Recently in Defence Category

Head over to our DEW Line blog to hear the story of a passenger who ejected himself from an aircraft mid-flight.

So many questions arise from this video. It can't be real. Can it? There's no dust. And anyway, which aircraft is it?

Some say it's a Mirage, others say a Harrier, and a Super Hornet is another suggestion.

Let us know your thoughts....

A Handley Page Victor bomber aptly nicknamed "Teasin' Tina" gave shocked onlookers more than they bargained for when it accidently took off during the Cold War Jets day at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome.

The Cold War bomber apparently took off as the co-pilot (who was an engineer and not a pilot, cue the "engineers can never be pilots" jokes) accidently hit the throttle when the aircraft was meant to just taxi down the runway for a photo shoot.

The saviour came in the form of a retired RAF Group Captain Bob Prothero (cue the "RAF are the best jokes") who grabbed the controls and steered the bomber back onto the ground, where it eventually came to a stop at the end of a runway.

So all ends that ends well, except i have a couple of questions:

1. Why wasn't there a certified pilot at the controls in the first place?
2. How can you accidently hit the throttle (and as a non-pilot that may seem like a really stupid question)?
   
3. Who would win out of 'Teasin' Tina' and 'Lusty Linda', the only other bomber that is in working conditions?

70 years ago today Britain declared war on Germany. Flight recorded the event of course, by saying in its editorial on it's front page:

"The complete suppression of Czechoslovakia followed as a matter of course, and other examples of Nazi bullying have succeeded. The time had to come when Britain and France must make a stand, and that time has now arrived. Our only regret is that we could not have made our stand in time to save the gallant Czechs. We must hope that the result of this war will see their country set free again, If last year we were weak, now we and France are very strong, on the sea, on the land, and in the air."

Continue reading this article and flick through the archive pages to see the rest of the issue... including an account of Poland's air force... "although for obvious reasons it is impossible to discuss authoritatively the strength and detail organisation..."

A British Army Elbit Systems Hermes 450 unmanned air vehicle had a near miss with a Boeing CH-47 Chinook while on operations in Afghanistan, Flight can reveal. About half way through the 37s video the Chinook comes into view and grows larger in the left hand side of the frame

Picture credit: CSU Archv/Everett/Rex Features

The Hindenburg was the largest commercial dirigible ever built but on this day 72 years ago the hydrogen filled airship spectacularly burst into flames when it touched its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. There were around 100 people on board yet the disaster killed 36 passengers.

In this video we see the flammable craft burst insto flames and people on the ground run for their lives.

The commentator was expecting a safe touchdown but you'll hear the horror in his voice as he describes the accident as "the worst catastrophe the world has ever seen". Watch the rest of the video to hear what witnesses experienced.

 

Hindenberg started a scheduled service--consisting of ten return flights during the summer over this route between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, in 1936. Flight reported that the cause of the accident was the ignition of a mixture of free hydrogen and air.

Flight reported in its 14 May 1936 issue: "A record for the North Atlantic crossing by an airship has been made by the Zeppelin Hindenburg, which took 61 hr. 38 min. for the 4,381-mile Friedrichshafen-New York trip."

• See inside the Hindenburg

In October 1910 dirigibles had only been in the air "both literally and figuratively" in the course of the past few weeks which inspired Flight to focus on the aircraft's failures and successes.

 

An interesting video here of two Messerschmitts battling with Spitfires. The mystery is whether this is real footage that has been re-coloured or whether it is an enthusiastic fan creating magic using the latest animation tools.



What do you think?

Hat Tip: aviation.multiply.com

It has been over 30 years since Flight International operated its own editorial aircraft and despite the scores of pilots employed with the magazine, no serving member of the editorial team has ever fully owned or operated their own aircraft. These two deficiencies have been corrected in a timely fashion, to coincide with the 100th year of the magazine.

Flight's Senior Technical Artist Joe Picarella is proud to introduce you to his Piper L-4B "Grasshopper" - G-FINT.

The aircraft in full profile:

G-FINT (Piper serial number 9444) was the 92nd of 980 L4Bs built specifically for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and received into service on the 18th August 1942 as serial number 43-583. While aircraft from either side of 9444 on the production line would find themselves in combat zones around he world, 9444 would serve with several US Army ground force units in the United States until 1946.

Postwar she went through the 4168th Air Material Command (AMC) - South Plains Field TX, 3136th AMC - Tinker Field Dallas TX, 32nd Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Base Unit and Air Defence Command - Hensley Field Dallas TX, 3565th Basic Training Wing (Air Training Command) and 3565th Aircraft Observer Training Wing - James Connally AFB TX and finally to the CAP at Love Field TX.

Flight's Defence editor Craig Hoyle recently visited a Royal Air Force base at Ram Ram near the Moroccan city of Marrakesh to take part in a major training exercise aimed at maintaining the important RAF mantra of "train like you fight".

While at the camp Craig was able to take some video while flying around in a Chinook and Merlin:

Chinook


See Merlin video beneath the fold

Courtesy of Craig Hoyle, Defence Editor:

"Bit heavy on the C-4 there, Hoskins", as the departed Uncle Roger might have commented about this, erm, generous use of explosives.

 

Freshly posted via the Live Leak website, the above video(which contains strong language) shows the last moments of UK Royal Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130J ZH876. Worth an estimated £45 million ($82 million), the aircraft was destroyed by coalition forces the day after after sustaining heavy damage in an incident while landing at a remote site in Iraq's Maysaan province on 12 February 2007.

The aircraft, which was carrying six crew and 58 passengers, veered off the runway after being hit by two improvised explosive devices, catching fire on its badly damaged port wing. Three people suffered minor injuries on evacuating the stricken transport, which was subsequently "deemed unrecoverable due to operational constraints", according to a Board of Inquiry investigation into the mishap.

Published in May, the BoI report also revealed that an RAF C-130K involved in evacuating personnel 40min after the incident also suffered damage to its nose and main wheels and underbelly after striking debris while landing on the strip. The second aircraft also landed despite it being unclear whether further IEDs had been placed, it says.

BoI recommendations included that remote sites should be better inspected prior to use, and weapons storage and evacuation practices improved on the C-130J.

Meanwhile, its report noted: "Even if this aircraft had been fitted with explosion suppressant foam it is the board's opinion that it would not have reduced the damage sustained." The Hercules' potential vulnerability to wing fires had been exposed during a prior fatal accident involving RAF C-130K XV206 in May 2006.
 
ZH876 remains the only new-generation Hercules to have been lost by C-130J-operating nations, and a testament to the type's particularly hard use in the hands of the RAF in Iraq and Afghanistan.