Operational Reports

The Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) is significantly modernising its flying training. In 2015, Alenia Aermacchi’s T-346A advanced jet trainer entered service and 2016 will see the recently announced introduction of Tecnam’s P2006T for basic multi-engined training. Within a few years, the Alenia Aermacchi M-345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET) looks poised [...]

RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire has regularly seen United States Air Force (USAF) long-range bombers deployed to support ongoing multinational exercises in Europe, namely BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) and Saber Strike, over the last couple of years. Duncan Monk reports on the 2016 exercise and its participants. Touching down on RAF Fairford’s [...]

Twelve F-22 Raptors from the 95th Fighter Squadron ‘Boneheads’ along with pilots from both the 95th and 301st Fighter Squadrons (FS), operating under the banner of the 95th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (EFS), and supplemented by approximately 220 personnel from Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB), Florida recently undertook a month-long deployment [...]

Known the world over as home to the United States Air Force’s Northrop B-2 Spirit fleet, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, also has a number of other units and aircraft assigned to its command. For this article we overview the 509th Bomb Wing and feature the lesser known aircraft and [...]

Located in the High Desert of North Nevada and a little over an hour’s drive from Reno, Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon is host to VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’, the Naval Strike and Warfare Center (NSAWC) and the infamous TOPGUN - the Navy Fighter Weapons School. As well as the host [...]

  Assigned to the United States Air Force (USAF), Air Combat Command has two operational Bomb Wings (BW) - the 7th BW at Dyess AFB Texas with some 32 B-1Bs and, 1000 miles north, the 28th BW at Ellsworth AFB Rapid City South Dakota with 27 jets. AeroResource’s Mark Forest [...]

In part 2 of a series of F-35 articles for AeroResource, Mark Forest & Jason Grant take a look at the oft troubled development of the Lightning II, the progress to date with bringing the aircraft into service and what plans the future holds. For Part 1 - CLICK HERE Overview [...]

The Royal Air Force are quite often criticised for the lack of “special scheme” celebratory or commemorative aircraft they produce compared to other air arms, but it’s fair to say that 2015 seems to buck the trend. As time marches on towards the 100th anniversary of the RAF, many squadrons are [...]

Having discussed the ‘Delta Lady's return to flight, James Innes interviews Kevin Rumens, one of XH558’s Display Pilots. Better known as Kev, he is lucky enough to have displayed the aircraft both in service with the Royal Air Force and in civilian hands post-restoration. Balancing his role of flying 558 [...]

On June 5th, arriving under the callsign ZARP 43/44/45, three US Air Force Boeing B-52H Stratofortress bombers from the 5th Bomb Wing out of Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota landed at RAF Fairford for a short two week deployment as part of the BALTOPS 15 and SABER STRIKE 15 [...]

More than 90 United States Marines Corps combat aircraft and crews recently made the bi-annual journey to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma in the western Arizona desert. They were in attendance for part two of the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-15 (WTI 2-15), an advanced tactical aviation training [...]

Two green discs in the dark and a deep humming noise – to many, these are the calling cards of the 7th SOS CV-22B Osprey departing or returning from another night sortie. But what do these elusive tilt rotors actually get up to on their nocturnal flights? Ben Montgomery joined [...]

When the final flying Avro Vulcan B2, serial number XH558, landed at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome on Tuesday 23rd March 1993 very few expected to see this historic type grace the skies of Great Britain again. This Cold War giant was expected to spend its twilight years undertaking fast taxi runs down [...]

Located approximately 40 miles north of San Diego in North County California is the United States Marine Corps’ largest West Coast expeditionary training facility - Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Covering more than 125,000 acres with both mountainous and coastal training environments, the base is home to 1st Marine Expeditionary [...]

Early on the 19th of April, on a cold and very windy Keevil airfield, the Sunday morning quiet was taken over by the sound of helicopters. This wasn’t an aerial invasion by a foreign nation, but the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force conducting an airfield assault as [...]

Exercise Joint Warrior 15-1 was the latest in a long running series of multinational exercises taking part in the UK. With 55 ships from 14 nations taking part, Joint Warrior 15-1 was the biggest to date. RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland again played a major part in the exercise with the [...]

Located on the Ayrshire coastline, Prestwick Airport is no stranger when it comes to military aircraft with a long and distinguished history in aviation in Scotland. In recent years, the airport has seen an increase in military use of the airfield both in day-to-day transits and becoming an integral part [...]

Aggressor aircraft in their distinctive colour schemes are a common sight at Nellis AFB and over the Nevada Test and Training Range. However, with the recent deactivation the 65th Aggressor Squadron consigning the Russian aircraft marked Eagles to the annals of history, and with the latest generation of aircraft becoming [...]

The annual international Anatolian Eagle exercise held at Turkey's Konya air base took place in late June against a backdrop of continuing unrest in Syria and a surge in militant activity in Iraq. With so much uncertainly so close to Turkey's doorstep the need to train and cooperate with NATO [...]