RAF Museum Cosford, May 2007

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BELOW: These pictures were taken in May 2007 at the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford. Click on any picture to open the full-size version in a new window (most are 1200x900 or 1200x800 pixels). BELOW: Inside the Cold War hall. In the upper picture, a Douglas Dakota IV flies over the wing of an Avro York transport aircraft, with a Handley Page Hastings (red stripe on nose) behind it. The Gloster Javelin fighter can be seen hanging from the ceiling in the background. The lower picture is a close-up of the Dakota. BELOW: The Gloster Javelin FAW.1. The Javelin entered service with the RAF in 1956, and remained in service for 12 years. It became the RAF's first missile-armed interceptor, although the FAW.1 was initially only armed with four 30mm cannon. Such heavy gunfire was thought to be necessary to bring down the large Soviet bombers it was designed to intercept. BELOW: An Avro Lincoln, which was a post-war development of the famous Lancaster bomber of World War II. BELOW: The Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka, a rocket-powered suicide attack aircraft built by the Japanese in the latter stages of World War II. It was basically a manned missile, which would be carried close to its target by a heavy bomber. A kamikaze pilot would then crash it into an American ship. The Okha wasn't very successful, mainly due to the vulnerability of its carrier aircraft to American fighters. Most were destroyed before they were even launched. BELOW: The Boulton Paul Sea Balliol was a variant of their Balliol training aircraft, adapted for naval use as a deck-landing trainer (hence the folding wings to fit in the confined spaces of an aircraft carrier). They were built between 1952 and 1954. BELOW: The Folland Gnat light fighter, which first flew in 1955. Although it was not adopted by the RAF it was purchased by the Indian Air Force, who used it successfully in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. The Indian company Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) later produced an improved version known as the Ajeet. The first picture shows a T1 trainer version in the livery of the RAF's Red Arrows display team, who used it from their formation in 1965 until 1980. The second picture shows an F1, the first fighter version. BELOW: A Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, a German rocket-powered interceptor from World War II. Although it was faster than any allied fighter it was difficult to control at its top speed and the rocket engine consumed its entire fuel supply in about eight minutes. The Komet would then have to glide back to base, at which point it became much more vulnerable. It was also hard to aim the guns in a zoom climb under full thrust, so the pilot would have to climb above the bomber formation, turn round, and hope to get some shots off while diving back towards his base. The rocket fuel was very unstable and to save weight it had a ski-like skid instead of proper landing gear, leading to many accidents (the wheels shown in the picture below would be jettisoned at take-off). The Me-163 proved more dangerous to its own pilots than to allied bombers. BELOW: General Dynamics F-111F long-range strike aircraft. BELOW: Bristol Britannia 312F, a 1950s airliner, undergoing restoration. BELOW: The Canadair Sabre F4, a version of the American F-86 Sabre built under license by Canadair for the RAF. The Korean War of 1950-53 had shown that the RAF's frontline fighters were outclassed by the Soviet MiG-15, so the Sabre was purchased as a stop-gap measure until new British designs such as the Hawker Hunter (second picture below) were ready to enter service. The last Sabres had been replaced by Hunters by June 1956. BELOW: A selection of German guided missiles from World War II. They represent the origins of the kind of weapons that dominate modern warfare, so this display has great historical significance. BELOW: Henschel Hs293 air to surface missile. On 27 August 1943 an Hs293 sunk HMS Egret in the Bay of Biscay, making it the first operational missile to sink a ship. After firing, it was guided by radio control. BELOW: In front, an X4 wire-guided air to air missile from 1943. It was put into mass production but few were completed before allied bombing destroyed the factory that made its rocket motor. Behind it is an aerodynamic test model for the Wasserfall missile. BELOW: Henschel Hs298 radio-controlled air to air missile from 1944. The Hs298 never went into production due to its poor performance. It had a range of 1 mile, compared to 3 for the X4. BELOW: The HS117 Schmetterling was the only surface to air missile to be put into large-scale production during the war. It was rocket-powered and controlled by radio, with a range of about 25 miles. BELOW: Fritz-X glide bomb. It was unpowered, but could be steered in flight by radio control. Nearly a hundred were used in combat. BELOW: Enzian surface to air missile. The project was cancelled in January 1945 before it entered service. BELOW: BV246 Hagelkorn, a radio-controlled glide bomb with a range of up to 125 miles. It had excellent aerodynamics but very simple construction - the wings are made of steel with concrete cladding! BELOW: Open engine nacelle on a Vickers Varsity T1, showing the Bristol Hercules 264 radial engine. BELOW: View inside the equipment bay behind the cockpit of the TSR.2. BELOW: Open nose of a Westland Wessex HC2 helicopter, showing the engines. BELOW: The English Electric Lightning, which entered service with the RAF in 1960 as the first all-British supersonic fighter. It remained in service until 1988 due to delays in the development of its successor, the Tornado ADV (Air Defence Variant). It had spectacular performance, with an initial climb rate of 50,000 feet per minute, and was the first production fighter with "supercruise", i.e. the ability to exceed the speed of sound without using its afterburners. BELOW: Lockheed P-2H Neptune maritime patrol aircraft. BELOW: The Gloster F9/40 was a prototype twin-engine jet fighter built as part of the development of the Gloster Meteor, Britain's first operational jet fighter. This example was the first F9/40 built, although a different one was the first to fly in March 1943. BELOW: This Gloster Meteor F8 was modified in 1954 to test whether a pilot could better withstand high g-forces lying down rather than sitting upright. It was found that the difficulty of operating the controls from that position far outweighed any advantages. BELOW: The Fairey Delta 2 was a supersonic research aircraft from the 1950s. As on Concorde, The nose hinges down during take-off and landing to improve visibility. BELOW: The Bristol Type 188, a research aircraft that flew between 1962 and 1964. Designed to investigate the effects of heat on aircraft structures at high speeds, it was mainly built of stainless steel. BELOW: A German V-1 flying bomb from World War II. Launched from a rail, it was a simple pilotless aircraft and effectively the world's first cruise missile.

		Last Updated: 1 Oct 07