Aircraft

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a design team headed by James Kindelberger of North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation to build Curtiss P-40 fighters under license […]

The B-17, also called the “Flying Fortress” was a U.S. heavy bomber used during World War II. The B-17 was designed by the Boeing Aircraft Company in response to a 1934 Army Air Corps specification that called for a four-engined bomber at a time when two engines were the norm. The bomber was intended from the outset to attack strategic targets by precision

The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, “dive bomber”) was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, which first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War and served the Axis forces during World War II. The aircraft is easily recognisable

After its defeat in World War I, Germany was banned from operating an air force by the Treaty of Versailles. Following Hitler’s ascent to power, German re-armament began in earnest in the early 1930s although this was initially kept secret because it clearly violated the treaty and the early development of military bombers was disguised

The Bristol Blenheim was originally intended as a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company which was used extensively in the first two years and in some cases throughout the Second World War. The aircraft was originally developed as Type 142 civil airliner, in response to a challenge from Lord Rothermere

The Luftwaffe’s mainstay fighter – Messerschmitt Bf 109 The mainstay of the Luftwaffe at the outbreak of war in 1939, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the German World War II fighter aircraft which (along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 later in the war) formed the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. The Bf 109 first

Made famous during the Battle of Britain as the work horse of that struggle, the Hawker Hurricane is a single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd in the late 1930s for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Probably unfairly overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire’s role during the

The Avro Lancaster was a British Second World War heavy bomber, designed and manufactured by the Avro aviation company, as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax. Both bombers were developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being “four-engined” heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force during the 1940s wartime era. The Lancaster has its origins in the

The Supermarine Spitfire was a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Remarkably just one prototype Spitfire was built by Vickers Supermarine in the form of K5054, which conducted all the pre-production development work associated with the aircraft between March 1936 and the first flight of the Spitfire