The Auster AOP9 was the last in the famous Auster series of single engined high wing light aircraft built in Leicester by the Auster company. The AOP9 was designed as a specialist battlefield observation and artillery spotting aircraft for use by the British army. Despite being a very sound and robust aircraft, it was a relatively easy target from the ground, so had a relatively short service life.

Several have since found their way into private hands, including this one, seen at Grenham Common in June 1981.

The Avro Shackleton was quite extraordinary. It is essentially a modified and updated Lancaster, powered by four Rolls-Royce Griffon piston engines driving contra-rotating propellors. Fitted with airborne early warning (AEW) radar, Shackletons provided Britain's AEW coverage from their base at Lossiemouth in North Scotland until they were retired in 1990!!

This one was pictured at Finningley in 1976.

Boulton Paul (famous for the wartime Defiant) built the P.111 immediately after the war as a research aircraft into delta wings. It first flew in October 1950. Its single Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet (5,100lb static thrust) gave it a top speed of 650mph. It was a small machine, only 26 feet long, with a wing span of 25 feet 8 inches. But, with military standard construction and the very heavy engine, it weighed in at 10,200lb. Data from the P111 was used in the design of the Vulcan heavy bomber.

The only example is preserved in the museum at Baginton, and was pictured there in August 1975.

The Fairey Gannet was a carrier-borne anti-submarine aircraft, powered by a Bristol Double Mamba turboprop - effectively two engines joined together and driving a contra-rotating propellor through an elaborate gearbox. Despite looking as if it couldn't possibly fly, it was actually very good at its job! After being replaced by helicopters for the anti submarine warfare role, several were converted to carry airborne radar in the AEW role, until the retirement of the Royal Navy's last serious aircraft carriers rendered them obsolete.

This one is a Gannet AEW3, date and place uncertain.

The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod was a development of the De Havilland Comet for the maritime reconnaisance role. It added a second `bubble' below the main fuselage to house radar, systems and weapons bay, a fin strake for stability, magnetic anomaly detector behind the tail and electronic warfare pod on top of the fin. It could loiter on patrol for huge amounts of time.

In one encounter with a Tornado, the Tornado pilot gave a display, then challenged the Nimrod to do something the Tornado couldn't. The Nimrod carried on flying as before. The Tornado pilot repeated his challenge. `I've just done it', replied the Nimrod pilot. `I've turned off three of my engines.'

Top - Nimrod MR1 at Bournemouth in August 1984.

Bottom - Nimrod MRA2 at Fairford, July 2007

The Saro SRA1 was one of a collection of bizarre one-off research aircraft produced in the 1950s. It is unusual in being a jet seaplane. It does not take too much imagination to see why the trials were not successful; spray could easily enter the air intake and cause the engine to flame out.

The SRA1 has been preserved, and was pictured at Duxford in June 1984.

The Westland Lysander was designed during the second world war as a light liaison aircraft, but really won its fame in `clandestine operations'. It was fitted with a Bristol Mercury engine which was really too powerful, enabling it to be flown at very low power settings, i.e. quietly. Its huge ungainly-looking undercarriage and bat-like wings gave it superb performance into and out of rough fields. Many insurgents were landed in occupied France, and many fugitives picked up and brought to safety, by Lysander operations.

This one is kept in airworthy condition and was pictured at Old Warden in 1997. (lower photograph - same aircraft in 2005).