USAF B-52 escorted by British F-35B and Norwegian F-35A jets during the annual US nuclear command-and-control exercise Global Thunder 26.HMS Prince of Wales operating in the high North with HMS Dauntless and HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen, part of NATO exercise Neptune Strike 26-4.

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US Navy tests long-range control of MQ-25A tanker drone from an aircraft carrier to extend fighter combat range. to extend fighter combat range.

 

Avro Vulcan B1, VX770, was the first prototype Avro Vulcan (“Great White Delta”), 1958, operating out of Hucknall and fitted with Rolls-Royce Conway engines for flight trials. While executing a high-speed low pass and shallow climb at roughly 350 knots, the aircraft suffered a gross structural failure of the starboard wing main spar. 7 fatalities.

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A captured Heinkel He 177 A-5 Greif heavy bomber of the German Luftwaffe, repainted with British Royal Air Force (RAF) roundels and D-Day-style invasion stripes for test and evaluation flights in England during World War II. Designated TS439, this specific aircraft (ex-F8-AP of II./KG 40) was captured or landed intact and was flown and evaluated by British test pilots—including the famous Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough in 1944–1945.

 

The Antonov An-22Sh (Ан-22Ш) was a proposed outsized cargo variant of the An-22 strategic transport aircraft, developed in the late 1970s to carry components for the Soviet space program. The program needed a reliable means of transporting large and heavy hardware, particularly the core stages of the Energia rocket and components of the Buran space shuttle, from manufacturing facilities directly to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Rather than carrying the payload externally, engineers considered enlarging the An-22’s rear fuselage to a diameter of between 8.3 and 9.6 metres, allowing the oversized components to be transported internally. However, wind tunnel tests and engineering assessments revealed that the enormous, bulbous fuselage would create serious aerodynamic and stability problems. These difficulties ultimately proved insurmountable, and the An-22Sh project never progressed beyond the design and model-testing stages.

 

The Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a massive German flying boat developed during World War II. It was the largest Axis aircraft of the war and one of the heaviest aircraft ever flown at the time. Designed for long-range maritime patrol, transport, and bomber roles, it was intended to support operations across vast oceanic distances, but only one prototype was completed and flown.

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Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was an American supersonic interceptor and fighter-bomber developed during the 1950s. Often called the “missile with a man in it,” or the widowmaker by the Luftwaffe due to high losses, it featured a needle-nosed fuselage, a high T-tail, and extremely short, razor-thin stub wings built for raw speed and high-altitude climbs.

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