Post War Aircraft
Illustrations of military aircraft developed and manufactured after 1945.
Aero L-29 Dolphin
In production between 1963-1974, the Delphín “Dolphin” was Czechoslovakia’s first locally designed and constructed jet aircraft, the NATO codename being “Maya”.
Designed as a military trainer, the L-29 was easy to build and rugged, being able to operate from grass, sand or unprepared runways. It was stable and easy to fly, with an enviable safety record. In later life, many have been demilitarised and sold to private operators.
Shown here in the Czech Air Force 1st Squadron, 11th Fighter Regiment “Tiger Meet” colours.
Avro Vulcan B.2
This tailless, delta-wing, high altitude strategic bomber was in RAF service between 1956 to 2015 and was the core of the U.K.s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War.
The B.2 version introduced electronic counter-measures equipment and in-flight refuelling capability. This latter improvement enabled the Vulcan to carry out Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 during the Falklands War.
This required a single Vulcan, supported by eleven Handley Page Victor tankers, to fly a 7,600 mile (12,200 km) round trip from RAF Ascension Island to bomb (with conventional munitions) Port Stanley Airport and its associated defences.
BAE Systems Hawk T.2
Originally a Hawker Siddeley design the Hawk is a low-cost combat aircraft and military trainer. Most famously, it is operated by the RAF display team, the Red Arrows.
The Hawk is designed to carry the 30mm ADEN cannon in a centreline gun pod, and four hard points carry additional armament and equipment such as the Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and rocket launchers shown here.
Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet
It might be assumed that the Super Hornet is merely a development of the F18 Hornet, and it seems likely that this impression helped to sell the programme to Congress. In fact it is largely a new aircraft, being 20% larger, carrying 33% more internal fuel, having 41% longer range and 50% longer endurance than the “legacy” Hornet.
Commonly known as “Rhino” the aircraft has an internal 20 mm M61A2 rotary cannon and can carry a wide variety of weapons and stores on its 11 wing and fuselage hard points.
Dassault Rafale B
Dassault refers to this aircraft as an “omnirole” 4.5th generation aircraft, intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship warfare and nuclear deterrence.
Originally, France had agreed to develop a multi-purpose fighter aircraft in collaboration with the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Subsequent disagreements led to France pursuing its own course while the other countries continued to develop the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Rafale is therefore unique in being almost entirely the product of one country. There are three main variants: Rafale C is a single-seat land-based version, Rafale B the twin-seat land-based version, and Rafale M a single-seat carrier-launched version.
Embraer EMB 312 Tucano
This Braziian low-cost, relatively simple turboprop basic trainer and counter-insurgency aircraft had many innovative features that eventually became the standard for aircraft of this type.
Variants have been produced under license in Egypt and the United Kingdom, flying in 16 airforces across five continents.
Eurofighter Typhoon
The Typhoon is the result of a collaboration between the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
The choice of the name “Typhoon” was reportedly resisted by Germany as the Hawker Typhoon was a British fighter-bomber of World War II. ”Spitfire II” had also been considered and rejected for the same reason.
Designed to be an effective dogfighter, the Typhoon can be equipped with a wide variety of weapons including Storm Shadow, Brimstone and Marte ER missiles.
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
One of the world’s most successful modern fighters with over 100 kills and no combat losses, mostly by the Israeli Air Force.
Although envisioned as a pure air superiority fighter, the design allowed for a secondary ground-attack capability. In fact, this was rarely used, that role being taken on by the all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E Strike Eagle.
McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
Strike Eagles can generally be distinguished from other variants by the conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) mounted alongside the engine intake ramps.
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
Commonly known as the “Warthog”, the A-10 was designed to provide close air support to ground troops by attacking enemy armoured vehicles, tanks and other ground forces.
Flying at relatively low speeds, the A-10 was designed with multiple systems and structural redundancy, enabling it to sustain considerable damage, the pilot sitting in a titanium “bathtub”.
It can operate from unprepared landing strips close to the front line and is designed for ease of repair, even with improvised tools and materials. Unusually, many of the aircraft’s components are interchangeable left to right including the engines, main landing gear and vertical stabilisers.
While being able to carry a large quantity and range of munitions, the entire aircraft is built around the auto cannon located in the nose. The 30×173 mm GA-8/A Avenger is a a hydraulically driven seven-barrelled rotary cannon firing depleted uranium projectiles at a cyclic rate of 3,900 rounds per minute.
Fairchild C-119J Flying Boxcar
Designed to carry cargo, stretcher casualties and mechanised equipment, the C-119 can also drop cargo and troops by parachute via the large rear ramp.
A gunship variant called “Shadow” was fitted with four 7.62 mm miniguns, flare launcher, armour plating and infra-red vision.
Fouga CM-170 Magister
This slightly odd looking French 1950s jet trainer saw service with the airforces of France, Germany, Belgium, Finland and Israel and continues to fly as a civilian-owned warbird.
The two Turbomeca Marboré turbojet engines were placed close to the centre line, giving little asymmetric thrust which was a desirable safety feature in a trainer. The engines shared a common fuel system, but had independent oil systems, and wingtip tanks were fitted as standard.
General Dynamics F-111A Aardvark
The F-111 has carried out interdiction, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and strategic bomber duties for more than fifty years.
The aircraft pioneered variable wing geometry, the sweep varying from 16º (fully forward) to 72.5º (fully swept), the wings also included leading edge slats and double slotted flaps along the full length.
An internal weapons bay could carry two 750 lb (340 kg) M117 bombs, one free-fall nuclear weapon or AGM-69 SRAM air-to-surface missiles. Four underwing pylons each carried up to 5,000 lbs (2,300 kg).
Hawker P1127
During the Cold War, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft offered the possibility of eliminating the need for vulnerable runways. Stanley Hooker of the Bristol Engine Company was working on an engine that used rotating nozzles to direct cold bypass air to produce lift with with a conventional “hot” exhaust tailpipe.
At the same time, Hawker were developing a new fighter to replace the Hawker Hunter and the close co-operation between Hawker and Bristol enabled development to continue. It was soon found that the new engine, called Pegasus, would be unable to lift the aircraft using cold air alone and a second pair of nozzles was added to use the hot exhaust gases. At a time of defence budget cuts in the UK, significant funding and technical assistance came from the U.S.
Six P.1127s were built and although the RAF and the Civil Service showed little enthusiasm, Germany and the U.S. agreed to contribute to the development of an improved aircraft called Kestrel. This work would eventually lead to the operational Hawker Siddeley Harrier.
Part of the Science Museum’s Flight gallery profect, the full collection may be found under the Civil Aviation menu.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk
Developed by Lockheed’s clandestine Skunk Works, the F-117 was the first operational aircraft to be designed with stealth technology.
The faceted shape contributes to its low radar signature, and the flat exhaust nozzle mixes hot gases with cold air to reduce the infra-red signature. This, and the lack of afterburners, limit the speed to subsonic as breaking the sound barrier would also increase the sonic signature.
Weapons can only be carried in the internal bomb bay as external stores would compromise the F-117’s stealthiness. A typical load would be two GBU-10, GBU-12, or GBU-27 laser-guided bombs, two BLU-109 penetration bombs, or two Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) GPS/INS guided stand-off-bombs.
Such was the secrecy surrounding the aircraft, its existence was denied until 1988, having actually entered service five years previously.
Lockheed P-3C Orion
The Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft and is based on Lockheed’s civilian Electra airliner.
The most obvious difference (apart from the lack of windows) is the long tail boom housing the MAD (magnetic anomaly detector) for detecting the metal mass of a submerged submarine. Obviously, this sensitive instrument needs to be located as far from the aircraft’s structure as possible.
The internal bomb bay can carry Mark 50, or Mark 46 conventional torpedoes, and/or nuclear weapons. Underwing pylons can carry a variety of missiles including the AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-84E SLAM, AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, AGM-65 Maverick, as well as rockets, sea mines and free-fall bombs.
McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II
A second generation Harrier, the project began as a collaboration between the UK and the United States, but budgetary restraints caused the UK to withdraw in 1975.
McDonnell Douglas continued to create the AV-8B with a new larger composite wing, an additional hard point on each side, an elevated cockpit, and aerodynamic improvements.
Having found the money, the UK rejoined the programme in 1981, giving BAE Systems a 40% share of the work.
McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II
Highly versatile, the Phantom is a large interceptor/fighter-bomber that was produced in greater numbers than any other American supersonic military aircraft.
It could carry more than 18,000 lbs (8,400 kg) of external stores on nine hard points, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and bombs.
The F-4 has served with the air forces of many countries, including Australia, Egypt, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Iran, Japan, Spain, South Korea and Turkey.
MiG-21MF “Fishbed”
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21(NATO codename “Fishbed”) is a supersonic fighter and interceptor which has seen service in about 60 countries and, seventy years after its debut, is still in use in many.
Conceived in 1954, the low-drag fuselage combined with a powerful afterburning engine, gave better performance than the MiG-19 that preceded it. Engine intake air is regulated by the distinctive shock cone that moves back-and-forth according to the speed of the aircraft.
MiG-25P “Foxbat A”
The last aircraft to be designed personally by Mikhail Gurevich before his retirement, the MiG-25 is one of the fastest military aircraft to enter service. The engines develop enough thrust for a speed of in excess of Mach 3.2, but to reduce the risk of overheating and damage, the operational speed is limited to Mach 2.83, making it second only to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.
Built primarily using hand-welded stainless steel, the aircraft still holds the world record for altitude, reaching 125,00ft (38 km).
Avionics were largely based on vacuum-tubes, although antiquated, this removed the need for the avionic bays to be climate-controlled since tubes are more tolerant of extremes of temperature. They are also resistant to the effects of the electromagnetic pulse that would result from a nuclear blast.
MiG-27M “Flogger-J”
This variable-geometry aircraft was based on the MiG-23 fighter, and is optimised for ground attack. It can deliver: rockets; air-to-air, air-to-surface and anti-radiation missiles; free-fall, fragmentation/high explosive, incendiary, fuel-air, flare, TV and laser-guided bombs.
The MiG-27M was the first variant to be armed with the 23 mm GSh-623M rotary cannon, but this was replaced by a new 30 mm GSh-6-30 six-barrel cannon. This proved to be less than successful, as the recoil from prolonged burst of fire could damage the airframe.
Northrop F-5E Freedom Fighter (Tiger II)
Small, light and highly acrobatic, the F-5E and F-5F are extensively updated variants of the original Freedom Fighter.
Shown here as part of Fighter Composite Squadron (VFC-13) “Fighting Saints”. This provides dissimilar combat training for the U.S. Navy air wings at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada-hence the Soviet-style markings.
Pilatus PC-7
This tandem-seat training aircraft is manufactured in Switzerland and is capable of all basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument and night flying.
More than 20 air forces have adopted the PC-7 as their basic trainer as have many civilian operators.
Export sales of combat-ready aircraft are subject to Swiss government approval. Nevertheless, some foreign air forces have used armed PC-7s in a ground attack role.
Sukhoi Su-34 “Fullback”
Intended for the Soviet Air Force, the Su-34 made its first flight in 1990, but entered service with the Russian Air Force in 2014.
As a fighter-bomber, the requirement was for excellent maneuverability, long range and large payload. The two pilots sit side-by-side, eliminating the need for duplicate instruments.
Since lengthy missions were expected, considerable attention was paid to crew comfort. There is sufficient room to stand, move around and even lie down behind the seats. There is also a hand-held urinal “toilet” and vacuum flask “kitchen”.
Tupolev Tu-16K “Badger”
A twin-engined strategic heavy jet bomber, the Tu-16 was developed by the Soviet Union to match the U.S. in strategic bombing capability.
It could carry a single 20,000 lb (9,000 kg) FAB-9000 bomb, or various nuclear weapons over a range of about 3,000 miles (4,800 km).
The Tu-16K variants could carry cruise missiles–the aircraft shown here is depicted with the large Raduga Kh-26 KSR-5 “AS-6 Kingfish” anti-ship missile under its wing.
