85 years ago this month. the Supermarine Spitfire took off for the first time.

 This photo was taken three years later in May 1939.

Luftwaffe Eurofighters refuelling from an A400M.

 

3 Sea King ASAC Mk7s.

 

Lockheed P-58 Chain Lightning.

 The Lockheed P-58 Chain Lightning is a long range, twin-engined heavy fighter based on the P-38 Lightning. It's designed to use heavy armament to rapidly assault high altitude bombers, with a tail gunner to protect against pursuit aircraft.

F-16 Fighting Falcon Sukhoi Su-22M4 Mikoyan MiG-29.

 

A Supermarine Walrus is launched from the battleship HMS Warspite for an anti-submarine patrol off the Seychelles. HMS Formidable is in the background.

 

AMERICAN AIRCRAFT IN ROYAL AIR FORCE SERVICE 1939-1945: CONSOLIDATED MODEL 32 LIBERATOR. (CH 18035) Liberator GR Mark IIIs, FK228 ?M? and FL933 ?O?, of No. 120 Squadron RAF, lined up with other aircraft at Aldergrove, County Antrim. The third aircraft in line is a GR Mark V, FL952, of No. 86 Squadron RAF. The Mark IIIs are equipped with ASV Mark II anti-submarine radar, while FL952 carries centrimetric ASV radar in a radome under the nose.

 

An A-1 Skyraider from squadron VA-176 Thunderbolts on deck of USS Intrepid (CVS 11) in September 1966.

 

Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant aircraft being towed from muddy ground in Tunisia.

 

An elephant pulling a Supermarine Walrus aircraft into position at a Fleet Air Arm station. 1944.

 

Curtiss SOC-1s on the Light Cruiser USS Cincinnati.

 

RAF Washington.

In the late 1940s the USA supplied 87 B-29 aircraft to the UK as part of the Mutual Defence Assistance Programme to fill a gap in the RAF inventory until the new Canberra bomber entered service. The aircraft were given the RAF designation Washington.

F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and F-16 Fighting Falcon.

 

The DRDO Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS) is a project of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation to develop an airborne early warning and control system for the Indian Air Force. It is also referred to as NETRA Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS).

 

XF5U-1—called the “flying pancake”

 

A U.S. Navy Grumman JRF Goose amphibian in flight over mountains in Alaska 1942/43.

 

E-2B "Hawkeye" prepares to launch from the USS Enterprise during RIMPAC 1978.

 

The Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess was a British flying boat aircraft developed and built by Saunders-Roe at their Cowes facility on the Isle of Wight. It has the distinction of being the largest all-metal flying boat to have ever been constructed.

 

Royal Australian Navy Englinton based Fairey Firefly and Hawker Sea Furys fly in formation over the Northern Ireland countryside. 1949.

 

B17 Flying Fortress.

 

In 1953 the Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighter entered service with the Fleet Air Arm, RoyalNavy at 806 NAS at RNAS Brawdy. The Sea Hawk was prolific during the Suez crisis but was only in service until the early 60s

 

This aircraft was originally test-flown on 23 March 1945 and subsequently delivered to JG7. The British then captured it at Schleswig. Became AM51, now on static display Aerospace Museum at Cosford, England.

 

F-18 Super Hornets.

 

Lockheed SR-71/BLACKBIRD

 

Boulton Paul Defiant Mk Is of 264 Sqn RAF based at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, late July 1940.

 

Seven WW1 aircraft being transported in the belly of an RCAF C-17 in 2017. Remarkably, 4 aircraft (Nieuport 11s) fit with only their tail fin removed. The other 3 (Sopwith Pups and an SE5a) required some disassembly.

 

US Navy Sabre. QF-86.

 

The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barracuda was developed as a replacement for the Fairey Albacore biplanes.

 

Ukranian Su-24 Fencer.

 

De Havilland Mosquito TR.33. 2 units of the FB Mk.VI variant were converted into carrier borne maritime attack aircraft in June 1945, despite performing well the idea did not progress.

 

Fleet Air Arm Fairey Gannet.

 

A U-2 Dragon Lady flies over the Golden Gate Bridge near San Francisco, California, 2016. The U-2 is capable of flying at altitudes exceeding 70,000 ft.

 

RAF.

 An Avro Lancastrian III flying on the power of two Rolls-Royce Nene jet engines which have replaced the two outer Rolls Royce Merlins on this engine test-bed, 24 September 1946.

17 November 1946: A modified Avro 691 Lancastrian C.1, VH742, under the command of Rolls-Royce’s chief test pilot, Captain Ronald Thomas Shepherd, O.B.E., flew from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget (LBG) for 17th Salon de Aviation (Paris Air Show) with two Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene Mk.I turbojet engines for propulsion. The airplane’s two Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 piston engines were shut down, except for takeoff and landing, and their three-bladed propellers were feathered to reduce drag. It was the first-jet-powered passenger transport to fly from one country to another.

Junkers Ju 87 R-2/Trop Werknummer 5954 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL. This aircraft was captured by British forces in 1941 in North Africa, and delivered to the US for evaluation in WWII, it is the last intact Stuka in a museum.

 

The Blue Angel's "Fat Albert" C-130J Super Hercules is parked on the apron onboard Naval Air Facility (NAF) El Centro, 2021.

 

MIT's of the Indian Air Force: Top to bottom. MiG-25, MiG-27, MiG-29, MiG-23 and MiG-2

 

Chaff and Flare dispensers on a Chinook.

 

Sanders Roe a29 cloud, 1934.

 

Two Buccaneers and a Sea Vixen from HMS Eagle visiting RNZAF Base Ohakea. August 1971.