Category: raf cosford

V2 Ballistic Missile

The V2 was the world’s first long range guided ballistic missile. he missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Germany as a “vengeance weapon”, assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities.

This V2 missile was on display at RAF Cosford.

It is one of several rockets prepared by the British with support from German troops during Operation Backfire. It so happened that this rocket was not launched during the Backfire tests. Operation Backfire was a military scientific operation during and after the Second World War that was performed mainly by British staff. The operation was designed to completely evaluate the entire V-2 rocket assembly, interrogate German personnel specialised in all phases of it and then to test and launch missiles across the North Sea.

More photographs of the V2 at RAF Cosford.

Junkers Ju88R-1

The Ju88 was the most versatile German combat aircraft in World War Two. It began life as a bomber, became a night fighter and intruder; undertook anti-shipping operations and flew long-range reconnaissance missions. It is one of the truly great multi-role combat aircraft.

This Ju88R-1 was a C-series night fighter with BMW 801 engines and was on display at RAF Cosford.

Junkers Ju88R-1

Deliveries of the first production aircraft took place in September 1939 and on the 26th it undertook its first operational mission against British shipping in the Firth of Forth. It was not until the Battle of Britain, however, that the Ju88A played a major role in German operations. At the time of the Battle of Britain the Ju88 was at the beginning of its service career and its remarkable adaptability, particularly as a night fighter, had still to be exploited by the Luftwaffe.

Junkers Ju88R-1

This aircraft is thought to have been built in mid–1942 as a model A bomber, before being converted to a model R–1 fighter in early 1943. It was flown to Scotland by its defecting crew in May 1943; two of the three crew on board (who may have been British agents) had taken the decision to defect after being ordered to shoot down a civilian BOAC Mosquito courier flight from Sweden to the UK.

Junkers Ju88R-1

The surrender of this aircraft was of great intelligence value at the time, as it was fitted with the latest UHF-band FuG 202 Liechtenstein BC A.I radar. The Ju 88R-1 was operated by the RAF’s No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight and evaluated in depth by various British groups.

Junkers Ju88R-1

More photographs of the Junkers Ju88R-1.

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