About the Magazine

Welcome to Aircraft — the home of classic aviation.

With a superb new look, more pages than ever, 13 exciting issues a year and the work of the best writers and photographers in the business, Aircraft is the magazine for the true aviation aficionado. Continuing the rich history of Aircraft Illustrated, established over 40 years ago, Aircraft offers a contemporary take on the greatest years of aviation, the glory days of charismatic aircraft. From the most famous historic airliners to the most exciting military jets of all time, our coverage is second to none.

Aircraft places an unrivalled focus on the classic aircraft of the post-war years, covering the developments in military aviation and fascinating operations during the Cold War period, and the huge changes that swept through the airline world as mass air travel became a reality. But there's much more to the history in Aircraft than that. We cover World War Two, the inter-war period, World War One and the pioneer aviators; we also look at modern-day aviation happenings with a unique historical slant. Whatever the subject, stunning archive imagery accompanies informed, in-depth articles from leading authors and revealing 'from the cockpit' stories. Aviation writing gets no better.

Regular features in Aircraft will include:

THE INTERVIEW
An in-depth interview with a famous name from aviation history or aircraft preservation will be a highlight of every issue

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN...
Remembering the famous airlines that may be no more, but whose names still live long in the memory

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Looking afresh at the aircraft that never were, the projects that were cancelled and the deals that never came off

When it comes to the international aircraft preservation scene, Aircraft keeps you right up to date. Our enlarged news section covers all the major stories from the international aircraft preservation scene, making use of an ever-expanding global network of correspondents. Feature articles on museums, restorations and airworthy warbirds take you further behind the scenes.

And Aircraft is enhancing its reputation as the best magazine for airshow coverage. Our new Air Display section contains the latest dates, news, analysis and show reports from around the world.

Above all, we hope that every issue of Aircraft will give full expression to our love of classic aviation in all its forms. Fly with us into the past.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE MAGAZINE - Denis J. Calvert

One of Aircraft's longer-serving contributors, Denis became one of the two founding fathers of Inter-Air Press and started writing for the magazine in 1972. The fact of having been born at Farnborough just eight days after Chuck Yeager went supersonic in the Bell X-1 may, or, of course, may not, have had an effect on his lifelong interest in British military aviation. Now resident in East Anglia, Denis also contributes to the magazine's monthly book reviews.

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BOOK OF THE MONTH - English Electric Lightning

To say he got it wrong is to put it mildly. Defence Minister Duncan Sandys announced in the House on 4 April 1957 that the development of manned fighter aircraft for the RAF was to cease forthwith in favour of surface-to-air missiles. At a stroke, a generation of promising British supersonic fighter projects was axed. Only English Electric's P1 (it had yet to be christened Lightning) survived, probably because a development batch of 20 aircraft was already on order. In retrospect, Sandys' decision seems short-sighted and even crass yet, at the time, few commentators were prepared to stand up and tell him that he was talking out of his afterburner.

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