Category: raf cosford

de Havilland Tiger Moth

This de Havilland Tiger Moth was on display at RAF Cosford.

de Havilland Tiger Moth

The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.

de Havilland Tiger Moth

It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft.

In addition to the type’s principal use for initial training, the Second World War had RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.

It was in this capacity as a light bomber, I wrote a post about how the de Havilland Tiger Moth may have been used to fight German forces during Operation Sealion in what the British forces called Operation Banquet.

Operation Banquet was a British Second World War plan to use every available aircraft against the planned German invasion in 1940, the German code name was Operation Sealion.

More photographs of the de Havilland Tiger Moth at RAF Cosford.

 

Bristol Blenheim IV

The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. It’s first flight was in 1935 and entered service with the RAF in 1937.

This Bristol Blenheim IV was on display at RAF Cosford.

As the Allied Ground and Air Forces faced defeat in May 1940 the RAF had to use its light bomber force in desperate daylight raids against German army bridgeheads in France and the Low Countries. The Blenheim Mk IVs and Fairey Battles used in these attacks suffered crippling losses. In fact no higher loss, in operations of a similar size, has ever been suffered by the Royal Air Force.

The Blenheim Mk IV, with its redesigned and longer nose, superseded the Blenheim I on the production lines in 1938.

The original short nose Blenheim Mk I had been developed from a civil aircraft and was one of the first new high performance monoplanes ordered under RAF Expansion Plans.

After the fighting in France was over Coastal and Bomber Command Blenheim Ivs began day and night attacks against German occupied ports and installations in frantic attempts to disrupt their invasion plans.

Blenheim IVs also served in North Africa and the Far East.

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc

This Hawker Hurricane was on display at RAF Cosford.

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF).

It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire’s role during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 per cent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the engagement, and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War.

More photographs of the Hawker Hurricane.

Hawker Hurricane Mk I at the Science Museum.

Hawker Hurricane Mk I at RAF London.

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIb at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

More photographs of this Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc at RAF Cosford.

Messerschmitt BF109G-2/Trop

This Messerschmitt BF109G-2/Trop was on display at RAF Cosford.

Messerschmitt BF109G-2/Trop

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and was still in service at the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War II in 1945.

More photographs of the Messerschmitt BF109G-2/Trop.

 

Supermarine Spitfire Mk I

The Spitfire is the most famous British fighter aircraft in history. It won immortal fame during the summer months of 1940 by helping to defeat the German air attacks during the Battle of Britain.

Spitfire Mk1

1566 Spitfire Is were built and this machine at RAF Cosford is the oldest surviving example of its type.

The prototype made its first flight four years earlier as Britain’s industry geared up to re-arm against the threat from Nazi Germany. From the beginning pilots recognised it as a thoroughbred combining a perfection of design with superb handling characteristics.

Perhaps the greatest compliment paid to this aircraft was made at the height of the Battle of Britain by a German ace, who in a moment of anger and frustration, turned to his Commander in Chief and demanded a squadron of Spitfires!

More photographs of the Supermarine Spitfire Mk I at RAF Cosford.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk I at RAF London.

Spitfire Mk1a at the Science Musuem.

Gloster Gladiator

The Gloster Gladiator is a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s.

The Gloster Gladiator was the RAF’s last biplane fighter and the first to feature an enclosed cockpit for the pilot. Deliveries began in 1937, with Gladiators continuing to serve in the early years of the Second World War.

During the Battle of Britain, Gladiators of No. 247 Squadron protected the Plymouth naval dockyards, frequently escorting inbound convoys. Withdrawn from UK front line defence in 1941, they continued to be used for metrological reconnaissance and training.

The Gladiator on display at RAF Cosford was built in 1937 and was employed on trials and training duties, Although it never took part in the Battle of Britain, it is used here to represent the Gladiator’s role in that conflict.

In the world of the Very British Civil War which is post 1936, you might expect to see squadrons of Gloster Gladiators flying from the aerodrome at Brockworth, and fighting for the Royalist Army of the Severn Valley. The Gloster Factory was in Cheltenham which was at the heart of the Severn Valley.

N5628 – Gladiator II forward fuselage is on static display at the Royal Air Force Museum London. It is displayed unrestored

Sopwith 1½ Strutter

This Sopwith 1½ Strutter was on display at RAF Cosford.

The Sopwith two-seater, quickly named the 1½ Strutter because of the unusual arrangement of its central mainplane bracing struts, was designed in 1915 as a high performance fighting aircraft. It was ordered in large numbers for both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service and it was widely used by escadrilles of the French Aviation Militaire as well as Belgian and United States air forces.

This aircraft was built to original Sopwith factory drawings and flown in 1980.

More photographs of the Sopwith 1½ Strutter.

Sopwith Pup

The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful and was regarded by many pilots at the perfect flying machine.

This Pup was at RAF Cosford. Built in 1916 and flew on the Western Front. It was extensively rebuilt this plane was recovered from France around 1960.

It last flew in 1976.

Many thought the name “Pup” was undignified and wanted the aircraft to be referred to as the Sopwith Scout, which did more than anything else to ensure the name Pup was used.

More photographs of the Sopwith Pup.

Consolidated PBY Catalina

The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served with the RAF, as well as every branch of the United States Armed Force, and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. The last military PBYs served until the 1980s. The aircraft continues to fly as a waterbomber (or airtanker) in aerial firefighting operations in some parts of the world. None remain in military service.

This PBY Catalina was on display at RAF Cosford.

This was a Royal Danish Air Force Catalina.

I have always found this an interesting plane design. I once had a 1/300th metal model of it, which never stayed together due to the way the wings are connected to the fuselage. That was a badly designed model kit.

More photographs of the Consolidated PBY Catalina.