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Famous ‘A1 Lightning’ Cockpit Rises from the Ashes
(Image: XS420.com, reproduced with permission) In 2011 Urban Ghosts reported the final demise of English Electric Lightning XN728, which was scrapped after almost three decades of neglect in a...
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The Wrecked Aircraft and Dummy Airfield of the Otterburn Ranges
(Image: John Kippin, all rights reserved) ‘Hidden’, North East photographer John Kippin’s iconic photograph of an abandoned English Electric Lightning fighter, its torn remains riddled with small arms...
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Henry Head Battery: Sydney’s Silent Military Bunker
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0) A number of fortifications were constructed over the past 120 years in the La Perouse suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, tasked with guarding the approaches to Botany...
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Lightning XM170: The Mercury Contaminated Fighter Jet that Only Flew Once –...
(Image: The Aviation Photo Company, reproduced with permission) Like any aircraft, the English Electric Lightning‘s spell in RAF service from the 1960s to the 1980s was bound to produce some...
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Three Concrete Blocks Mark the Final Stand of Scampton Vulcan XH563
(All images by Google Earth) Avro Vulcan buffs and other UK aviation enthusiasts may remember aircraft XH563 on display at RAF Scampton for a brief period from the early to mid 1980s. XH563, which was...
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The Western Front’s Poignant Battlefield Grave of Edouard Ivaldi
(All images by Michael St. Maur Sheil via MaryEvans.com, reproduced with permission) The 100th anniversary year marking the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 has brought numerous news articles...
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The Remains of Britain’s Three Massive Wartime Emergency Runways Seen from Above
(Image: RAFFPU, public domain) During World War Two, thousands of allied bombers, many of them severely damaged and carrying critically wounded crew, limped back across the North Sea to their home...
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Early English Electric Lightning Wrecks Abandoned on UK Fire Dumps
(Image: The Aviation Picture Company, reproduced with permission) Though a handful of early production versions of Britain’s iconic English Electric Lightning interceptor aircraft still exist in...
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Beer Bombs: Britain’s Keg-Carrying Spitfires of World War Two
(Image: Imgur via Reddit) These photographs show the RAF’s iconic Supermarine Spitfire in one of its more unusual roles – dropping kegs of beer for allied troops fighting in Normandy during World War...
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British F-35B Serial Numbers Mirror their Iconic English Electric Lightning...
(Image: Lockheed Martin via Flickr) In 2006 the U.S. Air Force announced that the much anticipated F-35, a product of the Joint Strike Fighter programme, would be named Lightning II in honour of both...
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Preserving ‘Rasberry Ripple’ Tornado ZA326 at Bruntingthorpe
(Image: Tornado ZA326, reproduced with permission) Despite numerous special paint schemes across the fleet over the years, ZA326 is certainly the most colourful Panavia Tornado GR1 ever to fly. And...
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Midland Air Museum’s ZA452 is Looking More Like a Tornado Again
(Image: Roland Turner (website: The Modeller’s Blog), cc-sa-4.0) Yesterday we featured the preservation of ZA326 – the last airworthy Tornado GR1 in the world when it retired in 2005. Today we thought...
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True Lies Harrier Jump Jet Replica Displayed in Illinois
(Image: via carsforsale.com, reproduced with permission) If you’ve seen the film True Lies, you may remember the U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier ‘Jump Jet’ used by Arnie against Art Malik’s terrorist...
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New Lease of Life for Neglected Lightning XS919?
(Image: ZD703, reproduced with permission) During its last years in service, XS919 was one of a handful of English Electric Lightning F.6s resplendent in a sleek, dark grey paint scheme which it wore...
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5 Abandoned Cold War Airfields of Britain
(Image: DigiTaL~NomAd, cc-nc-nd-4.0; Note: above aircraft preserved by Lightning Association) The British countryside is littered with the crumbling military relics of World War Two. From the air, the...
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Lightning XR718 Awaits Reassembly in Yorkshire
(Image: Dave Collins, reproduced with permission) English Electric Lightning XR718 was one of the last Lightning F.3 fighters to fly in RAF service after the majority of its kind had been scrapped...
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Rusting Soviet Tank Abandoned in Afghan Desert
(All images by Adam Khan) With Afghanistan’s tumultuous reputation deeply ingrained in our minds, it’s easy to forget that this has been a nation ravaged by war for decades. Potent reminders of these...
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Cockpit of F-4J(UK) ZE352: Remains of Former US Navy ‘Evaluators’ Phantom...
(Image: Graham F Sparkes, reproduced with permission) It may not be much to look at, but this battered cockpit section of an F-4 Phantom interceptor once belonged to a machine that sported an unusual...
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Britain’s Ageing Tornado Bombers Return to Iraq
(Image: screenshot via Telegraph Video) Britain’s RAF Tornado force may be winding down, but the venerable warplane is once again back in action over the Middle East. Its numbers have dwindled...
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VIDEO: Scrapping a Mighty B-52 Bomber in Texas
(All images: low res screenshot via YouTube, junkyardjets.net) The mighty Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is one of the most successful and longstanding strategic bombers in history, introduced in 1955 and...
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