RAFA Calne

30/05/2026

Beauty and the Beast

30/05/2026

RAF Coltishall's 'At Home' day in September 1960. Aircrews of five aircraft assemble next to their aircraft prior to a flight to mark the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

They are: Hawker Hurricane IIc LF363 and Supermarine Spitfire PRXIXR PM631 both of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Gloster Meteor F.8 WL164, Hawker Hunter FGA9 XK136 of No 74 Squadron, Gloster Javelin FAW.9R XH894 of No 23 Squadron and the recently introduced English Electric Lightning F.1 XM137 of the Air Fighting Development Squadron.

30/05/2026

30/05/2026

30/05/2026

30/05/2026

The Vickers Valiant was Britain’s first operational V-bomber — the jet bomber force built to carry the UK’s nuclear deterrent during the early Cold War.

It first flew in 1951 and entered RAF service in 1955, ahead of the more famous Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. Compared with those two, the Valiant was the most conventional-looking: straight, clean lines, a high-mounted swept wing, four jet engines buried in the wing roots, and a large internal bomb bay.

Its job was simple but terrifying: fly high and fast into Soviet airspace and deliver nuclear weapons. It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets, giving it a top speed of around 567 mph / 912 km/h and a service ceiling of roughly 54,000 feet. Its bomb load could include conventional bombs, but its main purpose was carrying Britain’s early nuclear weapons, including the Blue Danube atomic bomb.

30/05/2026

26/05/2026

The Avro Shackleton was a long-range maritime patrol aircraft built by Avro in the late 1940s and 1950s. It was developed directly from the famous Avro Lancaster and Avro Lincoln, designed to meet the RAF’s need for an aircraft capable of anti-submarine warfare, maritime patrol, and search-and-rescue during the Cold War.