News category for articles
The sharply painted M-STAR, a 1981 built Boeing 727-2X8 began its final series of flights from Dubai to the Cotswolds on 31st January 2024, for a somewhat unknown future. Westleigh Bushell was on hand at Cotswold Airport to witness what could be the aircraft's final landing. History…. Having always been in the VIP/Business jet role, M-STAR [...]
On Monday October 23rd 2023, three 665 Squadron, 5 Regiment Army Air Corps Westland Gazelle AH1s departed RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland for a short tour of UK landmarks. This brings to an end this chapter of the aircrafts UK military service life with the official end of service date being October 31st 2023. Ian [...]
Fast, sleek, agile and sporty; words which are often used to describe and sum up the Westland Lynx - a helicopter that, in March 2017, will finally reach the end of a remarkable forty-one years of service with the Royal Navy. Mark Kwiatkowski reports from the last home of the Royal Navy Lynx, RNAS Yeovilton. [...]
On August 31, 1956 at just after 1pm local time, a new Boeing jet took to the skies for its first flight. That jet, Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker 55-3118 named ‘City of Renton’, started a story that is now 60 years old – and continuing! In 2016, the KC-135 is still the backbone of the United [...]
Wednesday 29th June 2016 saw a significant milestone for the F-35 program, as the first deployment of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II to the United Kingdom commenced with three aircraft landing at RAF Fairford, including one of the first three examples for the Royal Air Force. Plans for the F-35 participation at the Royal International [...]
In a time where the UK’s classic jet scene is adjusting to the post Shoreham era, many in the aviation community have asked what the future will hold for it. That said, 2015 saw the formation of The Jet Provost Display Team who hope to make their mark on the circuit with the world’s sole [...]
It’s all but impossible to miss news of a United States Presidential visit to the United Kingdom, or indeed to any country – the event is always marked with significant pomp and circumstance, as befits the reception of a foreign Head of State. What normally does go unnoticed is the huge level of logistical support [...]
The Easter Rising of 1916 was the most significant uprising in Ireland against Britain since the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798, and is generally regarded as the first time that an Irish Republic was declared. A century on and the Irish Air Corps took part in a series of flypasts across the Republic of Ireland [...]
The 31st of March 2016 heralded another sad day in the history of UK military aviation as the iconic dark green Westland Sea King HC4 Commando helicopters, affectionately known as 'Junglies', were retired from active service after nigh on 36 years of providing a heavy lift and troop carrying capability to the Royal Navy and [...]
Friday 31st July 2015 saw an historic moment for the British Army Air Corps (AAC), with the retirement of the Westland Lynx AH.7 helicopter. The Lynx has been a key asset to the AAC for just over 38 years, having first taken to the skies in June 1977 as a Lynx AH.1. Throughout the long and [...]
