December 2012 Archives

To commemorate the closure of Bristol's Filton airport - a location that has played a key role in the UK aerospace industry - on 21 December, here's a shot of one of the last "heavy" movements in, an Airbus A380 visiting to take company employees on a short flight. Pic by Michael Buckle.

Nothing says Happy Christmas and peace and goodwill to all men like a picture of a Lockheed Martin F-35 in all its death-dealing glory, wearing a 4.6m diameter Santa hat. Thanks to the Norwegian ministry of defence for the smile-inducing image.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 launcher lifts off on its recent CRS-1 mission to resupply the ISS.

SpaceX hopes to benefit from the next rolling five-year USAF launch contract, with the latest round of announcements imminent.

Check out the full story here

Top snapping from Demetrius Vanspranghe, one of the photographers shortlisted for Flight International's front-cover contest, who took this classy shot of a Junkers Ju52/3m at Brussels Air Museum in Belgium.

Glorious image here of a Supermarine Spitfire posted on our AirSpace site. Part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the iconic fighter was snapped by user sunshine band at RAF Waddington. 

To celebrate the F-35 surpassing 5,000 flight hours last month, Lockheed Martin has pushed out this lovely picture of the B-model doing its STOVL thing.