT (Target

Acquisition Tactics). Facilitated via the jet's ownradar, a TA profile will see the aircraft ingress

towards its intended subject at a pre-determined

height, whilst changing track to avoid upcomingterrain. TF, on the other hand, will keep theaircraft on the intended track towards the target,but the height will be adjusted where necessary

to keep it heading in a constant direction.Thethird mission profile,TAl, is more complicated and

involves generating tactics in accordance withthe type and location of the target. Generally,

these are undertaken at low altitude as theaircraft rarely carry any AAMs for self-defence

(though the converted machines retain AIM-9

compatibility). Of course, aiding disaster relief sits

atop the list of mission priorities, and for that taskthe most appropriate of the above profiles wouldstill be flown, regardless of whether the outcomewas a photograph of an erupting volcano orerupting conflict on Japan's shores.

Heading up Hyakuri's recce force is theCommander of the Reconnaissance Wing,Col Takagi, a man with the voice of experiencethat comes from having 2,000 Phantom hours.

He talked about how his jets undertake thatall-important disaster relief mission.'Usually we

operate under a three-hour alert system, with the'phone call for assistance usually coming from

the mayor of the affected area. We have specially-

assigned people within the squadron to react ifsuch a call is received, but we are allwell trainedto react'automatically'when the call comes.

We will usually send one aircraft, plus a spare,

fitted with theTAC pod. Once the information is

collected and downloaded back on the ground

at Hyakuri, we take the photographs to AirDefense Command where trained specialists willanalyse the material. Of course, we also have intelspecialists within our squadronl

501 Hikotais disaster relief role is, by itsvery nature, unpredictable and can be calledupon at any time. The Iast time the RF-4s were

thus employed was to cover an earthquake inthe Niigita area, which saw the well-rehearsedplan swing into action just a few weeks priorto A/'s visit. The pilot involved talked throughthe role.'First of all we flew over the wholepeninsula at around 10-15,000ft to specifically

El37

Eyes of Jopon

check what areas had been affected. Of course,

helicopters can take photographs from lowaltitude and provide details, but no-one can

provide such large images and high-levelcoverage as we can. lt is our duty.'

381 A

The more familiar role attributed torecce fightErs is still very much part of 501

Hikotai's doctrine, too.'A major difference in

our operation of the RF-4 when compared toother nations is that we only operate withinour own countryi explained Col Takagi.'We cannot deploy them outside of Japan.But we are ready to act against any form ofaggression. For example, if a threat weredetected out at sea, our recce Phantomswould be used to take pictures or to gatherthe radar frequencies of any vessel in orderto collate as much information as possible forthe commanders. ln another case, perhaps

if we were fighting a ground invasion, thenwe would be tasked to take pictures of thedamage that the SDF had inflicted uponthat enemy. All of this would be under theprotection of our co-located F-1 5 Eagle

squadrons flying escort dutieslThe recce mission is undertaken with kit

that remains pretty much the same today as itdid when it was delivered in the 1970s (RF-4E)

and 1990 (RF-aEJ Kai). The early variant, withthe lens-housing, tapered Phantom nose profilemore regularly associated with the type's recce

role, was first imported from the USAF in 1974.

It has undergone an lnertial Navigation System

upgrade and a modernisation of the opticalcameras, but it remains a workhorse RF-4E

through and through.Sharing the 501 Hikotai ramp is the

RF-4Ej Kai variant, which remains the sameas the'standard'F-4E in terms of its shape,but which has been indigenously modifiedto fulfil the recce role to the same standardas the variant built for the purpose. This isachieved through the employment of threetypes of pods, selected depending on themission required of that airframe. Carried on

the centreline station are either the TAC

pod (denoting TACtical recce, carryingKS-135A and KS-958 cameras, plus a

D-500UR lR system) or the LOROP (LOng-

Range Oblique Photography) pod, bothof which have exactly the same systemcapabilities as do the RF-4Es, only housedin modified fuel tanks. The third piece ofwizardry carried by the EJ Kai comes in theform of the TACER pod, which stands forTACtical Electronic Reconnaissance, andincorporates a KS-146B camera and datalink.This collects input from radio and audiowaves from a ground target and is able topinpoint its position through triangulation.

PHANTOM EXPOSUREIt has to come. lt is inevitable that the careerof the recce Phantom in JASDF service willsoon be over. Like so many other classic steeds,

these recce Phantoms will have to suffer theultimate indignity of being replaced by a pod

- in this instance, mounted underneath an

F-1 5 Eagle. Just when, and the exact form ofthe system, is still up for evaluation.

That said, plans are in place for a singleF-15 to be modified to carry a recce pod (and tobe re-designated RF-15 accordingly), with thetrials likely to be conducted out of the SDF's testcentre at Gifu within the next year, for testingover a three-to-four year period. LockheedMartin is expecting to supply its SyntheticAperture Radar (SAR) system and to workalongside local industry to design and produce

the pod itself and, whilst negotiations are stillongoing, the way forward has been set in stone.

'The RF-4s will probably continue in service

for another two yearsi said ColTakagi.'We have a

rough schedule in place to field a recce pod but,as is the case with so many procurement plans

the world over, there is always a delay, particularly

when budget constraints are involved. lt is verydifficult to say at this stage if the pod will be a

suitable replacement for the RF-4 fleet. Of course,

apart from the obvious pros and cons of such a

drastic change, there is the fact that the RF-'l 5

proposal involves a single-seat environment,which will clearly push the pilot s workload higherthan that ofthe two-seat Phantoml

Mirroring world-wide military thinking,Japan is also entering the wodd of 'no-seat'flightoperations with the evaluation of UAVs to fulfilthe recce role having started in 2004.Timescales

for this entering the front line have not been

finalised, and nor have the exact specificationsof the two new systems'exact specifications, butthe leap in technology will no doubt bring untoldadvantages and fielding a mixed manned and

unmanned system will also bring great flexibility.Even sq the end ofthe photo-Phantom will still

take a lot ofgetting used to. ^

Check rhisllf you would like to see more images ofJapanese Phantoms, check out'5moke Trails:

the last of the F-4 Phantomsi Also of interestwill be'F-4 Phantom ll: Production andOperational Datal Both books are publishedby Midland Publishing and are availablefrom wwwianallansuperstore.com

\

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\

ontinental Airlines and Newark Airport areinseparable. Together, they represent your NewYork equivalent of Delta and Atlanta, Northwest andMinneapolis, United and Denver,

But did I say New York? You are there, but, at the same time,you are not there! You can see the famous New York skylinefrom Newark Liberty Airport, the helicopter shuttle gets you to

downtown Manhattan in eiqht minutes and the shuttle train takes 30 minutes.

Much of Newark s traffic is geared towards New York - but it isn't in New York!

JFK and La Guardia are in New York, but Newark is different, located on thewestern side ofthe Hudson River. And ifyou are not confused enough already,

Newark is operated by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ).

There is no disputing the important influence and association with the'BigApplel Opened on 1 October 1928, the Port Authority has operated Newarkunder a lease with the City of Newark since 22 March 1948. Continental Airlines

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is a relative newcomer, having joined the table

almost by accident. At present, Continental,

with its Continental Express affiliate, accountsfor 68 per cent ofthe airport's passengers.The

Continental-Newark'marriage' is inextricably

linked to the post-deregulation era in U5 air

transport, the demise of carriers, the mergers ofothers and the ascendancy of a 'survivorl

GROWTH OF A MA.'ORContinental Airlines, traditionally a secondary and

regional airline in the US mid-west and Texas, had

a limited route structure in the early 1950s linkingmanyTexas cities plus Kansas City, Denver and

Tulsa. lt commenced an interchange agreement

with Braniff, United and American to spread its

route tendrils as far at St Louis in the easl, San

Francisco in the west and Seattle in the north-

west. New York or Newark were definitely not on

its radar, being as they were the scene of bltter

fare wars and competition between U5 north-east

rivals Eastern Air Lines, Delta Air Lines, Capital,

National and Northeast, and thus best avoided.

ln the 1960s and '70s, Los Angeles

lnternational Airport on the US west coast, about

as far away as you can get from New York, was

where Continental developed its presence, more

long haul routes being part of the managementsmantra. Hawaii was one of its new'stars; as it shed

some of its iocal service routes and expanded its

outlook. On 15 July 1963, Continental formally

moved its headquarters to Los Angeles, but not

until the 1970s did the focus switch eastwards, as

the carrier became preoccupied with developingtrans Pacific routes.

October i 978 s Airline Dereg ulation Act saw

Continental start to embrace the'l-tub'airportsystem, establishing Houston and Denver

as its two primary hubs. But huge financiallosses followed in the early 1 980s, not just for

Continental but for most other US'major'airlines.Enter Frank Lorenzo and his Texas Air

Corporation. They were the catalyst that brought

Continental to Newark. This wasn't planned, being

more of a process of evolution. Following a series

of mergers and acquisitions, Lorenzo acquired

a controlling interest in Continental in 1981,

merging itwith hisTexas International. In i980,

Texas Air Corporation formed New York Air, flying

initially from La Guardia but then Newark, and

by November 1981 Texas Air had acquired more

than 50 per cent of Continental s stock. On 1 3 July

1982, Continental and Texas Air merged. lt was a

match made in hell and, financially, was a disaster.

Lorenzo shut down the whole of Continentalldomestic operation on 24 September 1983

and the airline entered Chapter 1 1 bankruptcyprotection amid bitter union negotiations.

By 1984, though, Continental's 5Oth

anniversary, the airline was slowly rebuildingitself under Lorenzo's ownership, becomingprofitable again by 1985. Next on Lorenzo's

acquisition 'shopping list'was Eastern Air Lines,

at one time one of the'big three'U5 carriers

and which was the largest airline in the worldin the 1 960s measured in annual passenger

boardings. With Eastern's network dominatingthe whole ofthe eastern seaboard, and

together with that of the expanding New York

Air, Texas Air's (for which read Continental's)

domestic services were now set to cover the

Continental hub activity at Newark, with Continental Express ERJ-145s to the left along thecentral one of the three piers that make up Terminal C. Geoff .lones

The Manhattan skyline dominates Continental's Newarkoperations. Seen taking off here is Boeing737-70ON24736.AJ/AirTeam lmaqes.com

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New York, Nework

whole US'lower 48i ln the New York area,

Continental's market share skyrocketed.The final element of the Continental/

New York/Newark equation was Texas AirCorporation's acquisition of Newark-basedPEOPLExpress in 1986. At the same time, it also

bought Denver-based Frontier Airlines, whichhad earlier been acquired by PEOPLExpress.

At the time, PEOPlExpress was probably thebest-known example of what today wed call

the low-fare or low-cost market. Founded by agroup of formerTexas lnternational executives,its ebullient business plan was to operate high-

frequency, low-cost services with a fleet ofBoeing 737s between Newark and numerous

other cities, mainly in the US north-east. With

the catchline'Fly Smartl and only two years afteroperating its first services, PEOPLExpress entered

the international market, launching a Newark toLondon Gatwick daily service on 26 May 1983,

using Boeing 747-238s, these supplementingthe rapidly-expanding domestic fleet it had

acquired of over 70 Boeing 727 s and 737 s.

Both NewYork Air and PEOPLExpress

were soon to lose their identities. They were

assimilated as part of Continental Airlines on

1 February 1987, whereupon Newark became

a major Continental hub overnight. With 210

daily departures, it rivalled many of the otherburgeoning US hub airports, and while air

travellers to the New York area had traditionallyused JFK and La Guardia, they now quickly'discovered'a third major New York area airport,the New Jersey airport at Newark.

Continental's presence at Los Angeles and

Denver shrank, but the west coast's loss was

Houston's gain. The big Continental hub at thisTexas city was expanding rapidly to complementNewark. Soon, it would overtake Newark in

terms ofContinental passenger numbers and

flights. lt was a bumpy ride for all concerned.

though.Back in the US north-east, Eastern, now

under Lorenzo's ownership, was experiencing

continuous labour and financial problems. The

shuttle operation linking Boston, New York and

Washington was sold, aircraft were sold, routes

were sold, staffwere made redundant, salaries

were slashed - it was a downward spiral to an

almost certain death. ln August 1 990, Lorenzo

handed over the chairmanship of ContinentalAir Holding, lnc (the new name for the Texas

Air corporation) to Hollis Harris. Eastern was

surviving, but only by the skin of its teeth. On

1 8 January 1991, the airline, one of the most

famous names in US air transport history and

with its'Great Silver Fleet'that had been around

since even before the 1 928 formation of Eastern

AirTransport, ceased operations.This was thefinal event that propelled Continental and its

Newark hub on the road to 21 st century success.

NEWARK HUBContinental's first major investment at Newark

bore fruit when the'state-of-the-art'Terminal C

was opened on 22 May 1988, and it moved all

its operations over from the airport'sTerminal B.

ln October that year,Texas Air and Scandinavian

Airlines System (5AS) signed what is claimed

to be the first global airline alliance. 5A5'activeNorth Atlantic traffic started using Newark andpassengers could now connect with Continental's

well-developed US domestic route system fromhere.This, together with the PEOPLExpress

legacy, was the start of Newark's development as

a primary New York area international gateway forEurope. Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic had also

arrived at Newark when this airline inauguratedits first trans-Atlantic services in June 1 984, andstarted to call it NewYork/Newark.

Despite financial and operational traumasthroughout the 1 990s, Continental was noted as

a survivor. Like its main'big six'US airline rivals

it was making money again in the latter part ofthe decade. Wanting to realise the potential

of its Newark hub, in 1998 Continentallaunched its GlobalGateway Project, an

5800-million programme to add 12 wide-bodyand 19 narrow-body gates at its Terminal C and

to provide a new international arrivals facility,

which opened in March 2002. Any trans-Atlantic

air traveller who has used this facility willrelish its design and the speed of processing

compared to JFK and several other US east coastgateway'airports.Terminal C is still Continental'sprimary facility at Newark, but the airline also

utilises many gates atTerminals A and B.

The statistics of Newark Liberty lnternational

Airport statistics are quite daunting. The

Airports Council lnternational ranked Newark

in 2006 as the world's 21st busiest airport with35,494,863 passengers, up 7.4 per cent onits 2005 figure, and a similar total in terms ofpassenger numbers to Minneapolis St Paul and

Singapore. Continental and Continental Express

contributed 24,293,210 passengers (68.4 per

cent) to this total, carried on 70 per cent ofallflights at Newark and representing 408 daily

departures (226 on mainline Continental and1 82 on Continental Express).

Continental now flies non-stop from Newarkto more than 150 US destinations, plus frequentinternational schedules to Europe, Latin America

and Asia. lts international roster from Newarkincludes 24 non-stop flights to European and

Middle East destinations and further non-stop

services to Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Delhi.

Since 2002, Newark has been an all-jet hubbut this will change during late 2007 whenContinental Express'Colgan Air introducespart of its order for 1 5 Bombardier Q400s on

its commuter network from Newark. Pinnacle

Airlines, a Northwest Airlines subsidiary, acquired

Colgan in January (2007) in a S2O-million deal

in order to gain access to Colgan's partners,

including Continental. A re-arrangement of some

of the Newark gates used by these commuters is

also in prospect, a 50-seat ER.J-1 45 now not being

considered the most economical use of a gate

that could accommodate a 18O-seat Boeing737-

800 or the like.

Newark mirrors most large hub airports in the

US, and despite Continental's dominance, it is still

only a tenant. Looking down on its core activity

atTerminal C from Continental's control tower, a

completely separate facility from the FAA towerat Newark, provides an interesting insight.The

FAA controls aircraft on approach to land, after

landing or before take-off on taxiways, and during

and after take-off But, as soon as these aircraft

cross the'threshold'of the ramp area adjacent tothe terminals, they transfer and come under the

control of Continental's own controllers in this

tower. This facility is a key part of the whole slick

operation of the airline at Newark. lts controllers

and staff monitor all the carrier's flights, 24 hours a

day, even before they depart en route to Newark,

so that delays are minimised and the transfer ofpassengers and baggage is optimised.

New Jersey can see some horrendouswinter weather as well as stifling heat in

summer. When bad weather plans are

mobilised, the Continental controllers go intooverdrive, as the whole of the airline's schedule

has to be re-organised. Continental has a huge

fleet of de-icing vehicles and a special de-icing pan - during hot weather, blowers are

introduced to circulate fresh air through parked

aircraft. During thunderstorms and electricalactivity, the whole of the ramp operation may

be closed down for fear of lightning strikes. lt's

a never-ending contest with the elements forwhich Continental is very well equipped.

Many of Continental's business and first class

passengers may be oblivious to all this pre-flightaction. With free hospitality, business meetingrooms, showers and all the electronic/digitallinks required by modern business people, the'Crown Room'for these customers is a hive ofactivity. There are also special areas for groups

or parties travelling together and a large facilityfor unaccompanied minors. All the anticipated

concessions for food, drinks and gifts are here,

plus some that you might not expect. A NewYork deli and diner ensure that your'Big Apple'

experience can continue right up until boarding.

And if you wonder what that huge factorybuilding is over to the north-west of the airport,

it's a Budweiser brewery, and it's got a special

outlet in Newark's Terminal C. Continental

currently occupies 58 gates in Terminal C as well

asT2hybrid check-in stations, which combine a

touch-screen'eService Centeri

RIDING THE TURBUTENCEAgainst the civil engineering and infrastructure

that the Continental air traveller sees and

uses at Newark, one has to set the recent and

hugely turbulent years ofthe 21 st century and

Continental's survival. lt is allthe more poignant in

the memories of many current Newark employees

when, looking eastwards towards the Manhattan

skyline, they see the World Trade Center gap'as

a permanent reminder of '9l1 1 iThe un-natural

silence and lack of activity at Newark in the days

following'9/1 i'is still strong in the minds of many.

Continental rode the waves of the followingyears, strengthened by the tenure at the helm

of Gordon Bethune, still losing money but along

with American Airlines avoiding the potential

ignominy of an entry to Chapter 1 1 bankruptcyprotection (it would have been Continental!third). Part of this survival was down to a

managed programme of fleet rationalisation.Continental had already committed itself to being

an all-Boeing airline, like its SkyTeam partner

Delta. At the end of 200'1, Continental had a

main-line fleet of 352 aircraft, all Boeings except

33 MD-BOs (and even those were now technically

a Boeing product after the takeover of McDonnell

Douglas). These were disposed of, and although

the average fleet age in 200'1 was the youngest

of all the'big six'at 6.5 years, this youth and fleet

consolidation and steadied Continental.

New York, Nework

ln fact, unlike most of the other'big six'

airlines which either cancelled orders orpushed their deliveries back, Continental's fleethas grown during the postr9/1 1'era. At theend of 2006, it totalled 366 aircraft, comprising264 Boeing 737s (including -300, 500,700,800and 900 models), 58 Boeing 757s (-200s and

300s),26 Boeing 767s C200ERs and 400ERs)

and 1B Boeing 777-200ERs. Continental's

average fleet age is still the best,9.1 years atthe end of 2006. All of these airliner types can

be seen at Newark.Fleet investment has also been high

on Continentalt agenda. The fitting of APB

blended winglets to some of its Boeing 737s

and757s is helping with cruise economies

and savings in fuel costs. Continental was one

of the few airlines to buy the stretched 757,

the 243-seat (two-class layout) Boeing 757-

300. lt continues to champion the cause of a

'young'fleet and was an early customer forthe Boeing 787, though the hope that Newark

would welcome the first of the 20 examples ofthe type that Continental has ordered during2008 has now gone with the announcement offurther programme delays. Continental has also

ordered more Boeing 777-200ERs.

One of the best ways to observe all thisContinental action at Newark, or ifyou have

to change terminals there, is from the Port

Authority's AirTrain high-level monorail. ltsroute extends from a multi-storey car park

beyond Terminal A through all three main

terminals and to the Amtrack and the New

JerseyTransit railway station on the other side

of the airport. lt's a free-use monorail, but does

involve a transiting passenger going from thesecure area and then having to be re-screened.

However, the AirTrain provides unparalleledviews down on to the ramps and terminals.

With Continental employing 11,000 peopleat Newark (as a whole, the airport workforcenumbers around 24,000), the symbiosis

between airport and airline is as good as

it gets. With the addition of Continental'spartners Virgin Atlantic, Air Europa, TAP, EVA

Air and the SkyTeam airlines, as well as its

Continental Express affiliates, Newark Libertylnternational is a truly world-class airline hub.

Its ambiance and proximity to down-town New

York is also helping it to become the favoured

airport of access to the city - despite the factthat it's located in New Jersey! 6

words:

Lqwrence Spineffooi r-to-oir photogrophy:

Andy Wolfe/Lockheed Mqrtin

i*ffiJ**g{i;,;,

$teuhh su((esslonut with the old and in with the new', says Maj Bret Carter, a pilotfrom the 8th Fighter Squadron based at Holloman Air Force Base,New Mexico. He was referring to the impending retirement ofthe F-1 17A Nighthawk as the F-22A Raptor comes into service ingreater numbers. lt's not a'like for like'transition in terms of roleand capabilities, and therein lies a debate.

Many aviation analysts and public officials were shocked whenthe US Air Force's 2007 budget request called for the early retirement of the F-'l I7, an aircraftaffectionately known as the'Cockroach'or the'Stinkbugi Both senators from the state of NewMexico vigorously protested the Air Force's plan.'The Pentagon has not made a credible case

for wanting to retire these stealth fightersi complained Senator Jeff Bingaman.'ln my view, theF-'l 'l 7s remain an important part of the Air Force's fleet, and there is no good reason to retirethemi Similarly, Senator Pete Domenici remarked,'l am strongly opposed to the retirement ofF-1 17s. They are vital to the overall Air Force mission.'

Despite the surprise and opposition, USAF officials persisted and pushed forward the F-l 17's

retirement date from 201 1 to 2008.

AT THE TOP OF IT5 GAMEThe USAF is not retiring the F-1 17 early because of its poor performance.'lt is still a goodairplane right nowi asserts Gen T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force Chief of Staff. Echoing theChief's comments, Maj Carter observes: 'lt is still completely capable of completing the samemission from the beginning'. The F-1 17 essentially leaves service at the top of its game.

Of course, the jet has a proud combat record. F-117s led the initial strikes against the lraqiregime during Operation'Desert Storm', on the night of 17 )anuary 'l 991. The first of three F-1 17

waves was 50 miles inside lraq when fourAH-64A Apaches from the US Army's'l 01st AirborneDivision fired shots at an early warning radar on the lraqi border. An official Pentagon report onthe war notes: 'Over the course of the war, the deployed F-'l 'l 7s flew approximately 2 per centof the total attack sorties, yet struck about 40 per cent of the strategic targets attacked'.Lt Gen Buster Glosson, the director of campaign plans for US Central Command, boasted to thenTactical Air Command chief, General Robert Russ,'Unless we have a mechanical malfunction,the Iraqis won't put one hole in an F-1 17i The pilots scheduled to fly the first Operation'Desert

Paul Ashenden Mark Sutherland

Steolth succession

The F-22A and F-l 1 74 from the 41 2th Test Wingshown in the air-to-air photographs accompanyingthis article have, respectively, provideddevelopmental test support to the introductionto service of the Raptor and (as part of the F-l 1 7combined Test For(e) upgrades to the Nighthawk,

$

Storm'sorties were less confident in the jet'sunproven stealth abilities. They privatelypredicted half of the initial wave of 10

aircraft would be shot down. Fortunately,their fears about the effectiveness of stealthtechnology in combat proved unfounded.

Likewise, F-1 17s dropped the openingsalvo of Operation'lraqi Freedom'(OlF). On 20

March 2003, at 05.34hrs, Lt Col David Toomey

lll and Maj Mark Hoehn delivered four 2,0001b

bombs in the heart of Baghdad in an attemptto decapitate the lraqi regime. A dozen F-1 17s

flew more than 100 combat sorties in supportof OIF's major combat operations phase and

were responsible for striking key strategictargets. The deployed jets posted an impressive

89.3 per cent mission capable rate, better thanthe deployed F-l 5Cs and F-l 5Es.

Only one F-1 17 has been lost in combat,to a Serbian SA-3'Goa'SAM on 27 March 1999

during Operation Allied Force'(OAF). Gen John

Jumper, then USAF Chief of Staff, remarked:'We put our stealth assets into the mostdangerous places night after night and afterthe hundreds of sorties that have been flownin most dangerous situations, the loss of one iscertainly better than any of us expected.'

WHY RETIRE THE F.I I7?As late as 2001, Air Combat Command (ACC)

insisted that the F- l 1 7's service life couldbe extended well beyond 30 years and set a

tentative retirement date of 2018. ACC officialseven suggested the airframe could conceivablylast until 2030 or later.

Why, then, did the USAF dramaticallyreverse course last year and accelerate theF-1 17's retirement? The answer is simple

- mone, money, money. The USAF is facing

a budgetary crisis. lt has been struggling to'recapitalise'a fleet of ageing aircraft whilepaying for the current costs of the global waron terror'and receiving an ever-decreasingslice of the defence budget. Moreover, Air Force

officials face mounting pressure to help offsetthe costs ofthe planned 92,000 troop increase

for the US Army and Marine Corps.

USAF officials realise that this shift toa ground-centric defence budget is short-sighted, particularly since the increases in US

ground force levels will not be available for use

in lraq or Afghanistan in the short term. The

value of this move is questionable since theArmy and Marine Corps will probably absorb

the increase at a time when the U5 is lookingto significantly reduce its presence in lraq. Plus,

the US is not planning on fighting a groundwar to police a failed state any time soon.

To fund recapitalisation internally, the USAF

agreed to cut 40,000 troops from its ranks. The

average age ofthe USAF aircraft inventory is

24 years. American airmen fly 50-year-old aerial

refuelling aircraft and long-range bombers.Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne,

however, recently acknowledged that the fiscal

austerity plan is not reaping enough savings.

'lt's not workingiWynne said.

Thus, the USAF decided to hasten theF-1 17's retirement because it needed to findmore ways to maximise the funding available

Steolth succession

for recapitalisation during a time when revenue

for competing interests is sparse. According toUSAF officials, the F-1 17 became too expensive

and difficult to maintain, and it thereforebecame an easy target in the budget wars.

Program Budget Decision 720 estimates

that retiring the F-117 early will save

51.1 billion from procurement accounts

and 55.1 billion from associated manpoweraccounts. Furthermore, the directive states thatthere are more capable USAF assets that couldprovide low-observable, precision penetratingweapons capability.

The USAF has never been satisfied with theCongressional cap onF-22 purchases. Congress

has limited the service's F-22buy to 183 jets.

The Air Force leadership unanimously thinksthe minimum number of Raptors that thecountry should purchase is 381.

NOT A PERFECT REPLACEMENTfheF-22 Raptor is not a perfect replacementfor the F-1 17. ln fact, the aircraft are wildlydifferent in terms of capabilities, mission,

armament and weapons. Really, thecommonality between the two jets does notextend much beyond a shared low-observablestealth capability.The F-1 17's stealth capabilityis based on 1970s technology.This remainseffective, but the jet's very angular features

contrast significantly with more modern stealthplatforms like the F-22 and F-35.

The F-1 1 7 is a precision strike aircraftdesigned to penetrate high-threat airspace. lts

strength lies in its ability to use laser-guidedweapons against critical targets. Recountingone notable mission during the first Gulf WatMajJoe Salata described how he noticeda car driving across an lraqi bridge he was

attacking. The jet's pinpoint laser designatorallowed him to avoid killing the civiliandriver while still knocking down the bridge.'lactually aimed behind him, so he could pass

over the bridgei Salata said.'You can pickand choose a little bit in the F-117. ln any

other type of aircraft, I would've never had

the opportunity to move my spot. I would'vemissed everything, and then I wouldn't have

been able to see what happened anyway.Stealth allows us to look longer at the targetsbefore release, as well as after release.'

The F-1 17 offers advantages over theF-22 in terms of the type of guidance of itsweapons and the size of its bombs. The

F-1 17 carries a maximum of two bombs, thesame number as an F-22. However, the F-l 1 7

can carry heavier ordnance, in the shape

of 2,0001b bombs versus the 1,0001b bomblimit for the Raptor. Additionally, the Raptor

currently only'drops on co-ordinates'as itonly carries the GBU-32 Joint Direct AttackMunition (JDAM), a GPS-guided bomb. Bothaircraft can penetrate high-threat enemy airdefences, but the F-I17 is better able to attackhardened sites such as command bunkers.

ln September 2006, Raptor pilots successfully

tested the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), a 2501b

guided weapon designed to strike fixed targetsfrom a stand-off range while causing littlecollateral damage. Cunently, the weapon is

Et47

Steolth succession

*

only carried on the F-1 5E, but plans are to add

it to the F-22's arsenal in around 201 4. The SDB

upgrade will provide the jet with a weapons

capability that the F-'1 17 never enjoyed.

RAPTOR. OFFER.S MLICH MOREDespite the differences in air-to-groundordnance capability, the F-22 is far superior

to the F-1 17. 'The F-22 is a much more

capable fighter than the F-1 1 7i says Col

Jack Forsythe, the 49th Operations Group

48l6

commander at Holloman AFB.'We are

passing the torch to fellow stealth drivers.

The F-22 will fight in its own unique wayJ

More than 70 F-117 pilots and maintainers

came to Langley AFB, Virginia, in August to

hand off their 25 years of stealth knowledge,

including stealth integration tactics, to the

Raptor community in the '1 st Fighter Wing. Capt

Raymond Thaler, anF-22 instructor at Langley,

remarked:'We will build on the legacy of the

F-1 1 7's historic accomplishmentsJ

The F-22 is a true bird of prey, whereas

the F-1 1 7 is strictly a ground attack aircraft.

The F-1 17 has zero airto-air capability, which

has led many to question the accuracy of its'F'

designation. The'Cockroach' possesses neither

an air-to-air radar nor a Radar Warning Receiver

(RWR). Pilots do not have any electronic

warning that other enemy fighters or ground

threats are targeting them.'Cockroach' pilots

often joke that they just'lower their seat'if they

think they are in danger.

To see more images of the F-l '1 7, check outthe Specialty Press title'F-1 1 7 Nighthawk:

Stealth Fighter Photo Scrapbooki available

from www.ianallansuperstore.com

The F-1 17's two non-afterburning General

Electric F404 engines produce about half of thethrust of the Raptor's Pratt & Whitney Fl 19-PW-

100 turbofans, each of which deliver 35,0001b

of thrust and permit'supercruisel ln contfast,

the F-1 17 is limited to high subsonic speeds

and a ceiling of45,O00ft.The Raptor's thrust-vectoring capabilities

and high thrust-to-weight ratio make theaircraft an unparalleled dogfighter. No othermodern jet can match its manoeuvrability.

The F-22's best defence against other fightersis usually its offensive potential. lt carries six

AllM-120 AMRAAMs, two AIM-9 Sidewinders,

and an M6142 20mm cannon with 480

rounds. The Raptor's low radar cross section

coupled with its superior agility, the ability tosupercruise and integrated avionics provides

the F-22 with an advantage oftactical surprise.

The Raptor brings stealth into the day and

actively searches for a fight, whereas the F-1 17

primarily flies at night and relies on its stealth

characteristics to escape detection.Like the F-1 1 7, the F-22 is capable offlying

into the most advanced integrated radar

networks in the world to deliver bombs on target

on time. But, the Raptor's primary mission is not

air-to-ground operations. Rather, it will focus on

ensuring air superiority in future conflicts.ln a recent letter to his airmen, staff, and

war planners, Gen Moseley clearly relayed his

intent for the future of the Raptor. First and

foremost, the Raptor willfocus on ensuringair dominance.'The first step in recapitalisingour ageing fighter fleet is fielding the F-22

to replace the F-1 5C as our front-line air

dominance fighter. Controlling the skies

is the first and most fundamental step in

any joint operation. Potential adversaries

continue to develop and field advancedaircraft, cruise missiles and surface-to-airmissiles in an attempt to project povrer infriendly airspace or deny our forces access totheir airspace. Let there be no doubt aboutit - the F 22 will be the primary aircraftresponsible for countering these threats,clearing the skies of bad guys, and ensuringour nation's air, land, and sea forces access

for many decades to come. On my watchas the lead airman of this great Air Force I

will not allow air dominance to be taken forgranted. This is a no-fail missionl

'To ensure air dominance, Raptor pilots

must be trained and the F-22 must be

equipped for air-to-air combat in any arena

- from homeland defence to anti-access

environments. Since one of the keys to airtoair success in anti-access environments is theability to destroy enemy surface-to-air threats, I

want Raptor pilots trained and F-22s equippedto conduct the Destruction of Enemy Air

Defenses (DEAD) mission as well. If the currentfocus of the Raptor programme - includingtraining syllabi, ready aircrew programme(RAP) requirements, designated operationalcapability (DOC) statements, modernisationplans, test plans, or the Weapons School - isn't

on air-to-air and DEAD, then it is wrong and I

want it fixed, and if we're spending precious

Raptor modernisation dollars or training sorties

on the core missions of our other aircraft, such

as CAS, SEAD or interdiction, that is also wrongand I want it stoppedl

Given the relatively low numbers beingprocured, the Raptor cannot entirely replace

the F-15C. Accordingly, the USAF plans tocontinue flying approximately 1 B0'goldenEagles' until 2025. The recent mishap involvinga Missouri Air National Guard F-'i 5, however,

has cast doubt on the Eagle's sustainability.TheUSAF will probably seek additional fundingfrom Congress to purchase more Raptors.

e&11$€g*&JstshsAs the Global Strike Task Force points out,'the success of any major air-land operation

- today and in the future - dependsprimarily on the United States'pre-eminentability to detect and destroy enemy fightersas well as attack high-value ground targetswith precision weaponsl The F-22 is neither a

perfect substitute for the F-1 1 7, nor available

in sufficient numbers to replace the F-15C.

Nevertheless, the Raptor will add tremendousvalue to coalition war plans.

Many, not least US warfighters, willundoubtedly shed a tear when the last F-l 1 7

makes its final flight to the Tonopah Test Range

for storage, but the cycle of aviation progress

continues. fhe F-22 will define a new era in

fighter capability. Il

at49

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ffik'i;.(."E#

words & photogrophy: Peler R. Mqrch

This 40th anniversary issu e of Aircraft lllustratedmarks a significant and, for us, sad event - theretirement, after 40 uninterrupted years, ofPeter R. March as a monthly contributor.

Born, educated and working in Bristol, Peter

had his first photograph, of an Auster Alpha thathad crashed at Lulsgate Airport, published in

September 1959. He went on to contribute toFlight, Air Pictoriol and other magazines and local

newspapers quite regularly over the next 1 0 years.

His initial contact with lan Allan Ltd came in 1960

when he provided photographs for CivilAircraft

Markings by John W R. Taylor. Buyers ofthe 1 961

CAM could see I 3 of Petert photographs, for which

he received a reproduction fee of37p each! He

took his first air-to-air photographs in September1 961, after being invited by the air correspondentof the Western Daily Press to go to RAF Colerne and

fly in a Hastings to take photos of another Hastings and Beverley making a para drop.

Now with a taste for aviation photography, he came to the conclusion that you need towrite about aircraft to get photos into print. His first major article in 1965 on the training and

operations of Royal Navy fighter crews at Yeovilton enabled Peter to get his first taste of fastjet flying. That involved the first of many Hunter sorties from Yeovilton, taking air-to-airs of Sea

Vixens, and a trip in the toal hole'of a Sea Vixen (including a supersonic dive) that afternoon.

Since Aircraft lllustrated starled, Peter has been the only contributor to have had

something in every single issue. He has never missed a deadline, even while he was workingfor A/ alongside his full-time job. 40 years ago, Peter was head of sixth form at a Bristol

comprehensive school, and three years later deputy head of another school. ln 1974, he wentto the new Avon local authority as a principal adviser, to run the careers service and to be an

'inspector'of a group of primary and secondary schools. He was also writing careers books,

and had a weekly slot called Jobline on what was then the HTV evening news. ln the'70s and

'80s, while also having been made Contributing Editor of A/ (in 1977) by the then editor MartinHorseman, Peter wrote three series of adult education TV programmes to do with choosing a

job, and one about retirement (which he says he hasn't watched recentlyl)

It wasnt until 1988 that Peter became a full-time aviation photo-journalist, having decided to'retire'from education after 28 years. He had been closely involved with the lnternational AirTattoo

and the RAF Benevolent Fund, producing the show programme since 1973, and when he was invited

to take over the editorship of the Royal Air ForceYearbookhejumped at the opportunity. lt was also

then that Brian Strickland became his assistant, and he has played a large part in all of the work Peter

has done since, including that for A/. Over the 40 years, Peter has

edited more than 50 books and magazines for lan Allan including

Military Aircraft Markings,the ABC Recognition Series, the A/

Peter R. March with Cessna 172E G-4555.The aircraft was purchased by his very goodfriend Dennis Squires in 1 965, and Peter flewregularly with him to air events. ln 1971, Petergot his private pilot's licence and later becameco-owner. The red and white Cessna has some3,500 hours in its logbook and continues to takehim to events around the <ountry,

Annual, Air Extrc, Air Disploy lnternationol and several'specialsi

Peter's Airview' colu mn has been a constant feature for

workfor Aircraft lllustroted, and of some of his most

memorable assignments for the magazine. BEN DUNNELL

P€te13 first contribution to the first issue of Aircraftlllustrcted, in?Ioducing the Tipsy Nipper.

t must have been towards the endof 1 967 when I had a call out of theblue from Philip J. R. Moyes. l'd metPhilip when he was the PR officerat Filton at the time Bristol Aircraftwas producing the Britannia. Hehad been really helpful in allowing

me to photograph the airliners on theproduction line there and I missed his helpafter he moved to the SBAC. Suddenly, therehe was on the'phone, saying that he hadbeen asked to edit a new aviation magazinefor lan Allan, and inviting me to send himanything of interest, particularly on the civilside, for the first edition.

At Compton Abbas a couple of monthspreviously I had seen a newTipsy Nipper(G-AVKT) that had been flown in by DavidShrimpton. I said to him that I would like tophotograph it when he departed - he offeredto do a couple of flybys. Characteristicallyenthusiastic, David proceeded to make somevery low runs past the clubhouse, to thechagrin of the airfield manager. one of thephotos of him doing this with a little storyappears as my contribution to the very firstquarterly edilion of Aircraft lllustrated in March1968.That started the ball rolling, and I havenever looked back - until now.

I don't recall any particular rationalebeing mentioned for the establishment of thenew magazine other than Philip saying that'all aviation interests'would be catered for.

This has broadly been the policy ever since,

although I have had to fight (and generally

lost) the corner for light aviation. With lan

Allan producing books and magazines for'transport spotters; it was not surprising thatthe new aviation quarterly followed the sameline. Essentially, my involvement came aboutbecause I was a'spotteri in Philip's eyes, and I

knew about registrations, serials, markings andso on. He was a respected aviation historian,and wasn't too familiar with the modern scene,

particularly on the civil side.

Part of my work for Ai was placed on a

more regular footing from the April 1971

issue onwards, when the Airview'columnstarted.The idea in fact came from somethingld followed in Air Pictorial, called lournal ofa Roving Spotter'. I thought, and convincedPhilip Moyes, that we ought to do somethingsimilar in A/.The idea was to cover as much

as possible of what was happening on the UK

aviation scene that would not otherwise bereported in the news pages. At that time, therest of the magazine was rather more'esoteric',and this was my way of getting something in

for enthusiasts like me. This would typicallyinclude squadron and base changes, airlinefleet updates, interesting visitors, news fromthe growing preservation scene and an events

iil" "'*otu1 Nippe -. n*.u' \ almost all of A/'s life. Now providing our Preservation News

i ' - "*.."r^r::Xt"S":,lftijffii \ coverage, it has regularly broken major stories in the last few

'r s,rm:riff$S,i"ili!!ii4*:!j$*4',"-'5 \ years, often thank to the many contacts Peter has made over

i "rl*:.,1$xi*::F;,li',ifio"'-..,,,"::,].lli i thepasthalf-century.Thishasrunalonqsidehisauthorshipor5*1"#,Sl:Iftlg'':f i@ "^1,*,rr*.:1"",iE ! the past half-century. This has run alongside his authorship ofijili#":EltSlo

"*,I{,fi*$tffi,i'o'*ll;:t. \ many other news and feature articles. lt goes without saying

\ tif;ti-$u$*ti$$$dl.iiri*ffi \':it':"J.xT,T$::i?""1 l*:i:::l"fi[i:]x;,:"""1 #1"$;il*"$J":f;tt"lii:l:ur;t-

1, he willcontinue to contribute on a resular basis - his! xffi**o retirement mark the end of an era forAi.' ":';,'.;':,1; . a, I ttto*,Petertakesupthestoryof howhecameto

calendar. The latter continued through invarious forms for the next 35 years.

Airview'included airshow reports rightfrom the start of the 1 971 season, and thatsummer saw the first AirTattoo staged in aidof RAFA's South-East branch at North Weald. I

was invited to take photographs at the show,where I met Paul Bowen and Tim Prince. Thefollowing year I helped with the compilation ofthe programme and as a member of Paul andTim's volunteer team, and by the first Embassy

Air Tattoo held at Greenham Common in 1 973

I was press officer, programme editor andphotographer. I have continued the latter twotasks ever since, the AirTattoo having been myfirst direct involvement in the airshow world.As a result, there has always been a closerelationship between the event and A/.

1995 saw a major change, when Air Displaylnternational, a sister publication (quarterly,

later bi-monthly) of which I had been thefounding editor in 'l 987, was incorporated intoA/. This meant that the airshow coverage was

removed from'Airview', which from then on has

concentrated solely on the preservation scene.

lndeed, the section's main title changed toPreservation News in 2004, giving it the same

importance as the magazine's military andcivil coverage, though I was insistent that theAirview'name should also be retained given itslongevity.

MEMORABTE ASSIGNMENTSFollowing that 5ea Vixen trip in 1965, I

continued to do quite a lot of flying fromYeovilton. ln 1 968, just after I startedcontributing to A/, the Royal Navy invited me totake the first photographs of its F-4K Phantomsarriving in the UK. Again, lflew in a Hunter outover the south-west of England, together with

a Sea Vixen. lt didn't exactly work out, because

the pair of Phantoms was running short of fuel

and they started to dive in towards Yeoviltonbefore we were half-way up to meet them. ltwas all very much'hit or missl

The first part of one of my early highlightswas published in A/ in February 1969. I was

invited by RAF public relations to go on whatwas supposed to be the first'fastback'ShortsBelfast two-crew, straight-through trip to the Far

East. The RAF s new strategic transport had beenhaving performance troubles, caused by what I

described in the article as'suction drag on thetail and rear fuselagei lt wasn't able to achievethe speed and altitude that were desired,particularly in hot and high conditions.Therewas a modification programme put in handwhich produced the'fastbackl Unfortunately, bythe date on which I was supposed to go out toSingapore, they still didn't have one available, so

I flew out on a'Bel-slowi

'40 yeors on A/ hos

been o long time, but

very enioyoble. lt wos

o mogozine thot took o

while to estoblish itself, but

since then it's become the

'number one' in my eyes,

ond those of mony others'

lM.ll

40 yeors of reporting

The route went first from Brize Norton toLuqa in Malta, then on to Akrotiri. From there,we had to leave for an overnight trip round theCENTO route, which was up through Turkey and

down the other side to Bahrain, because you

couldn't go across Egypt and the Middle East.

When we got to RAF Muharraq in Bahrain, itwas morning, and it was already hot.The Belfast

couldn't depart with its load during the heatof the day, so we had to wait until the evening.They had advance notice that I was coming, and

the Station Commander asked me to take somephotographs for the station Christmas card.

They put up a Hunter, Andover and Argosy.Thecrew went offto the Britannia Hotel, but I was

kept busy, and at one point I was arrested on theapron when I went back over to the Belfast to get

some more film. While I was being held there, the

soles of my shoes got stuck to the tarmac, before I

was'rescued' by the Station CommanderlFrom Bahrain, we flew to RAF Gan in the

Maldives and out to Singapore. I then had two

weeks in Singapore to report on and fly withthe Far East Air Force, and I had a fantastic time.i flew in a Belvedere up into the Malayan jungle

to photograph load-lifting and troop insertionsinto a small clearing. I was deposited on theground and the Belvedere lifted up to the treeline. I expected a rope to be lowered and thesoldiers to abseil down. To my surprise, thehelicopter flew away, right out of sightl Before

we landed, they'd advised me,'Be a bit carefulthere - there are locals in the area who are

rather uncivilised, and there are snakes and wildanimalsl I then saw the faces of quite a few locals

peering out of the trees. I was getting more andmore rnrorried, thinking'How do I get back? Has

the Belvedere had a problem?'Of course, it was

all a huge joke. They then returned, lowered thetroops in, and landed to pick me up.

On three of the days, I was allocated a

HunterTT from No 20 Squadron, firstly to dophotography ofa No 74 Squadron LightningT5. Both units were based at RAF Tengah at the

time. That was an interesting one, because in thebar one evening I was chatting to the StationCommander at Tengah, and he said,'So, you'regoing to do a Lightning photograph, are you?'l

replied that I was hoping to.'Right, l'll give you a

challenge. ld like you to get a photograph of mein the Lightning at low level over a Chinese junk,

to show where we arei I accepted the challenge,and managed to get the photograph, whichwas published subsequently in A/. On anotherday when I had the Hunter, we heard that theair wing was disembarking from HMS Victorious,

so we went up and I took pictures ofthe Sea

Vixens and Buccaneers while they were inboundto Tengah. And, of course, I photographed theresident No B1 Squadron Canberra PR7s, and

No 20 Squadron's Hunters themselves, in action.All the while, lwas accommodated in the seniorofficers'mess, had a car and driver allocated tome, and my own'batmani A tremendous visit

- it was somewhat different to be back in theclassroom a week later.

I have contributed many features on RAF

units and stations at home and abroad to,4/, and visited Cyprus, Germany and HongKong several times. At Akrotiri, I saw the UN

helicopter operations, the NEAF Vulcans and UK

squadrons on Armament Practice Camps. The

best was the last Phantom APC when the crewsmade some fantastic low-level runs towardsthe cliffs and across the airfield for the benefit

of the photographers. At RAF Wildenrath,Germany, I was privileged to see early Harrieroperations and had another memorable Hunterflight. This was with No ll(AC) Squadron, and itwas another'challengei from the squadron boss

this time. I noticed a twinkle in his eye whenhe said,'What I want you to try and do is to geta photograph of one of our Hunter FRl 0s atlow level. We're going to put a target out, andI d like you to get a shot of the Hunter takingits picture of the target belowi What I didn'trealise was that it was going to be hidden in apub car park at the end of a winding GermanroadlWe were at low level, doing violent turnsleft and right, as we followed this FR10. Withthe g-suit pumping in and out all the time, itwas very difficult to get any photographs at all,

let alone over the target. I failed the challengeand felt very unwell as I walked into the crewroom. I was lucky enough to visit Hong Kongbefore it was handed over to China and fly withthe Wessex on No 28 Squadron. This gave methe opportunity to photograph the new airportand contrast it with KaiTak in an additionalarticle. I also found the time to fly a Cessna 172

from the Hong Kong Flying Club out ofandback into Kai Tak - an amazing experience.

With a lot of these things, it's not only theaeroplanes that have been special, but also thepeople I have met and who have gone out oftheir way to help me to get photographs and

stories. There were several such individualsat FRADU (the Fleet Requirements and AirDirection Unit), whose Scimitars, Meteors,Hunters and Canberras I covered numeroustimes for A/. On one occasion, I wanted to takepictures of a MeteorTT20 towing its target.The pilot said that he and a colleague had togo out and provide targets for the gunnersoff Portsmouth, which involved flying roundin a racetrack pattern for half an hour or so. I

thought it a bit strange when I saw him stuffinga paperback into his flying suit. When we werein the racetrack, he said,'l want to have a read

of my book. Will you fly it round?'The TT20 hadrudimentary controls in the back, so there I wasflying a Meteor while the pilot had a read.

Concorde has been an almost constantfeature of my time working forAf starting whenI witnessed the maiden flight of the'British'prototype 002 at Filton on 9 April 1 969. I then saw

several production aircraft making their initialtest flights from Filton, but naturally I wantedthe chance to go on board. Th anksto Aircraftlllustrated, it happened on 2B August 1984 when I

flew on G-BOAA from New York to London.I managed to persuade British Airways

to let me do a feature on 'a day in the life of aConcorde piloti I met Capt David Leney at an

hotel in New York, and he told me about whatI was going to see the next day. I joined thecrew at breakfast, drove out with them to JFK

airport to go through briefing with them, theaircraft inspection and the walk-round. I thenhad to dodge back into the terminal, because

I was booked in as a passenger and not crew.

On board, I was allocated a seat at the front ofthe aircraft, which I only used when lwent backfrom the flightdeck to have my meal. Otherwise,I was on the Concorde flightdeck from start-upat JFK to shut-down at Heathrow, and it wasprobably the most fantastic trip of my life.

Of course, one ofthe saddest occasions in

my aviation career was the arrival of ConcordeG-BOAF at Filton on its last flight in November2003. To see it now, as I do very often. sittingforlornly at Filton, I think it's such a tragedythat it wasn't able to continue flying. The BristolAero Collection needs all the help it can get toget AF into the planned new museum buildingto protect it from the elements.

The Vulcan has played a significant partin my A/ reporting in more recent times, and I

was really delighted when XH558 took off fromBruntingthorpe last October. When the RAF was

looking at grounding it in the early 1990s, I was

invited by the Ministry of Defence to representaviation journalism at two meetings of all theinterested parties, discussing whether there was

a viable, cost-effective case for keeping XH558

flying in military hands. Those of us who spokein favour of this lost the day, but it was a rationaldecision in the end. lt would perhaps have flown

I

40 yeors of reporting

1

l

f

-

for two or three more years at the most beforefunding ran out, and there were competingclaims for the money.

On the warbird front, the Confederate Air

Force (now, of course, the CommemorativeAir Force) has been very important to me

since the early 1 980s. Lloyd Nolen, the key

founder, encouraged me to visit Harlingen and

subsequently Midland to report on the annual

Airsho. With the help of volunteer press officerRuss Anderson and colleagues I was fortunateto fly in and photograph most of the typesin the CAF inventory, ranging from the B-23

Dragon in 1 980 to Catalina, B-24, B-25, A-26,

B-29 and CASA 2.1 1 1B more recently. Two

sorties in Air Atlantique's Shackleton fromMidland will also be long remembered. One

CAF colonel, former USAF Gen Reg Urschler,

-r

has been a friend and inspiration over manyyears. I have enjoyed flying with him in P-

51 Mustang Gunfighterand admired him

displaying it on countless occasions. Reg

was also the first to assist a very shakenphotographer to climb out of a tailless Harvard

after my first (and, I hope, last) aircraft accident.The incident happened at the 1 997 CAF

Airsho and involved another long-standing A/

contributor, my good friend Frank B. Mormillo.We were off on a post-show photo sortieinvolving fourT-6s going out to photographsome warbirds. lt had been a really hot dayand there were thunderstorms around. Then

there was a radio call to say that there was an

ominous storm moving towards the airfield,and that we should get back. We weren't toofar away to the south and lwas in the lead

aircraft, with Frank in the second one andothers trailing behind. While we were on longfinals, the storm was flashing away, and a

Southwest Airlines 737 scurried off. We hadto slow down our approach, but proceededto land in stream. We'd touched down andwere going along on our mainwheels, slowingdown, when suddenly the aircraft turned left.The next thing I could see over my shoulderwas the second T-6 coming quickly towardsus. We swung round further, and the pilotopened up the throttle to get out ofthe way,but the engine coughed. The wing of Frank's

aeroplane hit our tail, and the wingtip endedup almost immediately behind my head.Another foot, and it would have hit me; morelikely, the propeller would have made contactwith us.

By contrast, going to the Middle East in theimmediate aftermath of the first Gulf War had

been less dangerous. I went as A/'s representativeto Kuwait, while the oil well fires started byretreating lraqi forces were still burning. lwillalways remember flying through the smoke in an

RAF Hercules. We went into various desert strips,

some containing lines and lines of US militaryhelicopters, and to Kuwait City itself where theremalns of the British Airways 747 deslroyedon the ground during the war were still sitting,along with those of several other aircraft. The

devastation in Kuwait left quite an impression onme.Then, we went into Bahrain where we saw

the RAF Tornados and Jaguars, now with theirnose art and mission markings.

I never imagined during the Cold War

years that I would end up going to Russia,

and especially to its main test airfield, but

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us. The Sukhoi man said to the driver,'Keepgoing, don't stop!; and to Richard and l,'Getyour heads down!'We just drove straight past

this group, who thankfully stepped aside for us,

went over the bridge - the White House is onone side of the river, and the hotel on the other

- and were stopped by a British televisioncrew, I think from Sky, who asked us: 'What thehell are you doing? You're in the middle of a

revolution!'Those people had been marchingtowards the television centre, to take it over.

That evening, we went to a restaurant, and atabout 10 o'clock the owner came up to us andsaid:'l think you'd better go now, because thereare tanks moving in on the cityl Overnight, andespecially first thing the next morning, we all

heard the sound of gunfire.

The next day, a friend Richard had broughtout with him was going to fly in a two-seat'Frogfootl somebody else was going up a

MiG-29U8, and we were due to do the air-to-airs

of the 5u-31 . We went to Zhukovsky and weretold that all airfields in Russia were closed, butby midday they said that all the flying could go

ahead. This gave me just enough time to get

the Sukhoi photos, and some'sneaky'shots ofthe dispersals at Zhukovsky. I went straight back

to the UK the following morning, because I was

flying to Midland for the CAF Airsho. When I gotthere, it was rather amusing to be able to say,'l'vejust come straight from the Russian revolution!'ltwas a whole different world.

Those are just a few of many marvellousmemories from four decades of ,4/ reporting!I have seldom referred to my family, andin particular to my wife Chris who haspatiently put up with my preoccupation.

it happened in October 1993 - at a veryinteresting time. I went there with Richard

Goode, for whom l'd been taking photos sincehis early days as a competition aerobaticpilot. The plan was to do air-to-airs of thenew Sukhoi Su-31 aerobatic machine overZhukovsky from a Yak-1 BT, as Richard (who had

bought and displayed the first Su-26 in the UK)

was purchasing one.My arrival coincided with a major crisis

following President Boris Yeltsin's decisionto rule by decree and his dissolution of theexisting Russian legislative system, includingthe parliament. lt looked as though civilwar could erupt at any time, and there wereuprisings on the streets of Moscow. These wereput down by force, and tanks shelled the WhiteHouse in which members of the legislaturelvere holed up.This happened on a Sunday, butlargely without us knowing, as we were stayingjust outside the city.

We had a Sukhoi representative with us,

and Richard wanted to go to a large hotel nearrne White House as he was setting up the first

'.,isits to Zhukovsky by Westerners paying to flyin MiGs, Sukhois and so on - A/ was the firstWestern magazine to report on this - andrvanted to find a decent hotel to put them in.

Driving towards it, we came to a roadblock,and a policeman told us: 'You can't go downthere, there's troublei Our driver said, 'No, we'vegot to get to that hotel:The policeman repliedsomething llke,'On your heads be itl and wedrove down this dual carriageway. We wentround a bend, and in front of us the road was

biocked, there was a bus burning and therewere people waving banners coming towards

Without this understanding, lwould nothave had these incredible experiences.

iltoT SutTE Tt{E Hr.{8.."Now, 40 years since,4/ started and since I mademy first contribution to it, I feel it's time torelinquish the responsibility of providing a fullnews section every month. To some extent, ithas ruled my life, because l've had to arrangeholidays and so on around the deadlines. It willbe a bit of a relief when that changes. However,l'm certainly not going to finish contributing toA/, whether in the form of preservation items,show reports or feature articles. I don't intendto suddenly give everything up!

As far as the changes over these 40 years

are concerned, the most significant has beenthe method of supplying material to theeditorial office. lt's not really that long ago thatwe all stopped posting typewritten copy tothe office and began sending files on disk and,soon after, e-mailing them as attachments. Theother huge change has been the developmentof digital photography, meaning that themagazine isn't reliant on receiving prints ortransparencies in time and always at the mercyof postal services. lt all means that items can

be added or altered at the last minute, and thatthe immediacy and topicality of the finishedproduct is that much greater.

40 years on A/ has been a long time, butvery enjoyable. lt was a magazine that tooka while to establish itself, but since then it's

become the'number one'in my eyes, and thoseof many others. There is no other aviationmagazine that's so all-embracing, and longmay it stay that way. fr

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eated debates aboutairport expansion, theaPpearance of the world'slargest airliner and callsfor more fuel-efficientengines.

Yes, it's 1 968, the year

when the UK government appointed a Royal

Commission to recommend a site for the thirdLondon airport, when the Boeing 747,thefirst of the wide-bodied airliners, was rolled

out and when the Rolls-Royce RB21 1, whichrepresented a new breed of efficient turbofanengines, was bench-tested for the first time.

But it was also the time when predictions

about atomic-powered hypersonic airliners

seemed a lot less fantastic than they would today.

Aviation's first half-century was characterised by

ever-rising speeds and by 1 968 the first Western-

built supersonic airliner was poised to make its

maiden flight the following year.

As it turned out, though, lhe747 and

the RB21 1 would prove to be more reliable

harbingers ofthe future. For it was they, not theAnglo-French Concorde or the SovietTu-144,

which represented the real instrumentsof change. Economic factors are now

the main determinant of a formof travel which, in 1968, was

still mainly for the well-to-dodespite the efforts ofthe fast-

growing charter sector whichwas helping to transform sleepy

Spanish fishing villages into playgrounds for:lorthern European holidaymakers.

Today's low-cost carriers have helped tocomplete the revolution begun by the inclusive

tour holiday operators in the 1 960s. They may

have started with cast-off Constellations but they

soon acquired modern aircraft and set standards

for efficiency which their scheduled and usually

state-owned rivals found hard to match.We may not have colonised Mars, but much

:hat's commonplace in 2008 would have made

.yes pop in 1968. Mobile 'phones and the internet

3re just two examples. Electronic technology has

:,ven aviation things like secondary surveillance

':dar which enables air traffic controllers to-andle ever-rising volumes of traffic with ever--creasing safety standards. The technology which

:;i transponders into aircraft to enable controllers:r direct radar beams to interrogate them and':ceive vital information has made possible

:irborne collision avoidance systems.

Satellite navigation gives pilots the ability:o pinpoint their location anywhere on the

;iobe to within a few metres and now looks

set to take air traffic management to the nextjeneration. And the technology which has

3ut undreamed-of computing power into the'rands of aircraft designers, airline managers

:nd air traffic controllers has also given air

passengers the freedom to make their own

travel arrangements from the comfort of theirown living rooms.

Governments now play a far less front-linerole in airline, airport and even air traffic control

operations. Who in '1968 could have imagined

that London's Heathrow airport, recently

handed over to the newly-formed British

Airports Authority, would in 2008 be owned and

operated by a Spanish construction company?

Concorde inevitably captured a lot ofheadlines. Getting it into service was a majortechnological feat and the diplomatic trans-

Atlantic negotiations involved in securingpermission to operate into the US were just as

tricky. Yet by 1976, when the green light was

finally given, it had become obvious that initialairline enthusiasm for the 5ST had dwindled tovirtually nothing.

The cost of the aircraft coupled with theincreasing environmental opposition to itand the supersonic booms generated by itspassage through the air meant that only British

Airways and Air France - whose governmentshad underwritten its development withgenerous helpings of taxpayers'money - were

interested in operating it. The introductionof wide-bodied airliners like the 747, theMcDonnell-Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed

Tristar had already ushered in an era of mass

travel which had opened in 1970 with thearrival of Pan Am's fisl747 at Heathrow.

The US abandoned its supersonic airlinerproject in the 1970s, leaving a few Concordes

to continue conveying the super-rich across

the North Atlantic until July 2000 when theloss of an Air France example signalled theend of the supersonic era. Whether or not thiswill have been the first such era remains tobe seen. Airbus and Boeing conducted a jointstudy in the early 1990s but nothing came ofit. There are plans for supersonic executive jets

but critical issues remain emissions at very high

altitude and noise. Dr Dieter Schmitt, formerAirbus vice-president of future projects and

new technologies, said recently that no new

5ST can be expected for at least 1 5 years.

Boeing's Sonic Cruiser, which would have

sold on the basis of travel at high subsonic

speeds and which might have brought a new

shape to the world's major airports, failed toattract support from airlines more interested inthe operating economics promised by the 787

Dreamliner. Boeing has talked about a blendedwing design, and although this may promise

economic and environmental advantages thereare knotty issues to be resolved such as theemergency evacuation of passengers.

ln 1968 Britain was still able to buildairliners of indigenous design. The Vickers, later

British Aircraft Corporation, VC10 was to prove

its popularity with long-haul passengers until

the late 1970s, while the de Havilland, later

Hawker Siddeley, Trident formed the backboneof British Airways'short and medium-haul fleetwell into the 1 980s, The successful short-haulBAC 1-'1 1 even secured orders from US airlines.

All three did well but could have done

better if domestic customers, particularly thestate-owned airlines, had demonstrated greater

enthusiasm. lnevitably they were up against

US-designed products which benefited from a

large domestic market and sold in thousandsrather than tens. When in 2001 British

Aerospace, or BAE Systems as it had thenbecome, stopped building the Avro RJ familyof aircraft, which had developed from thesuccessful 146 regional airliner, Britain stoppedmanufacturing complete jet airliners.

Paradoxically, the UK aerospace industrygoes from strength to strength in the 21 st

century. ln 2006, according to the Society ofBritish Aerospace Companies, it supported276,000 UK jobs, had a turnover of f.20 billionand exported 63 per cent of all it produced. New

orders increased by 6 per cent to f26.2 billion.

Much of this success results from theindustry's participation in Airbus, the European

consortium which is today one of only twobuilders of large airliners. Britain's initial approach

to the Airbus concept in the late 1 960s and

early 1970s was typically equivocal. But despite

a lack of government commitment, Hawker

Siddeley - which merged with BAC to form thenationalised British Aerospace in the 1 970s - has

produced the wings for every Airbus airliner ever

built. A blind alley Concorde may have been, butit did help to pioneer a cross-border approach

to aircraft manufacture which even Boeing has

adopted with the Dreamliner.

The technologically-advanced, twin-engined,

twin-aisle 43008 of 1972 was followed by the

'Air trovel hos become

cheoper ond sofer overthe lost 40 yeors. The

chollenge for the next

40 ond beyond is not

only to mointoin those

trends but to demonstrote

thot qviotion is copobleof toking o responsible

opprooch to climote

chonge'

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,lJs.

I-b

even more advanced A310. But it is the single-aisle

4320, whose design represented a true distillation

of British and European ideas, which has been the

biggest success so far; with over 5,300 sold and

more than 3,000 in service. At the other end ofthescale, the A380, the biggest airliner yet built, has

recently gone into service with launch customer

Singapore Airlines. This event was delayed by

manufacturing difficulties which have led to a

major restructuring operation by Airbus.

Further difficulties for the Toulouse-based

assembler have been posed by the continuing lowvalue ofthe US dollar relative to other currencies.

As a result of this, Airbus managers have talked

about setting up plants within the dollar area.

Whether this represents a serious proposition oris just talk aimed at raising government support

remains to be seen. Meanwhile, a new assembly

plant opens this year in China, which will take total

A320 production up to 40 units a month.

Once the province of European

manufacturers, regional jet manufacture inthe Western world is now concentrated on

two manufacturers, Brazil's Embraer with itsE-Jet family and Canada's Bombardier withits CRJ series. Recent signs of a turbopropcomeback seem to have been borne out by

increasing sales achieved by the Franco-ltalian

ATR combine and Bombardier's Q-Series. lt is in

this sector that Russian, Chinese and Japanese

manufacturers see their best chances ofachieving success with indigenous designs.

The 40 years have seen turbulent times forthe world's airlines. Many famous names have

passed into history, such as Pan Am,TWA, Swissair

and Sabena.The state-owned British Overseas

Airways Corporation and British European

Airways were combined into British Airways in

1974, which went on to become one of the first

of the world's major airlines to be privatised in

the 1 980s. Since then BA has absorbed British

Caledonian, once seen as a spearhead of a private

sector'second forcei and Dan Air.

Others fell by the wayside in the '1980s.

Laker Airways, launched by the flamboyant and

entrepreneurial 5ir Freddie, and People Express ofthe U5 were perhaps Iow-cost carriers before theirtime. Yet they were not alone in offering low-cost

travel. Dallas-based Air Southwest had already

changed its name to Southwest Airlines and

started the no-frills, simple fare structure, short-

haul services which have since become the model

for a new breed of airline: the low-cost carriers.

Today, Southwest carries 100 millionpassengers on more than 500 aircraft (the world's

fourth largest fleet) and is now the USA's biggest

domestic airline. lt also has a unique record ofconsistent profitability since '1973. Among the

first to absorb the lessons was Dublin accountant-

turned-airline boss Michael O'Leary who used

them to transform the family-owned Ryanair

into Europe's biggest low-cost airline, carrying 52

million passengers on 605 routes to 26 countries.

ln 1995, Greek-born shipping magnate's son

Stelios Haji-loannou launched scheduled fl ights

between Luton and Edinburgh and Glasgow

using two leased Boeing 737s. By the end of2007, easyJet was operating 1 07 Airbus A31 9s

and 30 737s. lt had also carried over 38 millionpassengers, and HajiJoannou is now Sir Stelios.

Liberalisation of the EU aviation market in

1993 created the institutional climate withinwhich such carriers could flourish. Part of thekey to success has been a rigorous approach

to cost control, high aircraft utilisation and

use ofthe internet for passenger bookings.

Adherence to this business model enabled thelow-costs to weather the '9111' crisis in bettershape than their longer-established rivals. Just

to survive, many of these'legacy'carriers foundthemselves obliged to adopt low-cost features

like fewer frills and greater internet use.

Many U5 majors sought bankruptcyprotection after' 9 / 1 1 I i ncl udi n g U nited Airli nes,

once the world's biggest canier. Rising fuel and

labour costs will continue to make life toughin a business still subject to peaks and troughs.

Roughly every eight to '10 years since the 1960s,

strong recovery has been followed by a sharp

downward lurch, usually prompted by worldevents like wars. lf the airlines could build up

cash reserves, that would help tide them over

the lean years, but they seem incapable ofconsistently recording average profit margins

much over 3 per cent. Ryanair, however. claims

an astonishing 20 per cent-plus margin.

Although the low-cost model has yet to be

applied to the long-haul market, it's probably

only a matter of time. lndeed. O'Leary has

already announced plans for a trans-Atlanticoperation. lf this does get offthe ground, thetegacy carriers will have to respond with vigouror be forced further into niche markets. ln 2007,

BA recognised that it is no longer a domesticcarrier when it sold its regional BA Connect

operation to specialist low-cost operator Flybe.

Another problem facing the industry is theweb of government-negotiated agreementswhich govern most international air services

and restrict market access. But here, again,

some changes can be expected. From the end

of March, the Open Skies deal negotiated by

the EU and US will enable any EU or US airlineto fly services to any EU or U5 city. Nowhere

will this be more keenly watched than at

Heathrow, access to which has since '1977 been

restricted to two UK and two U5 carriers by theBermuda ll agreement.

The lnternational Air Transport Association

has said it expected its members to be paying

an average of 578 a barrel for oil in 2008, butthe recent breach ofthe 5100 per barrel barrier

has already made that seem out of date. This

continual upward trend will place additionalpressure on engine and aircraft manufacturers

to find further operating efficiencies. Both CFM

and Rolls-Royce are predicting that advanced

turbofans will burn 1 5 per cent less fuel thantoday's.

Four decades ago, arguments were raging

about the expansion of London's airports, They

still are, and not without reason. According tothe lnternational Civil Aviation Organisation,

the world's airlines carried around 261 millionpassengers in 1 968. The corresponding figurefor 2006was2.2 billion.That same year, UK

airports handled 235 million passengers, not farshort ofthe 1 968 global total. London airportswere used by 136 million passengers.

To aid its deliberations, the third London

airport commission under Mr Justice Roskill

employed many innovative techniquesincluding cost-benefit analysis. But the result

was a bit of a shambles: the commission

favoured a green-field site in Bedfordshire

but the government accepted a minorityreport calling for an airport off the Essex

coast. That was overturned in 1974 by anothergovernment which cited growing costs and

mounting difficulties as its reasons.

Since then Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted

have all had new terminals and London City

has been built in Docklands. Manchester has

become a two-terminal, two-runway gateway

and many regional airports from East Midlandsto Bristol have recorded staggering growthrates, thanks mainly to low-cost operations. ln

March, Heathrow will have a fifth terminal. But

it s still not enough.

A 2003 White Paper envisaged four newrunways at UK airports by 2030. Last year, thegovernment confirmed that two of them willbe required in the London area: at Stanstedand at Heathrow, which will also need a sixthterminal. A village will have to be bulldozed tomake way for this development. Even with thebest available expertise, air traffic forecasts willnot always be right, says Stan Abrahams, whowas a researcher for the Roskill Commission.That experience has left him with a clear viewof what should happen:'lt's important to planand prepare early and flexibly, compensategenerously and continually update the forecasts,

evaluate and build at the last possible momentjAirport development has seldom been

welcomed by local communities, and morebattles lie ahead. Up to now airport operatorshave been able to counter Iocal objections bysetting their plans in the context of nationaleconomic need. But fears about globalr,varming threaten to alter that. Many will nowbe able to claim that climate change, to whichaviation is seen as adding a fast-growingcontribution, is far bigger than mere nationalinterests. Again, the arguments are cyclical.ln the Iate 1960s and early 1970s, noise wasthe primary environmental concern, withvehement views on both sides.

Air travel has become cheaper and safer

over the last 40 years. The challenge for thenext 40 and beyond is not only to maintainthose trends but to demonstrate that aviationis capable oftaking a responsible approach toclimate change. Even that, however, may beeasier said than done. Some parts of the world,such as the EU, are taking global warming moreseriously than others - the US under PresidentGeorge W. Bush, for example.

The EU is keen on wrapping internationalaviation within the world's largest carbon tradingmarket. This signals a bold move towards a newievel of regulation and one that may not beuniversally welcomed. The EU's approach mayfind repercussions, for example, in the next stageof the Open Skies negotiations which Europe

hopes will open up the US domestic market.

The industry may draw inspiration fromits past, but seeking the scope to continue itsexpansion in the face of world-wide concernfor the environment will take it into new anduncharted territory. Time alone will tell howwell it succeeds. A

Clockwise from top left:

The VCl 0 (this being British Airways Super VCI 0 G-ASGR) could have been a world-beater - but, like otherBritish airliners of the era, wasn't. British Airways

The roll-out of the first Boeing 747, the aircraft that made possible mass long-haul travel, in 1 968. Boeing

After an uncertain start, Airbus lndustrie gradually gained strength, lts first product, the A300, would remain inproduction from 1 974 to 2007. Airbus

The US market is the airline industry in microcosm, with the'legacy' and low-cost carriers battling for customers,and Boeing and Airbus for aircraft orders. Serge Bailleul/AirTeamlmages,com

The problems en(ountered with the A380 programme taught Airbus many lessons. Airbus

For how much longer will the congestion at major hubs be tolerated? Even those that are expanding will surelyfill up again in the years ahead. Gany Lewis/AirTeamlmages.com

lM.ll

was just seven years old when AircraftIllustrated waslaunched, and thoughit would be another five years beforeI became a buyer {OK, addict), I didsubsequently and retrospectively'back-fill'my collection, so that I nowhave every issue.

What that means is that when I look back

at developments in aviation during the 4}-yearlife of Aircraft lllustrated,l am also looking back

at how aviation and the aerospace industryhave changed during my life.

And, in some respects, the 40 years since

1968 have been marked by less excitement and

less'progress'than has occurred in any 40-yearperiod since the Wright brothers made theirfirst tentative flights just over a century ago.

If you'd asked my father how aviationhad changed in the 40 years beginning fromwhen he was seven, progress would have been

dramatic! The flimsy biplane fighters gave way

to all-metal monocoque monoplanes, and thento the earlyjets, and by the time he reached

the age of 47,he'd seen supersonic fighters and

Mach 2 aircraft like the Lightning and Phantom,

while the'teen series' jets of today were already

on the drawing board. And he'd seen offensive

air power go from dropping tiny 20lb bombsto the horror of the atomic bombs at Nagasaki

and Hiroshima and to the full spectrum ofweaponry deployed in Vietnam.

Things have been remarkably quiet, by

comparison, in'my' 40-year period!

SETTI$dG T}'{E SCINFln 1968, the world's leading air forces operated

sophisticated, Mach 2, all-weather fighters (like

the F-4 Phantom) and the USAF and Russia

fielded long-range strategic bombers armed

with stand-off guided missiles. Today, fighters are

no faster than the Phantom, and the USAF and

Russia still use the B-52 and the Tu-95 'Bear'as

strateqic bombers, armed with stand-off missiles.

The four decades since 1968 have been

a time of small, unspectacular incrementalprogress, rather than of dramatic step

changes in performance or capability. Rather

than seeing dramatic increases in speed,

rate of climb, range and altitude, there have

been improvements in avionics - with moreaccurate navigation, improved weaponsaccuracy and more reliable communications

- a nd i m p rovem enti in;lfie:ie]iabifilt;:r:,, ,i,ll :l

longevity and support costs of airfiariiiet; , rrr t.

engines and systems.This has led to military aircraft enjoying

much longer service lives since they rgmiinviable and competitive for much longer. For

example, a radar upgrade is often a validalternative to a new replacement aircrafttype, which might offer little improvement inperformance terms.

ln 1968 I was living at RAF Wildenrath,where the based Canberra B(l)8s were viewedas grand old ladiesl long-serving veteranswhose service career had been one of almostunparalleled length, and which was drawingto a close. When the B(l)B retired in 1972, theCanberra's service in the bomber role had

lasted 21 years - a span which was record-

breaking then, but which would be unusually

short today. When the RAF retired its Jaguarfighter-bombers, they had served for 34 years,

and the Tornado looks set to enjoy a 43-yeat

career under present plans, while the Nimrod

might clock up 42years, the classic C-'l 30K

Hercules will complete 44 years, and the VC10 a

magnificent 48 years.

And things are no different in the USA,

where the B-52 has already achieved 53 years in

service, while even 'newer'types like the F-l 5 are

just as long-lived. The F-1 5 has already achieved

31 years in service, for example, and there are

plans to keep them for at least 50 years.

This is a global phenomenon. Althoughsome of the aircraft types that I could see

at Wildenrath in 1968 have disappearedfrom service (like the F-1 04 Starfighter. theLightning, and, of course, the Canberra).many of them remained aclive over Aircraftlllustroted's first 40 years, and some (like the Bell

UH-l and AH-1, the VC1 0, the C-l 30 Hercules,

and the P-3 Orion), remain operational, oftenwith no end in sight to their distinguishedcareerS.

Aircraft lllustroted has witnessed twodistinct periods in military aviation. Before theBerlin Wall came down in 1989, the period was

dominated by the Cold War, while the periodsince then has been marked by instability andfrequent conflicts.

AI RC RAF T I LLU ST RAT E D' SCOID WAR YEARSThough the Cold War was marked by higherdefence spending than is now the norm, theCold War itself got progressively tooler'after1968 (a hot year, with the Soviet invasionof Czechoslovakia and tension in Berlin),while the general economic situation putincreasing pressure on defence budgets,Ieading to continuing cuts and reductions inforce structure. But even with these cutbacks,defence was accorded a higher priority than itis today. and the military aerospace industryenjoyed boom times.

When Aircraft lllustroted was launched, theVietnam war was still raging. Though this wasan asymmetric conflict, fought far from Europein tropical climates, against largely jungletargets, it had considerable influence on ColdWar air forces. The latter adopted many ofthe weapons and tactics that were provedand refined in the crucible of south-east Asia,

from Paveway laser-guided bombs, to theuse of dedicated SEAD aircraft, weapons andtactics to overcome the new generation of air

defence weapons.Another conflict, this time in the Middle

East, was almost as influential. The 1973 Yom

Kippur war saw lsrael's mighty air force broughtio its knees by Egyptian SAMs, and only amassive resupply effort by the USA (Operation'Nickel Grass') saved the day.

The development of military aircrafthas always been a game of measure andcountermeasure, and the mid-'I970s saw thedeployment of a new generation of militaryaircraft, designed to counter threats that hademerged during the early 1960s.

Stratofortress, even then a vttdtFlitwould still be playing such a vlttl

role in the USAF today and fortheforeseeable future. USAF

The shift to low-level penetration bybombers and attack aircraft in the late 1950s

proved to be an effective counter to SAM5

and radar-based air defence systems, thoughexisting aircraft, designed and optimisedfor high-altitude operations, had some

limitations. A new generation of dedicatedlow-level attack aircraft was developed,with airframes optimised for flight atlow level, and with advanced all-weathernavigation systems, and sophisticatedavionics, sometimes including automaticterrain following. As Aircraft lllustrated began,the Anglo-French Jaguar fighter-bomberprototype began flight testing (on

8 September 1968), and the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, later Tornado)programme began in earnest.

The growing importance of low-levelpenetration posed problems for air defences,

and necessitated the adoption offighterradars with better look-down/shoot-downcapabilities, able to pick out low-flying targets

from ground clutter. The limitations of medium-range weapons like the AIM-7 Sparrow, coupledwith the need to be able to out-manoeuvremore agile fighter opponents, also required

unparalleled agility in the new fighters that were

developed during the late 1960s.

Thus, while the U5'teen series'fighters were

no faster than the F-4 Phantom and other in-

service types, they had more effective sensors

and weapons and were much more agile. But

though the F-14Tomcat and F-i5 Eagle (and

especially the F-16 Fighting Falcon and

F/A-1B Hornet) demonstrated levels of agilitythat were unparalleled in previous radar-

equipped and missile-armed all-weatherfighters (which had always been a heavier,less manoeuvrable class of aircraft) theirimpressive instantaneous and sustained turnrates were not dramatically different to thosethat could be obtained by aircraft like theGnat, F-5 and MiG-l7. lt was therefore thecombination of agility and capability that was

novel and innovative.

still raglng. At th€ tidrc,

UTil

s&eii1:

,asr&, i

ilT

Left, top to bottom:

King of the'heavies', Even today, notransport aircraft (an match the versatilityof the evergreen Lockheed Hercules. Thispyrotechnic display of fireworks is givenby an AC-l 30H gunship as it fires infra-redcountermeasure flares. USAF

Con(eived to counter the'untouchable'threatof the SR-71, the Sovi€t development of theMiG-31 'Foxhound'began to make the Westsit up and take notice. Vyacheslav Martyniukvia Yefim Gordon

The shape of things to come? Currentfighters such as the F-1 5E Strike Eagle (top)and F/A-1 8 Super Hornet (middle) may oneday be giving way to machines like theX-45C (bottom), the first autonomousaircraft designed from the beginning toGonduct strike and surveillance missions,Boeing

Perhaps the biggest new features of thenew generation of fighters (the US'teenseries; and aircraft like the Tornado, Viggenand Mirage 2000) were the least obvious, butsimultaneously the most useful and the mostobvious to those who had to fly and operatethe aircraft. ln creating these new aircraft,the designers paid ever closer attention toreliability, maintainability and supportability,to minimising operating and support costs,and to improving handling qualities andcockpit workload. HOTAS controls andhead-up displays became de rigeur, allowingpilots to operate all systems while keepingtheir heads up, and their eyes outside thecockpit.

As military aircraft became more andmore sophisticated, they also becamemore and more difficult and expensiveto develop. ln Europe, this had alreadyled to considerable consolidation andrationalisation, which would continue duringthe late 1 960s and early 1 970s. The process

culminated with Dassault's 1971 acquisitionof Breguet to produce Avions MarcelDassault-Breguet Aviation, and the 1 977merger of Hawker Siddeley, Scottish Aviationand BAC to form British Aerospace in the UK.

But even though these new Europeangiants rivalled the big US companies in size

and industrial and economic muscle, they werenot really big enough to undertake the mostcomplex and ambitious programmes. Therervas an increasing trend towards internationalcollaborative programmes in the UK, and eveniowards co-operation between US companies.Thus, the Tornado was a product of Britain's

3AC, Germany's MBB and ltaly's Aeritalia

,operating through the management companyPanavia), while in the USA, the F/A-18 Hornet\'/as very much a collaboration between),4cDonnell Douglas and Northrop.

The USSR lagged slightly behind the USA

;n the development and deployment of its newgeneration of fighters, so that when the twin-,'lnned, LERXed MiG-29 and 5u-27 appeared afterthe twin-finned F- 14, F-1 5 and YF-] 7, and afterthe LERXed F-1 6 and YF-1 7, there were inevitable,and misplaced, accusations of copying.

THE POST.COID WAR YEARSWhen the new generation of Russian

fighters made their first Western airshowappearances, it soon became clear thattheir designers had made massive stridesin agility, especially at the low-speed end

Above: The first flight of the Northrop B-2 stealthbomber in 1 989 introduced perhaps the most dramaticshape the skies have ever seen. Stealth has beenperhaps the biggest technological development inaviation over the last 40 years. USAF

of the envelope, with manoeuvres like the'tailslide' and'cobra' demonstrating rock-solid'post-stall' handling characteristics, andan unmatched ability to point the aircraft'snose (and its weapons, sensors and weaponseekers) 'off axisi away from the directionof flight. They had also incorporated infra-red search and track systems, giving theaircraft a useful ability to detect, locateand track a target passively, without usingtheir own radar. They had also providedhelmet-mounted sighting systems, furtherenhancing the ability of the MiG-29 andSu-27 to engage targets'off boresight'

- outside the relatively small patch of skyvisible in the head-up display.

To a great degree, the post-Cold War

period has been characterised byWesternmanufacturers playing catch-up, struggling tocounter these new fighter capabilities, whilefurther improving their pilots'situationalawareness, refining the so-called man-machineinterface and reducing cockpit workload, andfurther improving reliability, mai ntainabil ity,

and supportability, with aircraft like the Saab

JAS39 Gripen and EurofighterTyphoon.There has, however, also been the

emergence of one key technology thatdoes represent more of a step change

- that is low observability, or stealth.Much misunderstood, stealth does notmake an aircraft invisible, but, when'seen'from particular aspects, it can reducethe radar cross section to the extent thatthe aircraft will appear much smaller onradar, dramatically reducing the effectiverange of an enemy radar. This can allow a

stealth aircraft to slip between enemy radarcoverage either undetected or detected too

late for any defences to be effective. TheLockheed F-1 17 Nighthawk stealth fightermade its combat debut during US operationsin Panama in 1989, and was subsequentlyused extensively over lraq, Afghanistan andthe Balkans. The Northrop B-2 Spirit stealthbomber made its combat debut 10 years

later, in 1999, during the Kosovo war.Air forces have been busy in the

period since 1989. When the stabilisinginfluence of the confrontation betweenthe Cold War superpowers vanished, the'lids'were taken off a number of simmeringconflicts - initially in the Balkans, whereYugoslavia splintered into its separate ethniccomponents, in the Horn of Africa, and inthe Middle East, where Saddam Hussein'slraq began to throw its weight around. Sincethen, lslamist terror has also started to pose

a growing threat.But while the world has become more

dangerous, defence spending has beencynically reduced, providing the'PeaceDividend'expected by a naiVe public, andallowing electorally-popular tax cuts, and/orincreased spending on social programmes.A more sensible policy would have beento spend more money restructuring andre-equipping air forces to meet the news ituation.

New trends in air power are alreadybecoming evident. New precision guidedweapons are being developed and deployed,some of them optimised to produce thelowest possible collateral damage, whileunmanned platforms are being heavilypromoted. Combat experience is alreadyshowing that while such unmanned platformsdo offer useful niche capabilities, they alsohave many limitations. But because they offerlow cost and low risk of human casualties,they are attractive to politicians, and are

being promoted more widely than may beappropriate. ln the next 40 years, we will nodoubt see military aviation continuing todevelop, and Aircraft lllustrated will be therereporting on how the story unfolds. A

..:'*i::9' i1::

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Amongst many great restorations of the past 40 years,that of P-38F Lightning Glacier Girl is one of the most

outstanding. John Dibbs/The Plane Picture Co::w:

n 2008, with a plethora of aviationmuseums to visit and airworthyhistoric aircraft a feature of almostevery airshow, it is perhaps difficultto appreciate the extent to which theaircraft preservation scene was stillin its relative infancy 40 years ago.

However, the important thing was that theseeds for the future were being sown.

Only a few of the major national museumswere already in existence in anything like theform they take today. France's Mus6e de lAir had

been inaugurated at Chalais-Meudon in 1 921,

but space at this location was insufficient.Thecollection forming the US Air Force Museum had

started to be built up in the 1 920s too, but its

site at Patterson Field, opened in 1 954, offerediittle indoor accommodation. The lmperial War

Museum in London naturally included some

aircraft exhibits, but they were only part of itsremit.The Smithsoniank National Air and Space

Museum still awaited a dedicated facility for itscollection. There were already, of course, somernajor collections of airworthy aircraft, but these

ioo were at an early stage. Even the grand-daddy'

cf them all, the Shuttleworth Collection, had onlycpened to the public at Old Warden in 1963.

Of course, it was the realisation in the years

following WW2 that important aeroplanes werebeing lost, and of the lack of support fromcfficialdom for preservation activities, thatsparked off the activities of many pioneeringindividuals. ln 1968, these were still in theirrelative infancy, but already bearing much fruit.Their influence remains strong today.

Perhaps the first was Lloyd Nolen, whooought an ex-USAAF P-40 Warhawk in 1951.ThisTexan pilot really wanted a P-51 Mustang, buthad to wait until 1957 to get his hands on one,

curchased in conjunction with some friends.Thus was born the Confederate Air Force, and:hat P-51D Red Nose is still with the organisation.t,Vith the desire to expand the fleet came therealisation amongst the CAF s Colonels that:hey were virtually alone in wanting to preserve

:xamples of significant WW2 aircraft. With an

:iement of organisation behind it, the CAF soon

9rew. lt opened a museum facility at Mercedes,

--fre first Rebel Field, in 1965, but soon this wasn'tcig enough.40 years ago, a new Rebel Field was

:stablished by the CAF at Harlingen, and therets headquarters would remain for 23 years.

The same sort of story lies behind The Air

',1useum'Planes of Famel born out of Edward

i Maloney's concern at the numbers of WW2

:ircraft being scrapped at Chino Airport and3iher locations around California and the,restern USA. His collection started life inClaremont in 1957 as little more than a roadsideattraction, yet despite the lack of facilities, ateast the aircraft had been saved.40 years ago,

The Air Museum was located at Ontario Airport,

and had already developed considerably withthe addition of airworthy machines. Just fiveyears later, it moved to its current home at Chino

and was set fair for the future, making good use

of volunteer help and gradually being built up.

ln the UK, there was no national museumwith a significant aviation element when A/

was founded in 1968. However, there was

one major private collection, again thanks tothe determination of one man. ln 1959, Peter

Thomas, a Welshman with a passionate interestin aviation, realised that no Short Sunderland was

earmarked for preservation. Thomas thereforeestablished the'Save-a-Sunderland' campaign,and succeeded in securing an example fromthe French Navy. Sunderland V M1824 made atriumphant arrival at Pembroke Dock in March

1961, and went on to be cared for at this formerRAF flying boat base in Wales by the SunderlandTrust for a decade until it was handed over tothe RAF Museum. With the aim of saving furtherBritish WW2 types, PeterThomas and his familyfounded the Skyfame collection at Gloucester's

Staverton airport in 1 963, and really kick-startedthe preservation movement in the UK. lt was thecountry's first dedicated aviation museum (it still

held this distinction 40 years ago) and operateda number of airworthy machines from the outset.Rising rents at Staverton caused Skyfame to close

there in 1978, with most of its aircraft going tothe lmperial War Museum at Duxford. lts legacy is

immense, though.The influence of the Battle of Britorn film, made

in 1968 and released the following year, mustalso be mentioned. ln hunting down Spitfires,

Hurricanes, Bfl09s and He1 1 1 s for the movie,

Gp Capt Hamish Mahaddie furthered the cause

of what was to become the warbird movementno end. A significant number of Spitfires wererestored to fly in order to take part, and the filmcertainly prompted an upsurge of interest in

the preservation of Spitfires and Hurricanes, notleast in airworthy condition. The market for these

aircraft,'Spits' in particular, was stimulated and

many more restorations would follow as a result.

Battle of Britain also brought the ex-Spanish AF

HA1 '1 l2 Buch6ns (Bfl09Js) and CASA 2.1 1 1 Bs

(Hel 1 1 H-l 6s) onto the scene, thereby providing a

source of 'German'aircraft for airshows, further filmwork and museums for many years to come.

The 1970s was a particularly importantdecade for aircraft preservation. lt was theperiod in which a fair proportion of today'sflying warbirds and restoration projects firstsurfaced in private hands, with the great DavidTallichet being at the forefront. His company,Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation(MARC), undertook and sponsored numerousexpeditions to far-flung places that recoveredsuch as P-39s, P-40s, Beauforts, A-20s and B-26s,

and Tallichet also purchased many airframesfrom the US military for much the same reasons

as the CAF,'Planes of Fame'and others. Well

over 100 aircraft passed through Tallichet's

hands, and this preservation pioneer was still

flying his B-17G Memphis Bel/e untiljust a fewmonths prior to his death last October. Similarly,

it's remarkable how many aircraft we see flyingtoday that were part of Doug Arnold's Warbirds

of Great Britain collection at one time or another.Many of today's large museums really started

to take shape in the 1 970s, too. The US Air Force

Museum's facility at Wright-Patterson AFB was

inaugurated in 1971.lts development was an

early example of the sort of fundraising that isnow common, as a campaign by the Air Force

Museum Foundation brought about large-scale

private sector donations to provide the majority

of the required 56 million.The opening of theNational Air and Space Museum was a big eventin Washington on 4 July 1976, lndependence Day

in the American Bicentennial year. lt attracted an

incredible 2 million visitors in just over a month.France's Mus6e de lAir set up its first hall at Le

Bourget airport in 1975, and would gradually

expand there in stages. ln the UK, a decade's

deliberation, planning and fundraising cameto fruition when the Royal Air Force Museumopened at Hendon in 1972. And at Duxford,where great uncertainty over the future oftheairfield had reigned even after the lmperial War

Museum started to make use of it, the IWM and

the Duxford Aviation Society were allowed toestablish a permanent museum in 1976.

That the techniques of successful aircraftpreservation are today much more refined and

widely disseminated than they were 40 years ago

is one of the most important pieces of progress.

Even in the late 1970s, it was still believed bymany that painting an aircraft on external displaywas sufficient to preserve it. This soon changed,and many more aircraft started to go under cover,

'The circumstonces in

which museums find

themselves operoting in

2008 ore surely for more

fovouroble thon they were

in .l968'

Mili,

with museum staff and volunteers often workingtogether to conserve and restore exhibits,and, through increasing expertise, coming tounderstand the best means of so doing.

But despite all this, and the awareness ofthe need to keep examples of as many differenttypes as possible for future generations, it is

wrong to be complacent. Every year, for various

reasons (and, to some extent, inevitably), historic

aircraft continue to be lost for good, and notjust those for which no suitable home can be

found upon retirement. After all, we have onlyrecently witnessed a collection of aircraft owned

by one of the world's leading national airlines

and housed by one of the worldt leading

aviation museums being broken up - in some

cases, literally. Other large museums have been

forced to scrap important exhibits owing to theirdeteriorating condition, lack of resources forupkeep and other factors.

The availability of funding from differentsources has allowed several ofthose large

museums to build major new'landmark'exhibition spaces during the last decade or so,

with the attendant benefits of getting more

aircraft under cover in suitable surroundings.

Duxford's American Air Museum, the RAF

Museum's Milestones of Flight hall at Hendon

and the National Cold War Exhibition atCosford, and the NASM's Steven F. Udvar-

Hazy Center in Washington have all received

great acclaim from various quarters. However,

critics - including, it must be said, this author

- would argue that just the Udvar-HazyCenter, of which only the first phase of two has

been completed thus far, offers the flexibilityinherent in many more'traditional'aviationmuseum buildings that allows change-overs

of aircraft exhibits at intervals or the easy

addition of new ones. Getting aircraft in orout of the American Air Museum is impossiblewithout removing its entire glass frontage, a

very costly and complex task, and it isn't easy at

the National Cold War Exhibition or Milestones

of Flight either. I believe it's always a shame

when any museum of any type doesn't orcan't refresh its exhibits (not just the displays

surrounding them) on an occasional basis.

But all of those museums also provide

perfect examples of the way in which it'sbeen necessary to move with the times. The

expectations of the modern museum visitor are

rather different from those of even a decade

ago, let alone 40 years. Enthusiasts may be

satisfied with a collection of aircraft and nothingmore, but museums need to get more than just

enthusiasts through their doors. Those with theresources to do so are increasingly turning tointeractive, multi-media displays to augmentthe aircraft and making efforts to place them inbroader historical and social contexts, all withthe aim of appealing to as wide an audience as

Clockwise from left:

A selection of Skyfame's air(raft at staverton, wherethis pioneering British <ollection was established inthe 1960s. lan Allan Library

An exceptional sight in 1 968 - Hurricanes andSpitfires lined up at Henlow for the filming ofBattle of Britain, Peter R. March

The collection at what is now called the NationalMuseum of the USAF has to be the best held by anyair arm in the world, USAF

The National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-HazyCenter is a modern standard-setter. NASN4

Duxford surely has no equal as a <ombination ofmajor national museum and warbird flying venue.Chris Procter/AirTeamlmages.com

The MiG-3 completed last year by Aviarestoration in5iberia for The Fighter Fa(tory is a fine example of themodern-day restorer's art, involving remanufacturingwhere necessary. Boris Osetinsky

possible and going some way to meeting therange of expectations of that audience. This is

especially true in relation to younger visitors,who would not now be inspired by the museumdisplays of the past.

Displays of airworthy historic aircraft have

developed in a similar way. We are fortunate in

the UK to have Flying Legends, now the world's

best thanks to the efforts of Stephen Grey andThe Fighter Collection, whose part in the success

of Duxford as a whole has been very notable. The

airshows organised at Chino by'Planes of Fame'

have derived much inspiration from this, thanks

to the links between the two.That both theseleading events are always able to offer somethingnew and different is not just testament to the

hard work and imagination of their organisers,

but the continued strength of the warbird scene

and the levels of activity within it.

It is no secret that times are harder forthe operators of airworthy warbirds than theyused to be. Making money from such activitieshas been getting steadily tougher, thanks tothe rising costs of fuel and insurance at a timewhen revenue from airshow bookings has

been decreasing. On the latter point, I feel it's

worth noting that the reduction has probablybeen less marked in the US because of thenumbers of military shows that still book a lotof historic items, whereas in the UK and Europe,

where (dare I say it) more thought goes into

these things, they now tend to be used whennecessary as part of a theme. There's also beenless film work with the more widespread use

of CGl. Yet despite all this, relatively few aircrafthave actually been grounded as a result, thenumber of new restorations to airworthinessshows no sign of decreasing, and the trade inwarbirds remains most healthy.

This is in part down to the skills ofthose engaged in restoring aircraft to flyingcondition, which never cease to amaze. Theimplementation of modern engineering andsafety standards has been of great benefit,combined with the knowledge and expertisebuilt up by the individuals involved over theyears. ln static as in flying restorations, this nowextends to the remanufacturing of componentsor larger airframe sections to an extent thatwould have been all but unimaginable to therestorers of 40 years ago - ot indeed, of morerecent times. some may feel that this detractsfrom the historical originality of the'endproductl but the number of aircraft now extantthat would not otherwise be flying or on displayis surely a positive thing. Neither does it muddythe waters of originality unduly. After all. it isgenerally well known as to whether a warbirdhas gone through its entire life without a majorrebuild or, for instance, whether large parts havebeen remanufactured owing to the conditionin which it was found or after an accident. Andthe skills and craftsmanship involved in the bestof remanufacturing to standards of the highestauthenticity are exceptional in themselves.

This has ensured that some otherwise'impossible' projects have been undertaken withgreat success, especially after aircraft have been

recovered from inhospitable locations. Consider,

for instance, the wrecks found in Russia during the'i990s. Several have already become immaculateexhibits or flyers, and there are many more beingworked on. lt's now far harder for Westerners

to get aircraft out of Russia, and indeed lndia,

another excellent source in the past, but it is said

ihat parts of the Middle East will have treasures toyield when it's safe to go and recover them.

ln a rather different way, the return toflight ofVulcan XH558 has been anotherdemonstration of how the'impossible' can

become possible. However, the enormous

t;

difficulties faced by that project have surelymade anybody think twice, at least, about tryingsomething similarly complex. lf they haven't

thought twice, unless funding and technicalsupport on a massive scale are guaranteed rightfrom the word go; they surely ought to.

Today, it is often bemoaned that there is

a greater lack of appreciation of history, and

therefore the importance of preserving thathistory, than once there was. However, people

were saying the same things 40 years ago. The

aircraft preservation pioneers who were active in

the 'l 960s often had to battle against the forces ofofficialdom, and their lack of interest in keeping

old aeroplanes. Those involved in so doing have

always come up against barriers of one sort oranothet often in the form of those with littleunderstanding as to why historic aircraft need

to be preserved. Today, at least, the concept ofpreservation is generally accepted when aircraft

are retired from service.This should mean

that fewer types slip through the preservation

net, even if it's unlikely that many jets of thecurrent era will be kept flying as'warbirdsiAnother positive step is that there is now morerecognition when distributing airframes of the

need to give aircraft a good home. though therehave been important exceptions.

One big difference today, however, is thatcertain things posing problems for museumsand the operation of airworthy aircraft have

become enshrined in law or are the resultof unavoidable economic forces. While well-meaning, health and safety legislation has

been a burden, while insurance regulations

like those imposed by the EU and the cost ofinsurance premiums themselves have had a

big financial impact. Museum resources remain

a problem, too. The allocation of grants forspecific projects is all very well and good, butno substitute for proper levels of funding on

a regular basis, even when visitor numbersare healthy. And will there still be enoughenthusiastic volunteers around in the years tocome, willing and able to devote their spare

time to assisting with aircraft preservation? ln

the light of this latter concern, the efforts being

made by some museums and organisations totrain a new generation of restorers and pass on

the necessary skills are especially laudable.Nevertheless, the circumstances in which

museums find themselves operating in 2008

are surely far more favourable than they werein 1968, or indeed for much of the interveningperiod. On the flying side, the growth in

numbers of airworthy historic aircraft,particularly warbirds, tells its own story. This is

not to say that everything is perfect - far fromit - but has it ever been? Whatever the next 40years hold, the range of outstanding projects

currently under way shows that there is muchto look forward to. n

/M.l

A stunning view from 'insidc-the ever-rpectacular ltalian

AF Frerce Tricolori, who hav€. oisfiome tragedy to regain

thoir polition amongst the::uorld's top dlsplay teams... (atsuhiko Tokunaga/DACT

John Dunnell

1*''!!* rr{l{b<r '----#

ome things never change

- well, not much.40 yearsago, in the summer of 1968,lwould set out in my FordAnglia to a variety of airdisplays around the UK.

Perhaps surprisingly, in 2008 I

will still be going to some of the same venuesand will expect to see a handful of the sameaircraft taking part... and still at the wheel ofa Ford, albeit a far more recent model!Whiletimes have changed in the airshow world inmany respects, it's the variety we still enjoy atairshows that keeps me going, year after year.

ln 1968, the vast majority of displays in theUK were organised by the military air arms based

here.This largely meant RAFAT Home'Days and

USAF Armed Forces Day events, with similar affairs

being mounted by the Royal Navy and Army Air

Corps. Often, each of these would feature fairlysimilar participants, notably the RAFs Battle ofBritain At Home'Days which still saw a touring'circus'of RAF and USAF items going round thedifferent airfields staging these shows in differentparts ofthe country.The home-based unitsprovided variety, and would help ensure thatenthusiasts were prepared to visit several such

shows, while international participation came

from other NATO nations. Much the same was

the case in continental Europe, and particularly

in Belgium and the Netherlands, where air force

open days took on a similar form althoughrhey were fewer in number. in each case, withmilitary aviation always in a state of change and

development, these shows reflected this process.

Of course, the three big European tradeshows were all around 40 years ago, and byiar the most famous individual air displays

in their respective countries. The SBAC showat Farnborough in 1 968 was only the second

rime limited overseas participation had been

cermitted, in the form of foreign aircraft with3ritish engines. lt had been realised, not least

because of growing international co-operationcn programmes like Concorde, that Farnborough:ould no longer be just a showcase for British

:viation. 1 968 was not a good year for theshow however, with the first day s flying beingcancelled as part of the airfield was flooded, andater the fatal 8169uet Atlantic accident. Then heldat Hanover, the ILA was by far the biggest airshow.n West Germany and reflected the growth ofihe country's relatively new post-war aerospace

:ndustry. Paris outstripped both in terms of size

:nd stature, and 1 969 s Salon A6ronautique at!e Bourget was surely one ofthe great events of3ll time, featuring the d6buts of both Concordeprototypes and the Boeing747 amongst others.

l.4emorable times indeed.But it wasn't all about the military and trade

:hows. Of course 1 963 had seen the first of Biggin

lill! annual Air Fairs, and by 1968 this was an

established feature of the calendar. lt had grown

in reputation and popularity since its earliest days

when it was seen simply as a means to raise thepublic profile of air travel and the holiday trade.

ln the USA, the Confederate Air Force staged

its first Airsho in '1963 at the organisation's then

Rebel Field in Mercedes,Texas.The CAF's move

to Harlingen in 1 968 took the Airsho with it,

and there it thrived as the first regular display

anywhere in the wodd to be focused on historicaircraft of the WW2 era. Many others would follow.

ln the 1970s, the pattern of military open

days, though reduced slightly in numberi still

provided a core of major shows. New venues werepresenting themselves - it now seems hard toimagine the airshow scene without Duxford, yet

its inaugural display under the auspices ofthelmperial War Museum wasn't until 1973. The flying

side of the early Duxford shows was co-ordinatedby staff from the Shuttleworth Collection whose

expertise had been built up running the events at

Old Warden, already quite well established. Let s

not forget that warbird operators as we knowthem today were very few and far between 40

years ago. ln fact, I very much doubt that the term'warbird'was widely recognised on this side of theAtlantic. it certainly wasn't in France, where thefirst La Fert6 Alais'Meetings A6rien'were takingplace in the early 1970s. Gradually, though, thatpart of the scene grew, and with it the part these

machines played in displays.

Air displays were more popular than ever

with the public, and for the first time it was

becoming almost possible to think in terms

of an airshow'industryl The flrst professional,

sponsored civilian aerobatic teams began toappear, more historic aircraft were becomingavailable, and great pilots like Bob Hoover, Neil

Williams and Ray Hanna were gaining widespread

recognition for their display flying prowess. Some

of the finest shows were also born.Numerous displays had been held at

different UK venues in aid of the Royal Air Forces

Association for many years. When that at NorthWeald in Essex was transformed into something

called the AirTattoo in 1971, run by a team ofvolunteer enthusiasts including two young air

traffic controllers, Paul Bowen and Tim Prince,

those involved hoped to improve on what had

gone before but their ambitions were still fairly

limited. They grew when what now became theEmbassy AirTattoo moved to the USAF stand-by

base at RAF Greenham Common for 1973 - thestart of a golden era. lt was the most impressive

military air display the UK had ever seen on aregular basis. After a one-year break because ofthe effects ofthe fuel crisis and various changes

within the organising team, the first lnternationalAirTattoo, staged in 1976 underthe directionof Paul Bowen andTim Prince in aid of the RAF

Benevolent Fund, set the tone for what was tocome. Greenham went on witnessing some of

the best airshows in the world, growing ever

further in size and stature, until the presence ofthe U5 cruise missile base there made hosting

further Tattoos too difficult after IAT 83. As itturned out, IAT's new home at RAF Fairford

would see the event moving to the next level in

terms of its status in the airshow world.The other fine example of how the UK came,

in the eyes of many, to lead the airshow worldwas an Anglo-American affair. RAF Mildenhall, like

other USAF bases in Britain, had staged Armed

Forces Day shows for several years, but it wanted

to do something more in 1976 to mark the US

Bicentenary. lt called on the services of organiserRoger Hoefling, who transformed the event,

bringing in a level of professionalism that, frankly,

USAF displays had never seen before - on

either side of the Atlantic. Having a permanent,

knowledgeable co-ordinator to run things,rather than relying solely on base personnel whoare soon posted away, was perhaps the mostimportant element. lt allowed the Air Fete, as

the Mildenhall show became known in 1978,ro

develop into something very special. Throughoutthe 1980s, Air Fete's unique formations and

large-scale operational scenarios mounted onparticular themes set new standards, and thecombination of this with the best Americanhospitality has never been improved upon.Neither, in all probability, will it be.

Looking back, the Cold War years were heady

days for military-organised or military-orientated

airshows. Most of the time, air arms had thebudgets to provide strong support to events, and

air displays were certainly seen - not least by

the USAF - as a means of illustrating the close

partnership between NATO members in a verypublic way. The public responded, too, often

in huge numbers. For instance, the AbbotsfordAirshow the largest in Canada with stronginternational involvement (and known for some

'Whilst nostolgio is o

wonderful thing, todoy's

shows ore more thon

copoble of motching the

stondords sef by their

predecessors/

lM.ll

ti6it A*lewfrom Alr Fete'89. taken from one

This photographt Thebrutish fartje* ofthe

Cold War era alwaysmade for a great airshow

spectacle when displayedwell, like this Luftwafft

RF-4E. John Dunndll

GF1A3 lrwolved in that year's Tactical Set-B-18 {which made its UK flying d6but aterown Copyright

{.24

memorable formations), and Mildenhall regularly

used to quote crowd figures of over 300,000, and

the Flugtag at Ramstein AB, Germany even more.

Moving into the 1 990s, there occurred agradual reduction in the number of military

airshows as the end of the Cold War saw base

closures and force reductions. lt had a positive

effect too, though, as former Warsaw Pact nations

started to participate on a regular basis, they

and Russian manufacturers bringing front-lineaircraft to all sorts of events in Europe and North

America. For me, the highlight was the sight ofthe Russian AF Tu-95MS'Bear-H'at IAT in '1 993,

and almost everybody has fond memories ofAnatoly Kvotchur turning up at venue after venue

all over Europe every summer in the Llls red and

white Su-27. Those were good times, too, until

the Russians'money ran out.The shows that remained in the 1990s

seemed to become more prominent, but furtherproblems were around the corner. Most civilian

shows in Europe had never made huge amounts

of money, but the recession around the timeof the first Gulf War and rising costs, notably

associated with insurance, would sound the

death knell for some.Those that remained had

to become more sawy, recognising the need

to maintain broad public appeal, and pitching

for commercial sponsorship. lAT, subsequently

the Royal lnternational AirTattoo, had built up a

worldwide reputation and its organising team was

much sought-after by air forces wanting to put on

their own big displays, but even it saw that it had

to change. lts 'Theatre of the Air' concept was the

result, used to best effect in commemorating the

50th anniversary ofVE and VJ Days in 1 995.

The last decade has seen furtherretrenchment. The unbroken run of 23 AirFetes at RAF Mildenhall came to an end in1999 as a result of NATo's Operation AlliedForce'in Serbia and Kosovo. lt then returnedfor two years, but then came'9/1 1; the'waron terrorism'and 2003's conflict in lraq. All ofthese have had a huge effect on military events

in the USA as security concerns (some mightargue paranoia) have taken a grip. The relaxed

atmosphere of the past has well and truly gone,

as anyone who read this magazine's AirshowLegends'feature last year on the Armed Forces

Day shows will have realised with regret.

Shows of all types in many countries have

been affected by cost factors, even one as big as

RIAT. lts incredible'100 Years of Flight'celebrationin 2003 will surely never be beaten - not least

because of the expense involved. Sponsorship orother strong financial backing for civilian events

and acts is now more vital than ever. The vicious

circle whereby lower military involvement leads

many organisers to have to book civilian acts,

which then have to charge less than they need

to cover all therr costs because otherwise the

shows would not be able to afford them, shows

no signs of being broken.The picture has not been entirely bleak,

though. On the historic front, Flying Legends

has become one of the world's finest warbirddisplays, attracting a worldwide audience toDuxford. Old Warden still provides its uniqueatmosphere, while the Biggin Hill Air Fair, theCAF Airsho and La Fert6 Alais amongst others

are also going strong.They have all had theirdifficulties, but deserve their longevity when so

many have fallen by the wayside.Perhaps most surprising to some in terms

of survival is that there are still three biennial

\This photograph: Today's great warbird

specta<ulars, like the incomparable Flying Legends,are testament to the efforts of all engaged in the

histori< aircraft s(ene. Ben Dunnell

Below: You knew the Cold War was over when theSoviets sent a dozen aircraft to the 1989 PariJ Air

5how, including Su-27s for the first time in the West.Allan Burney

aerospace industry trade shows in Europe.They,

too, have had to change and cut costs to survive,

but none wants to move to a three-year cycle,

nor combine into a single event. For reasons ofpolitics and prestige, Paris, Farnborough and

Berlin all seem set to remain on the calendarfor a good while yet. Meanwhile, other areas ofindustry growth have seen the dominance ofthat European'big three' challenged. Dubai's

expansion has been quite staggering, and as

long as the Middle East continues to be such animportant defence and airline market, the hugeshow at the emirate's Airport World Expo willreflect this. The more specialised, targeted events,

such as NBAA and EBACE in the business aircraftsector, have also assumed more importance.

It used to be that the traditional trade showswere renowned for their spectacular flying, butno more.40 years ago, in the UK, no spectatorshad been killed during a flying display since

Farnborough in 1952, but damage to, or thedestruction of, participating aircraft was notuncommon. sometimes accompanied by deathor injury to the crew. The UK again led the wayin certain respects, adopting a constructiveattitude and imposing new regulations whenlecessary such as the ban on carrying anyoneother than non-essential crew during displayiights. Many was the time, though, that aviationmagazines and some within the industry wouldcomplain about potentially restrictive rules.\4inimum safety altitudes had been established,and opinion seemed to be that more regulations',vere almost inevitable. Then, 1988 saw disasterat Ramstein in Germany when three MB339s ofihe ltalian AF FrecceTricolori team collided. One

of the three came down in the crowd, where 67

oeople died. This was the worst airshow accident,n history and the response was immediate.The

The RAF'S Open Days and larger Battleof Britain ?t Home'Days used topresent some memorable displays,often of their home-based aircraftlike these Vulcans'scrambling' atWaddington. Allan Burney

West German government put a blanket ban onair displays and German military aircraft wereprohibited from participating in foreign events.

ln the UK, the debate on whether airshowsshould be allowed to continue reached the veryhighest levels of government.

ln fact, the UK's response seemed to be

very proportionate to the scale of this tragedy.Aircraft were no Ionger allowed to overfly thecrowd and distances between the display axis

and crowdline were increased. Manoeuvrestowards the crowd were also restricted. These

recommendations seemed a small price topay for the continuation of air displays in thiscountry, and similar measures were heededelsewhere - if not everywhere.

Over the years, increased safety has had

some impact on the character of shows, withmany low-level displays being a thing of thepast. I for one miss some of the sights from years

gone by, but on the whole these restrictionshave proved perfectly acceptable. I am certainthat most regular airshow spectators have

witnessed events which, even if no accidentresulted, they would not like to see repeated and

which these regulations mostly help prevent.

That the Ukrainian AF Su-27 crash at Sknyliv in

2002, which killed 84 people, did not cause any

anti-airshow reaction in the media and morewidely was testimony to the way in which thesafety standards upheld by Western airshows

have improved to a point clearly far in advance ofthose in Ukraine at the time.This is not to say thatthings are perfect, as unnecessary incidents and

avoidable accidents continue to happen, but therisks have been reduced as lessons are learned.

How on earth, then, to sum up thousandsof shows over the last 40 years? Some venueshave continued, many have gone and new

ones have appeared on the calendar. ln termsof the overall scene, I honestly believe that airdisplays are far more varied in content nowthan they were in 1968, and exhibit muchgreater professionalism in their organisation.Of course old favourites are greatly missed, butwe still experience the shock of the new (or,

maybe, the not so new) from time to time. l, forexample, will never forget the first time I saw

an in-service F-1 6 display, the spectacle of an

SR-7'l accelerating in low and fast at Mildenhall,and the truly amazing MiG-29M OVT.

I expect all of us who regularly attendairshows could go on at length in a similarvein, but whilst nostalgia is a wonderfulthing, today's shows are more than capableof matching the standards set by theirpredecessors. And, looking back through oldcopies of this magazine makes you realise thatsome of today's difficulties for and criticismsof the airshow scene aren't as new as wesometimes think. Farnborough was accused of'lacking in spectacle and novelty'in 1 968, andthe'heavy hand of restrictions on the displaysequences'was castigated in 1976 for going'too far in reducing the opportunity given

to the test pilots to show their skills and thequalities of the aircraftiThe RAF At Home'Daysat Abingdon and St Athan in 1981 were called'pale replicas of the huge events which werea feature of the 1950s and 1960si Ayear later,

USAFE cancelled all its open days in Germanyfor cost and security reasons. A/'s preview ofthe upcoming 1982 season stated: 'Costs ofrunning air shows and flying aeroplanes atthem have risen enormously.'

All sounds quite familiar, doesn't it? Whenyou think about it, there's never much newunder the sunl A

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events in aviation history. This is how they werecovered in the April 1969 issue:

ln fact, u , 747 ,, jumbo-resurar news j.,Tl"o$;?;3:tff"f"""",f first flight onsection wasn,t February 9 from Paine. Field, Washing-

introduced to A/ ton'

untit the fourth F-[lss{'"ri:"dr1, "*f;/s[t otSi'o:;?,:i..,,o ,arhan on March 2 front Toulouse. Pilot wasrJJqs' vvrrLr.r Andr6 Turcat ancl the flight lasted 27the magazlne minures.(previouslyquarterly) went monthly. lt and Peter R. March's

t the outset, Aircroft lllustratedwas not, it is fair to say, allthat interested in out-and-outtopicality. For instance, thesecond year of the magazine'spublication, 1969, witnessedtwo of the most significant

'Airview' section provided a comprehensive topicalelement, at a time when it was far more difficultto keep up to date than the internet, e-mail anddigital photography help us be today.

This, then, is how Aircraft lllustrated covered 40 ofthe biggest aviation stories of the past 40 years. lt's by

no means complete - for one thing, the magazine

didn't used to report disasters, like the 1977 Tenerife

collision that remains the worst loss of life in any

aviation accident. Rather, it provides a snapshot ofsome of the major events of these last four decades,

and a look at the way we saw them at the time.Sometimes, this differs greatly from what we knownow. Look at the claims made for the Boeing 747 on

the occasion of its maiden flight, for instance - or

the plans for F-22 production when it beat theF-23 in the Advanced Tactical Fighter

tD-' -- I contestl Our look back at 40 momentsfrom 40 years also reflects the fact that

the major achievements and highlightsin aviation have always been tempered by

sadness and tragedy, also reflected here.

We hope you enjoy this trip downAi rcraft lll ustrated's memory la ne.

40 yeors of Aviotion

The first prototype TupolevTu-l44 (CCCP-68O0I ). FoxbatFiles.com

Russia's Tu-'144 supersonic transport has been rolled out of its finalassembly hall at the Shukovski lsicl plant near Moscow, and takento the nearby airfield for first flight preparations according toMoscow radio reports. lt may well fly before the end of the year.

A/ October 1 968

Tupolev's latest aircraft and the world's first supersonic airliner, theTu-144, made its first flight, of 38 minutes'duration, on31 December. The Tu-144 was flown by test piiot Eduard Elyanfrom an airfield near Moscow, and was accompanied by twochase-'planes, one unidentified and the other a modified MiG-21fighter fitted with a scaled-down Tu-i 44 wing. Second flight of thesupersonic airliner prototype CCCP-6800'l was made on 8 Januaryand lasted for 50 minutes.

AI March 1969

\\\. \\^747

Will the Boeing 747 really seat 490 passengers?

While it is capable of carrying 490 passengers, Pan Am plans touse the great size of the aircraft to offer the traveller more comfortand space. As an example, the Pan Am 747 will normally carry 362

passengers: 58 in first class and 304 in economy.

Won't this be more like a cattle boat than a luxury liner in the sky?

BoeingT4Ts will enable the airlines to get away from what critics call

'steerage'seating. The cabin, nearly 20ft wide and 186ft long, withthick wall-to-wall carpeting, will give the traveller the feeling of beingin an airborne salon. First class passengers will find swivel chairs,

tables, and a plush lounge on the upper level.

Won't it take forever to board the 747?

Definitely not. Boarding may be completed in less time than it takesnow. The 747 has 10 doors, but, normally, no more than three of

aoEHe 747^

these need to be used to board a full load in record time. PIans call forsplitting some terminal waiting rooms into two or three lounges, each

serving a different door of the aircraft.

What about claiming baggage on arrival?Baggage retrieval should be as fast or faster than at present. Oneplan now under study calls for passenger loads to be divided into fivegroups for more personal handling. Each group would have differentcolour baggage tag and boarding pass. The baggage would be placedin huge colour-coded containers and delivered by colour to separatecounters on arrival.

Will the 747 add to air traffic congestionT

On the contrary.fwoT4Ts will do the work of five of the largest 707 jels.

AI July 1969

F

.-21

H

40 yeors of Auiotion

This page: Con(orde 001 on its initial flightfrom Toulouse. A6rospatiale

The first flight was made by Andrd Turcat, Sud Aviation chief test pilot,in 001 (F-WTSS) on 2 March 1969, soon followed by Brian TrubshawBAC chief test pilot, in 002 (G-BSST) on 9 April.

With the two prototypes now available, the flight testprogramme began and it rapidly became apparent that all thepessimistic predictions could be swept aside - within threemonths, the equivalent of 10 North Atlantic trips had beenflown and the flight envelope explored... By early August, bothaircraft had completed Phase I of the programme, and the speedrange explored stood at l38kt to Mach 0.95, the highest altitudereached being 40,000ft.

At this time, both prototypes were grounded for scheduledmodifications making ready for Phase 2, the supersonicinvestigations. On 21 September 1969, F-WTSS began flying againand investigated speeds up to Mach 0.95 - and then, on1 Octobet the first supersonic flight was made. Turcat flew 001 to a

maximum speed of Mach 1.05 with two engines at full power (with

afterburning) and the other two at reduced power.

Now the scene was truly set for success after success - thepenetration into the supersonic arena had been, as predicted bydesign, smooth and sure, and by the end ofthe month the speed hadbeen increased to Mach 1.25 at 45,000ft.

The programme was now so obviously successful that thedecision was made to hand the aircraft over to customer airline pilots,

and in November captains and flight engineers from Pan American,

BOAC, TWA and Air France flew 001 from take-off to touchdown, all

accelerating to supersonic speeds during the flight... The report fromthe airline crews was highly enthusiastic: '...the aircraft was pleasant

and easy to fly, imposed no excessive workload on the pilot even infailure conditions, and there should be no problem in training airlinepilots and engineers to handle the aircraft...'

A/ September 1 972

rwl

40 yeors of Aviotion

The Royal Air Force received its first operationalHawker Siddeley Harrier GR1 V/STOL strike fighteron 22 April, when two aircraft were delivered toNo 1 Squadron at Wittering, Northants.

Al June 1969

On 21 January. Pan American World Airways inaugurated its first Boeing 747 service

- a daily round trip between New York and London - and by the end of twoweeks'flying it had carried 6,318 revenue passengers on 30 jumbo jetflights acrosstheNorthAtlantic.ThisfiguregavePanAm atotal average loadfactorof 58.'l percent, which is considerably higher than the747's break-even factor.

Pan Am now has one daily evening 747 departure out of New Yorkfor London, and this single747 is doing more work and carrying morepassengers than the two daily evening 707 departures for London did beforelhe 747 came along. Pan Am has also begun 747 services between New York

and San Juan, and New York and Paris, and by midsummer its'747 System ofthe Seventies'will reach around the world.

fhe 747 ,lhe largest commercial air transport ever built, required Pan Am todevise a totally new approach to the interior design of an airliner, and the finishedproduct represents a new peak in gracious living - a $23-million flying penthouse

with four salons in different colour schemes, six galleys with one for buffets, a dozenrest rooms and a circular stairway rising to a cocktail lounge in the sky.

AI May 1970

The Lockheed TriStar airbus, powered by three Rolls-Royce R821 1

engines, made its first flight on 16 November. The first aircraft isa production model, and 12 TriStars including two structural testaircraft are now either completed or in various states of construction.By next NovemberTriStars should be leaving the production line atthe rate of one a week.

AI January 1971

Most of the 240 passengers on board the big tri-jet slept as the mostpowerful model in the DC-10 series slid across the clear Atlantic sky.

The film had long finished, everyone had eaten well, and the steadyswish of jet-cum-aerodynamic noise provided a faint but appropriatebackground sound for the first night flight. This was another ofthose occasions when I was unable to join the ranks of slumberingtravellers, for as far as I was concerned there was far too much toenjoy, and, slight disorientation over time aside, this was no occasionon which to be buried in sleep.

The flight was a scheduled service from Miami to London by theAmerican carrier National Airlines, and which had carried us out ofMiami the previous evening on one of the airline's brand new DC-10-30jets. On this occasion, the seat was first class, the cabin crew performedlikewise, and as we flew at 36,000f1 into a magnificent dawn I felt thatthis was one of the finest flights I had ever made - and in 20 years ofair transport reporting I had made a few.

RoyAllen,AlJune 1974

National Alrlines was among the flrit op€rators of the DC-t O. 8AA

F'

yeors of Aviotion

Boeing was given the go-ahead to develop America's first supersonic transport on

23 September by President Nixon, who said that he had decided to ask Congress toappropriate a development sum of 5726 million over the next five years. This is considered

sufficient to enable Boeing to have two prototype SSTs flying by the end of 1972.The

present estimated cost of putting two prototypes in the air is 5'1,200 million, of which the US

.1 Government will have provided 5994 million.

The U5 Senate has cut offfederal funds for the Boeing 5ST. Despite talks of possible private

financial backing, Boeing has said there is no feasible way in which it could continue withprototype development and 7,000 Boeing workers are being laid off.

Al )une 1971

The British Airways board announced in .lanuary that the name British

Airways will replace the names British Overseas Airways Corporation(BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA) with immediate effect. The twoairlines will continue to operate separately but expenditures are expected

to be cut by promoting them jointly, and to this end their aircraft willgradually be repainted in a new British Airways colour scheme.

AI February 1973

The first aircraft in the new British Airways livery could be flyingthis autumn. This was stated by British Airways Chairman Mr David

Nicolson on 7 March at the British Airways board meeting with senior

management and staff representatives.Referring to the good names of BEA and BOAC, Mr Nicolson said:

'We are well aware of the investment and goodwill in these names and

we are not going to rush away from their use. We hope to phase themout by April 1974 bul only if the name British Airways is by that timestanding on its own and is acceptedJ

AI May 1973

The culmination of a five-year development programme was marked on Thursday 23 May when

an Airbus lndustrie A300 took offfrom Paris Orly carrying fare-paying passengers for the first

time. The Air France flight AF810 from Paris to London was the first of daily services offering

wide-bodied comfort to passengers on this, the highest-density international route in the world.

AI July 1974

F-gv6A. . .tl .it I t t I r t ' t

40 yeors of Aviofion

The first prototype of the Anglo/German/ltalian Panavia MRCA (Multi-Role

Combat Aircraft) made its first flight on 14 August at Manching in southernGermany, piloted by the project test pilots, Paul Millett with Nils Meister in

the second seat. BAC test pilot Paul Millett, who captained the aircraft during

its 30-minute flight, said afterwards:'the aircraft handled superbly well

- there were no problemslThis is the first of nine prototypes and six pre-series aircraft to fly at BAC's

airfield at Warton before the end of the year, the fourth during 1975 at Manching

and the fifth at Aeritalias flight test centre at Caselle. Some 800 aircraft are to be

built for the RAF, the German and ltalian Air Forces and the German Navy. The

MRCA is scheduled to enter service by the end ofthe 1 970s.

Al October 1 974

This is Panavia MRCA prototype 02 flying out ofWarton. BAC

The U5 government has decided toequip the USAF with the General

Dynamics F-16 in preference to theNorthrop F-17 after an intensive

1 0-month flight evaluationprogramme at Edwards AFB,

California, during which prototypesof the two new fighters were pittedagainst current first-line aircraft in

the US fighter inventory.The first of 15 new F-16s will

be built at the General Dynamicsplant at Fort Worth, Texas, startingthis summer, and flight-testing is

expected to begin 'l 6-18 monthslater. The developmental aircraftwill comprise 11 single seat and

four two-seat F-1 6s, and they are

expected to be the forerunnersof 650, or more, production aircraft to be ordered by

the USAF. Potential orders from four NATO countries

- Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway - nowconsidering replacements for their ageing F-104s, and fromother foreign countries, could increase total production.

AI March 1975

A Farnborough exhibition without news is almostunbelievable, yet the 30th Air Display presented by theSBAC really made us aviation journalists work hard forour corn... The biggest news, in fact, was the dearth ofstories and the show was dubbed the'Farnbore Show'byone avuncular writer. Sadly, the main aviation stories ofthe week originated far from Laffan's Plain and the blacksheds.'Pity it didn't come here'was the amused response

to the news of the jolly jape by Soviet Air Force Lt ViktorBelenko who, in his'Foxbat'had whistled undetectedthrough Japan's defensive radar screen to land at a

Hokkaido airfield.

Paul Humphreys, AI Novemb er 197 6

Fixed-wing aircraft carrier operations, long restricted tosuch major powers as Britain and the United States, nowhave another active proponent - the Soviet Union.The first operational Soviet Navy aircraft carrier, Kiev,

entered the Mediterranean on 19 July. An additionalcarrier of the same class, Minsk,is now reported to be

undergoing sea trials in the Black Sea, while a third as

yet un-named carrier is now under construction. NATO intelligenceofficers estimate that a total of four aircraft carriers will be in the Sovietfleet by the middle 1980s.

As soon as the Klevwas spotted transiting the Bosporus the NATO

intelligence network swung into high gear to learn as much as itcould about the new Soviet carrier. RAF Hawker Siddeley Nimrods ofNo 203 Squadron and a Canberra from No 13 Squadronjoined aerial

reconnaissance elements of the US Sixth Fleet...The biggest surprise offered by the appearance ofthe Klev in the

Mediterranean was the new Soviet vectored lift/thrust V/STOL fixed-wing

tactical aircraft deployed with the expected complement of Kamov Ka-25

'Hormone'helicopters. Aware that the Soviets were developing several V/STOL

fighter prototypes, Western observers thought it likely that a development ofYakovlev s VTOL prototype flown at Moscow's Domodevodo [sic] airfield in '1967

would eventually lead to an advanced aircraft that could be deployed from

Russian ships. ln the intervening years that prototype has been considered the

Yak-36'Freehandl although intelligence experts now consider the designation

to be more appropriately applied to the obviously operationaljet-powered V/

STOL aircraft currently deployed aboard the Kiev and NATO codenamed'Forgerl

Peter Kilduff, Al November 1976

The West's first look at operational Soviet Navy Yak-38s aboard theaircraft carrier Kiev (this shot taken from the frigate HMS Torquayl as itpassed through the Mediterranean in 1976, Crown Copyright

_4O)eors oJ Aviotion

In:ffi*f -m@;-"F."

Concerned that Laker Airways as well as established scheduled

operators should be given a fair and equal opportunity to compete, the

UK Civil Aviation Authority finally decided in mid-September to allow

Laker Airways'Skytrain services to operate from Gatwick and withoutrestrictions on the number of seats on any one flight. The authority's

original decision, taken in 1972,waslo require Skytrain to operate from

Stansted and to be subject in winter to a limit of 189 passengers on each

flight. This was to provide a measure of protection to British Caledonian's

services on the North Atlantic. BCAL suspended its Gatwick-NewYork

Freddie Laker celebrating the inaugural Skytrain service with a group ofpassengers in front of DC-I0 G-AZZC Eostern Berle, PA Photos

service in 1974 and the new Bermuda Air Services Agreement provides

for only two British airlines to be designated between London and NewYork. British Airways and Laker Airways have been duly designated.

The new era in low-cost North Atlantic air travel subsequently gotunder way on 26 September with the inaugural Laker Airways DC-10

Skytrain departure from Gatwick to New York. During the first week ofthe service, the flights were reported to have generated traffic eitherside of the break-even figure of the 1 89 passengers per departure and

the airline remained optimistic about Skytrain's prospects.

A/November 1977

The high point of oneof the most successfulaircraft productionpro9rammes ever wasmarked by specialceremonies at 5t Louis,Missouri, on 24 May whenthe McDonnell DouglasCorporation rolled out the5,000th F-4 Phantom. Theoccasion was also doublyauspicious as it alsocommemorated the 20thanniversary of the firstflight of what has becomea legendary fighter.The 5,000th productionaircraft, an F-4E, wasunveiled to reveal a

special two-tone blue andwhite paint scheme withan appropriate legend onits nose and the nationalflags of the 1 1 countrieswhich have operated thePhantom.

A/August 1978

The 5,000th F-4 Phantom ll,an F-4E serialled 77-o29o,waseventually delivered to theTurkish AF. Boeing

40 yeors of Aviotion

Had it not been for the concertedefforts of a group of determinedaviation enthusiasts and thewilling co-operation of Dan-Air,

the last commercial flight of the de

Havilland Comet (the world's firstjet airliner) might have taken place

in obscurity, going unnoticed bY

the public save for the interest of a

few cognoscenti and, of course, theairline involved.

ln the event, however, this nostalgic

occasion was celebrated on SundaY

9 November 1980 bY what Proved tobe a memorable t hr 'l0min flight (a

round-trip from London-Gatwick) in

Comet 4C G-BDlW.

At 14.09hrs Capt John KellY

opened the throttles, released thebrakes and'lndia WhiskeY' leaPtforward. DAB874 climbed steePlY

away with fuel momentarily streaming from the wingtip vents,

Levelling out at some 2,000ft, G-BDIW turned on to a north-westerly heading - destination Heathrowl

G-BDIW then headed north-west to complete anotherdramatic overshoot (from 300ft) at Brize Norton before

continuing south-west to its old home at RAF Lyneham for yet

Keith Blincow/AirTeamlmages,com

tz?.t.z?/t'

another flypast... At 15.20hrs, Comet 4C G-BDIW completed its

10,933rd Ianding.Thus ended the commercial life of the Comet

airliner - a fitting finale for arguably the most revolutionaryaircraft in the annals of civil aviation history.

Allan Burney, Al FebruarY 1981

is only five aircraft apiece.The Sea King HC4s of 846

Squad ron were much in evidence despite their new Following the Falklands conflict, various Argentine

toned-down markings. The Iarge number of Wessex AF air<raft like this damaged lA-s8 PucSra were

Above: A Royal Navy sea Harrier FR51 overflies PortStanley after the successful, if bloody, British recaptureof the Falklands. PA Photos

Jft: Argentine Navy Super Etendard 3-A-204 en routeio attack the Afrdntic Conveyor <ontainer ship on 25 May'19E2. Fuerza A6rea Argentina via Santiago Rivas

HU5s embarked in lntrepid ani Fearless came from the scattered alound the islands' lan Allan Librarv

Navy's last operational Wessex commando unit,845

5quadron. For anti-submarine duties, Sea King HAS5s of Culdrose-based 820 Squadron were taken on

the carriers with Lynx HAS2s of 815 Squadron on the frigates'

Peter R. March, Al JulY 1982

It is a sobering thought that had the Argentine Junta delayed its aggressive action until the end of the

year, the entire operation would have been almost impossible from Britain's point of view By then the

planned phase-out from front-line service of the three remaining Vulcan squadrons would have been

effected and only No 9 Squadron would have been equipped with Tornados and not really worked

up to full operational state. HMS Hermes could have been heading for the breaker's yard, and almost

certainly, preparations for the handover of HMS tnvincibte, sold to the Royal Australian Navy, would

have been well advanced. Moreover, the Argentinian Super Etendard pilots, who have already shown

their effectiveness with the destruction of HMS Sheffield,would have been that much better drilled.

On the credit side, the Royal Navy would have worked up its Sea Harriers to an even finer

pitch ofoperational preparedness than theyare now and the Argentinian Canberras and

Skyhawks would have been that much older... But possibly only one British aircraft carrier

would have then been available to join the Task Force.

Paul Humphreys, AI August 1982

40 yeors of Aviotion

The commercial aviation industry is still reeling from the shock of two Boeing747 accidents withinthe same number of months. At the time of writing, the question looming over the Air lndia crash

remained largely unanswered, while in contrast the cause of the Japan Air Lines disaster was pointing

increasingly towards a failure in the aircraft's tail section. lnevitably, the tragic events have focused

world attention on the subject of air safety, especially as the Boeing747 is considered to be the most

secure mode of transport in existence - remember, over five million passengers fly in Jumbos'everymonth! lf it is at all possible to view an air crash in a positive light, then it is for the reminder it serves

to individuals and companies as to the importance of maintaining and, indeed, furthering the high

standards of safety that are prevalent (though by no means total) throughout the airline industry.

Allan Burney, Al October 1985

No sooner had last month's column been written and gone to press, than the civil aviationindustry was struck yet another devastating blow. During take-offfrom Manchester airport, a

British Airtours Boeing 737 suffered a catastrophic engine fajlure. Although take-offwas safely

aborted and the aircraft brought to a halt, a severed fuel line sprayed the rear of the aircraft,

engulfing it in flames.Tragically 55 people lost their lives in the resulting inferno.

With public attention focused on air safety, the press is now reporting'minor'airlinerincidents (eg precautionary engine shutdowns) that six months ago would not have made

news. Events such as these are not uncommon and do not merit headline status. On the otherhand, the newspapers have picked up on a number of items with more serious undertones. ..

lf by their coverage on these issues the newspapers can evoke a positive response from thoseconcerned, then their sensationalist reporting on other aviation topics will be forgiven.

Allan Burney, Al November 1985

Part of the wreckage of Japan Air Lines Boeing7475R-46 lfua119, with a res(ue helicopter inattendance. JAL Flight 1 23 crashed into MountTakamagahara on I 2 August I 985 after losingmost of its vertical stabiliser. PA Photos

Nowadays it is rare for an aviation endeavour to hit the world'sheadlines - and unheard of that it remains there for the nextnine days! But that distinction can be proudly claimed by DickRutan and Jeana Yeager when, at 08.05hrs local time on 23

December, their Voyager aircraft landed at Edwards AFB, Californiaafter the first unrefuelled round-the-world flight. By now wehave all learnt of the risks and discomfort (both financially and

otherwise) experienced by the pilots before and during the flight,and there is no question that the adulation being poured ontothem is justified. Historically the flight sets Rutan and Yeager

alongside the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Amy Johnson (to

name just two).But there is a subtle difference between the achievements of

Voyager's crew and those ofthe previous generation ofaviationpioneers. The endeavours of the early aviators were an essential

part of the development of air travel and provided a pointer to thefuture domination of the world by air, as we know it today. No matterhow remarkable Voyager's flight was, it will not change the face ofcommercial aviation (or indeed the publict perception of it) in such

a manner. ln no way does this devalue the importance of Rutan and

Yeager's achievement as they claim to have rekindled the pioneering

spirit of aviation that has been dormant for some time. We heartilycongratulate the Voyager's crew and support team for uniting the world

- if only for nine days.

Allan Burney, Al February 1 987

40 yeors of Aviotion

This poor-quality, retouched shot providedthe first official (onfirmation of the shape

of the Lockheed F-1 1 74. USAF

Stealth is the catchword of the moment. From being a subjectshrouded in conjecture, within the space of two weeks the US AirForce unveiled its stealth technology to the world in the form ofthe Lockheed F-1 '1 7A fighter and the Northrop B-2 bomber. Thestealth saga took a dramatic twist when the USAF acknowledgedfor the first time the existence of its F-'l 17A (previously dubbedthe F-'1 9 by the aviation world) by releasing a heavily-retouchedlow-quality photograph of the design. Since the beginning of thisdecade rumours about the stealth fighter have been rife and itspresence has never really been in doubt. However, what has beenin doubt is its configuration and the pyramidal shape the F-117Ahas taken most experts by surprise... lnstead of the smoothly-contoured, well-proportioned, futuristic design depicted by mostartists'impressions, the photograph released by the USAF revealsa small, single-seat, twin-engined aircraft that is of angular line.

lf the photograph is to be totally believed.... then theconfiguration reveals thatthe F-1 17A is not a dogfighter but a

weapons platform for short-range stand-off attack missions. Theservice states that it has ordered 59 ofthe type ofwhich 52 havebeen delivered, three having crashed. Funding for more F-l 1 7As

has been terminated to release funds for more advanced projects

including the Northrop B-2 stealth bomber that was publicly rolledout on 22 November.

Allan Burney, Al January 1 989

At the turn of the year, when most people's thoughtswere on peace and goodwill to all men, a terrorist'sbomb and a small Scottish town seized the hearts

and headlines around the world. Death and disasteralways seems more terrible at Christmas time, butnothing could add to the horror ofthe Pan AmBoeing 747 which, blasted out of the sky at someseven miles high, crashed onto Lockerbie.

As with all accidents, in the aftermath ofthis latest slaughter of the innocents, the words'lf only...'were on everybody's lips. lf only thewarning of a bomb on a Pan Am flight originatingin Germany had been more widely known andacted upon. lf only the aircraft had not beendelayed in its departure from London Heathrow. lfonly the explosion had happened a few secondslater. Had the warning been acted upon more diligently thenperhaps, a more rigorous examination of the aircraft, its cargo, thepassengers and their baggage may have prevented the explosivedevice being placed or taken aboard when the flight departedFrankfurt to London.

Ac€ident investigators examining the remains of the <ockpit of Pan Am Boeing747-121 N739PA, blownup over Lockerbie by a terrorist bomb, killing 270 people including 1 1 on the ground, PA Photos

Had the aircraft left London on time, if the explosive was triggeredby a time-switch, the Boeing 747 would have been over the Atlantic;then at least, the little town of Lockerbie would have been spared thedeath and destruction which rained from the early evening sky.

Paul Humphreys, Al March 1989

l]J[ll)

40 yeors of Aviotion

Chalking up a new trans-continental speed record, a LockheedSR-71 A has streaked across the U5 in 68 minutes coast-to-coast.Flying the US Air Force SR-71 from Palmdale to Washington,DC, were Lt Col Ed Yeilding, the pilot, and Lt Col joe Vida, therecon naissance systems officer.

The record flight was also the final one by this supersonic aircraft,64-17972, now immortalised in aviation history.The Smithsonianlnstitution's National Air and Space Museum received the retiredSR-71 and its logbook in a ceremony at Washington's Dulleslnternational Airport shortly after the Blackbird landed. lts final homewill be a proposed museum extension, slated to be located at Dulles.

The 5R-71 took off from Palmdale site 2 at 04.30hrs. Refuelledin the air, the SR-71 then started its record run from over the Pacificcoast near Oxnard. A sonic boom from the aircraft was felt in southernCalifornia at 06.00hrs.The aircraft reached the Atlantic coast nearSalisbury, Maryland, 2,404.05 miles away 6B minutes and 17 secondslater for an average speed of 2,1 12.52mph.

Once all the USAF'S 5R-71 s had been flown back to Palmdale, Lockheedarranged them for this memorable shot. Lockheed

The record-setting aircraft then flew to Dulles lnternationalAirport and performed two flybys, the second of which sawthe pilot punch in the afterburners to ignite the cheers ofanemotional crowd of some

Al May 1 990

It was 03.15hrs local time - 35 minutes into Operation'Desert Storm'and still before dawn - as 28-year-old Capt Steve Tait manoeuvred hisF-1 5C Eagle over the outskirts of Baghdad, locking the APG-70 radar onto the lraqi fighter ahead. A single AIM-7 Sparrow missile was ejectedfrom the shoulder stowage position and streaked towards the MirageFl EQ, striking it with an explosion which momentarily appeared toilluminate the whole sky. Spiralling down, it struck the ground andviolently exploded, Ieaving no doubt that the first entry had beenmade on the air-to-air combat scoreboard. Tait and America! Coalitionpartners expected many more such victories to follow, confident thatthe generally superior Western interceptors would have a 'turkey shoot'at the expense of their mostly Soviet-equipped adversaries.

Tu,o USAF F-l6Ai, hiiof=+5Es:nd a[F-l5C

Even as Tait was securing his place in military history, other pilotswere noting disturbing signs on their radars. Said one:'We had noadversaries.Those who did (take off) got nothing and headed north. I

think that was a preservation move. Had they remained on the groundthey would have been bombed and had they come southboundtowards us they would have been shot downl A few days previously,according to lraqi AF commander Lt-Gen Muzahim Saab Hassan, thelrAF pilots had vowed to sacrifice their lives in suicide attacks againstdesignated objectives in the coming Mother of Battles. lt soon becameevident that they had done no such thing.

Paul Jackson, A, May 1 991

40 yeors of Aviotion

The Boeing 737 has reached another milestone in its reign

as the world's top selling jetliner. Delivery of the Boeing

transport reached 2,000 as Lufthansa received a new

737-500 model at Boeing Field on 25 February.

The delivery also marked the 1 00th 737 for Lufthansa

and brought the airline full circle in its association withthe Boeing twin-jet programme. Lufthansa launched theprogramme into production in 1963 by placing the firstorder for the original 96-seat 737-1 00, then received the firstdelivery in late '1967 and was first in service early in 1968.

By 1987, boosted by new generation models, the737series had surpassed the orders recorded by the previous

best seller, the Boeing 727 tri-jet. The 727 had accumulated

orders and deliveries of 1,831 when its production endedin '1984.

Total announced orders for737s stand at 2,887,andproduction of the aircraft at Boeing's Renton, Washington,plant is proceeding at a record pace of 17 per month.

AI May 1991

Fe>

ln less than 24 hours the F-l'1 7A had evolved from the deepest,

darkest depths of the world of 'Black'programmes to the stage whereairborne videotapes from its top secret infra-red targeting sensors had

been broadcast on TV news bulletins around the worldlJCS Chairman Gen Colin L. Powell credited the F-1 'l 7As with

the capability of being able to strike 80 per cent ofthe key lraqitargets that had to be'taken out'within the first 48 hours of theoperation. This they accomplished ably, and relentlessly, under theguiding hand of the 37th TFW commander Col Alton C. Whitley.The initial waves entered the fray at midnight, Zulu (approximately

02.39hrs, local time) on 17 January. Among their chief targetsnumbered the crucial air defence radar and military command,

lnset: RAF Tornado GRI s and F3s in formation during the build'up to OPeration'Desert Storm'. Crown Copyright

Above: The lirst major combat use of the USAF'S F-l 1 7As in 'Desert Storm'proved a huge success. Here, one refuels by night from a KC-l 35Q.via Peter R. March

control and communications facilities sited at Kirkuk, Nasiriya,

Rutba and downtown Baghdad - 80 targets on day one alone,most of which were successfully destroyed in the first 30 sorties.

Anthony M. Thornborough, Al May 1 991

lff;rll

40 yeors of Aviotion

This spring, the USAF is expected to select a winner in the AdvancedTactical Fighter (ATF) competition and award a contract that couldturn out to be'the aviation sale of the centuryi

With the world now in the flnal decade of the 20th century, it isa fair bet that, if the USAF does decide to go through with the ATF

programme, whichever contractor team is selected to produce theaircraft will sign on for the definitive'sale of the centuryi lnitial USAF

planning calls for the production of 750 ATFs; in addition, there is an

understanding with the US Navy that the aircraft selected for the ATF willalso serve as the basis for the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF), a

programme that could involve up to another 500 aircraft. Based on past

experience, it is very likely that the winner of such a contract would also

end up producing versions of the ATF for foreign sales as well.

Frank B. Mormillo, Al May 1991

'Team One' ATF winners, Lockheed-Boeing-General Dynamics,had cause to pop some champagne corks on 23 April. The USAF's

decision to proceed with the F-22 model of the Advanced Tactical

Two YF-22 prototypes flew during the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition.This one, registered N22YX, was powered by the Pratt & Whitney YFI 1 9 enginewhich was also selected as the winning engine, Lockheed

Fighter came as both a financial blessing to the partners, andas a vindication of their aero-engineering and managerial skills.Low risk and cost were cited as the key issues which swayed thedecision in favour of the'Team One'submission.

Low-rate initial production is anticipated to kick off in Fiscal

Year 1 998, peaking at 48 aircraft annually between FY2003 andFY201 5, when the USAF should have taken delivery of a grandtotal of 648 aircraft worth 598 billion!

Anthony M. Thornborough, Al September 1 991

Struggling Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) finally succumbed to the inevitablewhen it ceased operations in early December 1991. This followed just a week after anothertroubled US carrier, Midway Airlines, filed for liquidation following the collapse of a

planned sale to Northwest.The demise of Pan Am had been bn the cards'for some time, but it still shocked many in

the industry and sent shockwaves through the leasing and used aircraft market, a market thatis already overcrowded with 'stra nded' airliners. The last l l years have been tra u matic ones forPan Am. lt first started posting massive losses following its takeover of National and these losses

culminated in the airline filing for Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy in January 1991. lt sold most of itstrans-Atlantic routes to United in February and, by August. it was forced to sell shuttle, aircraft,routes and terminals to Delta, leaving it just with its valuable Latin American services - thesehave now gone up for auction. The carrier's 126-strong fleet of aircraft is owned by a variety ofdifferent organisations, so their eventual fate will be a protracted affair.

AI February 1992

Another significant chapter in the withdrawal of Russian forces fromthe former East Germany was concluded in April when the last threejet air bases bade farewell to their equipment.

Withdrawal was accomplished over a period of about a week in early

April and began at Gross Dolln on the 5th when the 20th Fighter-Bomber

Regiment headed east with a total of 27 Sukhoi Su-]7M-4'Fitter-Ks'and

six Su-'l 7UM 'Fitter-GsiThe focus of attention then shifted a few milesto the west of Gross Dolln, when the second stage of the withdrawal

operation took place two days latet on 7 April.This involved the 33rd

Fighter Regiment at Wittstock but the immediate destination wasn't

actually an airfield in Russia. lnstead, the unit's remaining aircraft flewfirst to Damgarten near Rostock, where they experienced a short lay-overperiod prior to flying home in company with the Damgarten machines.

A lull of a few days followed the transfer to Damgarten, but thewithdrawal was not long delayed and on 1 1 April no fewer than 44 ofthe 46 MiG-29'Fulcrums'that were present at Damgarten were flownout... Departure from Damgarten started at 08.00hrs exactly, with773rd Fighter Regiment M|G-29UB'66'being the first aircraft to getairborne. Half an hour later, the remainder began heading out and,

as usual on occasions like this, most went in pairs.The first elementcomprised MiG-29UBs'White 55'of the 33rd regiment and'White B0'

of the 773rd, these presumably being flown by the respective unitcommanders. Damgarten's own'Fulcrums' followed in quick succession.

It fell to the 33rd Fighter Regiment to bring up the rear...Unfortunately, two of the Wittstock machines ('White 08'and 'White 09')

were forced to return to the flightline when one of them experienceda technical problem and they may well have had to wait several days

before another opportunity to leave presented itself. What is clear is thatthese will have been the last Russian fighters to leave Germany.

Lindsay Peacock, Al August 1994

'Working together'is a phrase synonymous with United's

relationship with Boeing on the development of the 777 . No

other commercial aircraft has been designed from the outsetwith such complete consultation between the manufacturerand its customers. As a consequence, United decided todecorate the actual aircraft that flew the inaugural passenger

flight on 7 June (Boeing 777-200 N777UA, United's first and

delivered on 17 May to the airline's Chicago base) with thelogo'Working Together:

'We're truly pleased with the customer-friendliness and

efficiency of this airplanei John A. Edwardson, president

and chief operating officer of UAL Corporation and United

Airlines, told a press conference at Heathrow on the day

before the inaugural flight to Washington DC.'lt is thereplacement for the DC-10 with Unitedi

Mark Ashley, Al August 1 995

Above left: Many would contend that the ColdWar was already over by the time the last SovietAF combat aircraft, such as these 5u- l 7M-4sdeparting from Templin, left eastern Germany'Alexander Golz

Above: M|G-29UB Bort 64 of 33 IAP taking off fromWittstock in 1 994. Alexander Golz

40 yeors of Aviotion

It was only a matter of time before someone saw the light in Europe and

followed the lead taken byValuJet in the States back in I992.The concept

of a 'no-frillsi get what you pay for'carrier lasting past its first month was

laughed at by the US majors and undoubtedly Delta, which had even

provided Valu.let's first DC-9-32s from its own fleet. Nearly four years on.

Delta has seen its small counterpart grow in unprecedented fashion'

With staggering low fares starting from a train-beating f29 one way,

the pitch has not been at those who would normally fly business class

on a day trip from Heathrow but more at the person who has'always

wanted to pop up to Scotland'but couldn't face the eight-hour coach

journey, or for that matter the high rail fare.

easyJet's philosophy is simple - firstly, cut out the travel agent,

effectively a middle-man, and pass the savings onto the passengers. Next,

cut all the non-essential overheads and'frills'that at first glance enhance

the service, but really only serve to inflate the price.Thirdly, make a no

restriction-based fare structure so simple that even a five-year-old could

understand it. And lastly, provide the best value for money in the air today'

easy.Jet launches its thrice-daily

Edinburgh service on 24 November with itssecond 737-200 and plans to expand intoEurope after gaining its own air operator's

certificate early in 1 996. lfValuJet's success

is anything to go by, the future for easyjet

looks bright, and it has certainly received

the public's backing so far with 1 1,000

seats sold in the threeweeks since the launch.

Any criticisms? Well,

Hajiloannou doesn't slip

offthe tongue quite like

Branson, but one has the

feeling itwill...

Niall Booth,AlJanuary 1996

Following the landmark announcement on 15 December 1996 that Boeing and

McDonnell Douglas intend to merge, transition teams are now at work planning theintegration of operations.

The historic merger, while far from unexpected. unquestionably represents the

most dramatic step so far in the consolidation of international aerospace industries

and has far-reaching consequences in the future of both the commercial and military

aviation markets. lf the new aerospace group wins the sanction of the U5 authorities itwill operate in 27 states, with a workforce of 200,000, and can expect estimated annual

revenues in excess of 548 billion.Its nearest civil competitor Airbus stands to be dwarfed by its combined

strengths, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (MDC) jointly representing around 70 per

cent of current airliner deliveries. Meanwhile, combined in the defence field' the

manufacturers bring together a formidable array of products, totalling half of theUnited States' current military aircraft production.

For both Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, a fusion of interests would immediatelyoffer both companies radically improved economies of scale, greater market

penetration and an expanded pool oftechnological knowledge - yet the benefits

of the merger are clearly tipped in Boeing's favour. Condit has clearly stated Boeing's

reasoning behind the merger; his company needs more employees and capability and

MDC can provide both. His counterpart, Stonecipher, hardly needs to explain why at

this juncture MDC should chose to surrender its company name and status.

Al February 1 997

40 yeors of Aviotion

The catastrophic loss of an Air France Concorde on the afternoon ofTuesday 25 July drew thekind of attraction worldwide that is only reserved forthe worst of disasters. US President Bill

Clinton broke off a news conference, called to announce the failure of the Middle East peace

talks, to send a message of condolence to the relatives of those killed in the Concorde crash.

All the majorTV news channels in Europe and the USA re-structured their news schedules tocontinue to broadcast reports coming from the crash site ofGonesse, north of Paris, close toCharles de Gaulle International Airportfrom wherethe stricken airliner had taken off.

Such reaction would not have been incurred by a similar crash of another typeof aircraft. The degree of reportage and of emotional reaction to the terrible crashwhich cost 1 14 lives is living testimony to the exceptional amount of awe, wonder and

fascination that Concorde embodies in the minds of so many people.

Mark Ashley, Al September 2000

The beginning of the tragic end of Air France Concorde F-BTSC, which killed all I09 on board when itcrashed in Gonesse on take-off from Paris CDG. PA Photos

The JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) programme is

vitally important to US industry, since it will

result in the production of a huge number ofaircraft to replace USAF F-1 6s, US Navy and

Marine Corps F/A-1 8 Hornets and even USMC AV-88 Harriers. The aircraft is also being pushed hard

to a number of export customers, from existing F-l6 customers to the UK MoD, for whom the.JSF

promises to be the Future Carrier Borne Aircraft, replacing'Joint Force'Harriers and Sea Harriers.

And yet when we talk about the JSE we must remember that no aircraft has yet been selected

to fulfil the JSF requirement, and that the rival Boeing X-32 and Lockheed X-35 prototypes are still

just competitors in search of a production order. Even more incredibly, while the JSF programme is

vital to US industry, the intended principal customers have a more equivocal attitude...The JSF promises to be a vitally important industrial programme, which should produce

a very large number of highly capable strike-fighters at a very low unit cost. But at the end

of the day, the emphasis placed on meeting absolute and inflexible costs may reduce theresulting aircraft's capabilities to a point at which it will be unable to match competingEuropean fighters. Alternatively, ifcost constraints are relaxed in orderto ensure operationalcapability is not compromised, costs and prices could spiral out of control.

Jon Lake, Al May-June 2001

The two Joint Strike Fighter contenders, the BoeingX-32 (left) and the eventual winner, the LockheedMartin X-35, Lockheed lvlartin

The world was rocked by the devastating terrorist attacks thatdestroyed the World Trade Center in New York and seriously damaged

the Pentagon in Washington on the morning of 11 September.

The terror began shortly after 07.00hrs when two Boeing767s,

each flying from Boston to Los Angeles, were hijacked while flyingover New England. Both altered course without warning and headed

for New York with devastating consequences, hitting the famous

twin towers in sequence and ultimately forcing their horrific collapse.

Another aircraft, an American Airlines Boeing757, en route fromWashington Dulles to Los Angeles, was also hijacked and hit thePentagon building in Washington.

Meanwhile, a second Boeing757, operated by United Airlines, was

hijacked while operating from Newark to San Francisco. This aircraftcrashed in Pennsylvania, south-east of Pittsburgh, with all 45 people

on board killed... The passengers aboard the ill-fated 757 are nowcredited as heroes for attacking the terrorists themselves, resulting in

the destruction of the airliner.

Eryl Crump, A/ November 2001

Having watched hijacked jet airliners being deliberately flown intothe World Trade Center on national TV (from several angles, and in

heart-stoppingly graphic detail) many people were discouragedfrom flying, and passenger numbers did decline markedly. Some

felt that this was the beginning of a'seismic'shift in behaviour, and

that the industry would never be the same again. However, manyobservers believe that such a change in behaviour will not be long-term, and believe that people will return to their pre-WTC patternsof airline use as memories of the tragedy fade and as confidence is

rebuilt by improvements in security.The collapse in passenger numbers was accompanied by a brief but

extremely costly enforced stoppage, which naturally had an impact on

airline profits. . . ln normal times, the loss of a few days'revenue shouldnot tip healthy airline companies into bankruptcy, and should have

relatively little effect beyond denting in-year profits and perhaps reducing

the shareholders' next dividendpayment. But in the wake of theWTC tragedy, there has been a

depressingly long Iist of airlinecollapses and of airlines makingmassive job cuts.

One could already fill a bookwith details of the airline andaircraft manufacturing cutbacksand job losses that followed theterrorist attack on the WTC. But

the highest-profile casualty ofthe airline recession has beenSwitzerland's flag carrier Swissair,

and its subsidiary Sabena.

Jon Lake, AI December 2001PA Phola

Cn Thursday 10 April, British Airways and Air France made simultaneousannouncements that Concorde would make its last scheduled passenger

ilight at the end of October, ending nearly 30 years of supersonic travel.

The news of Concorde's premature withdrawal had been widely:xpected, though it remains extremely controversial. The Concorde fleetnas received massive investment since the tragic crash at Gonesse, and the

rype was certified until 2009, although Air France had reportedly planned

io cease operations in late 2007. The complex support arrangements forilre aircraft were such that it was never likely that one of the two operators,vould continue without the other (unless it took on the retiring airline's

:ircraft) and 2007 thus seemed likely to be BA's end date as well. lt was

.inderstood that a relatively minor engineering programme could have

:xtended the aircraft's life to 20'15, however.

Concorde's return to service following the Paris crash, in the face of a

cre-existing recession in air transport was, perhaps, a remarkable gesturecf optimism. The recession continued, however, and was exacerbated bysecurity fears following the World Trade Center attacks, and worsenedegain following the March 2003 war against lraq.

Reading between the lines, it seems that Concorde's premature:etirement may be the result of uniquely French factors. BA was

experiencing a steady fall in passenger revenue against a backdropcf rising maintenance costs for the aircraft, but it was still viable... Air:rance had never enjoyed the commercial success experienced by BA's

Concorde Division, and the aircraft has not been profitable since thereturn to service following the Paris crash.

ion Lake, AlJune 2003

At 14.06hrs on Friday 24 October, Capt Mike Bannister, manager of BA's

Concorde fleet, eased flight BA002 from New York down to the tarmac,closing a special chapter in commercial aviation.

Ninety minutes earlier, Flight BA9022C carrying guests on a trip torhe Bay of Biscay and back taxied away from Terminal 4. As the subsonic:raffic waited deferentially, it passed majestically across the southern'unway and out to the northern one.

Once the preceding GB Airways Airbus 4320 inbound from Malagarad cleared the runway, Capt Paul Douglas radioed the tower to ask if he.vas clear for take-off.'That's an understatementi replied controller Roger

Clarke.'You look absolutely superb. Speedbird Concorde Alpha Foxtrot,

,,ou're clear to take off on Runway 27 Right.'

40 yeors of Avioiion

This photograph: British Airwaysflight 8A002 from New York to

London Heathrow, the last Concordeservice, taking off from JFK airport

on 24 October 2003. PA Photos

Bottom: Concorde G-BOAG rollsout after its final touchdown at

Heathrow on 24 October 2003, withCapt Mike Bannister at the controls.

Mark Wagner/Aviation-lmages.com

Carrying less fuel than that needed for the normal trans-Atlanticcrossing, the aircraft lifted off smartly and headed for the clouds withits customary roar.'lt was quite an experiencei Clarke said afterwards.'lthought I would say something special to match the occasionl

His colleague lvor Sims had cleared the first scheduled Concordedeparture for New York. Now he would handle the final arrival fromJFK, which was to join the other two in an aerial rendezvous. BA9021C

from Edinburgh, part of the nation-wide Concorde farewell tour, was

directed as normal to the Bovingdon hold north of Heathrow. BA9022Cand BA002 came in via Ockham to the south to begin their approachfrom the east, passing over central London one last time. Aboard FlightBA002, Capt Bannister was telling his passengers:'Thank you forjoiningus for a moment of historyl

One after the other, the three dream machines alighted uponHeathrow's tarmac for the last time.

Bruce Hales-Dutton, A, December 2003

40 yeors of Aviotion

On Thursday 3 March 2005, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, withSteve Fossett at the controls, completed the first ever non-stopsolo flight around the world.

Having taken off from Salina Airport, Kansas at 00.47hrs GMTon Tuesday 1 March (1B.47hrs local on 2B February), Fossettarrived back there after his pioneering voyage of aerial discoverythat lasted 67hr l min 46sec. lt had been a truly epic undertaking,including potentially major problems along the way, but in thetrue spirit of aviation adventure and record-breaking the teampressed ahead, confident of the abilities of the aircraft and theman in the pilot's seat - no stranger, of course, to setting newbenchmarks in challenging circumstances - to get through themand make it home.

GlobalFlyer touched down at Salina just after T 9.48hrs UTC on3 March, in order to enter the record books. The final reckoningshowed that it had travelled 19,880nm, 17 more than were neededto break the record. ln front of a jubilant crowd of onlookers andan understandably delighted project team, Steve Fossett declared:'That was a difficult trip. I mean, it was one of the hardest thingsl've ever done, to be on duty for three days and nights withvirtually no sleep.'

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'About once a generation, the Boeing family comes together torevolutionise air travel', said Boeing CEO Jim McNerney in hisshort speech to the 15,000 people present in the huge hangar

- mostly employees working on the 787 programme, a$well as

airline customers and media from around the world. But neverbefore had Boeing been as self-confident about a new productas this time.

'677'was the number of the day, briefly displayed in huge figureson the sides of the stage. For the first time ever in civil aviation, an

aircraft that has never flown had amassed 677 f'rm, announced ordersby the time of its roll-out. The last new model, the 777 unveiled in1994, had only around 1 50 by then. On the day before the ceremony,the latest substantial 787 order came in - the biggest so far fromEurope, which has generally been slow to respond to the Dreamliner.Air Berlin of Germany made firm commitments for 25 Boeing 787-8s

and signed options for another 25. So far, by list prices, the 787 has

racked up a turnover of around USSl 00 billion, about equivalent tothe gross domestic product of a country like New Zealand. No wonderScott Carson, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, stated that themood at the Seattle manufacturer is'pretty darn goodi

Andreas Spaeth, Al September 2007

At 1 2.28hrs on Thursday 1 8 October 2007, Avro Vulcan 82 XH55B tookofffrom the 3,000m runway at Bruntingthorpe, Leics for its maidenpost-restoration flight. With the successful completion of the mostambitious'return to flight'project ever undertaken, this will now always

be remembered as a very special day in the history of British aviation.The long-anticipated first flight came after 1 0 years'hard effort, many

thousands of hours of hands-on restoration work, at a cost so far of some

f6 million, including f2.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and thesupport of more than 20,000 people woddwide. On the flight deck forthis momentous occasion were civilian test pilot and former RAF Vulcan

captain Al McDicken, the Vulcan Operating Company's David Thomas in

the right-hand seat and Barry Masefield as air engineer. David Thomas,

who was one of the RAF'sVulcan Display Flight pilots, had made the last

fl ight of XH558 into Bruntingthorpe 14-and-a-half years ago.

The flight, in perfect weather conditions, lasted for 34 minutes,during which a number of basic systems and handling tests were carried

out.'Everything worked and she flew like a dreami Al McDicken, who last

flew a Vulcan almost 25 years ago to the day, said to the assembled press

after stepping back onto Bruntingthorpe's tarmac.'She was an absolutedelight, every bit as good as I remember. lt was a tremendous privilege tofly it again. There were no problems at all during the flight, a tremendoustribute to the team here and the designers all those years ago.'

Peter R. March, Al December 2007

The big announcement was made at 07.21hrs:'The world's first 4380 passenger

service, flight SQ380 to Sydney, is now ready for boardingi Getting almost 500

people aboard a new giant aircraft with two separate decks seems to be no easy

task, especially not with everybody seemingly taking pictures at every step,

but it proceeded surprisingly smoothly. Once everybody had found their seat

and settled in, pushback commenced at 08.01 hrs sharp, just seconds after thescheduled departure time.

Majestically, the A380 proceeded to the runway, yet many people on board

didn't even realise they were moving. Some who were seated far from thewindows didn't even get any sense at all of the aircraft taking offwhen it liftedfrom the Changi runway at 08.16hrs local time, so unbelievably quiet is the cabin

even with the engines at high thrust.Whereas the atmosphere was fairly sophisticated in the suites and business

class, party mood soon caught on in both economy cabins. Enthusiasts fromall corners of the world were meeting and sharing their experiences, later even

helping themselves to champagne from the galleys.

Andreas Spaeth, Al December 2007

Compiled by Ben Dunnell

Editorial Assistant Amy Bridges

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3 Hawker Siddeley HarrierJohn Dibbs/The Plane Picture Co

John Dibbs/The Plane Picture Co

How quickly the aviation world moves. As with any branch of industry, some of yesterday s

news soon becomes today's object of mirth. Here are just a few of the stories from 40

years ofAl that prove what a wonderful thing hindsight is

Beyond ConcordeThe need for long range airliners flying

at Mach 4. or twice the speed of Concorde,was envisioned by GraYden M. Paul,deputy director of airline requirements ofLockheed, at the Association of BritishTravel Agents meeting at Vienna recently.Technological development of commercialaircraft would continue and the futuremarket would justify advanced conceptsof passenger planes. "We see an in-creased demand in all aspects of airtraffic-short haul. medium haul and evento long-range Mach 4 supersonic trans-ports." he said. Current designs of wide-bodied passenger aircraft would be useduntil 1985 when a new design would beneeded. Lockheed forecasts showed thatworld air traff ic would reach about850 000 million revenue passenger milesby the end of 1 980 and by the year 2 000 itwould possibly be 3 500 000 million.

Leftl supersonic transportonce seemed like it couldtake over the airline world,but reality soon bit. A year

or so before the globaloil crisis hit wasn't thebest time for Lockheed topostulate this idea.Al Januaty 1973

From our one-time sister publication Air Display lnternationalcomes one of the most familiar, but still funniest, misprintsofthem all.

Air Racing Flashback', Air Display lntenationalJuly-August 1 991

At +hat tim€ some afuffafters - and there were many in the UK -kept specimens of their earlier designsand flew them regularly in pubic

little bit

Choosing a good headline for a story isn'talways easy. You probably wouldn't believehow long it can take, if inspiration is lacking.Here are a couple from the history of A/ thateither might have been improved by a bit morethinking time, or, perhaps, by less.

A pun that would have made the late Bob

Monkhouse groan.Al July 2004

unusual 'brown

Urgh. What a lovely image this headline creates.

ln fact, the image you should have in your mindis that of a U5 Army Beech RU-21 D - because it'spainted brown, you see.

Al May 1971

Some helpful advice here for those who want to make their plastic kits thalmore'realistic'. Note the health and safety note sounded at the end.

AI May 1970

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-FHERE was much protest a few years ago because ar certain British manufacturer of buses had obtained anexceptionally large export order to Cuba. These protestscama from-those trading isolationists who would ratherstarve than export such aiticles as buses to countries havinga different political system or philosophy. -You may bewondering what this has to do with aircraft or stamps'

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lnitially, we were a

little bit frustrated withthis simulation. The

gliding lessons have no interactivity, so it is a case oftrying to recreate what has been shown in the lessondemonstration before attempting it yourself, perhapshaving made some notes. This doesn't seem helpfulwhen trying to learn a new simulation. The cockpits don'thave any'point and click'interfaces either, meaning thateverything has to be done using the joystick and keyboardwhich, again, takes a bit of getting used to.

However, once one gets over these initial hurdles, thisvery quickly becomes an addictive simulation that is likelyto appeal to people ofall ages and skills.The scenery is nothighly detailed but the result is a simulation that runs verysmoothly, a real plus over similar titles. The developers havealso done much to enable one to customise the simulationwith additional scenery, new tasks and even the chanceto repaint the default aircraft, although we could find noinformation about how to do this in the manual.

There were a few niggles that we were left with,even at the end - switching views prior to a race in theversion that we tested (version 1 .12) occasionally lostthe countdown timer for races and we could find noway of saving a race part-way through, which suggeststhat longer tasks will need to be completed in real timewithout a break other than using the'Pause'key. Howevelthe overall impression is of a superb, stand-alone titlewhlch offers hours of fun, an education into the mysteriesof gliding and which clearly has the potential to be veryaddictive! With a large fan base already in place, no doubtfuture versions of this simulation willfollow as more andmore enthusiasts discover its delights.

Soqring qwqySompling some of the ioys of gliding

Title: CondorDeveloped by: Condor Soaring

Web: www.condorsoaring.comPublished by: Sniper Entertainment (www.sniper.fr)

Price: f29.99Minimum requirements: A 1 GHz PC running Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP with 256Mb of

RAM, a CD-ROM drive and a 32Mb video card

PEGI roting: 3+

verdict: **** j

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?Condor is a gliding simulation'designed to recreate theultimate experience ofcompetition soaring' on thePC, its developer says. lndevelopment, considerableattention was given toaerodynamics and weatherphysics, which has resulted ina realistic simulation coveringall the different classes ofglider. Clever design hasopened up the possibility ofusers and publishers creatingtheir own add-on scenery,and this, coupled with goodreviews of earlier versions,has led to a large, worldwidefan base for this simulationand a number of dedicatedweb sites.

INSTALIATIONlnstallation requires theCD-ROM to be inserted, afterwhich you need to run the file'CondorSetup.exei Once thefile has been run, users will beprompted to add their detailsso that at least one pilot iscreated for the simulation.Then the registration process

has to be completed byinserting the serial number to

be found on the bottom left-hand corner ofthe front pageof the manual. Once this has

been done, it is then possible

to access the'Settings' menu,which contains a host ofvariables related to therunning of the simulation.The installation process

is explained clearly in theillustrated manual provided.

THE SIMULATORlnstallation adds 13 differentgliders in six different classes.

Each glider is accuratelyrecreated with moving parts,

animated cockpits and realistichandling characteristics. TheASK-'i3 is the sole glider in theSchool class but this comeswith no fewer than a dozendifferent colour schemes. TheStandard class features theASW-28, Discus 2B and LS8;

the 1 5-metre class the ASW-

278, LS6 and Ventus 2BX; the18-metre class the ASW-28-1 8, Discus 2c and LS85; theOpen class the ASW-28B1andNimbus 4; and the Acro class

the charismatic MDM-1 Fox.

Access to the menuswhere the gliders are selectedalso reveals five more, namely

the PZL PW-5, the solitarytype in the World class, theASG-29, LS l 0 and Ventus 2CX

in the 18-metre class, and theJantar 28 in the Open class, all

of which form PlanePack I which can bepurchased online for 5 1 0via a link in the simulation.Further packs appearto bein the pipeline but, while thesimulation allows third partyusers to create additionalsceneries or repaint thedefault gliders, at present onlythe developer has the facilityto add new glidertypes.

For many, the'FlightSchool'section ofthesimulation will be the first portof call. Within this there aresub-sections entitled Basic,

lntermediate, Advanced,Acro and Custom, offering 15

lessons in total which take youthrough the various stages oflearning to fly a glider. Lessons

cover aspects such as winchlaunches, aerotows, landing,different means of soaring,navigation and aerobatics. lneach case, you can sit backand watch a lesson and thentry the same task on yourown.The'Free Flight'section

offers users the chance tocompletely customise thesimulation. lt comes with 10

different flight plans alreadycreated, all centred aroundvarious parts of Slovenia.Slovenia is the home countryofthe developers and thescenery covers around37,000 square km ofterrain,ranging from Alpine to smallmountains and large, flatareas. Each flight plan offers aracecourse to try - helpfully,these are of different lengthsand for different classesof glider.To customise thesimulation, users can createtheir own courses, adjustingthe weather, class of glider,realism settings and penaltiesas well as deciding uponcourse length, placement ofthe start, finish and turningpoints. Having set up a

course, it is then possible tofly it, record the flightplanand then fly again againstthese previous attempts atthe same course in a race.

As has been mentionedbefore, it is possible toadd further scenery. A listof available third partysceneries is held on www.condorsoaring.com; some ofthese are free to download

while others need to bepurchased. Developers suchas France VFR are now turningtheir hand to creating sceneryfor Condor and, from previews

that we've seen, these willbe at least as good as thedefault scenery, if not better.For those interested in tryingtheir hand at creating scenery,the Condor SceneryToolkitcan be downloaded free fromthe Condor Soaring web site,which also has a helpfulforumoffering hints and tips onscenery design.

As with most titles ofthis ilk, Condor comes witha multi-player section whereup to 32 glider pilots can flytogether at one time.Thereare a number of web siteshosting multi-player sessionsfor this simulation. The finaltwo sections offer the chanceto replay flights (with theexception of multi-playerflights) and to analyse thosethat you have undertaken.

Many of the workings ofthe simulation are explainedvia the handy illustratedmanual, which is certainlynecessary to get the most outof it. An electronic versionin Acrobat Reader format is

available via the simulation.

'

Following on from its very popular A-6Elntruder package, it was perhaps no surprisethat AlphaSim would then release an EA-68Prowler package for Flight Simulator 2004 andFlight Simulator X. lt has four different modelvariations and six detailed sets oftextures.Themodel variations provide a variety of loadswith HARM missiles, ECM pods and fuel tanks,while the texture sets recreate two U5 MarineCorps machines and four in the colours ofdifferent US Navy units. ln addition, by editingthe aircraft's configuration file, it is possible toadjust the weapons loads to suit. The FlightSimulator X model utilises FSX features suchas bump mapping and self-shadowing, whileowners of Windows Vista and Service Pack 2 ofFSX will also see self-shadowing in the virtualcockpit.The usual high standard ofAlphaSimcockpit is evident, both in the virtual and 2Dcockpits, and the FSX model even has a fullymodelled rear cockpit complete with workingmoving map and radar. Animations includecontrol surfaces, animated canop, crew entrysteps, wing folding, spoilers and tail hook,while amongst the effects are turbine glow,smoke, wingtip and flap contrails. A realisticsound set is provided along with a detailedchecklist and performance that closelymatches the real aircraft. For those looking torepaint the aircraft in other schemes, a paintkit is available.

I Price: NZS55 (f21.36)I Web site: www.alphasim.co.uk

Aviotion sites on the lnternet

The Aviotion Sodetyw ww.t a s m o n c h e st e r.co mThe Aviation Society, orTAS as it is widely known, is based atManchester Airport. lt is the largest aviation society in the UK outsideLondon with more than 1,500 members and 36 years of unbrokenexperience. lt has a commercial arm that runsThe Aviation Shop andThe Airport Tour Centre at Manchester Airport, and it also providesprofessional tour guides at the Aviation Viewing Park there. TAS alsohas a very active Yahool discussion forum with around 1,000 registeredusers. The TAS web site has several sections devoted to the society,including one offering details about how to join, complete with a

membership form that can be printed out. Elsewhere there are detailsof social evenings, information about forthcoming coach excursionsboth in the UK and abroad, and galleries of members'photos. Forvisitors to Manchester, there are details of viewing locations, theManchester Aviation Viewing Park and Airport Tour Centre, and

information about how tobook a guided tour aroundits Concorde, G-BOAC. Othersections provide live arrivaland departure informationfor Manchester, details ofthe aviation fairs run byTAStwice a year, articles from TA5members on spotting abroad,and a variety of links.

Militory Al Worksww w. m i I it a rya iw o r ks.co mMilitary Al Worls (MAIW) is

a loose collection of militaryaviation enthusiasts whosemission is to provide quality, freeware Artificial lntelligence packages

for the flight simulation community. The staff and contributors at MAIWcome from all over the globe. On the MAIW web site is a'Downloads'areawhich gives details of its current and proposed packages. On entering thisarea, world maps appear and, by clicking on the area of interest, furtherinformation is provided. For completed packages, a link is then madeto AvSim.com, from which the packages can be downloaded. Presently,packages are for Flight Simulator 2004 although a link on the front pagetakes you to the MAIW Forum, where details of how to convert these toFlight Simulator X are given. Users will need to register before they canaccess the forum, but it also has information about packages being workedon, scenery, aircraft design and screen shots, along with an area devoted todiscussion about real-life military issues. All this and itt free, too!

AirshowsAs more and more airshow dates are confirmed, this is just a

reminder that airshow web sites are listed on the AirNet'Web Site

- www.aviation-links.co.uk. Please note that the web site is shortlyexpected to move to a new host so ifyou have it in your bookmarks,make sure you have lhe www.aviation-links.co.uk URL.

Your continued feedback is appreciated and we would be pleased to correct any errors or misunderstandings. A list of all the sites reviewed in thiscolumn and much more can be found at TheAirNet'Web Site - www.aviation-links.co.uk.lf you wish to contact the author by e-mail, please do soat adm i n@aviati on -l i n ks.co.u k

81103

Denis J. Colvert

'iur.l

ie4lsa

@recll Britons......not-so-greot book!

Britoin's Greotest AircroftRoberi Jockson

Pen & Sword, f25.00

**ii;.i i.i

You have to allow an author atleast a degree of freedom. lf hechooses to pen a volume with thetitle of 'Britain's Greatest Aircraft;then it should be his choice and hischoice alone as to which aircrafttypes he includes. After all, he hasat least selected a positive theme;who would have wanted to readabout'Britaint Worst Aircraft'?Here, author Jackson has made a

safe choice with his 22'greatest'aircraft by including four from theWWl era, two from between thewars, six from WW2 and 10 frompost-war, giving each its ownchapter.True Brits will be pleasedif unsurprised to know that theSpitfire, Comet and Lightning arefeatured, although some mightquestion the inclusion ofTSR2 onthe basis that the sole example tofly made only 24 flights in its shortcareer. But maybe that's one ofthegreat things about being an aviationauthor; you can air your opinions, fly

your kite, put events into your ownperspective and stir up controversyas much - or as little - as youwish. Jackson has generally chosento play it safe in what is a generallyunremarkable pot-boiler, and histext tells each type's story fromboth development and operationalservice points of view, only rarelyoffering comment on the politicalconsiderations which affected(afflicted?) several of the post-waraircraft described. An exceptionis in the case ofTSR2, where heallows himself to describe the type'scancellation and the subsequentdestruction of everythingconnected with the project as

'an act of vandalism unparalleledin the history of British aviation:Few would disagree with him.Taking this chapter as typical, theauthor describes the backgroundto the project, the TSR2 s

advanced design, the over-heavyservice/min istry/ma nufactu rer

management structure which sohampered progress, the flight testprogramme's trials and tribulationsand the attempts to sell TSR2 to theAustralians, though it adds little(nothing?) to what we already knowAn unfortunate typo states that'the Australians decided to meetthe RAF requirements by orderingtwenty-four General DynamicsF-1 1 1As'when the service inquestion was, of course, the RAAF.

Other typos, such as reference onthe cover flap to the Wellington'sconstruction as'geodic' rather than'geodetic; are too easily found.The photo selection features notjust the aircraft described but alsoothers developed against the samerequirement. Thus, in the chapteron the Harrier and Sea Harrier,the first photo is ofthe tail-sittingConvair XFV-1 built in the early1950s to a US Navy requirement fora VTOL fighter. Photo reproductionis decent if unspectacular and

ffiry#; '&t'#ili hAI RC RAFT

mainly in b/w. The 1 6-page colourinsert offers 28 colour plates, butyour reviewer would question thedecision to feature the 5E5a - andthe Shuttleworth Collection'sSE5a at that - in four of them.A few are unsympatheticallycropped, with a bad case of 'MyComet has no nose'on a shot ofthe A&AEE XS235. Captions areadequate if not illuminating. Thephotos illustrating the Lightning,though, feature too many errors ofidentification. The colour shot of 'aLightning F1 A of No 92 Squadron'is actually an F2, the'F3 armedwith Firestreak AAMs'is a two-seatT4 (the yellow trainer bands, if notthe huge underwing serials, are agive-away), while the reference onpage 196 to Thunder City's'twoLightning F5s'should surely read'T5si Even the non-specialist, non-enthusiast readership at whichthis title is clearly aimed deservesbetter than this.

Get all the news from the world of aviation!

SUBSCRIBE NOW!CALL +44 (0)1932 266622www.a i rcrafti I I ustrated.com

10414

[eoiidfdoo" FLIGHT\s

'r 1;.,

****;: ***-.:-; ***r^r.:

Leonqrdo on FlightDomenico Lourenzo

The John Hopkins UniversiiyPress, 820.00

While the name of Leonardo daVinci as an aircraft designer maynot immediately spring to mindalongside those of ReginaldNlitchell, Ben Rich or AlexanderKartveli, he fully justifies his place

in the ranks ofthe greats, havingdesigned and constructed hisfamous ornithopter somethingover 500 years ago. Da Vinci also

experimented with parachutes,

flying spheres, flying wax figurinesand inflated bullocks' intestinesat around the same time he waspainting 'The Last Supperi This is

a fascinating volume, beautifullyproduced and with exquisitelyreproduced contemporaryillustrations.

Airfields ond LondingGrounds of Woles: West

lvor Jones

Tempus Publishi ng, 91 6.99

It is a sad fact that, of the 26

airfields/landing grounds/strjps

herein described, virtually noneremains in use for its originalpurpose. While this is not just a

wartime history of the locationsdescribed, most came intoexistence just before or duringWW2 and reverted to more rural

use soon after.The photo captionto a shot illustrating RAF Pembrey

is typical: '. ..another of the'F'sheds that has been renovated. ltis ready for dairy cows and milkprocessingi The photo selectionis well chosen. Sadl, its standard

of reproduction is less thanwonderful.

Tortqn Air Force

LokeDeboroh

Birlinn Lid, f 'l6.99

The Preface sets the scene:Although this book featuresaircraft, it is not a technicalvolume... This book is aboutpeople: lts theme is Scotland'scontribution to military flyingover the past hundred years,

and the text reads well anddoes indeed give a good andinteresting account of militaryaviation north ofthe border,with particular emphasis on thetwo World Wars and the ColdWar period.There are plentyof human stories and insightsinto current RAF operationsfrom Scotland, although theunanswered question remains:what does a flying Scotsmanwear under his G-suit?

Wffimffi

***** ***r.-:; ** ii i^' t-:

Bomber Units of theLuftwoffe I933-1945:Volume IHenry L. de Zeng lV ondDouglos G. Stonkey

Midlond Publishing, 135.00

This volume provides'muchhighly detailed information onthe organisation ofthe Luftwaffe'sbomber units'and covers some35 bomber Geschwader andtheir component Staffflights andGruppen. lt details each unit s

operations, along with bases, dates.

statistics and commanding officers.

There is no narrative as such - justsolid information. lf you want andneed this title it must be assumedthat you know and understand thebackground to the subject. Photosare well reproduced and include a

few in colour.Volume 2, covering theremaining Geschwader, will followas surely as Nacht follows Tag.

luftwoffe Colours:SchlochrfliegerL. Richord Smith et ol

Midlond Publishing, €29.95

The Luftwaffe got the chance tovalidate its tactics in the spanishCivilWar, when the JunkersJu87 proved its worth and laterbecame the backbone of theSchlachtfliegergruppen. Thisbook tells the story of all theaircraft used by the Luftwaffe'sground attack units, with specialreference to their camouflageand markinqs. Photos form animportant part ofthis offering;here, it should be recorded thatthey are all decently reproducedalthough some of the originalsare not ofthe highest quality andjustify their inclusion on interestvalue. The few colour shots are ofsurprisingly good quality.

Eurofighter EF-2OOOTyphoonPoolo Frongois et ol

IBN Editore(www. ibneditor e.itl, €24. 50

This volume is aimed squarely atthe enthusiast and the modelletwith around a third ofthe 96pages given over to detail shotsof the Eurofighter and reviews ofvarious plastic kit offerings.Thephotos are well reproduced andfeature in the main AeronauticaMilitare examples, a fact none toosurprising given the title's ltalianorigins.The text is dual languageItalian/English, but theres nodoubt which is the translation:witness such mouthfuls as'On a

complex airframe such as theEF-2000, there are many blindareas, often banally darkened bythe prestigious characteristics ofthe machinel Er, yes. Precisely.

Hurricones VersusZerosTerence Kelly

Pen&Sword,fl9.99***n *The story of the air battles overSingapore, Sumatra and Java inWW2. An interesting accountwritten by a Hurricane pilot whowas there and who enduredthree years in a prison campafter capture by the Japanese.

Rupert Red TwoJock Broughton

Zenith Press, f ,l6.99

****;:The career of one Jack Broughton,who flew P-4TThunderbolts withthe USAAF post-war, following thisby commanding theThunderbirdsdemonstration team and flyingcombat missions in south-eastAsia in the F-1 05 Thunderchie[

Royol Air ForceBomber CommondLosses: Volume 9W. R. Chorley

Midlond Publishing, l1 9.99

****iiThe final volume in this wonderfulseries is as valuable as ever toresearchers and comprises a

Roll of Honour of bomber crewswho died from 1 939 to 1947. 494pages of solid information.

Rocks in lhe CloudsEdword Doylerush

Midlond Publishing, 11 1.99

***-.^r-'iSubtitled'High-cround AircraftCrashes of South Wales'(hencethe slightly tongue-in-cheektitle), this volume details severalofthe more interesting crashesand crash sites.

Most books and videos reviewed are

available or can be ordered from the

lan Allan Bookshops:

LONDON

4516 Lower l'4arsh, Waterloo,

London 5El TRGTel:020 7401 2100

MANCHESTER

5 Piccadilly Station Approach,

lManchester N4l 2GH

Tel: 01 61 237 9840

CARDIFF

3l Royal Arcade,

CardiffCFl0lAETel: 02920 390 6l 5

BIRMINGHAM47 Stephenson Street,

Birmingham 82 4DH

lel:0121 6432496

Or online: www.ianaliansuperstore.com

Mail Order enquiriesl

Midland Counties Publications,

4 Watling Drive, Hinckley,

Leics LE'l 0 3EY

Tel:01455 254450

midlandbooks@compuserve.com

Et10s

Ben Dunnell

LATEST DATES FOR 2OOS!

MAY03-04

Old Warden, Beds: Shuttleworth CollectionEvening Air Display and PFA Rally(Tel: 017 67 627 933 lweb: www.shuttleworth.org)

06-07 Southport seafront, Lancs:Southport Airshow 2008(Web: www.visitsouthport.com/airshow)Popham, Hants: lnternational Microlight Exhibition

(Tel:01 256 397733 | web: www.popham-airfield.co.uk) 24-25 Lowestoft seafront, Suffolk:Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival(Tel: 01 502 587027

|

web: www.lowestoftairfestival.co.uk)

Beach Lawns, Weston-super-Mare, N Somerset:lnternational Helidays 2008 (Tel: 0l 934 635227 |

web: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk/helidays.htm)

AAC Centre, Middle Wallop, Hants: Wallop 08(Tel:-Q1264 7 84421 | web: wwwfl ying-museum.org.uk)

26-27 The Glebe, Bowness on Windermere, Cumbria:Windermere Airshow (Tel: 0l 539 436205

|

web: www.windermere-rotary.orq.uk)

26-27 Sunderland seafront, Tyne & Wear:Sunderland lnternational Air Show(Tel: 01 9l 553 2006

|

web: wwwsunderland-airshow.com)

RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall: RNAS Culdrose Air Day

fiel: 01326 57 4121 | web: www.airday.co.uk)

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Military Pageant Air Display(Tel: 017 67 627933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

07-10 Ashton Court, Bristol:Bristol lnternational Balloon Fiesta(Tel: 01 l 7 953 5884 I web: www.bristolfiesta.co.uk)

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Flying Proms(Tel: 017 67 627933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

Dawlish seafront, Devon: Dawlish Carnival Airshow(Web: www.dawlish.net/carnival)

14-17 Eastbourneseafront,Sussex:Airbourne - Eastbourne lnternational Airshow(Tel:0871 663 0031

|

web: www.eastbourneairshow.com)

Old Warden, Beds:The Shuttleworth Pageant

Iel: 017 67 627933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

Seething, Norfolk: Seething charity Air Day(Tel: 01508 550453 | web: www.seething-airfield.com)

5t Aubin's Bay, Jersey, Cl:Jersey lnternational Air Display(Web: wwwjerseyairdisplay.org.uk)

St Peter Port, Guernsey:Guernsey Battle of Britain Air Display(Web: www.guernseyaviationweek.org.gg)

RAF Leuchars, Fife: RAF Leuchars Airshow 2008(Tel: 01334 839000 | web: www.airshow.co.uk)

Goodwood, W Sussex: Goodwood Revival(Tel: 01 243 755000 | web: www.goodwood.co.uk/revival)

Elmsett, Suffolkl Elmsett Airfield 0pen Day(Tel:01473 8241 l6 |

web: elmsettairfield.co.uUopenday2008.shtml)

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Evening Air Display

Iel: 0 17 67 627 933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

OCTOBERDuxford, Cambs: Duxford Autumn Air Show(Tel: 01223 835000 | web: duxford.iwm.org.uk)

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Autumn Air Display(Tel: 01767 627933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

07

Abingdon, Oxon: Abingdon Air & Country Show(Tel: 01 235 5291 42 | web: www.abingdonfayre.com)

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection spring Air Display 25-27(Tel: 017 67 627 933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

l6-18 Hullavington, Wilts! Great Vintage Flying Weekend(Tel: 01 202 737430 | web: www.gvfwe.co.uk) 26

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Evening Air Display(Tel: 017 67 627 933 lweb: www.shuttleworth.org)

Duxford, Cambs: Duxford Spring Air Show(Tel: 01223 835000 | web: duxford.iwm.org.uk)

07

11

l1

17

13

18

19-21

25 Old Sarum, Wilts: SOPARA(Support Our Paras) Airshow

Goodwood,W SussexrGoodwood Aero Club Vintage Fly-in and Air Display(Tel: 01 243 755000 | web: www.goodwood.co.uk)

25-26 Southend seafront, Essex: Southend Airshow(Web: www.southendairshow.com) AUGUST

JUNE01 DCAE Cosford, Shropshire: Cosford Air Show

(Tel:0870 606 2014 | web: wwwcosfordairshow.co.uk)

20

01 Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Military Pageant Air Display

Iel: 017 67 627 933 lweb: www.shuttleworth.org)

07-08 Biggin Hill, Kent: Biggin Hill lnternational Air Fair(Tel: 01 959 5781 00 | web: www.airdisplaysint.co.uk)

1413-15 Wycombe Air Park, Bucks: AeroExpo 2008

(Tel: 020 8255 421 8 | web: www.expo.aero)

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Evening Air Display(Tel: 0'17 67 627933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

09

t4

14-15

14-15 Margate seafront, Kent: Margate's Big Event(Tel: 01 843 577 I 67 | web: www.visitthanet.co.uk)

RAF Halton, Bucks: DH Moth Club InternationalMoth Rally, Flying Display and Charity Flying Day(Tel: 01 442 862077 lweb: www.dhmothclub.co.uk)NOTE: MOTH RALLY ON SUNDAY ONLY

Old Warden, Beds:Shuttleworth Collection Evening Air Display(Tel 017 67 627933 lweb: www.shuttleworth.org)

FEBRUARY09 RNASYeovilton, Somerset: Fleet Air Arm

Museum Model 5how and British Model FlyingAssociation Flying Display(Tel: 01935 840565 | web: www.fleetairarm.com)

16

16-17 Rougham, Suffolk: Rougham Air Display 2008(Tel: 0'1359 270524 | web: www.roughamairfield.org)NOTE: FUIL DISPLAY ON SUNDAY ONLY

Turweston, Northants: Vintage Aircraft ClubValentine Rally (Tel: 01280 705400 |

web: www.vintageaircraft club.org.uk)l5 Kemble, Glos: Kemble Air Day 2008(Tel 01285 77 1 177 lweb: www.kembleairday.com)

Clacton seafront, Essex: Clacton Air Show(Tel: 0l 255 686633

|

web: wwwessex-su nshine-coast.org.uldAirShow.htm)Weston-super-Mare, N Somerset:The Helicopter Museum 0pen Cockpit Day(Tel:01934 635227

|

web: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk)

21-22

2A-29 London Ashford Airport, Lydd, Kent:Lydd Airshow 2008CANCELLED

Duxford, Cambs: American Air Day(Tel: 01223 835000 | web: duxford.iwm.org.uk)

22

JUTY05 London City Airport, Greater London:

London City Airport Fun Day

RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset:RNAS Yeovilton lnternational Air Day(Tel:0870 800 4030 | web: wwwyeoviltonairday.co.uk) 28-31

05-06 RAF Waddington, Lincs:RAFWaddington lnternational AirShow(Tel: 01 522 7261 00 |

web: www.waddingtonairshowco.uk)

05-06 Yatton, N Somerset: Woodspring Wings Show(Tel:0l l79679653 |

web: www.woodsprinqwings.co.uk)

06 OldWarden, Beds: Shuttleworth Collection SummerAir Display - 100th Anniversary ofBritish Aviation

lTel: 01767 627933 | web: www.shuttleworth.org)

1 1-'l3(Tel:01 243 755000 | web: wwwgoodwood.co.uk/fos)

12-13 Duxford, Cambs: Flying Legends Air Show 2008(Tel: 0l 223 835000 | web: duxford.iwm.org.uk orwww.fi ghter-collection.com)

Headcorn, Kent: Headcorn Flying Proms(Tel: 01622 891539 | web: www.flyingproms.com)

Dunsfold Park, Surrey:Wings &Wheels 2008(Tel: 0 1 483 200900 | web: www.wingsandwheels.net)

Sywell, Northants: Sywell Airshow 2008(Tel: 01604 491 1 12 | web: www.sywellairshow.co.uk)

Bournemouth seafront, Dorset:Bournemouth Air Festival 2008(Tel: 01 202 451 1 95

|

web: www.bournemouthairshow.co.uk)

30-31 Cornbury Parli Charlbury, Oxon:FIy to the Past 2008CANCELLED

30-3 1 Shoreham, W Sussex: RAFA Shoreham Airshow 2008fel:01273 441545 or 296900 |

web: wwwshorehamairshow.com)

Little Gransden, Cambs:Little Gransden Charity Air & Car Show(Tel: 07730 091 i 32 I

web: www.littlegransdenshowco.uk)

SEPTEMBER06-07 Duxford, Cambs: Duxford 90th Anniversary Air Show

(Tel: 01223 835000 | web: duxford.iwm.org.uk)

06-07 Foxlands Farm, Cosby, Leics:TheVlctory Show 2008(Tel: 0771 1 430472 | web: www.victoryshow.co.uk)

MARCH09 Weston-super-Mare, N Somerset:

The Helicopter Museum Open Cockpit Day(Tel:01934 635227

|

web: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk)

23

05

Henstridge Somerset: LAAWessex Strut Fly-in(Tel:01963 364231 |

web: www.wessexstrut.flyer.co.uk)

APRIT13 Popham, Hants:Jodel Fly-in

(Tel: 01 256 397733 |

web: www.popham-airfield.co.uk)

3l

Weston-super-Mare, N Somerset:The Helicopter Museum Open Cockpit Day

fiel:01934 635227 |

web: www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk)

Fenland, Lincs: Vintage Aircraft ClubDaffodil Rally (Tel: 01 280 705400 |

web: www.vintageaircraftclub.org.uk)

12-13 RAF Fairford, Glos:The Royal lnternational AirTattoo 2008(Tel: 01285 713300 I web: www.airtattoo.com)

Farnborough, Hants:Farnborough lnternational 2008(Tel: 01 252 532800 | web: www.farnborough.com)

Duxford, Cambs: Flying Proms(Tel: 01 223 835000 | web: duxford.iwm.org.uk)

Portrush, Coleraine, Nl:Northern lreland lnternational AirshowlTel:02870347234 |

web: wwwniinternationalairshow.co.uk)

19-20 North Coates, Lincs! Spring Fly-in(Tel: 01472 388850 | web: homepage.ntlworld.com/northcoatesflyingclub)

26-27 Old Warden, Beds, Auiation Wotld 2008(Web: www.aviationworld2008.com)

K2 Centre, Crawley, W Sussex: LGW 2008

-The 19th Gatwick International AircraftEnthusiasts Fair (Tel : u4a3 252628

|

web: www.gatwickaviationsociety.org,uk)19

10618

06-07

FEBRUARY'7 Laredo lnternational Airport, Laredo, TX:

WBCA Stars and Stripes Air Show Spectacular(Web: www.wbcalaredo.org)

73-24 Whitehorse Airport, YT:Yukon Rendezvous Sourdough Air Display(Web: www.geocities.com/sourdoughjack-2000)

MCAS Yuma, AZ: Yuma Alr Show 2007(Web: www.yumaairshow.com)

MARCH:5 NAF El Centro, CA:

El Centro Air Show 2008

:.3-1 3 Linder Regional Airport, Lakeland, FL:

5un 'n Fun Fly-in(Tel: USA 863 644 2431 | web: www.sun-n-fun.org)

Burnet Airport, Burnet, TX: Bluebonnet Air Show(Tel: U5A 512 756 2226 |

web: www.highlandlakessquadron.com/airshow.html)

Ohio River, Louisville, KY: Kentucky Derby

Festival Thunder over Louisville Airshow(Web: www.thunderoverlouisville.orq)

March ARB, CA:March Air Reserve Base Airfest(Web: www.marchfleldairfest.com)

Anderson, SC: Anderson Air Show

Laughlin AFB, TX: Laughlin AFB Air Show

10-1 1 Barksdale AFB, LA:Defenders of Liberty Open House and Air 5how(Tel: USA 3 1 8 456 5650 |

web: www.barksdaleairshow.org)

l0-11 LangleyAFB,VA:Air Power over Hampton Roads

(Tel: USA 757 764 2018 |

web: www.airpoweroverhamptonroads.com)

www.oirshows.info

07-08 Millville, NJ:Wings & Wheels - Millville Airshow 2008(Web: www.millvilleairshow.com)

07-08 Rockford, lL: Rockford Air Fest

(Web: www.flyrfd.com)

07-08 Rogue Valley Airport, Medford, OR:

Rogue Valley Air Festival

07-08 Smyrna, TN: Great Tennessee Air Show

1 3-1 5 Jean-Lesage lnternational Airport,Qu6bec City, QC: Qudbec lnternational Air Show(Web: www.quebecairshow.com)

Municipal Airport, Denton, TX:Denton Air Fair & Airshow

14

t-1 6

10-i 1

' :-16 Space Coast Regional Airport, Titusville, FL:

Valiant Air Command Warbird Airshow(Tel: USA32l 268 194'l I web: www.vacwarbirds.org)

17

Goodfellow AFB, TX: Air Show

'j-1 6 Metropolitan Airport, Columbus, GA:Thunder ln The Valley Air Show(Web: www.thunderinthevalleyairshow.com)

Mather Airport, Sacramento, CA:California Capital Airshow(Tel: USA 916 875 7077 I

web: www.californiacapitalairshow.com)-f, Riverside Municipal Airport, Riverside, CA:

Riverside Airshow 2008(Tel: USA 951 351 61 13

I

web: wwwriversideairshowcom)21

Tyndall AFB, FL: Gulf Coast Salute(Tel: USA 850 283 4500 |

web: www.tyndall.schultzairshows.com)

:l-30 NAS Meridian, MS: Wings Over Meridian 2008

APRIL 24-25

Slidell Municipal Airport, Slidell. LA:Slidell Airshow

24-25

:i-06 Charlotte County Airport, Punta Gorda, FL: 24-25Florida International Airshow(Web: www.fl-airshow.com)

Pittsburgh AR5, PA:

Wings over Pittsburgh Air Show and Open House

(Web: www.wingsoverpittsburgh.com)

Mcwhirter Field, Lancaster, sc:Lancaster Airshow

17-18 Andrews AFB, MD: Joint 5ervice Open House(Web: wwwjsoh.org)

17-18 Chino, CA: Planes of Fame Airshow 2008(Tel: UsA 909 597 3722 | web: wwwplanesoffame.org)

17-18 Fort Smith, AK:Fort Smith Regional Airshow 2008

17-18 Malmstrom AFB, MT:Malmstrom AFB 0pen House

Cranbrook, BC: Cranbrook Air 5how

23-25 Watsonville, CA:Memorial Day Weekend Fly-in and Airshow(Tel: USA 831 763 5600 I web: www.watsonvilleflyin.org)

Tinker AFB, OK: Star Spangled Salute(Web: www.tinker.af.mil/airshow/index.asp)

Florence, SC: May Fly Air 5how(Web: www.mayfl yairshow.com)

Janesville, Wl: Southern Wisconsin AirFest(Web: www.swairfest.org)

Jones Beach,Wantagh, NY: NewYorkAir Show(Tel: USA 631 321 3510

|

web: www.jonesbeachairshow.com)

Toronto, ON: CBAA 2008 - Canadian Eusiness

Aviation Association Annual Convention(Tel: Canada 61 3 236 561 1 | web: www.cbaa,ca)

Kingston, ON: Kingston Air 5how

20-22 Municipal Airport, Oshawa, ON:Canadian Aviation Expo(Web: www.canadianaviationexpo.com)

21 Klamath Falls, OR: Klamath Falls Air Show 2008

5an Carlos, CA:Vertical Challenge Helicopter Air Show(Tel: USA 650 654 0200 | web: www.hiller.org)

Valle, AZ: Planes of Fame High CountryWarbirds FIy-in and Airshow(Tel: U5A 909 597 3722 I web: wwwplanesoffame.org)

21-22 CFBBorden,ON:CFB Borden Open House

21-22 Davenport, lA: Quad City Air Show(Web: www.quadcityairshowcom)

21-22 Gateway Airport, 5ioux City, lA:Siouxlandl Airshow

25 Goderich, ON: Goderich Air Show

27-29 Front Range Airport,Watkins, CO: Rocky Mountain

EAA Regional Fly-in and Front Range AirShow(Tel: U5A 720 323 6784 | web: www.rmrfi.org)

Lake Tahoe Airport, South LakeTahoe, CA:Lake in the sky Air Show(Web: www.lakeintheskyairshow.com)

21

21

28

:i-06 NAS Kingsville, TX: Wings over South Texas24-25 Regional Airport, Columbia, MO:

Memorial Day 5alute to Veterans 2008 Air Show(Web: www.salute.org)

31 -01 Jun Poplar Grove Airport, Poplar Grove, lL:Army Wings and Wheels(Tel: USA 81 5 547 31 1 5

|

web: wwwarmywingsandwheels.com)

31-0i Jun Ramona, CA: Ramona Air Show(Web: www.ramonaairshow.com)

Magic Valley Regional Airport, Twin Falls, lD:Air Magic Valley 2008

28-29 Carp Airport, Ottawa, ON: Air Show ottawa(Tel: Canada 6l 3 27 1 81 65 |

web: www.airshowottawa.com)

ElmendorfAFB, AK: Arctic Thunder 2008 -ElmendorfAFB Air Show and 0pen House(Web: www.elmendorf.almil)

28-29 Huntsville, AL: Huntsville Airshow 2008

28

'2-13 RutherfordCountyAirport,Smyrna,TN:Smyrna Airshow

Ocala lnternational Airport, Ocala, FL:

Heart of Florida Airshow't-20 MacDill AFB, FL: MacDill AirFest 2008 JUNE

31-01 Jun Southport Airport, Portage Ia Prairie, MB: 28-29Manitoba Air Show 2008(Tel: Canada 204 428 6040 I

web: www.manitoba-airshow.com)

McGuire AFB, NJ:

Joint Base Open House 2008

Quonset State Airport, North Kingstown, Rl:Rhodelsland National Guard Open Houseand AirShow(Tel: USA 401 275 4110 | web: www.riguard.com)

JUtY02-06 W. K. Kellogg Airport, Battle Creelt Ml:

Battle Creek Field ofFlight Air Show and Balloon Festival

(Tel: USA 269 962 0592 I web: www.bcballoons.com)0l

' :-20

-*-

Greater Peoria Regional Airport, Peoria, lL:River City Air Expo - Prairie Air Show(Tel: USA 309 697 6757 | web:www.prairieair.org)NOTE: CHANGE OF DATE Westman, MB: Westman Air Show Dubuque, lN: Dubuque Fireworks Air Show

(Web: www.dubuque365.com/stage/info/1 663)

Tacoma, WA: Tacoma Freedom Fair Airshow(Web: www.freedomfair.com)

Q4 Tyler, TX: Tyler Air 5how

04-05 Regional Airport, Cape Girardeau, MO:Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival(Tel: U5A 573 334 6230 | web: ww.capeairfestival.com)

Goshen, IN: Freedom Fest Goshen Airshow(Tel: U5A 574 533 8245

|

web: www.freedomfestgoshen.com)

05-06 Binghamton,NY:6reaterBinghamtonAirshow

05-06 Grand Traverse Bay, Traverse, Ml:National Chetry Festival Air Show

{Tel: U5A 231 947 4230 I web: wwwchenyfestival.org)

01

Wilmington lnternational Airport,Wilmington, NC: Coastal Carolina Airshow(Tel: USA 910 341 4333)

Charleston AFB,5C:Charleston Air Expo 2008

Galveston lnternational Airport, Galveston, TX:1 8th Annual Spirit of Flight Airshow(Tel: USA 888 359 5736 | web:www.spiritofflight.org)

:'-27 Vidalia, GA: Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show(Tel: USA 91 2 538 8687

|

web: www.vidaliaonionfestival.com)

rfuAY:: Dyess AFB,TX:

Big Country Appreciation Day

:i-04 Fort Lauderdale Beach, FL: National Salute toAmerical Heroes Air & Sea Show CANCELLED

04 Kapuskasing, ON: Kapuskasing Air Show

Rantoul, lL: Chanute Air Festival

(Tel: USA 21 7 893 i 61 3 | web: www.aeromuseum.org)

Regional Airport, Reading, PA:

Mid-Atlantic Air Museum WW2 Weekend(Tel: USA 610 372 7333 | web: www.maam.org)

06-08 Yuba County Airport, Marysville, CA:

Golden West EAA Regional Fly-in and Air Show(Tel: USA 530 852 0321 |

web: www.qoldenwestflyin.org)

07-08 MCAS Cherry Point, NC:

[4CAs Cherry Point Air Show(Web: www.cherrypointairshow.com)

07-08 Manitowoc County Airport, Manitowoc, Wl:Thunder on the Lakeshore(Tel: USA 920 482 '1650

|

web: www.manitowocairshow.com)

Pensacola Beach, FL: Pensacola Beach Air 5how

06-08

05

11

Geneseo, NY: Geneseo Air Show(Tel: USA 585 243 2100 | web: www.1 941 hag.org)

8t107

AIRSHOW CATENDAR

12-13 Milwaukee Lakef ront, Milwaukee, Wl:Milwaukee Air Expo (Iel: U5A 41 4 247 9055

|

web: wwwmilwaukeeairexpo.com)

16 Thompson, MB:Thompson Air Show

19 Grand Forks AFB, ND:Thunder Over the Red River Air and space 5how

Hemet-Ryan Airport, Hemet, CA:Hemet-Ryan Airshow(Web: www.hemet-ryanairshow.orq)NOTE: CHANGE OF DATE

23 CFB Moose Jaw SK: 15 Wing Armed Forces Day 06-08 Orlando, FL: NBAA 2008 - National Business

Aircraft Association Annual Meeting & Convention(Tel: U5A 202 783 9000

|

y*_T!!..j9p,b\4'hl.)11-12 Alliance Airport, Foyt Worth, TX:

Fort Worth Alliance Air Show(Web: www.allianceairshow.com)

11-12 San Francisco Waterfront, San Francisco, CA:Fleet Week Airshow(Tel: USA 650 599 5057 | web: fleetweek.us)

17 CFB MooseJaw 5K:Snowbirds End ofYear Show

18-19 Dobbins ARB, GA:Open House and Wings over Marietta

23-24 Santa Maria, CA: Thunder over the Valley(Tel: USA 805 922 8758lweb:www.smmof.org)

27 Welland, ON: Welland Air Show

29 Laughlin AFB, TX: Air Amistad

30-31 Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, OH:Cleveland National Air Show(Tel:U5A216781 0747 l

web: www.clevelandairshow.com)

30-31 Travis AFB, CA:Travis Air Expo

30-01 5ep Lake Ontario, Toronto, ON:Canadian International Air Show(Tel: Canada 4l 6 263 3650 | web: www.cias.org)

SEPTEMBER06 Schenectady, NY: Empire State Aerosciences

Museum Northeast Air 5how

NA5 Brunswick ME:Great State of Maine Airshow(Web: wwwgreaterstateofmaineairshow.com)

06-07 NAS Lemoore,CA:Central Valley Lemoore Airshow

o6-o7 NAS Patuxent River, MD: Air Expo 08 -Southern Maryland Aviation Days

06-07 Stanfield lnternational Airport, Halifax, NS:

Nova 5cotia lnternational Air Show(Tel: Canada 902 46s 2725 | web: www.n5?I19ygl

o6-o7 Westover ARB, MA: Great New England Air Show

lyt41gi:{lgy1glandairshow.com) _

Stephenville, NL: Stephenville Air Show

10-14 Stead Field, Reno, NV:National Championship Air Races and Airshow(Tel:USA775 972 6663 | web: www.airrace.org)

'13 Greenville, MS: Mid Deita Air Festival & Airshow

Mount Comfort Airport, lndianapolis, lN:Indianapolis Air Show 2008(Tel: U5A 3 I 7 335 7252 | web: www.indyairshow.com)

23-24 Downtown Airport, Kansas City, MO:KC Aviation Expo & Airshow(Web: www,kcairshowcom)

23-24

19 Yellowknife, NT:

Yellowknife lnternational Air Show

19-20 Dayton, OH: Vectren Dayton Air Show(Tel: USA 937 898 5901 l

web: www.daytonairshow.com) -1918 LittIe RocKAFB, AR:19-20 Duluth, MN: Duluth Air Show

(Tel: U5A 21 8 628 9996 ]

web: www.duluthairshowcom)

19-20 Marquette Park, Gary, lN:Gary s South Shore Air Show

{Web: www.garyairshow.com)

(Tel: U5A 307 772 5040 | web:wwwwychey.ang.af.mil)

Prince George, AB: Prince George Air Show(Tel:USA5183772191)

26-27 Lethbridge, AB: Alberta Airshow 200806 Shaw AFB, 5C: Shawfest 08

06-07

AirPower Arkansas Air Show

Robins AFB, GA:Open House and Air Show

'18-19 Albert Whitted Airport, 5t Petersburg, FL:

St Petersburg Airfest(Tel:USA727 20462821web: www.stpetersburgairfest.com)

2s-26 Ellington Field, Houston, TX:Wings over Houston Airshow(Tel:UiA713266 44921

web: www.wingsoverhouston.com)

25-26 NAS Jacksonville, FL: NAS Jacksonville Air 5how

NOVEMBER01 -02 Lackland AFB, TX: Lackland AirFest 2008

(Web: www.lackland.af.mil/airshow)

01-02 Lafayette Regional Airport, Lafayette, LA:Lafayette Airshow

Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL:

World Space Expo

(Web: www.worldspaceexpo.com)

08-09 Nellis AFB, NV: Aviation Nation 2008(Web: aviationnation.org)

14-1 5 NAS Pensacola, FL: NAS Pensacola Open House

and Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show(Web: wwwnaspensacola.navy.mil)

APRITPribram Airfield, Prague, Czech Republic:AeroExpo Prague 2008(Iel: UK 020 8255 4000

|

web: www.expo.aero/prague)

30-01 MayNiederrhein Airport,Weeze, Germany:Airport Fifth Anniversary Airshow(Web: www.airport-weeze.de)

itle

19-20 Mcchord AFB, WA: McChord Air Expo 2008

23 Cheyenne, WY: Wyoming ANG Air Show

(Web: www.albertaairshow.com)

26-27 GreaterRochesterlnternationalAirport,Rochester, NY:2008 ESL International Air Show(Web: www.rochesterairshow.com)

26-27 Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, AB:Wetaskiwin Air Show 2008(Tel: Canada 361 1351 I

web: www.wetaskiwinairshow.com)

28-03 Aug Wittman Field, Oshkosh, Wl:EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008(Tel: U5A 920 426 4800 I web: www.airventure.org)

30 White Rock, BC: Wings over White Rock

AUGUST01-03 Lake Washington, Seattle, WA:

KeyBank Air Show at Seafair(Web: www.seafaircom)

Dawson Creek, BC: Dawson Creek Air Show(Tel: Canada 782 9595)

Penticton, BC: Penticton Air Show

Abbotsford, BC:Abbotsford lnternational Airshow(Tel: Canada 604 852 851 1

|

web: www.abbotsfordairshow.com)

03

06

0s 10

'13-14 Chippewa Valley Regional Airport,Eau Claire, Wl: Chippewa Valley Airshow

Hulman Field, Terre Haute, lN:Terre Haute Air Fair CANCEttED

20-21 Midland, TX: Fina-CAF Airsho 2008(Tel: USA 432 563 1 000 | web: www.airsho.org)

09-1 0 Fairchild AFB, WA: Skyfest 2008

2Q-21 NAS Oceana, VA: Oceana Airshow 2008(Web: www.oceanaairshow.com)

09-1 0

09-1 o

Storm Lake, lA: FIy lowa 2008(Web: www.flyiowa.org)

Toledo Express Airport, Swanton, OH:Toledo Airshow 2008

20-21 Scott AFB, lL: Scott AFB 0pen House(Web: www.scottairshow.com)

20 21 Victoria, BC: Victoria Air Show

24 Tri-Cities, WA: Tri-Cities Air show

09-1 0 Westover ARB, MA: Great New England Air Show(Web: www.greatnewen glandairshow.com)

Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti, Ml:Thunder over Michigan (Tel: UsA 734 483 4030 i

web: www.ya nkeeairmuseum.orglairshow)

Rocky Mountain House, BC:

Rocky Mountain House Air Show(Tel: Canada 403 322 0034 |

web: www.rockymtnhouseairshow.com)

Springbanlr AB: Sprlngbank Air Show

Camarillo, CA: Camarillo Air Show(Tel: USA 805 383 0686 I

web; www,camarilloairshow.com)

Chicago Lakefront, Chi(ago, lL:Chicago Air and Water Show(Tel: USA 31 2 744 33 1 5 | web: www.cityofchicago.org)

Offutt AFB, NE: Open House and Air Show(Web: www.offutt.af mil)

27-28 Chico, CA: Chico Air Show

zz zg Ct"nd Jun.tiotr, CO09-1 0 Air Show Western Colorado 2008

Salinas Municipal Airport, Salinas, CA:California lnternational Airshow(Tel: U5A 831 754 1 983 ] web: www.salinasairshowcom)

MAY01-04 Biscarrosse,France:

Rassemblement lnternational d'Hydravions(Tel: France 5 58 83 40 40

|

--y*r.*yrhv@02-04 Cannes-MandelieuAirport,Fran(e:EurAviaCannes 2008 - lnternational General Aviation Show(Web:www.euravia.com)

-__16-18 Kiel, Germany: Flugplatz Festival

(Web: www.flugtage.de)

BAI 1 5 Orange, France: French AF Meeting de lAir

24-25 Pratica di Mare AB, ltaly:Giornata Azzurra 2008

24-25 Vasteras, Sweden: Roll0ut 2008(Tel: Sweden 021 146055

|

web: www.f lygmuseum.com)

27-28

13

16-17

OCTOBER01 Douglas, AZ: Douglas Air show

04 Lincoln, CA: Lincoln Airport Day and Airshow(Web: www.lincolnairportday.com)

04 VanceAFB,OK:Partners in the Sky Air 5how 20-22 Geneva-CointrinAirport,Switzerland:

EBACE 2008 - European Business AviationConvention & Exhibition(Tel: Switzerland 2766 0076 | web: www.ebace.com)

16-17

04-05 Biggs AAF, El Paso, TX: Amigo Airsho 2008(Tel: U5A 915 562 6446 j web:www.amigoairsho.org)

MCAS Miramar, San Diego, CA: i\4iramar Air Show(Web: www.miramarairshow.com)

16-17

16-17 Santa Rosa, CA:Wings over Wine Country Air 5how(Tel: U5A 707 575 7900

|

web: www.pacificcoastairmuseum.org)

04-05

Municipal Airport, Redding, CA:Redding Air Show(Tel: U5A 530 222 1610 l

web: www.reddin gairshow.com)

l OBIE

04-1220

,3l!""tl. city, NJ,Th,

Alpena, Ml: Wings over Alpena(Web: www.wingsoveralpena.com)

Balloon Fiesta Park, Albuquerque, NM:Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 2008(Web: www.balloonfiesta.com)

Volkel, The Netherlands:Volkel in de Wolken Airshow(Web: www.volkelindewolken.nl)

27-01 Jun Berlin-Schiinefeld Airport, Germany:ILA 2008 Berlin Air Show(Tel: Germany 30 3038 2170 I web: www.ila2008.de)

iC-0i Jun Ganderkesee, Germany: Flugplatz Festival

(Web: www.flu gtage.de)

i1-01 Jun La Fert6Alais,France:Meeting A€rien de la Fertd Alais

{Tel: France 1 64 57 55 85 |

web: www,ajbs.fr or www.ferte-meeting.com)

i I -01 Jun LiCae-Bierset AB, Belgium:

_Belsian Helidays 2008 lorll9srP9!EDI9:90,

JUNE8A709 Cognac, France:French AF Meeting de lAir

Valen(e, France:lvleeting 46rien du GAIVl5TAT Valence

(Web: www.meeting-gamstatvalence.com)

Bremerhaven Airport, Germany:Air Bremerhaven 08 (Tel: Germany 471 972 340

|

web: www.regionalflu ghafen-bremerhaven.de)

St Stephan, Switzerland:5oYears ofthe Hunter in Switzerland(Web: www.hunterverein.ch/hunterfest-08.htm)

09-10 Ursel, Belgium: Wings and Wheels 2008(Tel: Belgium 9 235 3014

|

web: www.wingsandwheels.be)

lS-r z -ictratte*Ol"tt, A"tffilnternational Old-Timer Fly-in(Web: flyin.dac.be)

16-17 Kecskem6t,Hungary:HungarianlnternationalAir Show and Military DisPlaY

(Web: www.repulonaP.hu/airshow)

16-17 Tuzla, Romania: Black Sea Airshow and Fly-in

(Tel: Romania 451 7 9903)

All-Russia Exhibition Center, Mos(ow Russia:

IDELF 2008 - International Defense Exhibition(Tel: Russia 495 937 4081 | web: www.idelf.ru)

23-24 StGallen-AltenrheinAirport,Switzerland:lnternational Eodensee Airshow 2008(Web: wwwibas08.ch)

30-31 Aachen-Merzbriick, Germany: Westf lug Festival

(Web: www.fluqtage.de)

www.oirshows.info

21-23 Wanaka, New Zealand: Warbirds over Wanaka 2008

(Tel: New Zealand 3443 861 9 I

_ web:www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com) _Margate Airport, South Africa:N4argate Airshow

22-23 Temora, NSW, Australia:Temora Aviation Museum Flying Days

(Tel: Australia 2 6977 1088 |

web: www.aviationmuseum.com.au)

ft-oO np, nrturo wterino-B"nit". lnt"rn"tional AirPort,Santiago, Chile: FIDAE 2008(Tel: Chile 2 873 9755 | web: www.fidae.cl)

APRIT1 1 -1 3 Juan N. Alvarez lnternational Airport,

Acapulco, Mexi(o: Alextremo Air Show Acapulco

CANCELLED

zo-Zl f".--r, f'lSW, nutt-ti*_=--Temora Aviation Museum Flying Days

(Tel: Australia 2 6977 I 088 I

web: www.aviationmuseum.com.au)

MAY16 Hato Airport, Netherlands Antilles:

Dutch Caribbean NavY DaY

JUNE07-08 Temora, NSW, Australia:

Temora Aviation Museum Flying Days

(Tel: Australia 2 6977 1 088 I

web: www.aviationmuseum.com.au)

25-29 Rionegro, Colombia:Fourth International Aeronautical Fair

(Web: www.f-aircolombia.com.co)

SEPTEMBER17-21 AFB Ysterplaat, Cape Town, South Africa:

Africa Aerospace and Defence 2008(Web: www.aadexpo.co.za)

OCTOBER04-05 RAAFB Amberle, QLD, Australia:

Australian Defence Force Air Show

1 1 - I 2 Osan AB, Sorrth Kor""t An Po*.t D.v

r s-r s-rya"rab"d AirpottJndia: lndia Aviation 2008

26 HMAS Atbdtross, Nowra, NSW, Australia:Royal Australian Navy Air DaY

NOVEMBER04-09 Zhuhai, Guangdong, China:

Airshow China 2008(Web: www,airshow.com,cn)

1 1 -1 3 Dubai Airport Expo, Dubai, UAE:Dubai Helishow 2008(Tel: UK 01 293 823779 I

web: www.dubaihelishow.com)

CAIIING AtL ORGANISERSIlf you're planning an event in 2008, please get in touch

to have it included in Alrcraft lllusfrated's calendat

- the best in the businessl

I Fax: +44 (0)1932 266633

I e-mail: ben.dunnell@ianallanpublishing.co.uk

Disclaimer: This calendar has been compiled

from a number of different sources and remains

PROVISIONAL until confirmed by the organisers.

You are advised to use the calendar with caution and

confirm directly with the organisers that any event

that you plan to attend is taking place on the date

and at the venue expected, before making any travel

arrangements. lf we know a telephone number (and/or

web site) for an event we show it. Please notify us of

any changes you discover.

09

22

-08

::-08

__:

G6raszka, Poland: G6raszka Air Picnic

(Tel: Poland 640 2711 I web:wwwplknik-goraszka.pl)

Karup AB, Denmark: Royal Danish AF Airshow(Web: forsvaret.dk/FLV-Aabenthus)

30-31 Save Dep5, Giiteborg Airport, Sweden:Gdteborg Aero Show 2008(Tel: Sweden 3i 55 83 00 I web: www.aeroseum.se)

30-31 Griesheim Airfield, Darmstadt, Germany:Airshow - 1 00th Anniversary ofAugust Euler'Airfleld

(Tel: Germany 6151 166200 |

web: www.windkanal.tu-darmstadt.de)

SEPTEMBERMagdeburg Airport, Germany: Air 2008 Magdeburg

- 5port, Private & Business Aviation Trade Fair

(Tel: Germany 391 593450 |

weh www.air-maodeburo.com)

Brno-Turany Airport, czech Republic:Czech International Air Fest 2008(Tel: Czech Republic 2 660 346 83 |

web: wwwairshowcz)

Leos Janacek Airport, Ostrava, Czech Republic:NATO Day (Tel: Czech Republic 597 479 208 I

web: www.dennato.cz)

Stauning, Denmark:41 st lnternational KZ Rally and AirshowNOTE: AIRSHOW ON 14 JUNE ONLY

Maribor, Slovenia:lnternational Air Show Maribor(Web: www.lcm.si)

Leeuwarden AB, The Netherlands:KLU Open Dagen 2008(Web: www.luchtmacht.nl)

Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, Germany: Tempelhof

Emotions - Allied and Historic Aircraft Meeting(Tel: Germany 30 325 95 887

|

web: www.tempelhof-aviators.de)

A6rodrome Vidor Hamm, Sarre-Union, France:

Meeting Adrien (Tel: France 3 8800 1 1 96 |

web: www.acrsu,orglhtml/meetin g08,htm)

NAS Kiel-Holtenau, Germany:6th Kiel SAR Nleet Open Day(Web: www.sarmeet.de)

Bitburg, Germany: Luxembourg Air Show 2008

{Tel: Luxembourg 21 240 140 I web: wwwairshow.lu)

Rakowice-Czyzyny, Krak6w, Poland:Air Picnic

Roanne, France: l\4eeting Aerien de Roanne(Web: www.meeting-roanne.com)

Hilzingen/5ingen, Germany:22nd Hilzingen lnternational Airshow(Tel: Germany 7731 12422 | web: www.sfg-singen.de)

20

20

,w1

-a-29

-.__ 24-26 Romaero, Bu€harest, Romania:Black Sea Defence & Aerospace 2008(Tel: Romania 21 327 6651 | web:wwwbsda.ro)

:t 8A102 Dijon, France:French AF l\4eeting de lAir

BAN Landivisiau, France: Portes Ouvertes

JULY:j'C6 Florennes AB, Belgium: Belgian Defence Days

-:-13 Den Helder,The Netherlands: National Fleet Days

' '-: 3 Vichy, France: RSA National Rally 2008

(Web: www.rsafrance.com)

= 3 rclfr""gt"", St W.Scalaria Air Challenge 2008(web: www.airchallenqe.com)

8A702 Avord, France: French AF N4eeting de l?ir

27-28 5t Paul's Bay, Malta:l\4alta International Airshow 2008(Tel: N4alta 214 44089 | web:www.maltairshow.com)

OCTOBER14-16 Cas(ais Airport, Estoril, Portugal: Helitech Europe

(Tel: UK 020 8439 8894 |

web: www.helitecheuroPe.com)

FEBRUARY09-10 Temora, NSW, Australia:

Temora Aviation Museum Flying Days

(Tel: Aunralia 2 6977 1 088 |

web: www,aviationmuseum.com.au)

16-17 San lsidro AB, Dominican Republic:2008 Caribbean Airshow(Web: www.schultzairshows.com/DomRep2008.htm)

vigo, Spain: Festival Adreo Vigo 2008

(Tel: Spain 608 883 552 I

web: www.festivalaereovigo.com)':':0 Tannheim,Germany:Tannkosh2008

(Tel: cermany 8395 1244 | web: www.edmt.de)

_a-27

AUGUST:- Katwijkseafront,TheNetherlands:

5AR Katwijk 2008 (Web: www.sarkatwijk.nl)

Hechtel, Belgium: Sanicole lnternational Airshow(Tel: Belgium 1 134 7739 | web: www.sanicole.com)

Augsburg, Germany: Augsburg Airshow 2008

(Tel: Germany 9403 9529 426J

web: www.abacus airshow.de)

19-24 New Changi Exhibition Centre, Changi North,Singapore: Singapore Airshow 2008(Tel:5ingapore 6542 8660

|

web: www.singaporeairshow,com.sg)

MARCH07-09 Hamilton lnternational Airport, New Zealand:

New Zealand International Air Show 2008(Web: www.airshow,co.nz)

Bray seafronq Republic oflreland: Bray Air Display

(Web: www.brayairdisplay.com)

Eli 09

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Bristol Airport Enthusiasts' FairSunday 6th April 2008

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APicture Gallery

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George Pick Aerotourc 2008 ArnT g^q.N,II NTIA,GE s.tntrres and adventures for the more discerning aviationaGrrsiast:-r,q.rs in the planning include.

17 Hay Civil Airports tour of China visiting to include Guanghanri: Museum, Chengdu, Guangzhou Baiyan, Kunming, Shenzen'-:.ir.ran, Shanghai Hongqiao & Pudong, Beijing, Datang Shan!J-s€um and Xian

Hay 2008. The Floatplane flyin - Southwest France.r. ,,eekend to enjoy local flying and French wine and hospitality.

2 tours to Russia to include2i June / 1 July - Moscow Weekend Visiting Bykovo, Vnukovo,lomodedovo, & Chkalovskaya with extension to St. Petersburg.

30 August - 12 Sept - Gelendzhik Hydro Air Salon - Flying boatweekendCovering aviation interests in South west Russia and Ukraine.

Sept. Weekend tour to the Hungary. - Airfields & Museums -

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23 Oct - 3 Nov. Wings over Houston, & Lackland AFB Airshows'Tour of Texas Aviation in Houston. Fort Worth & San Antonio. - air-

oorts, museums, flying & ranching.

Full tours information available soon on website.

ContactGeorge PickAeroburs, 11 Scraptoft Lane, Leicester. LEs 2FD'Tel: 0't16 2761818; Fax No. 020 7900 6416;

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Five years after her arrival back on British shores, R41 18 tookflight again.This poignant moment is captured both on theground and in the air. Plus you'll get a unique walk-round of theaircraft, its controls and instruments and see her in flight fromboth inside and outside the cockpit!

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