World War Two (1939-1945)
The plan to kill Hitler by DH.88 Comet
It’s an unlikely killing machine, the elegant, distinctively un-warlike de Havilland DH88 Comet racer G-ACSS — but, in the late 1930s, it was at the centre of a plan to assassinate Hitler. How feasible was it, and who was behind the secretive plot?
10 classic British naval aircraft of World War II
The Fleet Air Arm played a pivotal role during World War II – these were some of the Royal Navy’s most formidable flying machines
RAF Fighter Pilot Training in 1941
A fascinating insight into how the RAF was training its new fighter pilots for the Spitfire and Hurricane.
Read a Meteor flight test from 1951
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and saw action during World War Two. The design was developed, including the F.8 variant which was flight tested by The Aeroplane 70 years ago…
Unseen Luftwaffe reports from 1941
If you’ve ever wondered how aviation-related news was reported during World War Two, here’s the answer: the following article featured in The Aeroplane 80 years ago on May 9, 1941…
WW2's Shadow factory raids
Birmingham’s aircraft shadow factories may have been in the Luftwaffe’s bombsights, but there was no serious interference to production. Why were its efforts so ineffective?
Wally: A Prisoner of War
In this third and final instalment of MyPast we hear the remainder of Wally Layne's story. David Layne details his father's time as a prisoner of war...
VIDEO: The incredible story of a lost Halifax
Used for the bombing raid on the Tirpitz, this Halifax crash-landed on a frozen lake in Norway. 26 years later, it was found by a team of divers…