A selection of Aeroplane issues published during 2011, including our special centenary issue (June), with a specially-commissioned 1930s-style retro painting on the cover, and someexclusive cover subjects – the P-40F (October) and SpitfireMkI (January 2012).It is amazing for me to realise that this issue of Aeroplane marks my twelfth as editor; just where does time go? In that year I have listened to the many positive and encouraging comments from you, the magazine’s loyal readers, both personally and in letters or e-mails, and, using that information, have done my utmost to continue to bring you a magazine which includes all that you expect. With that in mind, for continuation I have retained the existing series and regular columns which you have all become accustomed to seeing in the magazine. However, I have added to them a few new ideas to bring further variety to our content.

I continue to be excited by the sheer diversity of subject matter in Aeroplane. I know of no other magazine which regularly offers such a wide variety, from the earliest civil aircraft to the jetliners of the 1950s and 1960s, and from the fragile “fabric-and-wire” biplanes of the pioneer era and First World War to the military jet “hot-rods” that emerged with the advent of the jet age. Take this issue, for example, in which the aircraft illustrated in the feature on test pilot Lt Wilfred Parke RN are in stark contrast with the incredible TSR.2 covered in our latest Database.

Then there are the restoration projects and warbird flyers that we have included in the past year. It has been of particular note to me that Aeroplane has been able to bring you several major exclusives during 2011, which I am sure you enjoyed seeing before they were published anywhere else. We have plenty of exciting plans and ideas for 2012, too, so I trust we shall reward your loyalty to Aeroplane with plenty of great historic aviation reading in the year ahead.

I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday period with your families and friends. Many thanks for your continued support of Aeroplane, and I especially look forward to meeting even more of you during 2012.

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This month I am very pleased to be able to bring to you the description of flying the incredible Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, P9374. I first saw this aircraft in the Historic Flying Ltd hangar at Duxford in 2009, and when John Romain told me how its restoration was incorporating so many authentic early Mk I attributes, such as the hand-pumped undercarriage, two-pitch propeller and early Dunlop tyres, to list just a few, I could not wait to see it fly.

Re-enactment group RAF Ops 1939-45 brought the days of the Spitfire’s entry into service back to life at Duxford in September 2011, using P9374 as the focus. Here, dressed in white flying overalls, an Ops 1939-45 “pilot” recreates an RAF squadron pilot’s first taste of the new fighter. Credit: Jarrod Cotter

The fighter made its public debut as a static exhibit on the flight line at the Imperial War Museum Duxford Air Show on September 3-4, 2011. Sitting on Duxford’s grass, with the familiar backdrop of the airfield where Spitfires first appeared on the strength of an RAF squadron in 1938, it looked simply incredible. Later that month it made its public flying debut at the Goodwood Revival.

Many of you will have seen P9374 at these events and been impressed by it, so I am sure that you will enjoy reading John Romain’s fascinating report on flying such an early example of this iconic fighter, and John Dibbs’s stunning air-to-air photography of it high in the skies over Duxford makes the article a fitting tribute to all the work undertaken on this wonderful aeroplane, and all the investment put into it by its owners.

Talking of investment, I was recently extremely fortunate to receive an invitation to the Salute to Bomber Command banquet held in the Natural History Museum on November 8. My sincere thanks to Sqn Ldr Al Pinner, MBE RAF (Ret’d), of TAG Aviation for that. The event was aimed at raising money for the upkeep of the Bomber Command Memorial (BCM) once it is completed next year (see page 23 for more on the banquet). Raising funds in these difficult financial times is a very hard task, but the work of the BCM team, and especially director of fundraising Jim Dooley, ensured that the memorial project could go ahead. Congratulations to all those involved with the BCM for persevering through the many difficulties the project has faced along the way. I look forward to seeing the result of their efforts on June 28 next year.

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Since writing my last editorial it has been quite a month, which has once again brought to the fore all the good that people in the historical aviation community do.

Aeroplane editor Jarrod Cotter while on detachment with 14 Sqn in August 1990. Credit: Jarrod Cotter

This year, Remembrance Day will provoke even more emotions than usual for me. As noted in this month’s Battle Honours article, 2011 marks the 20th anniversary of the first Gulf War of 1991. During Operation Granby, which began in August 1990 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, I was based at RAF Brüggen in West Germany, working on 14 Sqn. Later that month, 14 (Composite) Sqn had deployed to the Gulf.

I had got to know one of the unit’s Panavia Tornado pilots, Flt Lt Keiran Duffy, quite well, and on January 13, 1991, just days before Granby turned into Operation Desert Storm, Keiran and his navigator, Flt Lt Norman Dent, were killed during a very-low-level sortie over the desert in Tornado GR.1 ZD718/BH.

Having read about the RAF, its personnel and operations for most of my life, it still came as a great shock when someone I knew personally was lost under operational circumstances. The realisation of the human cost of war certainly strikes home hard. More Brüggen-based aircrew were lost during operations as the war progressed.

The Gulf War marked a great change in the whole way the RAF operated. For scores of years it had been focussed on the Cold War, and, as I had previously served on the RAF Germany Harrier Force, the threat and potential war zone for which we had trained intensively had been in temperate climes. Soon after the end of the Cold War, the RAF suddenly found itself back in a desert-combat environment for the first time in many years, and a quick change of tactics towards expeditionary operations was called for. Of course, the RAF has adapted to change throughout its history, so this was just the latest new challenge, and one which its personnel once again took in their stride.

So, in this 20th anniversary year of the Gulf War, on Remembrance Day I shall think back to the moment I heard the news that the young Flt Lt Keiran Duffy had been lost doing a job about which he was incredibly passionate. During our talks he had, like myself, always seemed enthused by the ethos and heritage of the RAF.

The respect we pay on Remembrance Day is for the ultimate price paid by so many since 1914, so that we can enjoy a freedom that has cost so much. I would like to express my sincere sympathy and best wishes at this time to anyone who has lost a loved one in the service of our country.

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Since writing my last editorial it has been quite a month, which has once again brought to the fore all the good that people in the historical aviation community do.

Hurricane XII “Z5140” of the Historic Aircraft Collection passes over the National Battle of Britain memorial at Capel-le-Ferne on September 15, 2011 — Battle of Britain Day. Credit: Jarrod Cotter

Take for example this month’s cover story, where the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Supermarine Spitfire IIa P7350 has been given new squadron markings. This has been done to pay tribute to an unsung hero of the Battle of Britain and also mark the 95th anniversary of 41 Sqn. What is particularly notable about that is that it highlights just how much pride the personnel of the modern RAF have in their heritage.

Artist Mandy Shepherd’s donation of her atmospheric painting Salute to the Many to the Bomber Command Memorial (BCM), is another perfect example of the generosity shown by so many for this great cause. This painting will be made into a limited-edition print to raise funded for the future upkeep of the memorial once it’s completed. One lucky buyer of a print will then win the original. A driving force behind so much of the BCM’s fundraising efforts has been Jim Dooley of The Dooleys pop group, who was again on hand to co-ordinate the organisation of the publicity for the donation of this valuable piece of art.

Then, on September 15, Battle of Britain Day was marked in just the most amazing way by Action Stations!, whose director Stephen Burt put together a package of passenger helicopter trips flying alongside a Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. What made this extra special was that the formations overflew the National Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone, in Kent.

Steve deserves to be highly congratulated for this achievement, which not only formed a poignant commemoration of the Battle, but offered his many customers an opportunity to witness it from the air. We’ll bring you more on this in a forthcoming issue.

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