Recently in Aircraft Category

With the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters raid - Operation Chastise - here's a couple of pictures to commemorate the event. First up is this shot of an Avro Lancaster from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight taken by AirSpace user Sunshine Band. More details on the history of this particular bomber is here. The second image comes from the UK Ministry of Defence showing the same Lancaster performing a fly-past over Derwent reservoir in the Peak District, a key training location for the raid.

This from regular AirSpace contributor Martin Needham: "On 12 May 2013, Andre Tempest's Handley-Page Victor, XL231 "Lusty Lindy" roared into life and performed her first taxi run in almost three years. She is seen here kicking up the spray left by a downpour on what was a grim Yorkshire day."

Gorgeous photograph this one, featuring a Boeing 747 operated by Thai Airways International at Phuket airport in Thailand. The picture was taken by AirSpace contributor ApisitiJ. Flightglobal's Ascend database records the airline as operating 16 of the passenger jets, with a further two converted to freighters.

British and French combat helicopters recently got together for a Joint Warrior exercise in the UK, which coincidentally also provided an excellent photo opportunity. Staged at West Freugh airfield in Scotland, the manoeuvres included using British Army Apaches and French army Gazelles to escort Royal Air Force Chinook transport helicopters carrying troops into a simulated combat zone, with the services taking turns in leading the offensive. Other participants shown in this 16 Air Assault Brigade-provided image are Lynx and Puma aircraft from the respective services.

Lifted from the US Air Force's image gallery is this shot of a Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle - based at RAF Lakenheath in England but deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom - topping up its fuel tank from a Boeing KC-10 Extender over Southwest Asia. And the title? Again from the USAF site.

To celebrate its 100th birthday, Alenia Aermacchi has sent through this cracking pic of its four key products all crowding into the same small piece of sky. So we have a Eurofighter, a C-27J, a M-346 and an SF-260. Molto bellisimo.

Top shot from Rex, via the US Navy, of this gaggle of aircraft from the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group flying in formation during an air power demo over the Pacific Ocean.

Pictured aboard HMAS Choules earlier in April is this Australian Army Aviation Corps MRH-90  helicopter with, the picture caption reads, "lashings fitted and engines still running on the flight deck off the coast of Sydney, NSW". Australia has 15 of the NH Industries-built transport helicopters in its inventory with a further 31 on order according to Flightglobal's World Air Forces directory.

Nice picture - and indeed, sentiment - on our AirSpace forum from regular Hounddogone of British Airways' "Firefly" a specially liveried Airbus A319 which was used to transport the Olympic torch to London prior to the games last year.