View the contents and samples from every issue online:
Avro Lancaster | P-51 Mustang | Supermarine Spitfire | Knights of the Sky | English Electric Lightning | Battle of Britain | Avro Vulcan | Boeing B-17 | F-86 Sabre | de Havilland Mosquito | BAE Systems Harrier | F4U Corsair | F-14 Tomcat | P-38 Lightning | Hawker Hurricane | Saab | Mirage | BF 109
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Inside the Issues
Issue 18 - BF 109: The leader of the pack
28 November 2012
Now this one really is a problem. I have had difficulties with this page before, as anyone who reads it knows, but nothing quite like this. Not only is this aircraft an icon, an astounding piece of engineering that is matched in longevity only by the Supermarine Spitfire, it is also a symbol for the darkest empire to ever throw its shadow across the globe. As Cassadian test pilot Klaus Plaza and photographer Constance Redgrave so simply and eloquently put it, it’s the bad guy.
Issue 18 - BF 109: Production priorities
28 November 2012
The last production development of the Bf 109 proved to be the fastest, capable of 440mph (710kph). However, production was to be delayed by the Allied bombing campaign meaning that the Bf 109K was almost too little, too late.
Issue 18 - BF 109: The 109 in combat:The story from the other side...
28 November 2012
I have had a half-century-long interest in bravery in general, and gallantry medals in particular. I collect decorations awarded to British, Commonwealth and occasionally other Allied servicemen. Yet, as I write in my new book Heroes of the Skies, for me the concept of bravery is not, and never will be, limited to just one side in a battle or conflict.
Issue 18 - BF 109: Contents
28 November 2012
This issue of Aviation Classics takes a leap back to the Second World War and what is arguably the greatest piston engined fighter of all time, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, often referred to as the Me 109. Designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser in response to an official requirement for a new single seat fighter issued in February 1934, the prototype made its first flight in May 1935 in the hands of Hans-Dietrich Knoetzsch. Interestingly, neither the Junkers nor Daimler-Benz engines were ready in time, so the first flights were made powered by a Rolls Royce Kestrel VI.
Other Inside the Issues
Videos
Messerschmitt Bf 109 - Bf 109Es
30 November 2012
A collection of rare clips showing a variety of Messerschmitt Bf 109Es in flight.
Current Issue: Northrop F-5
In this issue of Aviation Classics we move forward into the 1960s with an iconic Cold War jet fighter that was to become one of the most successful and widely used aircraft of the period. The design began as the N-156 of 1959, a privately funded single seat light fighter concept from Northrop, and developed over the next 20 years into a variety of roles, serving with 36 air forces worldwide.
PLUS:
• Next issue on sale: 31st May 2013
