Cold War

Aircraft profiles from the cold war era of the Royal Air Force.

14 Aircraft Profiles
Featured Cold War Aircraft

Hawker Siddeley Nimrod

Hawker Siddeley

Reconnaissance & Special Duties

The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod was the RAF’s principal long-range maritime patrol aircraft of the later Cold War and a major platform for anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance and signals intelligence.

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Entered service 1969
Retired 2010 (MR2); 2011 (R1)
Max speed 580 mph (933 km/h)
Ceiling 42,000 ft (12,800 m)
Range 5,755 miles (9,262 km)

Cold War · 14 aircraft

Cold War

Avro Shackleton

A. V. Roe and Company
Maritime Aircraft 1951–1991
Cold War

Avro Vulcan

A. V. Roe and Company
Bomber Aircraft 1956–1984
Cold War

Blackburn Buccaneer

Blackburn Aircraft Ltd (later Hawker Siddeley)
Fighter Aircraft 1962–1994
Cold War

English Electric Canberra

English Electric
Bomber Aircraft 1951–2006
Cold War

English Electric Lightning

English Electric (later British Aircraft Corporation)
Fighter Aircraft 1960–1988
Cold War

Gloster Javelin

Gloster Aircraft Company
Fighter Aircraft 1956–1968
Cold War

Gloster Meteor

Gloster Aircraft Company
Fighter Aircraft 1944–1982
Cold War

Handley Page Victor

Handley Page Limited
Bomber Aircraft 1958–1993
Cold War

Hawker Hunter

Hawker Aircraft Ltd
Fighter Aircraft 1954–1994
Cold War

Hawker Siddeley Nimrod

Hawker Siddeley
Reconnaissance & Special Duties 1969–2010
Cold War

Lockheed C-130 Hercules

Lockheed (later Lockheed Martin)
Transport & Support Aircraft 1967–2023
Cold War

Panavia Tornado

14 August 1974
Fighter Aircraft 2019–992
Cold War

Vickers Valiant

Vickers-Armstrongs
Bomber Aircraft 1955–1965
Cold War

Vickers VC10

Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd
Transport & Support Aircraft 1966–2013